Latest Technology

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge Rad Power Bikes is partnering with Redwood Materials, a battery company founded by a former Tesla executive, to recycle e-bike batteries when they reach the end of their lifespan. Customers will be able to bring in their depleted batteries to Rad Power Bikes’ retail locations, after which the company will send them to Redwood Materials for processing and recycling. (Rad currently operates 10 retail and service locations in North America.) Select Rad stores in California and Washington will also serve as drop-off locations for old smartphones, laptops, and tablets, for Redwood’s growing consumer e-waste collection program. It’s a noteworthy deal considering that Rad Power Bikes is the number one seller of electric bikes in North... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2iXMGDo

Runway’s new iOS app is its first available for mobile. | Image: Runway AI startup Runway has launched its first mobile app on iOS, letting people use the company’s video-to-video generative AI model — Gen-1 — directly from their phones. You can download the app here , with free users offered a limited number of credits. Gen-1 allows you to transform an existing video based on a text, image, or video input. Functionally, it works a lot like a style transfer tool (though, unlike style transfer, it generates entirely new videos as an output rather than applying filters). You can upload a video of someone cycling in the park, for example, and apply an aesthetic or theme. You can give the video the look of a watercolor painting or charcoal sketch, and so on. Of course, because this is a generative AI, the output... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/UTLQnlp

The Jib True 2 come in some funky colors, but today’s deal is only on the light gray and blue combo. | Image: Skullcandy I keep rubbing my eyes, thinking my vision must be off, but these wireless earbuds are really on sale for less than one Jackson. That’s right, the Skullcandy Jib True 2 Bluetooth earbuds are just $16.99 ($23 off) at Amazon in their gray-and-blue color combo. These ultra-affordable buds often sell for around $24, but this is a new low that makes them an easy choice for a child or anyone on a tight budget seeking wireless convenience. The Jib True 2 aren’t going to win any awards in the sound department, but while their predecessors were a little overly bass-y, they were more than serviceable for the low price. Plus, this new model has built-in Tile tracking to help locate a missing bud should you misplace one. So they’re not just for... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/PU5c0ZE

Olivia. | Photo by Helen Havlak / The Verge If you’ve got a pet, it’s likely you have something cool that you use to either feed the pet, amuse the pet, watch the pet, track the pet, or travel with the pet. Well, the folks here at The Verge are no different: many have animal companions whom they feed, pamper, worry about — even obsess about — and totally enjoy. We asked our co-workers to tell us about some of the techie (and not-so-techie) gadgets that they use to keep their pets clean, fed, and amused — along with portraits of the much-loved dogs and cats. We’ve got some great photos to show you. Enjoy. Aslan Mitchell Clark, former news writer Photo by Mitchell Clark Aslan. We got the WOpet automatic feeder after our vet informed us that our cat Aslan... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/MfpFGTQ

The Apple MagSafe Battery Pack attached to an iPhone 12 Mini. | Image: Dieter Bohn / The Verge More details are emerging about the design of Apple’s long-awaited mixed reality headset ahead of its expected unveiling on June 5th. Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman reports that the headset’s external battery pack — which is designed to sit in the user’s pocket during use — will have a similar design to Apple’s MagSafe iPhone battery pack and will use a proprietary connector to attach to the headset. This circular connector is reportedly magnetic and designed to lock into the headset during use with a twist so it can’t be accidentally detached. Meanwhile, the opposite end of the cable is reportedly hardwired into the battery pack. The two “aren’t separable,” Bloomberg reports. So if this power cable develops a fault, it sounds like there’s no... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/zx1A0FW

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After chief twit Elon Musk made good on his promise to remove Twitter accounts’ legacy verification blue ticks last week , numerous high-profile accounts now appear to be re -verified — including a number of dead celebrities. It’s likely that the re-appearance of their blue ticks is part of a wider (but unannounced) scheme by Twitter to restore verification to users with over one million followers . But hover over the blue ticks of the accounts of dead celebs, and Twitter will tell you they’re verified “because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.” Michael Jackson, Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, Barbara Walters, Anthony Bourdain, and Paul Walker are just a few of the many deceased stars to have regained... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Jtzk2p4

See inside a few of our favorite things — retro, modern, you name it. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/fdZnlEm

Photo illustration by Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images Out of all the streaming services I use — Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and Funimation — Discovery Plus is the one that I use the most. And I don’t even get it for free through some kind of promotion — I actually pay for it. At just $4.99 per month (or $6.99 without ads), it’s one of the cheapest streaming options out there, and for me, those five bucks go a long way. Discovery Plus is a melting pot of all the unscripted reality shows from Discovery itself, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigate Discovery, The History Channel, and a handful of other networks that I haven’t even heard of before, like “Quest.” That means it has some of the most bizarre, disturbing, cringe-worthy, and downright disgusting TV shows that I’ve ever... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/w1fjLPb

Apple’s noise-canceling AirPods Max are currently $100 off in multiple colors. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Happy Earth Day , all! We’ve got a bunch of great deals to kick off the weekend, none of which have anything to do with Earth Day. Now that we’ve established that, let’s get to the deals! First up we have Apple’s AirPods Max , which are a little more affordable now that they’ve dropped to $449.99 ($100 off) at Amazon and Best Buy . The noise-canceling headphones are one of our top picks , boasting excellent sound, premium build quality, and spatial audio support that allows for a more immersive experience. While their battery life is only average, they pair well with other Apple devices, making them a particularly good buy for those who already own an iPhone, iPad, or other Apple gadgets. Plus, they come with a natural-surrounding... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ES9Jwix

Final Fantasy VI. | Image: Square Enix As I installed the original Final Fantasy , a game that first came out when I was three years old, on Sony’s most advanced console to date , I came to a realization: almost everything I’ve played this year has been old. Between the remakes, rereleases, and retro collections, it’s been a deluge of nostalgia. And I, for one, have welcomed it. These kinds of releases are nothing new, of course. What’s been different through the early months is the sheer quantity of classic releases. Two of the biggest blockbusters so far this year — Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 — are remakes of titles from well over a decade ago. They’re both slick and gorgeous updates that don’t look out of place amongst modern big-budget releases, but part of what makes... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/utrWZvD

Anker’s first 3D printer is blazing fast — but a year later, it’s still in beta. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/cdGs6bw

The R1S is one of the most comprehensively well-designed and engineered vehicles ever. A trip to Big Bear in Rivian’s electric SUV showcases why it’s one of the most compelling vehicles on sale. As a first effort from a new automaker, it’s even more impressive. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/o5TwONe

For more than a decade, Snapchat has been a fixture in the lives of young people. But the business side of the app has been much less stable. This week I flew down to LA to check in on the company — and while Snap still has plenty of big ideas, I was struck by how much the company’s ambitions seem to be limited at the moment by the recent downturn in the economy. The occasion for my visit was the annual Snap Partner Summit . For the past three years, due to the pandemic, the event had been online-only. But this year the company gathered together its business partners and the press together in person again, in a giant airplane hangar in Santa Monica. It was an inspired location for a tech event. Instead of bringing people together in some... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0eJVp2a

Illustration: The Verge Google is updating its Bard AI chatbot to help developers write and debug code. Rivals like ChatGPT and Bing AI have supported code generation, but Google says it has been “one of the top requests” it has received since opening up access to Bard last month. Bard can now generate code, debug existing code, help explain lines of code, and even write functions for Google Sheets. “We’re launching these capabilities in more than 20 programming languages including C++, Go, Java, Javascript, Python and Typescript,” explains Paige Bailey, group product manager for Google Research, in a blog post . You can ask Bard to explain code snippets or explain code within GitHub repos similar to how Microsoft-owned GitHub is implementing a ChatGPT-like... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/afnFv0A

A resident holds a phone while walking on debris following Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida, on October 2nd, 2022.  | Image: Eva Marie Uzcategui / Bloomberg via Getty Images For years, Twitter has been a go-to for agencies that need to warn people during a rapidly changing crisis. The National Weather Service uses it to share hurricane and tornado alerts. Firefighting agencies tweet updates about where a blaze is headed. It’s supposed to give people a heads-up so that they can take precautions to keep themselves safe. Recently, though, agencies have started facing the real possibility of losing that resource. Twitter announced in February that it would restrict access to its previously open API, and over the past week, it’s cut off public service accounts for agencies such as the National Weather Service, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Bay Area Rapid Transit. The accounts were later... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.t...

Last year’s iPhone 14. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple could offer its own journaling app with the next update to iOS, according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal . The software, codenamed “Jurassic,” will attempt to tap into the apparent mental and physical benefits of logging your thoughts and activities on a regular basis. The WSJ reports that the app could be announced as early as Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June as a feature for iOS 17, the iPhone software update expected to be released this autumn. According to the WSJ , Apple’s ideas for the app include having it pull usage data from the user’s iPhone to make suggestions about what they might like to journal about. It might spot when someone’s daily activity has changed and suggest writing about specific... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/VHX9wGo

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Computing storage manufacturer Seagate has agreed to pay a $300 million penalty imposed by the US Department of Commerce (DOC) for shipping over $1.1 billion worth of hard disk drives to Huawei, violating export control restrictions. An investigation by Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) determined that Seagate shipped 7.4 million hard drives to Huawei between August 2020 and September 2021 without obtaining an export license, despite a rule introduced in August 2020 that restricts sales to the Chinese company. The $300 million penalty is the largest fine ever imposed by the BIS that isn’t tied to a criminal case. The BIS says it’s more than double Seagate’s profits in selling the hard drives. Seagate became Huawei’s sole... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/26jOIDz

Chaudhry wearing Humane’s device in his breast pocket, activating it with the press of a button. | Image: TED Humane, the startup founded by ex-Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, has given a first live demo of its new device; a wearable gadget with a projected display and AI-powered features intended to act as a personal assistant. Chaudhri, who serves as Humane’s chairman and president, demoed the device onstage during a TED talk, a recording of which has been acquired by Inverse and others ahead of its expected public release on April 22nd. “It’s a new kind of wearable device and platform that’s built entirely from the ground up for artificial intelligence,” Chaudri says in comments transcribed by Inverse . “And it’s completely standalone. You don’t need a smartphone or any other device to pair with it.” Thanks to the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/BX1KYy9

Imgur founder Alan Schaaf at Web Summit 2018. | Photo by Diarmuid Greene /Web Summit via Getty Images Popular image hosting platform Imgur is done with hosting pornography. In a blog post published this week , the company says it has a new terms of service coming into effect on May 15th and that, as a result, it’ll be removing “nudity, pornography, & sexually explicit content” from its platform as well as “old, unused, and inactive content that is not tied to a user account.” “You will need to download/save any images that you wish to save if they no longer adhere to these Terms,” Imgur wrote in its blog post. “Most notably, this would include explicit/pornographic content.” The blog post doesn’t offer much detail about how Imgur is defining “old, unused, and inactive content.” Depending on the definition, this could cover a huge portion... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rEMbtYo

Image: Adobe Adobe is launching a new feature for its Illustrator graphic design software that allows users to quickly adjust the color scheme of vector-based images through generative AI. Users can upload their own Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) files to Illustrator’s Vector Recoloring too l to generate different colors and palette variations within seconds, either by typing out a text description or selecting from a list of sample prompts. Illustrator Vector Recoloring — which Adobe claims is the first-ever generative AI-powered vector recoloring tool to hit the market — is being introduced as the next phase of Adobe Firefly , a suite of creative generative AI models that the company recently released into public beta. The Vector Recoloring feature... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/G8qVxXl