Latest Technology

Image: One NZ SpaceX’s satellite-to-cell Starlink service has hit a nationwide coverage milestone in New Zealand — albeit with a few limitations. One NZ says it’s the first telecommunications company globally to power a nationwide satellite text messaging service via Starlink. Starlink has also signed up partners in Canada, Australia, Japan, Peru, Switzerland, and Chile, partnering with T-Mobile in the US. Only four phone models are currently supported: the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and OPPO Find X8 Pro. Eligibility is expected to expand to more devices next year. Most text messages can be sent and received within three minutes during the initial rollout, according One NZ , though that may increase to “10 minutes or longer” during the first few months. “We continue to test the capabilities of One NZ Satellite TXT, and this is an initial service that will get better. For example, text messages will take longer to send but will get q...

Cath Virginia / The Verge The European Union has published several recommendations for Apple to make iOS and iPadOS more interoperable with competitors following two separate DMA proceedings launched in September , sparking concerns about user privacy from the iPhone maker. On Wednesday, the EU Commission submitted draft recommendations to Apple regarding changes that would make the iOS operating system more compatible with third-party devices like smartwatches, earbuds, and headsets. The Commission is also proposing measures to improve how Apple communicates with developers who make interoperability requests for iOS and iPadOS, including increased transparency around internal features and rejections. The EU’s proposed iOS interoperability measures cover interactivity features like automatic audio switching, background activity like maintaining Bluetooth and network connections, and notifications — which could address long-standing complaints from iPhone users who are unable to ...

National climate adviser Ali Zaidi speaks at the daily press briefing at the White House on January 26th, 2024, in Washington, DC. | Photo by Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images The Biden administration set ambitious new goals to slash US greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris climate accord, urging states and local governments to stay on course regardless of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to purposefully ignore climate change. The nearly 200 countries that have joined the Paris agreement face a deadline in February to update their national climate plans. Biden’s team decided to put out its own plan before Trump steps into office, setting a new target today of cutting net emissions by 61–66 percent in 2035 compared to a 2005 baseline. It also sets a specific target of cutting methane emissions by at least 35 percent by the same date. Methane comes from livestock, landfills, and leaking oil and gas infrastructure and is an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Trum...

Image: Shelly European smart device manufacturer Shelly is launching 11 automation devices that can connect to the home from over a mile away. Shelly says its new and updated Wave devices are built around the Z-Wave Long Range (Z-Wave LR) specification , and will be available in the US in the first half of 2025. The benefits of Z-Wave LR are similar to those offered by Amazon’s Sidewalk IoT network in that both can extend connectivity to devices beyond your home Wi-Fi network, without the need for expensive LTE data. Z-Wave LR was announced back in 2020, but products that actually use it are only just starting to hit the market. The wireless protocol touts several features that are beneficial for large homes and commercial environments, such as eradicating the need for a mesh network with multiple signal repeaters. Instead, Z-Wave LR devices operate on a star network topology, which connects directly to devices via a central gateway hub. Z-Wave LR has a maximum line-of-sight wir...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images We didn’t all flock to a new platform or build on a thrilling new protocol. We went everywhere, and did everything, all at once. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ScLAKzm

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images Authorities in the US are considering a ban on TP-Link internet routers over national security concerns due to their repeated links to Chinese cyberattacks. Investigators at the Commerce, Defense, and Justice departments have all launched probes into the company, according to the Wall Street Journal , with TP-Link reportedly being subpoenaed by an office of the Commerce Department. The WSJ reports that US authorities may ban the sale of TP-Link routers within the country next year. Action taken against TP-Link would likely fall to the incoming Trump administration. TP-Link holds roughly 65 percent of the US router market for homes and small businesses, and its internet communications products are used by the Defense Department and other federal government agencies. The company’s market dominance is at least partly driven by the extreme low cost of its routers. The US Justice Department is investigating whether T...

Michelle Rohn / The Verge The internet is forever. But also, it isn’t. What happens to our culture when websites start to vanish at random? Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ELw5RyW

Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The Verge The Federal Trade Commission has approved a new rule preventing hotels and ticket sellers from hiding extra fees associated with a purchase. Under the rule , businesses must provide “up-front disclosure” of the total price of a hotel stay, vacation rental, or live event tickets before checkout. The rule, which was first proposed last year , targets the “resort,” “convenience,” and “service” fees that often covertly raise the final price of a hotel stay or tickets for a live concert or sporting event. It doesn’t ban companies from charging these kinds of fees; it just requires them to disclose the total cost of a purchase (including fees) when advertising or displaying their price. Additionally, businesses must display the total price of a purchase “more prominently than most other pricing information.” Though businesses can still exclude shipping fees and taxes from advertised prices, they must now show these fees before customers start en...

Image: Honda Out to prove that the sports coupe is far from dead , Honda announced the return of the Prelude with an all-new hybrid-electric powertrain. It’s been over two decades since Honda last released a new Prelude, but the company began laying the groundwork for its return with the release of a concept version last year. Now, a hybrid Prelude is scheduled to arrive in the US in 2025. It will also mark the debut of Honda S+ Shift, a new drive mode that the company says “further advances Linear Shift Control to deliver maximum levels of driver engagement.” The company is describing the Prelude as having “two motors,” but that doesn’t make it dual-motor or AWD. Honda’s hybrid powertrain has had two motors for several generations, both of which sit adjacent to the internal combustion engine. The debut of Honda S+ Shift “One electric motor acts as a generator, creating electricity for the battery and propulsion,” Honda spokesperson Chris Naughton said, “and the other is a ...

Illustration: The Verge Google Home is testing a new feature that will allow friends and family members to help manage smart devices around your home. Two access levels are available: “Admin” which provides full control over account and device permissions, and “Member” for people who require more limited access. Google says that Admin access is for “trusted partners or people who co-manage the home with you.” Admins can add, remove, and manage users, add and remove devices, and link subscriptions to the home account. Members can manage basic device controls like viewing live security camera feeds, and adjusting personal settings like voice and face match assistant features. Two further permission tiers are available for Members: “Settings” to fully control devices and home-wide settings like automation and Nest Wifi device network features; and “Activity” to authorize access to device and home-wide history for things like cameras, locks, and sensors. The customizable Member acce...

Image: Apple The end of the end of the world is now in sight. Apple just announced that its post-apocalyptic series Silo , which is in the midst of its second season , has been renewed for two more seasons. That means that season 4 will be the show’s last. Silo first debuted in 2023 , and it tells the story of the remnants of humanity, who live in an underground silo where they’re largely safe from the ruined landscape outside. However, things get much more complex very quickly, and the show is laden with mysteries. The series is based on a trilogy of sci-fi novels from Hugh Howey, and Apple says that the final two seasons will tell “the complete story” of the books. (So far, the first book has been split across the first two seasons of the show.) “With the final two chapters of Silo , we can’t wait to give fans of the show an incredibly satisfying conclusion to the many mysteries and unanswered questions contained within the walls of these silos,” showrunner Graham Yost sa...

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Snapchat is tweaking how people earn money on the platform by introducing a new, unified monetization program. The new program will cover content posted to Stories as well as Spotlight, the platform’s TikTok-like discovery feed filled with recommended video content. Under the program, influencers earn revenue for ads placed within eligible Stories and Spotlight posts. Previously, monetization of these formats was splintered off from one another: Stories earnings were in one bucket , and Spotlight earnings were handled through a different program . The new program is currently in testing with a small group of users, and will roll out widely on February 1st, 2025. To participate, users need to hit a set of benchmarks to be invited: 50,000 followers and either 10 million Snap views, 1 million Spotlight views, or 12,000 hours of watch time in the last 28 days. They also need to post consistently, with at least 25 times per month to saved Stories ...

A Starlink terminal in the wild. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge The EU has signed a deal for its IRIS² constellation of 290 communication satellites that will operate in both medium and low-earth orbit. The Starlink rival will provide secure connectivity to governmental users as well as private companies and European citizens, and bring high-speed internet to dead-zones. The public-private deal valued at €10.6 billion (about $11 billion), according to The Financial Times , is expected to come online by 2030. SpaceRISE — a consortium led by European satellite network operators SES, Eutelsat, and Hispasat, and supported by European satcom subcontractors like Airbus and Deutsche Telekom — has been given a 12-year concession contract to develop, deploy, and operate the IRIS² constellation. IRIS² is an acronym for Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite. “This cutting-edge constellation will protect our critical infrastructures, connect our m...

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Hello! I’m here from the future. And I have some news. 12 months from now, all the Big Tech CEOs are still in their jobs, everybody’s using folding phones, Apple made a TV, and Nvidia is the most valuable company in the history of the universe. Wild year, huh? Or maybe not? It’s hard to remember. Time travel messes with your memory a little. On this episode of The Vergecast , the second installment of our two-part 2025 preview, we debate some seriously iffy storylines from the end of 2025. David, our resident time traveler, brings us some big stories that either did or didn’t happen in the year to come, and Nilay Patel and Wall Street Journal columnist Joanna Stern have to help figure out what’s real and what isn’t. Will someone really buy Snap? Is GTA VI going to be the biggest game ever? Will Bluesky continue to ascend and leave Threads in its wake? Nobody knows yet, not even the time traveler, but we have some thoughts and ideas. As was the c...

Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon | Neon Joshua Oppenheimer’s The End is a musical about wicked people. But it’s very different from Wicked . Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3hsO7Uq

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 64, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, get ready for some weird documentaries, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I’ve been reading about raw milk and $HAWK and WhatsApp , watching A Man on the Inside and the new Ken Burns da Vinci doc , finally getting caught up on The Great British Bake Off (about which I have SO MANY FEELINGS), storing all my loyalty numbers and Airbnb codes in Cheatsheet , and doing a genuinely upsetting amount of research on pizza stones. I also have for you a delightful new mobile game, an E Ink tablet worth a look, a gorgeous new to-dos app, and much more. It’s a strangely Netflix-centric week, which is odd for mid-December? But so it goes. Let’s dive in. (As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you watching / reading / playing / baking / listening to / soldering this week? Tell me e...

Illustration: Beatrice Sala Rhode Island took its RIBridges system for applying for public assistance programs like Medicaid offline Friday following a cyberattack that may have exposed the personal data of hundreds of thousands of people, reports CBS affiliate WPRI 12 . With its RIBridges system offline, Rhode Islanders won’t be able to log into RIBridges’ web portal or app, used to apply for Medicaid, food stamps, and other state benefits, says a government site providing updates on the breach. Governor Dan McKee said during a press briefing that attackers may have gotten personal info like names, addresses, and social security numbers of those who’ve used the system between 2019 to now. State Chief Digital Officer and Chief Information Officer Brian Tardiff, who also spoke at the briefing, said the attack is not ransomware, but “more of an extortion type activity by this cybercriminal group.” The attack also affected HealthSource RI, Rhode Island’s healthcare marketplace....

Image: Infold Games Breath of the Styled. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/I4y1xvs

Actor Brandon Wilson dons the first-person camera rig. | Amazon MGM Studios and Orion Pictures When RaMell Ross signed on to direct the adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Nickel Boys , he wanted nearly the entire film to be shot from the first-person perspective. Here’s how he pulled off one of the year’s best and most ambitious movies. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ANPsQFk

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge ChatGPT launched roughly two years and two weeks ago . Now, as we near the end of 2024, the AI race is... well, where is it, exactly? It’s more competitive than ever, there’s more money being poured into new models and products than ever, and it’s not at all clear when or even whether we’re going to get products that make it all worthwhile. On this episode of The Vergecast , we talk about a lot of different AI news, all along a single trend line: the tech industry trying desperately to build a killer app for AI. (Ideally, for them, also one that makes money.) The Verge ’s Richard Lawler joins us as we discuss Google Gemini 2.0 , Project Astra and Project Mariner , and everything else Google is doing to put AI in the products you already use every day. We also talk through the new Android XR announcement, and Google’s renewed commitment to making headsets and smart glasses that work. It’s all an AI story, no matter how you look at it. After that... ...

Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images Microsoft has quietly ended the sale of new credits and phone number features for Skype this week. Skype Credit and Skype Number are both being discontinued in favor of Microsoft pushing subscriptions instead. Skype Credit was a pay-as-you-go plan for making calls both locally and internationally, and Skype Number allowed you to have a phone number that people could call and get through to your Skype account. Both have existed in Skype for years, making it a popular choice for calling landlines and mobile phones over the internet. “New sales of Skype numbers and Skype credit have stopped, but customers can still use existing Skype numbers and credits,” says Amit Fulay, vice president of Microsoft Teams and Skype, in a statement to The Verge . “Users can also purchase new outbound PSTN calling services through monthly Skype subscriptions or use Skype’s free VoIP services for voice or video calls.” While existing Skype phone numbers w...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After the surprise ousting of former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger last week , the chip maker is facing an uncertain future that could involve splitting the company up. The temporary co-CEOs of Intel both appeared at Barclays investment banking conference on Thursday, hinting at a potential manufacturing spinoff. Intel’s manufacturing business finances and operations are already being separated into a standalone subsidiary, according to Reuters . Intel’s chief financial officer, David Zinsner, admitted “that’s going to happen,” but stopped short of confirming whether Intel would ever fully spin off its manufacturing business. “Does it ever fully separate? That’s an open question for another day,” said Zinsner. Intel Products CEO, Michelle Johnston Holthaus, also discussed the possibility of a manufacturing spinoff, as the two co-CEOs wait for Intel’s board to find a Gelsinger replacement. “Pragmatically, do I think it makes sense that they’re comp...

The Pokémon Company If you’ve been playing Pokémon TCG Pocket since launch, you’ve probably already collected most of the cards from the game’s first expansion . But a new set is about to debut in just a few days. Today, The Pokémon Company announced that Mythical Island, a new expansion set featuring the pokémon Mew, is coming to Pokémon TCG Pocket on December 17th. A trailer for the expansion reveals a handful of new Pokémon cards coming to the game for the first time like Purrloin, Serperior, and Marshadow. Previously, the only way to obtain a Mew card was by collecting cards featuring each of the 150 original pokémon from the Kantonian Pokédex, but it should be much easier to snag the new Mew EX card simply by ripping a few packs. The Pokémon Company also announced that TCG Pocket has exceeded 60 million iOS and Android downloads since the game launched at the end of October. The ability to actually trade cards with other people hasn’t come to the game just yet, but it’s g...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images OpenAI worried that ChatGPT would be a dud two years ago. Now, the stakes have never been higher. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/OitoM2q

Image: Voicemod Voicemod has released a hardware solution that enables its popular soundboard and voice-changing desktop software to work on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch consoles. The Voicemod Key dongle is now available in the US after initially being teased in July , with Voicemod planning to launch it in additional countries “soon.” Universal voice changers have previously been limited to desktop PCs and Macs, with software limitations preventing Voicemod from building an app for consoles. The Voicemod Key serves as a workaround — it sports a USB-C connection that plugs into a tablet or smartphone (including older iPhones thanks to an included lightning adapter), and two audio jacks that connect to your console and a wired gaming headset. The Voicemod mobile app can then be used to access the platform’s soundboard and real-time voice-changing features in console chats. Image: Voicemod Here’s an example of how the setup works — it’s worth noting that Voicemod Key wil...

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Telefónica, one of the largest carriers in the world serving the UK, Spain, Germany, and Latin America with the O2 and Movistar networks, will begin preinstalling the Epic Games Store on every new compatible Android phone it sells — including Samsung phones. It’s part of a “long term partnership” to bring the store and smash hit Fortnite to “millions” of the carrier’s devices, according to Telefónica and Epic. It’ll be the first time the Epic Games Store is preinstalled on consumer phones, and it could be the next big step in realizing Epic’s dreams of challenging Google’s app store monopoly and increasing its cut of revenue . Last December, a federal jury unanimously sided with Epic Games in Epic v. Google , finding that Google had turned its Android app store and Google Play Billing service into an illegal monopoly. Epic originally sued in 2020, alleging that Google had “blocked” or “bribed” phonemakers and cellular carriers to k...

2024 had some stand-out moments in tech: from AI-generated images to TikTok’s near ban, to beigecore , Windows BSOD , the best smart ring of them all, and the list goes on. If you want to see the technology that we just couldn’t ignore, check out our video here . But now, we’re looking toward 2025, and it’s gearing up to be another eventful year. Will we have an actual fulfilling X replacement? Will more health and wellness features be cleared by the FDA on wearables? Will nothing really change but everything will just get more expensive? While we’re not fortune tellers, we can probably take some educated guesses about what’s to come. We asked Verge staff for their biggest predictions on trends we could see in 2025. Take a look, and spoiler alert, some are already coming true. Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/QyjWtPo

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube just released some new stats that show how the service is being consumed on televisions, and the numbers are enormous. Watch time on TV for sports content was up 30 percent year over year; viewers watched more than 400 million hours of podcasts on their TVs every month. This is YouTube we’re talking about, though, so of course the numbers are huge. The living room has been YouTube’s fastest-growing platform for years — Alphabet’s chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, said on the company’s most recent earnings call that watch time is growing across YouTube “with particular strength in Shorts and in the living room.” Even as YouTube continues to dominate basically all facets of the entertainment business, the arrow on your TV still points up. The trend hasn’t changed in forever, but YouTube has spent the last couple of years finally doing something about it. It launched a way to sync your phone and your TV , so you can watch a vi...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Apple has released iOS 18.2 ,iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2, which add a bunch of new Apple Intelligence features, including Image Playground, Genmoji, and integration with ChatGPT. With Image Playground, users can generate an image from a prompt or make something based on one of Apple’s suggestions. However, Image Playground seems to opt for cartoony or stylistic photos instead of photorealistic images, which could prevent potential misuse. Image Playground is available as a standalone app, alongside being integrated into Messages, Freform, and Keynote. Genmoji allows users to generate their custom emoji images ( Emojipedia calls them “emoji-like stickers” ) that I think could be a big hit in group chats. The Notes app is also getting an “Image Wand” tool that transforms rough drawings into more detailed images, with preset styles available for animation, illustration, and sketch. Image: Apple ChatGPT in Apple Intelligence The ChatGPT i...

Sony It feels like we only just heard that Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s 28 Years Later was in development , but the long-awaited sequel already has a full-length trailer and a solid release date. Set almost 30 years after the initial outbreak of the rage virus, 28 Years Later focuses on the lives of a new group of survivors who have managed to find a modicum of safety living on an isolated, tied island. Because the island is only connected to the mainland by a long, thin, heavily-guarded path that seems like it might disappear when the tide comes in, people like Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) are able to build semi-stable lives for themselves. But things are very different and dangerous on the mainland where time has given rise to all sorts of new mutations in the infected. Though the trailer doesn’t really give you a sense of why Jamie wants to journey into infected territory, it makes it clear that he’ll encounter other people who have somehow managed to survive living among t...

Image: Yelp Yelp is introducing some new AI features that aim to help users discover new establishments and narrow down customer reviews. The AI-powered “Review Insights,” announced today as part of Yelp’s end-of-year product release , quickly summarize how customers feel about certain aspects of a business, such as food quality, service, ambiance, and wait times. Review insights are aggregated sentiment scores that provide a quick overview of topics using facial icons — positive, neutral, and critical — displayed above a business’s reviews. Yelp users can click specific topics to read related reviews that focus on those aspects of the business, such as what customers are saying about the food or service. Yelp says the feature is available on iOS for restaurant, food, and nightlife businesses, and will be expanded to services categories “next year.” Review insights builds on the AI-powered review summaries feature that Yelp introduced in January. “When searching for a local rest...

The Raspberry Pi 500 computer keyboard starts at $90, but you’ll need to add your own mouse, power supply, and screen for that price. | Image: Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi has announced an upgraded version of its compact computer-in-a-keyboard , adding the new features and performance improvements of the Raspberry Pi 5 microcomputer it introduced last September. The Raspberry Pi 500, which is available now starting for $90, is $20 more expensive than the Raspberry Pi 400 that debuted in late 2020 . That extra cost gets you a 2.4GHz 64-bit quad-core Arm Cortex-A76 processor and 8GB of RAM. If you want more than just the computer keyboard, a $120 Desktop Kit includes it plus a matching mouse, a 27W USB-C power supply, a single micro HDMI cable, and a printed copy of the Raspberry Pi Beginner’s Guide book. Image: Raspbery Pi The Raspberry Pi Monitor features a 15.6-inch full HD IPS panel and built-in speakers. The company is also introducing a display for those looking to buy a ...

Illustration: The Verge Reddit is launching a new AI-powered search tool called Reddit Answers to help you more easily find information on the platform. The tool, similar to other AI search products, responds to queries by generating well-formatted responses and showing links to its sources. But the distinction with Reddit Answers is that it sources things directly from Reddit, which means it could be a way to skip Google and get information directly from the source. Reddit has already been cracking down on where you can search for things from Reddit, and Google is the only major search engine that shows recent Reddit results. But Reddit probably would prefer if you did searches right on its platform, and Reddit Answers might prove to be a good way to do so. Reddit Answers will initially roll out to “a limited number of users” in the US and in English, and it will be available on the web (not on Old Reddit) and iOS. (“We’re working on Android as we speak,” Serkan Piantino, Reddi...

Image: Epic Games Indie game storefront Itch.io is currently offline because of what it describes as a bogus phishing report. While the game store’s servers are still online, the domain for the website is currently pointing towards IP addresses that itch.io doesn’t own — making it inaccessible for most people. Itch.io blames pop culture collectibles company Funko for the issues in a post on X , “because they use some trash ‘AI-powered’ Brand Protection Software called Brand Shield that created some bogus Phishing report to our registrar.” I kid you not, @itchio has been taken down by @OriginalFunko because they use some trash "AI Powered" Brand Protection Software called @BrandShieldltd that created some bogus Phishing report to our registrar, @iwantmyname , who ignored our response and just disabled the domain — itch.io (@itchio) December 9, 2024 While the disputed page has been taken down, itch.io’s domain registrar, iwantmyname , still disabled the domain lik...