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The Varmblixt is a smart donut-shaped light fixture that can sit on a table or be mounted on a wall. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Ikea's popular Varmblixt lamp just got a smart home glow-up . The delightfully bulbous light now features color-changing, dimming, and smart home control. I tested the new smart lamp in my daughter's room and found it made a great bedside lamp and added a fun touch of ambiance to her space. While she's rarely a fan of me adding smart tech to her room, she did give this an "It's nice" accolade - high praise from my 15-year-old. The donut lamp, as it's known for its distinctive shape resembling everyone's favorite sweet treat, can be wall-mounted or set flat on a table. It comes with a long power cable, which helps with placement, and differs … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/QHxG1vg

The United States' foreign router ban didn't make a whole lot of sense , and today may not change that. The FCC has just granted Netgear a conditional approval to import its future consumer routers, cable modems, and cable gateways into the US through October 1st, 2027 - even though the company builds those devices in Asia and has not announced any plan to bring manufacturing to the United States. Neither the FCC's announcement nor Netgear's announcement explain why Netgear was granted the temporary exemption. The FCC only states that the Pentagon has now made "a specific determination" that "such devices do not pose risks to U.S. national … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/EgON3Sn

Bong Joon Ho’s quirky Mickey 17 is on the list of 4K Blu-rays available in Amazon’s three for $33 sale. | Image: Warner Bros. Pictures Amazon has switched on its semi-regular three for $33 sale for a large batch of 4K Blu-ray movies. As usual, there are too many to list individually, though it’s a comprehensive mix of old and new flicks that should keep physical media fans scrolling for a minute. The steps to get in on the deal are the same as ever: add three titles from the sale page to your cart, and each item will be price-adjusted at checkout for a total of $33. The deal also works if you add six eligible movies to your cart. These sales are always a good opportunity to add a permanent addition to your movie library, as opposed to hoping they’ll always be available on your preferred streaming services. Movies on 4K Blu-ray will look and sound better than their streamed equivalent, assuming you have a 4K Blu-ray player and a 4K-ready TV. I’ve included a batch of personal favor...

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is asking the attorneys general of California and New York to investigate Google for deceptive trade practices, saying the tech giant fails to notify users before handing over their data to law enforcement agencies like ICE. "For nearly a decade, Google has promised billions of users that it will notify them before disclosing their personal data to law enforcement," the letter says. But it didn't in the case of Amandla Thomas-Johnson, a former PhD candidate at Cornell University who says he received no notice that ICE had accessed his university email. The EFF alleges that this isn't an isolated inc … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/gXJ9yQz

Microsoft just raised the prices across its line of Surface devices amid the global RAM shortage . Now, the 13-inch Surface Pro 11 and the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7 cost $500 more than their original starting price, going from $999 to $1,499, as reported earlier by Windows Central . Last year, Microsoft stopped selling the $999 versions of the Surface Pro 11 and the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7 in favor of the $1,199 models with more storage. At the time, it seemed like Microsoft was trying to make room for the cheaper 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop that launched last May. However, these newer devices aren't safe from the pric … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/1BRDSvE

Coachella kicked off on Friday, and as usual, it's the place to be for online influencers looking to show off their memorable experiences at the festival. A quick scroll through my social media feeds has already shown me many uncannily attractive figures in glitzy outfits, posing for perfectly staged photographs with celebrities. Only some of these content creators aren't really there. They don't even exist at all outside of our screens. They're generated using AI tools. Faking Coachella attendance is nothing new - even real influencers have been doing so in recent years - but generative AI has now progressed to the point where it's become … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/43ZhODz