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YouTube is updating Shorts with TikTok-like editing features

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YouTube is adding new features to Shorts that aim to make it easier for creators to edit short-form videos. There are five new tools “coming this spring” according to YouTube’s announcement , including a revamped video editor that provides similar editing features to those already found on competing platforms like TikTok and Reels. The new video editor allows adjustments like cutting and rearranging clips, zooming into footage, and overlaying text and music to be made from an editing timeline view. Creators can preview the edited short on this timeline view, which can be accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the Shorts editor. YouTube says these new capabilities are the “first of more improvements” lined up to help streamline the Shorts editing process. YouTube is making it easier to add music to Shorts, allowing creators to pick a song and have their video clips automatically synchronize to the rhythm instead of manually aligning them to a beat. Effects like video filters and o...
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Democrats demand probe into DOGE’s alleged mishandling of personal data

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Democrats are calling on Treasury Department and General Services Administration watchdogs to investigate a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee’s access to sensitive data. In a letter to Deputy Inspectors General Loren Sciurba and Robert Erickson, Reps. Lori Trahan (D-MA), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), and Shontel Brown (D-OH) say the probe should address DOGE staffer Marko Elez’s “unauthorized and potentially illegal disclosure” of a spreadsheet containing personal information while Elez was secretly rifling through sensitive government systems. Earlier this year, reports emerged that the 25-year-old Elez was granted read and write access to Treasury Department payment systems. Court filings later revealed the extent of his access and claimed that Elez broke Treasury policy by sending an employee spreadsheet to members of the Trump administration. Elez resigned from his DOGE role in February after reporters found racist posts linked to his social media account; however, ...
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Sony’s new Bravia lineup includes its ‘King of TV’ successor

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Sony has a replacement for its current flagship QD-OLED TV, the extremely well-received A95L. That’s the model that was crowned “King of TV” at last year’s Value Electronics TV Shootout , which Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel served on the judging panel for. The new model is called the Bravia 8 II. Sony claims that it has 125 percent the peak brightness of the A95L and 150 percent of last year’s Bravia 8, which will remain on sale as an OLED-but-not-QD option. It has a similar design to the A95L, and Sony even says it’ll be cheaper — though pricing information won’t be shared until later in spring.  The guiding mission of the Bravia lineup, according to Sony, is to deliver the most authentic cinema experience possible in the living room. Yosuke Nakano, from the company’s product planning department, claims the Bravia 8 II has the “most faithful reproduction of the professional monitor look of any TV in the industry.” To that end, at a recent demonstration session at its Tok...
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ZeniMax union votes to authorize a strike

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Members of ZeniMax Workers United , a union of over 300 quality assurance workers in Texas and Maryland, have voted to authorize a strike. The vote, which passed with over 94 percent in favor of authorization, does not mean workers have gone on strike like SAG-AFTRA members have in the ongoing video game voice actors strike . But should contract negotiations break down, the ZeniMax union now has the permission to call a strike. This authorization comes as contract negotiations between union members and parent company Microsoft continue into a second year. The strike authorization is the latest escalation between the union and management. Last year, ZeniMax Workers United participated in a one-day strike claiming that Microsoft did not adequately address employee concerns over its return to office policies and its outsourcing practices. Those concerns have come up again in negotiations alongside better pay and benefits. “Our in-house contractors have been working on minimal wages ...
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The best Xbox controller to buy right now

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We live in a golden age of controllers. The gamepads on the market now are of higher quality, more versatile, and more customizable than anything from even one console generation ago. If you play games on an Xbox Series X or Series S (or a Windows PC), you have the unenviable task of choosing between several high-quality controllers from Microsoft as well as a plethora of great options from the likes of 8BitDo, PowerA, Razer, Scuf, Nacon, and Turtle Beach. Some of them have drift-proof Hall effect sticks for improved longevity, yet all of them are good for one reason or another. The days of the cheap “little sibling” controller that looked cool, but barely worked are over. We’ve spent a ton of time playing all kinds of games (first-person shooters, fighters, third-person action-adventure, racing, indie roguelikes, etc.) to test a wide swath of Xbox controllers, and it may not be a surprise that the standard, relatively affordable Xbox Wireless Controller is the best option for most...
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iOS 18.4 is out now with Apple Intelligence-powered priority notifications

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Apple has released iOS 18.4, and one of the biggest features is priority notifications, which use Apple Intelligence to highlight “important notifications that may require your immediate attention,” according to Apple’s patch notes. The priority notifications will appear at the top of your notification stack on your Home Screen, as shown in the below picture from Apple’s website. The update (as well as the just-released iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4) also expands the availability of Apple Intelligence to “many new languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified) — as well as localized English for Singapore and India,” according to an Apple press release . EU users will also be able to use Apple Intelligence on iPhone and iPad. Apple Intelligence is now available on Vision Pro as well as part of visionOS 2.4 . And Apple is launching a Vision Pro app for iOS with today’s software updates to help you find co...
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Plex is rolling out its big app redesign

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Following months of testing , Plex has started to roll out its redesigned mobile app to Android and iOS devices, and it will arrive to everyone within the next week. The new app comes with an updated navigation system that should make it easier to access different parts of the app and find content to watch, along with a dedicated tab for centralized media libraries. It also has a button in the top-right corner of the screen for your Watchlist and more artwork across detail pages for shows and movies, as well as cast and crew profiles. In a post on the Plex forum , the company outlines a ton of improvements it has made to the app since the preview, including faster load times and scrolling, the addition of a sleep timer, and picture-in-picture support. Plex plans on rolling out a way to download a whole season at once, the ability to cast to more devices, UI improvements for ratings and reviews, and more. It’s also working on a revamp of its TV app, which it started testing earlier...
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