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Garmin really needed a training watch in the $250 to $300 range. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The tradeoffs are well worth the savings over the slightly more advanced Forerunner 265. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/R3SG7Jn

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Before the iPhone, before Android, before webOS, a revolutionary soap bar of a phone made it incredibly easy to get shit done. The Danger Hiptop, better known as the T-Mobile Sidekick, made the internet portable and affordable like no phone before. It introduced cloud sync long before iCloud, popularized unlimited data and real web browsing on mobile, and made instant messaging and email a breeze thanks to its landscape hardware keyboard . But the Sidekick doesn’t get enough credit for one physical button that tied the whole phone together: the Jump key. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Most remember the swiveling screen, but there was much more to a Sidekick. On modern phones, opening an app usually means... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/lPRE5qz

The original PlayStation 5. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony will use a new “PS5 Pro Enhanced” label to tell players which games take advantage of the console’s new abilities, according to documents seen by InsiderGaming yesterday. The outlet writes that to get the label, a game would have to offer a PS5 Pro graphics mode, which includes PSSR for 4K upscaling, constant 60fps framerate, and added or improved ray-tracing . It would reportedly also indicate higher resolution for both fixed and variable refresh rate games. The site says that the internally-named “Trinity Enhanced” label would be akin to the “PS4 Pro Enhanced” label from the last PlayStation generation (or the “X|S” label that denotes games with improvements like better load times or higher framerates) . It also told players when a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/4DIfoph

Illustration: The Verge OpenAI is offering limited access to a text-to-voice generation platform it developed called Voice Engine, which can create a synthetic voice based on a 15-second clip of someone’s voice. The AI-generated voice can read out text prompts on command in the same language as the speaker or in a number of other languages. “These small scale deployments are helping to inform our approach, safeguards, and thinking about how Voice Engine could be used for good across various industries,” OpenAI said in its blog post . Companies with access include the education technology company Age of Learning, visual storytelling platform HeyGen, frontline health software maker Dimagi, AI communication app creator Livox, and health system Lifespan. In these... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/cFThD8s

Photo by Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images For years now, civil engineers have understood that bridges have a problem: many of them are not designed to withstand a blow from the kinds of cargo ships that routinely pass through their waters. Those concerns came to a head on Tuesday with the devastating collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland. It’s the kind of failure engineers have been trying to prevent for decades — and even now, they’re not sure if the available solutions are enough. “We don’t design for the deadly force that is generated by such an impact — millions of pounds,” Atorod Azizinamini, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Florida International University, tells The Verge . “The collapse has really nothing to do with the type... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/UP9AR8d

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Robert Robb allegedly convinced several crypto investors to send him $1.5 million to build a too-good-to-be-true crypto trading bot, according to an FBI affidavit viewed by 404 Media and CourtWatch . Robb allegedly sent a message reading, “Poof, YOU’RE A MILLIONAIRE” to one Telegram group, accompanied by this image of a purple fairy wearing a mushroom cap. The message promised recipients they could strike it rich if they used Robb’s MEV bot and invested in the cryptocurrency $RAT and the ironically named token NoRugz. Image: FBI affidavit, Case No. 1:24-MJ-100 A screenshot of a Telegram message allegedly sent by Robert Robb to prospective investors. It says Robb asked crypto investors over Telegram and other... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/TVo9sx7

Getty Algorithms might help hotels illegally collude on prices, even if no humans from those businesses actually talk to each other about them, according to US antitrust enforcers. The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission jointly submitted a statement of interest in Cornish-Adebiyi v. Caesars Entertainment, a case brought before the US District Court of New Jersey. The class action case was brought by New Jersey residents who rented rooms in Atlantic City hotels and alleged that several of those hotels engaged in an illegal price-fixing conspiracy through the use of a common pricing algorithm. The plaintiffs are trying to show that the hotels violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act , which prohibits “conspiracy in restraint of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/I2atJ5E

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images New York City will soon start testing out technology that uses AI to detect guns at subway turnstiles, Mayor Eric Adams said on Thursday . Adams’ announcement comes one week after an altercation at a subway station in Brooklyn in which a man was shot with his own gun after pulling it on another passenger. Adams said the city is partnering with Evolv , a Massachusetts-based weapons detection company whose detectors are used in schools and venues across the country. Evolv, however, has faced scrutiny over the accuracy of its machines, as well as two government probes and a class action lawsuit by shareholders. The pilot will start in 90 days, in accordance with the POST Act , which requires the New York City Police Department to disclose the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Xr4bO7i

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Apple plans to release a new lineup of iPad Pros with OLED displays in early May, according to a report from Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman . The company is also reportedly planning to launch an iPad Air with a larger 12.9-inch display for the first time. According to Gurman’s sources, the new iPad Pro models will feature Apple’s in-house M3 chip, along with a revamped Magic Keyboard with a bigger trackpad. The iPad Air, on the other hand, is rumored to come with the last-generation M2 chip and two display sizes: the standard 10.9-inch option and a larger 12.9-inch one. The current iPad Pro models use M2 chips, while the Air has an M1. It’s been nearly two years since Apple released an updated iPad. Bloomberg says that, though the company... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/GrbsWwD

Though this isn’t quite what Twitch will soon ban, it’s another example from Morgpie of her ability to push Twitch’s guideline boundaries | Image: Twitch / Morgpie The latest update to Twitch’s community guidelines is oddly specific. According to the update , starting March 29th, “content that focuses on intimate body parts for a prolonged period of time will not be allowed.” The move is, without a doubt, a targeted response to the new Twitch “meta” wherein streamers project gameplay onto a green-screened part of their bodies , specifically the breasts or buttocks. I’ve officially seen it all pic.twitter.com/gZ96jSa3hD — ryan (@scubaryan_) March 16, 2024 The trend was popularized by Morgpie , a creator known for pushing the boundaries of Twitch’s streaming policies. Earlier this month, she streamed herself playing Fortnite with the gameplay projected on her butt. During her stream today, she... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/GnjpkLS

The first-gen Superlight isn’t the latest model, but it remains a standout gaming mouse at $60 off. | Image: Logitech These days, there are ample options to consider when choosing a gaming mouse — we should know, having put together a detailed guide to some of the best available . That said, not everyone needs the latest and greatest gaming peripherals, which makes the current discount on the slightly older Logitech G Pro X Superlight all the more appealing. Right now, the first-gen mouse is on sale at Best Buy in white for an all-time low of $99.99 ($60 off) and in black at Amazon for $109.95 (about $50 off). Logitech’s original G Pro X Superlight was designed as a step-down version of Logitech’s popular G Pro Wireless . It’s not the company’s most advanced mouse — that would be the newer Superlight 2 — but the right-handed mouse remains a great option... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/hmUOYoP

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images Productivity platform Airtable is bringing generative AI summaries, categorization, and translation to all of its users with the general availability of Airtable AI . Companies like Microsoft and Google have integrated AI features into their productivity offerings. But a recent survey from Slack , which also has AI features now available, found that most office workers use generative AI mainly for summarization and writing help. The new features would make Airtable the latest platform to see generative AI’s potential as a productivity tool that can generate content based on information companies have on their workspaces. Airtable, already a repository of workflow data for its users, makes a good case study for AI as a productivity... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/fJmDB4U

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Audible will co-develop and co-produce TV shows adapted from original podcasts and audiobooks with Amazon MGM Studios that it can pitch to Prime Video and MGM Plus, as well as buyers outside of Amazon. The news was first reported by Variety. Adapting recognizable podcast IP with a built-in audience is usually a safe bet for Hollywood. Chris Morrow, the head of audio at the production company Plan B, which signed a multi-project development with Audible last year, noted to The Verge that the goal was to use audio to “help launch IP, and then ultimately find new life for it as scripted features or scripted documentaries.” A number of originals from both of Amazon Music’s podcast properties, Audible and Wondery, have turned into TV shows... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/hMgAveZ

Photo by Perry Knotts / Getty Images The NFL will hold its first regular-season game in São Paulo, Brazil, later this year — but you’ll need a Peacock subscription to tune in. Peacock will exclusively air the game on Friday, September 6th, featuring the Philadelphia Eagles and a not-yet-named opponent. This marks the third football game to stream only on Peacock, as the streaming service previously aired an NFL playoff match last January. It also aired an AFC Wild Card game last year that it says was the “most-streamed event ever in the US.” Peacock has other big games lined up, too, but it will stream them alongside NBC. There’s the NFL kickoff game on September 5th, a Big Ten Saturday Night game on September 7th, and the season’s first NFL Sunday Night Football game on... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/GNik5d9

Please don’t sign up for this program. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Telegram is offering a new way to earn a premium subscription free of charge: all you have to do is volunteer your phone number to relay one-time passwords (OTP) to other users. This, in fact, sounds like an awful idea — particularly for a messaging service based around privacy. X user @AssembleDebug spotted details about the new program on the English-language version of a popular Russian-language Telegram information channel . Sure enough, there’s a section in Telegram’s terms of service outlining the new “Peer-to-Peer Login” or P2PL program, which is currently only offered on Android and in certain (unspecified) locations. By opting in to the program, you agree to let Telegram use your phone number to send up to 150 texts with OTPs to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/8LFZrRh

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge For months, Elon Musk has been dropping decidedly unsubtle hints that he believes in the great replacement, a conspiracy theory that liberal elites are “importing” immigrants into the United States, Europe, and Australia to wage political and biological warfare against white people. In a contentious interview that aired last week with Don Lemon, Musk said he doesn’t “subscribe to that” before detailing what he does believe — which is effectively still great replacement theory. “I’m simply saying there’s an incentive here,” Musk said. “If illegal immigrants — which I think have a very strong bias to vote Democrat — the more they come into the country, the more they’re likely to vote in that direction.” But as Lemon points out,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3wf6xFj

Illustration: The Verge Meta’s executives have been saying for a while that they don’t want to boost posts about politics in their apps. Now, an opt-out setting that limits recommendations of “political content” has been added to Instagram and Threads. You can find it under your “Content preferences” account settings in Instagram. From there, “Limit political content from people you don’t follow” is enabled by default. The setting applies to Threads as well since that app shares its account system with Instagram. Meta has framed this new setting as being good for user choice, and the company says it isn’t limiting the reach of political content from accounts people choose to follow. While the change was first announced in early February , Meta spokesperson Andy... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Chz6uIy

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft has committed changes to Chromium that will improve text rendering on Windows machines. Following years of complaints, Chrome version 124 will finally support contrast and gamma values from the Windows ClearType Text Tuner for text rendering in Google’s browser. This change should mean Chrome will finally match the improvements Microsoft made to Edge for font and text rendering, so you can apply text contrast enhancements and gamma correction to improve the readability of text on webpages. Chrome uses Skia for text rendering with hard-coded values for contrast and gamma, so it wasn’t picking up the improvements that ClearType has to offer. Microsoft’s ClearType font technology has long been used in Windows to improve text... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/RE65eMa

Cath Virginia / The Verge The European Commission is opening five non-compliance investigations into how Apple, Google, and Meta are complying with its new Digital Markets Act antitrust rules, the regulator announced today . “We suspect that the suggested solutions put forward by the three companies do not fully comply with the DMA,” the EU’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. “We will now investigate the companies’ compliance with the DMA, to ensure open and contestable digital markets in Europe.” In particular, the Commission plans to investigate Google and Apple’s anti-steering rules in their app stores and whether Google is guilty of self-preferencing its own services within its search engine. Apple’s browser choice screen for iOS is also... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ZDipU2z

The production line of Easy Mac Macaroni & Cheese Cups on March 27, 2020, at the Kraft Heinz plant in Champaign, Ill. | Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images The Biden administration today announced the largest investment in cleaning up industrial greenhouse gas emissions to date. The Department of Energy (DOE) selected 33 projects across more than 20 states to receive up to $6 billion in federal funding for clean energy technologies. It’s a diverse cohort spanning from mac-and-cheese maker Kraft Heinz to manufacturers of chemicals, paper, and construction materials. Industrial emissions account for almost a quarter of the nation’s planet-heating pollution. It’s also widely considered the most difficult kind of climate pollution to prevent. Alternatives to fossil fuel-fired furnaces and industrial processes have lagged behind other clean energy technologies. The Biden administration thinks... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts htt

The world of Elden Ring expands on June 21st with a new world, items, and bosses to slay. | Image: Amazon We spent much of the time following Elden Ring ’s launch begging FromSoftware to expand the universe of its latest Game of the Year award-worthy soulslike. By now, you’ll realize our prayers were answered . Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree will launch on June 21st for the PlayStation 5, Xbox, and PC. It takes place in a whole new area separate from the game’s standard map, one filled with new stories, characters, and bosses to slay. It sounds full enough to be a standalone game, but alas, you’ll need the base game to enjoy the $39.99 expansion. When it comes to purchasing options, Shadow of the Erdtree is not your average piece of downloadable content — there are preorder bonuses, physical bundles, and special editions with collector’s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wKTP6Z1

The first-generation Roam speakers. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Sonos will launch the follow-up to its Roam wireless AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth speaker in June, along with a new app specifically for its portable speakers. That’s according to Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman, who writes in his Power On newsletter today that the company has rejiggered the hardware to fix Bluetooth issues with thespeaker. Gurman writes that the new app will also support the company’s rumored $449 high-end headphones, which may also come in June . However, users will have to wait for the Move 1 and 2 and the first-generation Roam to gain support, as the company has reportedly had trouble getting the software up to snuff. The original Roam is a solid speaker with some quirks, like no stereo pairing over Bluetooth, which The Verge ’s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/uKkvC0m

Image by Cath Virginia / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 31, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hi, sorry for my bad taste in TV, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I’ve been reading about LA crime rings and AI music tools , watching March Madness even though all my brackets are already busted, watching the story of Mickey Mouse and pretending I don’t care about Love Is Blind while my wife watches even though I’m now kind of obsessed with Love Is Blind , and trying to understand all the basketball terms LeBron James uses in his new podcast . I also have for you a huge new Netflix show, a super-cheap USB charger, a newish messaging app, the new X-Men series... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/CQdkgJX

The stylish Victrola Stream Onyx is on sale for $334.20 as part of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale. | Image by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge We’re two days into Amazon’s Big Spring Sale , and we’ve already seen some pretty good deals on personal audio gear and home theater equipment, including a new low on Apple’s latest AirPods Pro and a rare discount on the Sonos Ray and second-gen Sonos Beam . The sale has gotten even better since it kicked off, too, especially now that Amazon is selling the Victrola Stream Onyx for a new low of $334.20 ($266 off). Victrola’s entry-level Works with Sonos turntable lets you stream all your records to your Sonos speakers like its pricier siblings — including the forthcoming Stream Sapphire and midrange Stream Carbon . What you don’t get is the Sapphire’s unique ability to stream records to practically anything or the Carbon’s high-end Ortofon... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/d8WBrQH

Dark clouds gather over the Baltic Sea on November 8, 2023. | Photo by Stefan Sauer/picture alliance via Getty Images Brightening Earth’s clouds so that they reflect more sunlight just might cool the planet — that is if we can figure out how to do it without causing any unintended harm. To test the theory out, a group of over 30 leading scientists have written up a research road map that was published in the journal Science Advances yesterday. The paper focuses on how to approach attempts to artificially shade Earth’s surface with marine clouds by spraying saltwater into the air from ships, a strategy called marine cloud brightening (MCB). They’ll need to be really careful with any future experiments, which would fall into the controversial category of solar geoengineering. The idea is to counteract some of the effects of climate change by finding ways... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/VvgjnQ3

Image: The Verge Threads is rolling out a beta of its fediverse integration in the US, Canada, and Japan. In a post on Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that toggling on the feature will let you cross-post and view likes from other federated platforms, like Mastodon. Threads previewed its fediverse integration earlier this week during the FediForum. As outlined on its support page, Meta says that you must have a public account to turn on fediverse sharing, which will allow users on other servers to “search for and follow your profile, view your posts, interact with your content, and share your content to anyone on or off their server.” Image: Meta There are still a few limitations, though. The beta currently doesn’t let... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/e3xyaQ1

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images A week after the House of Representatives passed a bill that seeks to force TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company , it passed a second bill that aims to protect Americans’ data from foreign adversaries. The Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, or HR 7520 , would prohibit data brokers from selling Americans’ personally identifiable information to foreign adversaries, including countries like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. Data brokers can face penalties from the Federal Trade Commission if they’re found to have sold sensitive information like location or health data to these countries. The bill sailed through the House, with all 414 lawmakers who voted opting to pass it. The bill, led by House Energy... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/iGd1L84

C’mon, how cute is that little ghost in the window? | Image: Sago Mini / The Verge Kids entertainment can be a special kind of hell if you’re not a kid. For every Bluey — a show that’s thoughtful, funny, and thoroughly watchable if you’re over the age of five — there’s a Blippi. If you’re not familiar, he’s a kind of MrBeast for toddlers. But he’s hardly alone: YouTube Kids is littered with low-grade, algorithm-optimized videos of colorful trucks and Cocomelon knock-offs. It’s weird out there. While prepping for our first cross-country flight with our toddler, I stumbled across a true gem: a collection of iPad games that aren’t just tolerable, they’re actually good. They’re made by Sago Mini , and every one of its games is just so goddamn cute. Some of them are structured as “play sets,” which are little interactive,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/pTbNdGM

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge These days, we are all dealing with huge amounts of information, from meeting notes to social media, to photos and videos, to whatever else we’ve collected — and we are all trying to find some way to store it, organize it, and find it when we need it. If you want to get really basic, you can use a spreadsheet or create a simple set of word-processing documents. Otherwise, you can try what is somewhat inaccurately described as a note-taking app. These apps, at their simplest, store your notes and other thoughts and, at their more complex, are capable of manipulating any and all content you want to drop into them. One of the most well-known has been Evernote, which has gone through quite a few changes over the years, both financially and... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/4LxSFTe

Select iPad models go on sale quite frequently, but some discounts on aging models are getting harder to find. | Image: Dan Seifert / The Verge While the best iPad deals usually land during major sale events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Amazon’s various Prime Days, many of the best iPad deals from the holiday season have persisted into 2024. The discounts come and go like changing winds, but you can still take advantage of sales on many models today, particularly on the more affordable iPads. What’s more, prices are likely to drop even further when Apple ushers in a new slate of iPad Pro and iPad Air models, which could happen later this month or sometime in April , according to the latest rumors . Forthcoming models aside, it’s difficult to know where exactly you can find the most notable iPad deals unless you’re scouring the major retailers on a daily basis. But that’s... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/vklQLEX

Segway’s new Navimow i robot lawn mower is now available in the US on Amazon. | Image: Segway Following its launch in Europe earlier this month, Segway’s Navimow i series robot lawn mower is now available in the US. As one of the first robotic mowers under $1,000 that can navigate autonomously without a boundary wire, its arrival could be the beginning of the robot lawn mower going mainstream. The Navimow i series has two models: the i105N costs $999 and covers 0.125 acres, and the $1,299 i110N can manage up to 0.25 acres. It uses Segway’s Exact Fusion Locating System 2.0, a vision-enhanced real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS system with a camera for outdoor mapping. It can also avoid obstacles and navigate around trees, shrubs, garden borders, and even animals and people as it cuts your lawn. According to the company , the new lawn... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/EWOArDI

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images During oral arguments on Monday, both liberal and conservative justices on the Supreme Court appeared wary of imposing broad limits on how the government can communicate with social media companies about problematic content it thinks should be removed. The case at issue is called Murthy v. Missouri , and it asks the court to determine whether the Biden administration’s communications with platforms coerced the companies to take down content, like misinformation about covid vaccines, thereby violating the First Amendment. It also asks the court to consider whether the government’s encouragement to take down such posts actually transformed the platforms themselves into state actors. But several justices seemed skeptical of the arguments... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/mCc47Gd

Photo by Chris Unger / Zuffa LLC via Getty Images YouTuber MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) has struck a deal with Prime Video to host a new reality competition series called Beast Games . The show will have 1,000 contestants competing for a $5 million reward, which the press release claims is “the biggest single prize in the history of television and streaming.” There aren’t any details yet about what kinds of challenges Beast Games contestants will participate in. It’s a remarkable turn of events, even for someone who’s hosted many similar competitions on his YouTube channel, like recent ones where people from every country competed for $250,000 or a group of people from ages 1 to 100 went head-to-head for $500,000. In 2021, Donaldson made a Squid Game in real life video for his YouTube... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/IeK0ljn

Sony’s PlayStation VR2. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge After producing in excess of two million units of its latest virtual reality headset, Bloomberg is reporting that Sony is hitting pause on production to try and shift its unsold inventory. The PlayStation VR2 launched last February for $549 as an accessory for the PlayStation 5, but IDC data suggests that shipments have declined each quarter since. Bloomberg suggests that the problem is a lack of content for the headset. The PSVR2 is compatible with a handful of AAA games including Horizon Call of the Mountain , Gran Turismo 7 , and entries in the Resident Evil series, as well as a range of smaller titles. But, at $549, the headset costs more than the PS5 itself, so expectations are high. Bloomberg notes that Meta and Apple have faced... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/H97Sibk

Last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple is reportedly in “active negotiations” with Google to bring its Gemini generative AI technology to the iPhone, Bloomberg reports , and has also considered using OpenAI’s ChatGPT. CEO Tim Cook has already confirmed that Apple is spending “a tremendous amount of time and effort” on artificial intelligence features, and plans to release them to its customers “later this year.” Bloomberg’s report suggests that the AI features built into Apple’s products could eventually be powered by a mix of first- and third-party AI models. Apple’s models could power on-device generative AI with iOS 18, releasing later this year, while cloud-based AI features like text- and image-generation could come via partnerships with the likes of Google. If a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/iqUSbjX

Is it upper midrange? Is it lesser high-end? Hard to say. | Image: Qualcomm Qualcomm just launched a new chipset that’s designed to sit just below its current flagship in terms of capabilities and price. The Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 aims to bring most of the 8 Gen 3’s features — including support for on-device generative AI models — to more affordable phones. It represents a new tier for the top-of-the-line 8-series chips, and it’s also a little bit confusing. Before we get into all that, let’s start with the straightforward stuff: the 8S Gen 3 includes a GPU similar to the standard 8 Gen 3, though it has one less performance core and runs at a lower frequency — the prime core runs at up to 3.0GHz versus 3.4GHz on the 8 Gen 3. The new 8S Gen 3 also uses a previous-gen modem, the X70 5G, which includes Wi-Fi 7... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rBTGRj3

The Verge On March 11th, Elon Musk said xAI would open source its AI chatbot Grok , and now an open release is available on GitHub . This will allow researchers and developers to build on the model and impact how xAI updates Grok in the future as it competes with rival tech from OpenAI, Meta, Google, and others. A company blog post explains that this open release includes the “base model weights and network architecture” of the “314 billion parameter Mixture-of-Experts model, Grok-1.” It continues saying the model is from a checkpoint last October and hasn’t undergone fine-tuning “for any specific application, such as dialogue.” As VentureBeat notes, it’s being released under the Apache 2.0 license that enables commercial use but doesn’t include... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6TwzLGu

Image: Caleb Wood Scavengers Reign is a beautiful exploration of a complicated, fascinating, sometimes brutal ecology. Nidus is also a beautiful exploration of a complicated, fascinating, sometimes brutal ecology. Their approaches and styles are different, but the underlying themes share a connection — and an artist. Caleb Wood is an animator and now game developer who worked as a concept artist on Max’s sci-fi show while simultaneously solo-developing his recently released arcade bullet hell game. Having begun his animation career 15 years ago, Wood decided that he wanted to figure out game development in 2020. Nidus was meant to be something simple that he could use to teach himself programming. “But because I’m able to produce some pretty good art... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/P7jhosy

Cath Virginia / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 30, 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 the fun puzzler Close Cities , scrounging up money to buy TikTok, reading the latest in my favorite spy-thriller series , debating becoming a mansion squatter , testing Today for simple tasks, taking notes on this great video about the editing in Oppenheimer , and yelling “SPACE!” while watching the most recent SpaceX launch . I also have for you a new AI productivity tool, a great way to find stuff to watch, some new shows about old events, and a deep dive into the collapse of the Apple... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/x9u5DnG

Starship Home, a cozy mixed-reality game for the Meta Quest 3 , is trying to get to the heart of “what makes a game meaningful in mixed reality.” That’s according to developer Doug North Cook, who wrote on Reddit that the game, which turns your environment into a custom spaceship and you into an intergalactic horticulturist, is indie studio Creature’s “first answer to that question.” A Meta Quest blog post says players will customize their starship by “strategically placing virtual windows, control panels, and other components” in their room. Outside the windows, the game’s trailer shows you’ll see things like space creatures, planets, cloud-tops, and travel animations as you leave planets. When players land on a planet, they’ll collect... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3giT8ds

Image SpaceX’s Starshield unit has had a classified contract with the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) since 2021 to build a network of “hundreds” of spy satellites for the agency, Reuters reports today , citing unnamed sources “familiar with the program.” A Wall Street Journal report in February listed a classified $1.8 billion SpaceX contract with a then-unnamed government agency. Now Reuters has attached a name, and that it’s to build a network of “hundreds of satellites bearing Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate as a swarm in low orbits.” The report didn’t say when the network will be operational or what other companies are involved. It does mention that a US database of space objects lists satellites deployed by SpaceX... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/e9Fr3az

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony is reportedly working on a PlayStation 5 Pro model that may well include a far more powerful GPU that’s up to three times faster than the existing PS5 models. YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead claims to have gotten access to a technical overview document for the PS5 Pro, codenamed Trinity, and now Tom Henderson at Insider Gaming reports that the leaked specifications are accurate and the console is currently set to release during the holiday 2024 period. Screenshots from the technical document include a mention of 67 teraflops of 16-bit floating point calculations, which works out to around 33.5 teraflops of single-precision compute. That reportedly works out to a 45 percent rendering performance improvement over the PS5. The existing... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wxhBUFd

Image: Google Google Meet is rolling out filters you can use to “lightly” touch up your complexion before you head into a meeting. The company first launched the feature on mobile last year, but now it’s coming to Google Meet’s web app. You can choose from two different filters: subtle and smoothing. While Google says the subtle filter applies “very light” complexion smoothing, under-eye lightening, and eye whitening, the smoothing filter makes all three effects slightly more noticeable. GIF: Google Judging by the GIF provided by Google, it doesn’t look like either option dramatically changes your appearance like some of the filters you’ll find on Snapchat. Instead, it seems to apply much lighter effects that make it look like... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ZYzfTUu

From AAA blockbusters to indie cult classics, there are tons of games up to 95 percent off. | Valve / Steam You’d think most gamers would have indulged enough over the long winter season that they wouldn’t want to spend the first moments of spring doing the same, but rainy days are still a thing, yeah? And the grind never truly stops for many of us. That’s why I can appreciate the Steam spring sale , happening now through March 21st. It happens around this time every year and offers up to 90 percent off thousands of titles. You can find deals on game-of-the-year-worthy titles like Baldur’s Gate 3 for $53.99 ($6 off), for example, while Diablo IV is 50 percent off no matter which version you buy, whether it’s the base game going for $34.99 or the Ultimate Edition for $49.99. It’s also a great chance to check out older titles you may have passed... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2gHtdFV

Image: Nick Barclay / The Verge Even after Apple was hit with a $2 billion fine in the European Union over years-old complaints from Spotify about its App Store rules, Spotify says Apple is stonewalling updates issued in compliance with that very ruling. In an email to the European Commission obtained by The Verge , Spotify writes that Apple has “neither acknowledged nor responded to Spotify’s submission” to bring subscription pricing information into the app, preventing it from updating the app at all for its users, even to put out fixes for bugs or add other features. On March 5th, Spotify submitted an update to Apple that puts links to Spotify’s website, along with pricing information for different subscription options, directly in the EU version of its app, without... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/g0CiXSe

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is expanding its $20 monthly Copilot Pro subscription to more markets today, after launching the AI-powered assistant for consumers in January . The expansion sees Copilot Pro available in 222 countries in total, and Microsoft is launching a free one-month trial to entice consumers to subscribe to its AI vision of the future. Copilot Pro includes priority access to the latest OpenAI models, the ability to build your own Copilot GPT, and access to Copilot inside Office apps if you’re already a Microsoft 365 Personal or Home subscriber. Now, Microsoft is also unlocking Copilot Pro inside the Office web apps, so you don’t need a separate Microsoft 365 subscription to use the chatbot inside Word, Outlook, and other free web apps. T... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/8q1mWK7

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Epic Games isn’t done with Apple . A 2021 ruling forced Apple to allow developers of App Store apps to link to outside payments, and Epic has now filed a motion asking Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to enforce her original order. Epic says Apple’s updated developer policy that still reserves 27 percent of outside payments (or 12 percent for small developers) for Apple itself is still unjustified. Epic argues these fees are “essentially the same” as those the company charges for using its payments system. Christian Owens, who founded payments processor Paddle, and Benjamin Simon, the founder behind the Down Dog fitness apps for iOS, agreed in declarations also filed by Epic. Owens called the choice offered by Apple “illusory,” while Simon... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/7bXLPRj

With a new update you can now view recorded footage from cameras like the Google Nest Cam (indoor, wired) on Google Home’s web interface. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Google has announced that in the next few days, Nest Cam users will finally be able to view and download recorded clips and scroll through their event timeline on its new home.google.com web portal. While you’ve been able to view livestreams from here, if you want to see what happened earlier, you need to go to the Google Home app. The company also says it's bringing the ability to create custom clips from recorded footage both on the web and in the app, finally bringing the full functionality of its Nest cameras to its own platform. These features will require a Nest Aware subscription, starting at $8 a month. Google first promised to bring a web view to its cameras in 2021, but it didn’t materialize until 2022 . Then, it was limited... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts htt

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images The fate of TikTok in the US now lies with the Senate after House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to pass a bill that would ban the app unless Chinese parent company ByteDance sells it. President Joe Biden has already said he would sign the bill, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act , if both chambers advance it. But even though the bill sailed through the House only about a week after it was first introduced, the Senate will present a whole different set of challenges. To start, there’s no companion bill yet, so the legislation is barely at the start line in that chamber. And even if one is introduced, Senate rules could make it tricky to maintain enough support (60 out of 100 members) to clear it.... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/j6xSipT

Media manipulation meets technological innovation. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/hUHcfeK