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The ThinkPad T14s Gen 5 | Photo: Lenovo While the ThinkBook Transparent Display laptop Lenovo showed off at MWC 2024 is just a proof of concept, the company also announced refreshed versions of several ThinkPads and ThinkBooks, as well as a few accessories. That includes three refreshed ThinkPad T-series laptops: the ThinkPad T14 Gen 5, ThinkPad T14s Gen 5, and ThinkPad T16 Gen 3, all with Intel Core Ultra processors (or an AMD Ryzen 8040 option for the T14 Gen 5). All three get Lenovo’s Communication Bar, which extends a portion of the top bezel to house the camera and microphones, giving those laptops slimmer top bezels and taller display ratios. Lenovo previously added this feature to other ThinkPad laptops, like the X1 Carbon and X1 Nano . Image: Lenovo ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/kqiV7No

Now there’s a 28,000mAh battery with a phone in it

Avenir Telecom’s Energizer Hard Case P28K is an 27.8mm thick smartphone with a 28,000mAh battery in it. | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge Four years ago, my then-colleague Vlad brought you news of an 18,000mAh battery with a phone in it . Well, I am delighted to inform you that Avenir Telecom is at it again, only now it’s packed a smartphone into a 28,000mAh battery. That, in this industry, is what we call progress. The device itself is called the Hard Case P28K, and like its predecessor it’ll be sold under the Energizer brand (which Avenir licenses from the battery manufacturer). The company claims the P28K’s battery is substantial enough to last for a whole week regular of usage. The device also has a pretty rugged IP69 rating to survive the kinds of off-the-grid adventures you might want to have while away from a charging point. Talk time is rated at 122 hours (or a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/1C2UNSF

HMD is making a Barbie flip phone alongside a smartphone for tinkerers

C’mon Barbie let’s go make some phone calls. | Image: HMD HMD is crossing its fingers for a second summer of Barbie . The company, which has exclusively sold phones under the Nokia brand name for the past seven years, has announced plans to release a Barbie-branded flip phone this July in partnership with Mattel. It’s one of several devices HMD has on the way for this summer, which also include a new Nokia-branded retro feature phone, and an HMD-branded smartphone. Finally, the company has also announced early plans for a new development platform it’s calling “HMD Fusion.” No pricing, specs, or features were announced for the as-yet-unnamed Barbie phone, but expect it to be a traditional feature flip phone rather than a smartphone. In an interview, HMD’s global head of insight, proposition, and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6dEeD9l

Vivo Y100t: लॉन्च हुआ वीवो का नया स्मार्टफोन, मिलेंगे बेहतरीन फीचर्स और कीमत होगी इतनी..

mobile news

The latest ‘Woj bomb’ was just a scam NFT tweet from a hacked account

February 24, 2024

The fake NBA Top Shot tweet. | Image: X / @wojespn People who still use NBA Top Shot were the primary targets of a scam tweet posted to ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski’s account on X Saturday evening at about 6:30PM ET. The tweet referred to NBA Top Shot as a “popular” NFT platform, despite the fact that current activity levels are a tiny fraction of what we saw during its peak , and falsely claimed a “free NFT pack is available to all customers.” The tweet linked visitors to a scam version of the NBA Top Shot website (the link went to a .org address instead of the official site’s .com URL) that could attempt to drain assets from people who give it access to their crypto wallets. About a half hour later, the official Top Shot account posted, saying, “There is NO Free Airdrop happening... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/gBewsPd

Google co-founder Sergey Brin sued over a plane crash that killed two pilots last year

February 24, 2024

Sergey Brin at a World Economic Forum session in 2017. | Photo by Fabrice Coffrini / AFP via Getty Images Google co-founder Sergey Brin is facing a wrongful death lawsuit from the widow of one of two pilots who died in a plane crash off the coast of California in May 2023. It blames a poorly installed modification for the crash and claims his representatives intentionally slowed recovery efforts to destroy evidence, as previously reported by Bloomberg and Fortune . An updated complaint filed on February 13th in the Santa Clara County Superior Court of California says Lance Maclean and co-pilot Dean Rushfedlt were contracted to bring Brin’s seaplane from California to Fiji for island-hopping with friends. Ferrying the $8 million, twin-engine Viking Air Twin Otter Series 400 that far required an auxiliary fuel system, which the complaint... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/BYcvDej

The best tech gifts for under $25

There are plenty of great tech gifts that can light up someone’s life for less than $25, from smart bulbs to everyday essentials. | Image: Nanoleaf Wanting to treat a friend or a loved one to some tech or a cool gadget while on a very lean budget can feel like an impossible task. Most of the everyday devices we use cost multiple hundreds of dollars, so what do you get when you just want a nice birthday or “just because” kind of gift but can’t break the bank? Sure, you could default to something basic like a pair of socks or a scarf, but that gets boring fast. Here, we’ve assembled a bunch of cool tech ideas on a budget of just $25 that are worth your money, including a headphone stand ($19.99) , a quality USB-C cable ($9.99) , a unique Bluetooth speaker , and other essentials. Some of these items might not sound very fun or exciting at first, but they’re all helpful gifts that any... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/SYPgAMj

FTC cracks down on H&R Block for deleting tax data when users want to downgrade

Photo by Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against tax prep company H&R Block for allegedly wasting consumers’ time and money. The company deceptively marketed its services and made them difficult to downgrade, the FTC claims in an administrative complaint issued Friday. “H&R Block designed its online products to present an obstacle course of tedious challenges to consumers, pressuring them into overpaying for its products,” FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection director Samuel Levine said in a statement. The administrative complaint is similar to a lawsuit but results in proceedings before the FTC’s in-house administrative law judge. Findings can ultimately be appealed to a federal court. The agency alleges that H&R Block steered... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/zsiH3C8

Google explains Gemini’s ‘embarrassing’ AI pictures of diverse Nazis

Illustration: The Verge Google has issued an explanation for the “embarrassing and wrong” images generated by its Gemini AI tool. In a blog post on Friday , Google says its model produced “inaccurate historical” images due to tuning issues. The Verge and others caught Gemini generating images of racially diverse Nazis and US Founding Fathers earlier this week. “Our tuning to ensure that Gemini showed a range of people failed to account for cases that should clearly not show a range,” Prabhakar Raghavan, Google’s senior vice president, writes in the post. “And second, over time, the model became way more cautious than we intended and refused to answer certain prompts entirely — wrongly interpreting some very anodyne prompts as sensitive.” S... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/BDbgcyZ

Google foreshadows its final arguments in search monopoly trial

Illustration: The Verge Google has offered a glimpse into its final arguments to a DC federal judge as it seeks to convince the court it’s not operating an unlawful monopoly in search. The company filed an unsealed version of its posttrial brief on Friday in its battle against the US Department of Justice over its search distribution agreements. The DOJ has argued that Google used exclusionary contracts with phone manufacturers and web browser operators to make it harder for other search engines to compete. It’s expected to file its own brief by the end of the day as well. In the brief filed Friday, Google said that evidence from the trial shows “conclusively” that “Google is the highest quality, most popular search engine in the United States, with the highest... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/dQ3FAiR

Yahoo lays off the leaders of Engadget

February 22, 2024

Image: Engadget The nearly 20-year-old tech publication Engadget is laying off staff and restructuring editorial teams today with a new focus around traffic and revenue growth. The changes are designed to give the outlet a stronger emphasis on commerce revenue, while removing key editorial leaders from its newsroom, including its editor-in-chief. Engadget , which is operated by Yahoo, will lay off 10 employees, according to people with knowledge of the situation who say staff were “blindsided” by the decision. In addition to cutting staff, the editorial team will split into two sections: “news and features” and “reviews and buying advice.” The news teams will focus on traffic growth, while the reviews teams will report to commerce leaders. As part of the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/4xdjFXH

Google cut a deal with Reddit for AI training data

February 22, 2024

Image: The Verge Google is getting AI training data from Reddit as part of a new partnership between the two companies. In an update on Thursday , Reddit announced it will start providing Google “more efficient ways to train models.” The collaboration will give Google access to Reddit’s data API, which delivers real-time content from Reddit’s platform. This will provide “Google with an efficient and structured way to access the vast corpus of existing content on Reddit,” while also allowing the company to display content from Reddit in new ways across its products. When Reddit CEO Steve Huffman spoke to The Verge last year about Reddit’s API changes and the subsequent protests , he said, “The API usage is about covering costs and data licensing is a new... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3KmqnRD

Apple says the iPhone 15’s battery got better — but won’t say exactly how

February 21, 2024

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are the subject of some new and improved battery health claims. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge iPhone 15 owners seemingly got some great news yesterday : long-term battery health is better than Apple initially claimed. Twice as good, in fact! The company is now advertising a much larger number to represent how long its batteries will last. The trouble is, we’re not exactly sure if the batteries have gotten that much better — or if Apple has just changed how it talks about and tests them. As reported by 9to5Mac , Apple retested the batteries in the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro and now claims they can maintain at least 80 percent of their original capacity for 1,000 charging cycles — double its initial claim of 500 cycles. Batteries naturally degrade over time, so the added longevity is welcome news. It’s particularly notable since iPhone 14... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2c0k3IJ

Meet the new Google sign-in page

February 21, 2024

The new Google sign-in page that starts rolling out today, February 21st. | Image: Google If you’ve logged in to your Google account recently, you might have seen a message that “a new look is coming soon,” and now, Google is showing off the “more modern look and feel” of its new sign-in page. Of course, if that screenshot feels incredibly familiar, that’s because it’s mostly the same as the old one. The sign-in steps are all the same, except it has a light Material Design makeover that’s now aligned horizontally to work better across many screen types, including large and wide screens, like the ones found inside a Pixel Fold or on a Pixel Tablet. Image: Google Images of the old and new sign-in pages. It’s also still ready to prompt users for their passwords, passkeys , or other authentication, just... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/EchA7Vu

Waymo’s robotaxi expansion plans in California put on hold by regulators

February 21, 2024

Photo by JASON HENRY/AFP via Getty Images Waymo’s plan to expand its robotaxi service in Los Angeles and San Francisco has been put on hold by state regulators. The move follows several incidents involving the Alphabet-owned company’s driverless vehicles, including one in which an autonomous Waymo vehicle struck a cyclist , causing minor injuries. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which voted in favor of allowing robotaxi companies to operate 24/7 last summer, put a hold on Waymo’s application for expanded service “for further staff review,” according to the agency’s website . The hold is set to expire on June 19th, 2024 — 119 days from today. The suspension does not affect the company’s ability to operate in its current service area, which includes most of San... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ptlWgeK

Signal will soon let you share a username instead of your phone number

February 20, 2024

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Signal is rolling out support for usernames on its encrypted messaging service over the next few weeks. The feature, which is still in beta, lets you add an optional username that will allow you to connect with others without sharing your phone number with them. You can create a username by heading to your settings and selecting “Profile.” After you create a unique username, you can generate a QR code or link that points people to your username in the app. Other users can also connect with you by typing your username into the new chat bar and sending a message. As noted in Signal’s FAQ page for usernames , you can change your username whenever you want, but other users will be able to claim your previous name. Signal first started testing... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/yHSUbgF

The EU is formalizing rules for taking CO2 out of the atmosphere

February 20, 2024

The Orca carbon removal and storage facility operated by Climeworks in Hellisheidi, Iceland. | Image: Arnaldur Halldorsson / Bloomberg via Getty Images The EU took a significant step toward legitimizing technologies that suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by agreeing to set up a certification process. The European Council and European Parliament reached a provisional agreement today to create the first-of-its-kind certification framework for carbon removal technologies. The new climate tech has yet to prove itself at scale, but the EU is already folding it into its plan to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Net zero implies that the bloc would resort to capturing any remaining CO2 emissions that it hasn’t been able to prevent, either by harnessing the natural ability of plants to absorb carbon dioxide or by building technologies that filter CO2 out of the air or s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/pS0lIE7

‘Prolific’ LockBit ransomware group loses its keys to a global takedown

February 20, 2024

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Enforcers from the US and UK disrupted a ransomware group they say has targeted more than 2,000 victims and taken over $120 million in ransom payments. They even got the keys from seized LockBit assets to access data that was encrypted after the group’s attacks, the US Department of Justice announced in a press release Tuesday. The US DOJ, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and UK National Crime Agency’s Cyber Division said they managed to seize websites and servers used by LockBit to prevent them from stealing data that they allegedly use to extort victims for money. The NCA and FBI also came up with decryption strategies that they believe could help hundreds of victims globally regain access to systems that were attacked by LockBit,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ao3R2Gh

Fujifilm announces the X100VI, its follow-up to a TikTok sensation

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Fujifilm’s X100V became so wildly popular that it felt like the camera was endlessly backordered at every camera retailer around. On the secondary market, prices for the rangefinder-style mirrorless camera shot up into truly silly territory after it had a big viral moment on TikTok. The X100V was so in demand that Fujifilm could’ve taken the easy route for a successor and still been guaranteed to have a hit on its hands. The new model, being announced today, looks practically the same on the outside, but the X100VI includes meaningful improvements that will make it a more capable camera — in far more shooting environments — than any previous entrant in the X100 series. The flip side to those upgrades is that the price has climbed by... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Tiwa6RX

Nintendo will announce part of its 2024 Switch lineup later this week

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This year’s first Direct will take place Wednesday morning at 9AM ET, and, according to Nintendo, the 25-minute presentation will feature Switch games “coming in the first half of 2024 from our publishing and development partners.” We didn’t need to consult the video game oracles to know a Nintendo Direct was on the way. Not only have Microsoft and PlayStation shared their upcoming release schedules, but taking a look at the dates of the last handful of Directs revealed that Nintendo is fond of the first week of February . A #NintendoDirect : Partner Showcase is coming! Watch on-demand via YouTube on 2/21 at 6am PT for around 25 mins of info focused on #NintendoSwitch games coming in the first half of 2024 from our publishing and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/9xwEqmg

Rice is not included in Apple’s official guidance for a wet phone

Getting water on phones happens to the best of us. Lucky for us, there’s one household staple the internet consistently suggests will draw that liquid out and save phones: uncooked rice. But contrary to popular advice, Apple, like most people in tech support, explicitly advises against putting your wet phone in a bag of rice. “Don’t put your iPhone in a bag of rice. Doing so could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone,” Apple support documents said. The support documents first spotted by Macworld are technically addressing what to do when you get the liquid detection alert on your iPhone. They’re not just out to put a long lingering internet myth to bed. To that end they also suggested avoiding using an external heat... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/nLd3IMl

Wyze says camera breach let 13,000 customers briefly see into other people’s homes

Image: Wyze Wyze’s problems with letting its security camera customers briefly see into other customer homes is a lot worse than we thought. Last week, co-founder David Crosby said that “so far” the company had identified 14 people who were able to briefly see into a stranger’s property because they were shown an image from someone else’s Wyze camera. Now we’re being told that number of affected customers has ballooned to 13,000. The revelation came from an email sent to customers entitled “An Important Security Message from Wyze,” in which the company copped to the breach and apologized, while also attempting to lay some of the blame on its web hosting provider AWS. “The outage originated from our partner AWS and took down Wyze devices for... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/PEyWr6b

Constellation adds a dark and creepy tone to Apple’s growing sci-fi lineup

Image: Apple Slowly but surely, Apple TV Plus has morphed itself into arguably the premier destination for streaming science fiction. (Or at least streaming sci-fi not named Star Wars or Star Trek .) There are adaptations like Silo and Foundation ; original stories like Invasion , For All Mankind , and Severance ; and even a franchise spinoff with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters . There’s a nice range to the service’s offerings — and now it’s adding another flavor with the premiere of Constellation . In its first few episodes the show is dark, creepy, and will mess with your mind in a way that makes it just the thing for those already missing True Detective: Night Country . The first three episodes of Constellation premiere on February 21st, and they follow an... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/cj4qSrY

The US will relax pollution-limiting rules for vehicle emissions

February 18, 2024

A charging station outside of a Toyota Store in Blauvelt, New York, on February 5th, 2024. | Image: Kena Betancur / VIEWpress / Getty President Biden’s administration plans to pull back on strict new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that would have forced US automakers to turn EVs into their main business by 2032. That’s according to The New York Times , which wrote yesterday that industry players had moved the administration to give them more time to bring down EV costs, and for a nationwide charging infrastructure to be more fully built out. The Times writes that labor leaders pressured Biden to give them more time to extend union membership to those working in new US EV plants. As the article notes, labor union support is crucial as Biden faces re-election where he’s straddling a dire climate situation and attacks from candidate and former President Donald... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/WqMs7o4

Apple to be fined over $500 million under EU antitrust law

February 18, 2024

Image: The Verge Apple will reportedly have to pay around €500 million (about $539 million USD) in the EU for stifling competition against Apple Music on the iPhone. Financial Times reported this morning that the fine comes after regulators in Brussels, Belgium investigated a Spotify complaint that Apple prevented apps from telling users about cheaper alternatives to Apple’s music service. The issue comes down to Apple’s efforts to keep apps and users corraled inside its App Store payments system. Spotify complained in 2019 that Apple’s policies muted competition against Apple Music, kicking off an EU investigation the next year . The EU whittled its objections down to oppose Apple’s refusal to let developers even link out to their own subscription... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Gyt4oLx

How to live your life in text files

February 18, 2024

Illustration: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 26, 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 playing with the redesigned You.com for AI research, trying out the Phanpy Mastodon client, getting back into Zombies, Run after reading Vee Song’s great story about Fantasy Hike , and reading the new “lost chapter” of The Martian before probably just rereading The Martian again. I also have for you some non-earbud earbuds, a nerdy video about nerdy stuff, a new to-do list app, a new thing in ChatGPT, and much more. Let’s do it. (As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/zIAW5rD

Apple Pay is down for Chase customers, and perhaps others

February 17, 2024

Not today. It appears that Apple Pay is down, particularly for Chase customers — Verge staffers have had their cards declined while trying to pay with Chase cards using Apple Pay, while using the same physical card works just fine. Several people on Threads confirmed the same issue when I asked — although people with non-Chase banks like Citi appear to be using Apple Pay just fine. Apple’s system status page says that Apple Pay and Wallet have a maintenance in progress which started at 12PM — which is a pretty weird time to start a maintenance that disrupts payments. The page also says that “Some Maryland Users may have issues,” but we’ve had reports in both New York and LA, so it appears we’re all into crab cakes and football today. ... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ORfw7nT

Amazon — like SpaceX — claims the labor board is unconstitutional

February 16, 2024

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon claims the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is “unconstitutional” in a new legal document filed on Thursday, according to a report from The New York Times . The e-commerce giant joins the Elon Musk-owned SpaceX in making similar accusations after facing numerous labor complaints from employees. Amazon made the filing in connection with a 2023 NLRB case, which accuses Amazon of breaking labor rules by threatening and discriminating against unionizing workers at a Staten Island, NY warehouse, the NYT reports. In the filing, lawyers for Amazon argue the company hasn’t violated any rules. But, as noted by the NYT , it also adds that “the structure of the N.L.R.B. violates the separation of powers.” In other words, Amazon is... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/UBnlufM

Tommy Tallarico’s never-actually-featured-on-MTV-Cribs house is for sale

February 16, 2024

Image: Francois Guillot / AFP via Getty Images Remember Tommy Tallarico? The famous video game composer who claimed he created Roblox ’s infamous “oof” sound effect, then got into a legal dispute with the game’s developers asking for an unspecified amount of money for continued use of the sound effect? Eventually, the matter was settled , and ultimately, Roblox removed the sound from the game entirely . Y’know, Tommy Tallarico! The guy who claimed he was the first American to work on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise despite the fact his first Sonic credit was for Sonic and the Black Knight in 2009, a full 17 years after Sonic The Hedgehog 2 was developed and released in America . He’s also guy who boasted several Guinness World Records, including one for being the person “who has worked... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/N1cyWQn

Don’t date robots — their privacy policies are terrible

February 15, 2024

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Talkie Soulful Character AI, Chai, iGirl: AI Girlfriend, Romantic AI, Genesia - AI Friend & Partner, Anima: My Virtual AI Boyfriend, Replika, Anima: AI Friend, Mimico - Your AI Friends, EVA AI Chat Bot & Soulmate, and CrushOn.AI are not just the names of 11 chatbots ready to play fantasy girlfriend — they’re also potential privacy and security risks. A report from Mozilla looked at those AI companion apps, finding many are intentionally vague about the AI training behind the bot, where their data comes from, how they protect information, and their responsibilities in case of a data breach. Only one ( Genesia ) met its minimum standards for privacy. Wired says the AI companion apps reviewed by Mozilla “have been downloaded more than 100... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/yBMJNCi

YouTube Shorts adds music video remixing as UMG goes silent on TikTok

February 15, 2024

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube now lets creators add and remix music videos in their Shorts. In its post announcing the feature , YouTube points out that creators can use music videos from artists like Beyoncé and Maggie Rogers — even as TikTok fights with the record label representing them. The timing suggests it’s a direct response to TikTok’s current music licensing battle. Earlier this month, TikTok lost tracks from artists like Taylor Swift, Drake, and Olivia Rodrigo due to a dispute with Universal Music Group (UMG). TikTok and UMG never renewed their licensing deal after the music label accused TikTok of trying to “bully” it into a bad deal and claimed the social platform wants to “build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.”... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/yidVfPI

It’s time for Microsoft to build an Xbox Steam Deck

February 14, 2024

The Asus ROG Ally, with the Xbox app on Windows. This is not enough. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge The Nintendo Switch is on track to become the bestselling game console of all time . Sony’s PS5 will likely surpass the Xbox One’s entire lifetime sales later this year. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s newer Xbox Series X and S, with their comparatively disappointing exclusive games, are firmly in third place yet again — and it doesn’t look like Xbox Game Pass will ever fill the gap. Microsoft isn’t planning to take this lying down. It’s among the largest video game companies in the world now that it owns Activision Blizzard , and it’s going to act . This Thursday, we expect the company to reveal a seismic shift in strategy , one where it could bring Xbox exclusives like Hi-Fi Rush , Starfield , even Indiana Jones to PlayStation and / or Switch. To... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/UlwMOia

The remastered Tomb Raider trilogy destroyed my nostalgia goggles

February 14, 2024

Image: Aspyr I have been waiting for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered for 21 years. That’s when I first played the second entry in the series , it having been a “gift” from my mother’s boyfriend who gave me both his PlayStation and a handful of games — sans jewel cases — for no other reason than wanting to free up some space in his closet. I played it ceaselessly, enamored with the game’s action and puzzles and the fact it was the first game I ever owned that starred a woman. But after reconnecting with the Tomb Raider II portion of Aspyr’s remaster, I’m left asking: what in the natural hell was 15-year-old Ash thinking? Playing Tomb Raider II on the Switch — it’s also available on Xbox, PC, and Playstation — was an exercise in self-flagellation, with the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/txquwDR

Madame Web is a love letter to the golden age of bad comic book movies

February 14, 2024

Sony’s Madame Web isn’t especially great or terrible, but it’s surprisingly committed to transporting you back to 2003 — a golden age for comic book movies that were aggressively mid or worse. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/47C1Bj5

Walmart might buy Vizio to win the fight over cheap TVs

Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Walmart is eyeing a $2 billion deal to buy the TV maker Vizio, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal . The deal would put the retail chain in a better position to compete with the affordable smart TVs from Roku and Amazon than its existing Onn house brand. It would also give Walmart access to the breadth of customer data collected by Vizio’s smart TV platform and the revenue stream created by serving up personalized ads and taking a cut of subscription fees. After years of putting its Roku operating system on other TVs, Roku finally launched its own line of smart TVs last year and is ramping up its efforts with plans to release more expensive Mini LED TVs this spring. Meanwhile, Amazon is steadily building out its lineup of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/EcqBhke

Sarah Silverman’s lawsuit against OpenAI partially dismissed

Illustration: The Verge A California court has partially dismissed a copyright case against OpenAI brought by several authors, including comedian Sarah Silverman, who allege OpenAI’s ChatGPT is pirating their work. The case against OpenAI combines complaints filed by Silverman, Christopher Golden, Richard Kadrey , Paul Tremblay, and Mona Awad. (Awad left the suit in August.) It made six claims: direct copyright infringement; vicarious infringement; violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by removing copyright management information; unfair competition; negligence; and unjust enrichment. OpenAI asked to dismiss all counts but the first and main complaint: direct copyright infringement. The court ruled yesterday on OpenAI’s request to dismiss all... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/eatsE4H

The threat of extinction is getting worse for migratory animals

The endangered Steppe Eagle is one of the migratory species that has become even more threatened in the past 30 years, according to a new UN report. | Photo by: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images More than one in five migratory species officially deemed in need of international protection are now in danger of extinction. That’s according to the most comprehensive report of their populations yet, released as a United Nations wildlife conservation conference kicks off this week in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Human activity is pushing these species to the brink. But that also means there are concrete steps people can take to safeguard their futures. The first-of-its-kind stocktake of the world’s migratory species isn’t all doom and gloom — there are some success stories sprinkled in there. It just goes to show that it’s not too late to act; it just has to be fast because the clock is ticking for many of the billions of animals that... Continue reading… from The ...

ChatGPT is getting ‘memory’ to remember who you are and what you like