Lead Hacker

A Sidewalk coverage map claims the network reaches over 90 percent of the US population. | Image: Amazon It turns out that I have a low-power, low-bandwidth, long-range IoT network all around me, ready and waiting for my smart gadgets to jump on. Today, Amazon revealed just how far its Sidewalk IoT network penetrates the average American neighborhood. And it’s deep. The company’s first Sidewalk coverage map claims that over 90 percent of the US population can access the now public network (it’s limited to the US only). Using a Sidewalk developer test kit supplied by Amazon, I drove around my town to confirm this data and, over three days of traveling more than 40 miles, found that the connectivity was surprisingly strong in my corner of South Carolina, even in the wilds of a national forest. Image: Jennifer Pattison... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/28/23659191/amazon-sidewalk-network-coverage

The Jetson Rogue. | Image: Jetson Another hoverboard is being recalled due to fire risk. According to a notice on the US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) website , the 42-volt Jetson Rogue is being recalled because the lithium-ion battery packs in the hoverboards can overheat. A fire marshal in Pennsylvania determined that a Jetson Rogue was the point of origin for a fire that killed two children, the CPSC’s notice says. The parents of the children are suing Jetson and Target, where they say they purchased the hoverboard, alleging the two companies should have known of the risk of fire-related injuries due to the design of the Jetson Rogue. (The parents originally sued Walmart, but amended their complaint to sue Target.) The CPSC also says that “there have... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/31/23665249/hoverboard-recall-jetson-rogue-cspc-recall-fire-risk

Simone Giertz pulls up in her freshly detailed and upgraded Truckla. | Image: Simone Giertz Remember that Tesla Model 3 that was chopped up to make an all-electric pickup truck many years ago? Well, it’s still alive! Inventor and YouTuber Simone Giertz — the self-described “queen of shitty robots” — uploaded a new video on Thursday with an update on how her custom Truckla’s been doing ( via Boing Boing ). In the video, Giertz says it’s been four years since the Truckla was built, and since then, she’s been using it as her daily driver. It was never completely finished, though: the custom truck bed was never weather sealed, some trim was still unfinished, and the removable tailgate stopped working. “She’s a little bit rattle-ly, because the truck bed isn’t welded in,” Giertz explained in the video. She also has to baby the car... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/31/23664748/truckla-tesla-model-3-pickup-truck-update-simone-giertz-video

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has released the code that chooses which tweets show up on your timeline to GitHub and has put out a blog post explaining the decision . It breaks down what the algorithm looks at when determining which tweets to feature in the For You timeline and how it ranks and filters them. According to Twitter’s blog post, “the recommendation pipeline is made up of three main stages.” First, it gathers “the best Tweets from different recommendation sources,” then it ranks those tweets with “a machine learning model.” Lastly, it filters out tweets from people you’ve blocked, tweets you’ve already seen, or tweets that are not safe for work, before putting them on your timeline. The post also goes in-depth to each step of the process. For... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/31/23664849/twitter-releases-algorithm-musk-open-source

Image: Poncle Vampire Survivors is getting a second expansion, and like the previous one, it will cost $2. The new fantasy-themed DLC, Tides of the Foscari , includes eight new characters, 13 weapons, and a new stage, and it comes out on April 13th. Developer Poncle is already teasing characters like a mage and a swordsman as well as weapons like a spellbook and a sword named “Eskizzibur.” I can’t wait to try out all of the new additions — I’m sure they’ll all be unbelievably broken in some delightful ways. The new level looks like a lot of fun, too. Like with the first expansion, Legacy of the Moonspell , it’s a really big map with many separate areas, including the mysterious Lake Foscari taking up a good chunk of one corner. You can check out the new... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/31/23664809/vampire-survivors-tides-of-the-foscari-fantasy-dlc-expansion-release-date

Not the kind of statement you can take to the bank | Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The Verge Block, recently targeted by short sellers at Hindenburg Research , is still presumably exploring its legal options . It has, however, released a statement about common investor questions it would like to answer. Unfortunately, none of the questions it wants to answer are “How did you not notice you were issuing a cash card to an obviously fake Donald Trump?” There’s a lot in the Hindenburg repor t, which essentially accuses Block of falling down on the job of fraud prevention. To demonstrate the point, Hindenburg changed its accounts’ names to “Donald Trump” and “Jack Dorsey,” and they were still able to send and receive money. They even got a debit card under the name Donald Trump! To test this, we turned our accounts into “Donald Trump”... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/30/23663997/block-hindenburg-fraud-statement

A pipe installed as part of the Petra Nova Carbon Capture Project carries carbon dioxide captured from emissions on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017.  | Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images Keeping coal and gas power plants alive while purporting to tackle climate change will likely make electricity more expensive for consumers, a new analysis warns. Fossil fuel companies have been eager to deploy technologies that filter planet-heating carbon dioxide out of power plant emissions. But relying on the technology, called carbon capture and storage (CCS), is a risky venture and consumers are likely to bear the costs. The cost of electricity from power plants outfitted with carbon capture devices is at least 1.5 to 2 times more expensive than other alternatives, according to a new report from the nonprofit Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). It’s much more affordable to turn to renewable energy like... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/20...

Image: Chris Welch / The Verge Netflix’s ad-supported tier now works with Apple TV set-top boxes, the company confirmed to TechCrunch . The “Basic with Ads” tier comes at a more affordable $6.99 per month cost, but when it launched in November, people who subscribed to it couldn’t use it on their Apple TV . At the time, Netflix told 9to5Mac that the ads plan would work on Apple TV down the line , and now that support is here. If you want to watch content through the ad-supported plan, you’ll need to be on version 2.3.0 of the Netflix app for Apple TV. I tested the plan on my laptop when it first launched, and whatever you’re imagining Netflix with ads is like, you’re probably right . Personally, I’d recommend the no-ads plans, but if you want to save a few bucks, the ads... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/30/23663693/netflix-basic-with-ads-supported-apple-tv

Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge BuzzFeed has taken its next step into AI-written content and started publishing AI-generated travel guides, as reported by Futurism . The publisher’s first AI-generated articles were ad-lib quizzes that were largely innocuous, but the travel guides appear to be a more brazen play to attract search traffic about different destinations. You can see the full list of travel articles from BuzzFeed ’s “Buzzy” AI tool right here . Right now, there are 44 posts covering destinations like Morocco, Stockholm, and Cape May, New Jersey. The articles are “written with the help of Buzzy the Robot (aka our Creative AI Assistant) but powered by human ideas,” BuzzFeed says on Buzzy’s profile. The top of each story I’ve seen includes a line noting that an... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/30/23663206/buzzfeed-ai-travel-guides-buzzy

Waymo’s minivans at its Arizona depot in 2018. | Image: Waymo Waymo’s Chrysler Pacificas are heading off into the sunset. On Thursday, the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle operator announced it was phasing out the plug-in hybrid minivans it had been using for the last seven years. Instead, Waymo will rely on the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace as a platform for the fifth generation of its “Waymo Driver,” which is the branding the company uses to describe its autonomous driving hardware and software stack that enable its vehicles to drive without a person behind the steering wheel. Waymo’s Chrysler Pacificas are heading off into the sunset “For many, hailing a fully autonomous ride with Waymo may be the easiest way to access an EV,” the company said in a blog post . “Our growing ride-hailing service not... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/30/23663087/waymo-retire-chrysler-pacifica-minivan-ev-robotaxi

Illustration: The Verge It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: ads are coming to Bing’s AI-powered chatbot. Microsoft corporate vice president Yusuf Mehdi said in a blog on Wednesday that the company is “exploring placing ads in the chat experience,” and when we asked for more details, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that you might start seeing them. “Yes, ads will show in the new Bing, specifically in chat (as they do in the traditional search results),” said Caitlin Roulston, a director of communications at Microsoft, says in a statement to The Verge . “Since the new Bing is in preview, there may be some variability in how it’s currently showing up. We’re still exploring new opportunities for ad experiences and will share more over time.” Microsoft has... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/29/23662476/microsoft-bing-chatbot-ads-revenue-sharing

Kristen Radtke / The Verge Instagram is building off of its existing collections feature by allowing you to create libraries of posts that you share with friends. In an announcement on Twitter , Instagram says that you can now save content into “collaborative collections” that both you and your friends can view and contribute to, as first reported by TechCrunch . While Instagram first rolled out its Pinterest-like collections feature in 2017 , which lets you save and organize posts into separate categories, this update puts a spin on things by allowing your friends to add posts of their own. According to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri’s IG Updates channel , you and your friends can save posts from Instagram’s feed, Explore page, and even DMs. Friends who share together,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/29/23662175/instagram-collaborative-collections-shared-with-friends

Image: David Becker/Getty Images for Nightclub & Bar Media Group Seattle is making sure that some gig workers will be guaranteed rights that have generally only been available to traditional employees. This week, the city’s council passed legislation that requires app-based delivery companies like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Instacart to provide paid sick time off to workers. Food delivery workers in Seattle have had these protections for a while — the city council passed the Gig Worker Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance in July 2020. However, that law was temporary and was set to expire at the end of April (some parts of it had already gone out of effect in November 2022 when Seattle and Washington as a whole ended their covid states of emergency). The new law , called the App-Based Worker Paid Sick and... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/29/23661878/seattle-gig-workers-paid-sick-time-uber-eats-doordash

Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. | Image: Spike Chunsoft While detective stories are a mainstay in the worlds of film, television, and literature, they’re comparatively niche when it comes to video games. And with a few notable exceptions , the most beloved detective games tend to be visual novels . Kazutaka Kodaka loves detective stories and is best known for the dark adventure series Danganronpa . But for his studio’s next project, Master Detective Archives: Rain Code , he decided to take things in a slightly different direction. “Mystery games tend to be dull because it’s mostly reading text,” Kodaka says. “But for this we created a world where you can solve various kinds of mysteries and roam around freely.” Rain Code is described as a “lucid-noir” detective game. It takes place in a sort of... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/29/23661684/master-detective-archives-rain-code-nintendo-switch-kazutaka-kodaka-interview

You can finally play StarFox64 the way Nintendo intended. | Image: Nintendo If you’re still on the hunt for Nintendo’s official N64 controller, you just might be able to pick up the legendary controller for the Nintendo Switch at the Nintendo eShop. This $49.99 controller allows you to experience N64 games the way they were meant to be played — with a big gray controller that has an awkwardly placed central analog stick. This offer is exclusive to the Nintendo store and is only available to purchase if you’re a current Nintendo Switch Online subscriber. To see if it’s in stock and possibly complete your purchase, you may need to be logged in with your Nintendo account. (Note: you can only access the N64 games with the purchase of the Switch Online Expansion Pack.) The restock for the N64 doesn’t follow the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/29/23548742/n64-controller-nintendo-switch-restock-deal-sale

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This article was originally published in June 2022. We’re reviving it today since Apple has finally gone through with its plans to launch the service. Apple is getting into the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) business with its new Pay Later service built into Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. While Apple bills the service as “designed with users’ financial health in mind,” BNPL is a practice that has come under scrutiny by government regulators as something that could potentially harm customers. Apple’s Pay Later service, which has been in the works since at least last year , lets users make a purchase with Apple Pay and then pay it back in four equal installments over the course of six weeks. There’s no interest on these installments, but it... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/8/23157184/ugly-economics-behind-apple-buy-now-pay-later-system-bnpl

Image: Kia Kia is ready to pull the wraps on its next big electric vehicle (emphasis on big): the EV9 three-row SUV . The EV9 will have a proper North American debut at the New York International Auto Show next week, but before it does, the automaker is rolling out a list of key specifications to whet our appetite. Kia revealed the production version of the EV9 earlier this month in South Korea, but in doing so, it left out a lot of crucial details. We’ve seen the interior with its swiveling second-row seats as well as the very Soul-like exterior design . Today, the company is filling in some of the gaps as well as outlining its strategy to dominate the full-size electric SUV segment, which it claims is totally up for grabs. Full-size three-row... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/28/23659267/kia-ev9-full-size-suv-pics-specs-battery-range-lidar-adas

Obligatory “the truth is out there.” | Fox Ryan Coogler, the director of Creed and both Black Panther films, may be eying another franchise for adaptation. Bloody Disgusting noticed that, in a recent interview with CBC’s On The Coast, X-Files creator Chris Carter mentioned Coogler was looking to “remount” the franchise. He told On The Coast host Gloria Macarenko, “I just spoke to a young man, Ryan Coogler, who is going to remount The X-Files with a diverse cast.” Which makes sense. The X-Files was not a diverse show, though it did create one of pop culture’s standout heroines and kicked off more than its fair share of conversations about women in the sciences. Gillian Anderson’s Dana Scully seemed to inspire a whole generation of young women to become doctors and scientists as... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/28/23660427/new-x-files-series-ryan-coogler-chris-carter

Maat Mons is displayed in this computer-generated 3D perspective of the surface of Venus. | Image: NASA/JPL The recent discovery of volcanic activity on the planet should have been a cause of celebration. But instead, the scientific community is in shock after NASA delayed funding for a key mission to Venus. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/28/23658646/nasa-venus-funding-scientist-reaction-volcano-veritas

Ember Lumen and Wade Ripple in Elemental. | Pixar Thematically, Pixar’s Elemental , from director Peter Sohn, might not seem like the studio’s most imaginative animated feature. But if the movie’s first full trailer is any indication, Elemental ’s going to be a mesmerizing visual feat. Elemental tells the story of Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) and Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), two of the countless citizens who call a sprawling megacity teeming with other elemental beings like them home. With Ember living among her fellow fire people (think Howl’s Moving Castle ’s Calcifer) and Wade keeping mostly to his fellow water folk (think Osmosis Jones but drippier), they never expected to meet one another, let alone begin to fall in love. But after a chance encounter, the mismatched pair can’t deny that... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/28/23659938/elemental-trailer-pixar-disney-release-date

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Photo: Getty Images Twitter users will need a “verified account” to get recommended on the platform’s For You page starting on April 15th, according to a Monday evening tweet from CEO Elon Musk . Given that Twitter has promised to start dismantling the “legacy” verified system at the beginning of April, that appears to mean that you’ll have to be a company , government entity , or Twitter Blue subscriber if you want to pop into the feeds of people who don’t follow you. Musk claims the move is “the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over.” Verified users are also going to become the only accounts that can vote in polls for the “same reason,” Musk says. It’s worth taking this announcement with a big grain of salt, as Musk’s tweets... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/27/23659351/elon-musk-twitter-for-you-verified-accounts-polls

Arc, a browser that my colleague David Pierce described as an attempt to be “the web’s operating system,” is getting a companion app for iPhones on March 30th. Josh Miller, the CEO of Arc developer The Browser Company, says the app is “NOT a replacement for your default mobile browser (yet),” but it should let Arc users access at least some of the features they’ve gotten used to on the desktop version. According to the App Store listing , the iOS browser will let sync your desktop tabs and Spaces (read: groups of tabs, user accounts, and pinned sites), and you’ll be able to view your whiteboard-esque Easels and notes. You’ll also be able to share links to Arc that’ll be saved for you to read later. This Arc companion app is among the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/27/23658863/arc-browser-iphone-ios-companion-app-mac

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Ubisoft is backing out of its planned attendance at the E3 2023 in-person expo in favor of its own show in LA on June 12th, the company confirmed to VGC . “E3 has fostered unforgettable moments across the industry throughout the years,” Ubisoft spokesperson Heather Haefner says in a statement to The Verge . “While we initially intended to have an official E3 presence, we’ve made the subsequent decision to move in a different direction, and will be holding a Ubisoft Forward Live event on June 12 in Los Angeles. We look forward to sharing more details with our players very soon.” E3 organizer ReedPop didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. With Ubisoft backing out, E3 2023, which runs from June 13th through June 16th ,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/27/23658716/ubisoft-forward-live-los-angeles-show-e3-2023

The G4 is the first and only wireless smart doorbell to work with Apple Home. Its features are impressive, but it lacks some essentials. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23654936/aqara-g4-video-doorbell-review

Image: Nintendo Quite possibly the biggest game of the year is getting an appropriately large gameplay reveal. Nintendo announced that will be releasing a presentation featuring “roughly 10 minutes of gameplay” from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom , the much-anticipated sequel to the defining Breath of the Wild . The presentation will be led by longtime series producer Eiji Aonuma, who has worked on Zelda since Ocarina of Time . It’ll be available on YouTube on March 28th at 10AM ET, and it sounds like the video will be entirely focused on the new Zelda . Join The Legend of #Zelda series producer, Eiji Aonuma, for roughly 10 minutes of gameplay from The Legend of Zelda: #TearsOfTheKingdom on 3/28 at 7:00 a.m. PT on our YouTube channel. ▶️ h... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/27/23658177/legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-nintendo-direct-gameplay

The more affordable Era speaker improves upon the Sonos One by nearly every measure and will likely find the same success and popularity among Sonos customers. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23656561/sonos-era-100-speaker-review-features

Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge Parts of Twitter’s source code were recently leaked online via GitHub , the New York Times reports , but were taken down after the social media platform filed a DMCA request. The request, which GitHub has published online , notes that the leaked information included “proprietary source code for Twitter’s platform and internal tools.” The NYT notes that the source code maybe have been public for several months before being removed — the GitHub profile associated with the DMCA takedown lists a single (non-public) code contribution from early January. The name of the account is listed as “FreeSpeechEnthusiast,” in an apparent reference to Twitter CEO Elon Musk calling himself a “ free speech absolutist ” in the past. Twitter has asked for the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/27/23657928/twitter-source-code-leak-github

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft has stopped its $1 trial offer for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. The trial has been available for years, with brief periods where it wasn’t always available in certain markets, and it now looks like Microsoft is considering new promotions instead. “We have stopped our previous introductory offer for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass and are evaluating different marketing promotions for new members in the future,” says Kari Perez, head of global communications at Xbox, in a statement to The Verge . The $1 trial has allowed people to sign up to Xbox Game Pass for a month, before the full Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription kicks in at $14.99 per month or $9.99 a month for the PC- or console-only subscriptions.... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/26/23657627/microsoft-xbox-game-pass-trial-offer-stopped

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge The Wii U and Nintendo 3DS digital storefronts are shutting down tomorrow, March 27th, 2023. While you’ll no longer be able to purchase games or DLC from either eShop, you’ll still be able to redownload the games you’ve already bought and play online for the time being. Nintendo first warned us of the shutdown last year and started barring users from loading money into the Wii U and 3DS eShops in August. Sadly, this imminent shutdown means we’ll have to bid farewell to the hundreds of great digital-only titles available on either store, such as Dr. Luigi , Pokemon Rumble U , Pushmo , Pokémon Picross , and many others. The closures will also make it impossible to purchase the full range of Virtual Console games on the 3DS and Wii U, which... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/26/23657431/wii-u-nintendo-3ds-eshops-shut-down

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon Musk has put a $20 billion value on Twitter, making up less than half of the $44 billion Musk paid to acquire the site, according to reports from Platformer and The Information . In a memo sent to staff viewed by Platformer ’s Zoë Schiffer, Musk reportedly says that employees will receive stock grants based on Twitter’s $20 billion valuation. Musk stated last year that he’s “obviously overpaying” for Twitter at $54.20 per share. Price was also one of the reasons why he attempted to back out of the deal last year, claiming that the company made false and misleading statements about the presence of bots on the platform. Comp increases will be based on X Corp stock. Current grants are based on a $20b valuation. Musk says he sees a... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/26/23657182/elon-musk-twitter-employee-stock-grants-valuation

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Apple could soon launch a USB-C version of its second-gen AirPods Pro. That’s according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo , who believes the company could start shipping the earbuds with a USB-C case during the second and third quarters of this year. This apparently doesn’t apply to Apple’s standard AirPod models, though, as Kuo notes that the company “currently appears to have no plans for USB-C versions of the AirPods 2 & 3.” Kuo hinted at the change in response to a tweet from Twitter user @aaronp613 , who spotted references to a new AirPods model number (A3048), along with a new AirPods case model number (A29680) in iOS 16.4. I think this is likely the USB-C version of the AirPods Pro 2, with mass shipments expected in 2Q23-3Q23. By the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/26/23656613/airpods-pro-usb-c-launch-rumors-ming-chi-kuo

Tired: the metaverse. Wired: the message-verse? | Image: OpenAI / David Pierce It’s pretty obvious that nobody saw ChatGPT coming. Not even OpenAI. Before it became by some measures the fastest growing consumer app in history, before it turned the phrase “generative pre-trained transformers” into common vernacular, before every company you can think of was racing to adopt its underlying model, ChatGPT launched in November as a “research preview.” The blog post announcing ChatGPT is now a hilarious case study in underselling. “ChatGPT is a sibling model to InstructGPT, which is trained to follow an instruction in a prompt and provide a detailed response. We are excited to introduce ChatGPT to get users’ feedback and learn about its strengths and weaknesses.” That’s it! That’s the whole pitch! No waxing poetic about... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/26/23655456/chatgpt-bard-bing-ai-race-text-boxes

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft has pushed an update to fix a screenshot editing vulnerability in Windows 10 and 11, as spotted earlier by Bleeping Computer . The security flaw, dubbed the “aCropalypse,” could let bad actors recover the edited portions of screenshots, potentially revealing personal information that had been cropped out or concealed. According to Microsoft, the issue (CVE-2023-28303) affects both the Snip & Sketch app on Windows 10 and the Snipping Tool on Windows 11. However, it only applies to images created in a very specific set of steps. That includes those that have been taken, saved, edited, and then saved over the original file, as well as the ones opened in the Snipping Tool, edited, and then saved to the same location. It doesn’t have... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/25/23656627/microsoft-fixes-screenshot-vulnerability-windows

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft doesn’t want its rivals to use Bing’s search index to power their AI chatbots, according to a report from Bloomberg . The company reportedly told two unnamed Bing-powered search engines that it will restrict them from accessing Microsoft’s search data altogether if they continue using it with their AI tools. As noted by Bloomberg , Microsoft licenses out Bing’s search data to several search engines, including DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, and the AI search engine You.com . While DuckDuckGo, for example, uses a combination of Bing and its own web crawler to provide search results, You.com and Neeva also pull some of their results from Bing, helping to conserve some of the time and resources that come along with crawling the entire web. M... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/25/23656336/microsoft-chatbot-rivals-stop-using-bing-search-index

Naiad. | Image: Hiwarp The Game Developers Conference was a chance to check out some fascinating new indie games, ranging from a charming family story told through cooking to a strategy game about building a city on top of a giant beast. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23654583/gdc-2023-best-indie-games-venba-cart-life

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge “My old Dell XPS 15 has gotten sluggish. The battery dies easily. It’s heavy to cart around, anyhow. Now that I’m going out in public again, I need a new work machine.” These were the thoughts circling my head at yesterday’s Framework event — where the company known for its easily-upgradable laptops announced new chips and a new, longer-lasting battery . “Battery life has consistently been the main negative for the Framework laptop,” said CEO Nirav Patel, hitting on the one reason I’d only ever admired the company’s laptops from a distance. This morning, without that one reason to hold back, it was time to put down a $100 deposit for my own Framework Laptop 13. But I didn’t — because Framework wouldn’t sell me that battery unless I... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/24/23655616/framework-laptop-battery-i5-ryzen-5-higher-price

This is from Epic’s Unreal Editor for Fortnite, but it’s not from any Mario Kart track that I’m aware of. | Image: Epic Games Epic Games’ new Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) toolset has only been out for two days, but the company is already having to threaten permanent bans for creators making content that violates copyright. That even goes for violating content that creators post about on social media and content that they aren’t going to actually publish . “All content in Fortnite must adhere to Fortnite’s game rating, Fortnite Island Creator Rules and intellectual property and DMCA guidelines ,” Epic wrote in a blog post on Friday . “Those who create violating content in UEFN — even if they never intend to publish it in Fortnite — or share violating content on social media, will face content takedowns and enforcement actions, up to and including permanent... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/24/23655462/epic-games-unreal-editor-fortnite-permaban...

Francesco Francavilla’s Us poster. | Image: Francesco Francavilla / Mondo It wasn’t a good sign when Funko announced earlier this month its plans to straight up destroy somewhere between $30 and $36 million worth of its collectible vinyl figurines due to dwindling demand that’s tanked their value. But Funko’s recent decision to lay off about half of the staffers at subsidiary Mondo paints a clear picture of a company struggling to secure its financial footing. Though Funko only acquired Mondo — the Austin-based nostalgic memorabilia outfit known for its small-batch movie posters and vinyl records — from Alamo Drafthouse last summer, The Wrap reports that “most of” Mondo’s staff, including co-founders Rob Jones and Mitch Putnam, were laid off this week. Along with the layoffs, Funko is said to be shuttering... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23655258/funko-mondo-posters-layoffs-toys-vinyl

Image: Showtime The gruesome mystery returns, but it’s lacking some of the punch that made the first season so potent. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23654990/yellowjackets-season-2-review-showtime

Álvaro Bernis / The Verge How we use the internet is changing fast, thanks to the advancement of AI-powered chatbots that can find information and redeliver it as a simple conversation. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23610427/chatbots-chatgpt-new-bing-google-bard-conversational-ai

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has announced that it’ll start “winding down” its legacy verified program and removing “legacy verified checkmarks” starting on April 1st, and is telling users to subscribe to its Blue subscription if they want to keep their blue check. There’s a lot to unpack here. First, the announcement isn’t necessarily a surprise. CEO Elon Musk has been promising to get rid of “legacy” blue check marks, or verification badges that were given under Twitter’s previous rules, since November, and he’s reiterated that they’d be going away “in coming months” several times. According to Musk , those verification badges were given out in a “corrupt and nonsensical” manner (though they are in fact quite useful for letting users confirm that the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/23/23654206/twitter-legacy-blue-verified-checkmarks-april-fools-day

Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge How’s our favorite Bitcoin maxi Jack Dorsey doing ? Well, the short sellers at Hindenburg Research published an absolute barn-burner of a report alleging widespread fraud at his company, Block. Besides that, Hindenburg says Block misled its investors and is engaging in predatory lending practices. Oh, okay! Block is threatening to sue. Its shares closed down almost 15 percent on March 23rd, the day the report was released, from the day before. Sure, it’s rude to bet on someone’s failure and profit off it, but rude isn’t the same as immoral If you aren’t familiar with Hindenburg Research, they are bad motherfuckers ! Like, they wrote a whole report alleging that the electric vehicle company Nikola was “intricate fraud built on dozens of... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/23/23654015/jack-dorsey-block-hindenburg-research-fraud-report

Aerial view of an offshore wind farm on July 2nd, 2022, in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province of China. | Photo by Yao Feng / VCG via Getty Images The wind energy industry is recovering from a worrying slump in 2022, according to a new report from BloombergNEF. Growth in global capacity — encompassing offshore and onshore wind — dropped 15 percent last year. The decline in new offshore wind installations was more stark, falling 46 percent from 2021. Until last year, winds looked favorable for the industry. Turbines have gotten significantly cheaper over the past couple decades. Governments are setting targets to bring more renewable energy online. And within a few years, renewable sources of electricity like wind and solar are expected to dominate global power sector growth. Nevertheless, after two years of record growth at the start of the decade, supply chain constraints and... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/23/23653317/wind-energy-recovery-inflation-t...

Image: Daedalic Entertainment It is a shame Andy Serkis never won an award for his work as Gollum in the Peter Jackson-helmed The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The way he managed to evoke two distinct personalities — Gollum and his mild-mannered Hobbit alter ego Sméagol — with his voice and body movements is a performance that should have netted him one of those goofy-looking gold statues. In a hands-on demo of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum , I was reminded of Serkis’ mercurial performance as Gollum and was pleased to see that those dual personalities were a fundamental part of the game. In my short time with Gollum , I got to scamper around Mordor chasing troublesome crows and avoiding orcs, which, if they catch you, will automatically give you a “game over.” Sneakiness... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23643694/lord-of-the-rings-gollum-demo-hands-on-impression

Image: Nvidia CD Projekt Red is releasing a technology preview of a new Cyberpunk 2077 ray tracing mode next month. Path tracing, also known as full ray tracing, will be enabled in the game on April 11th, which will bring even more accurately simulated light to the role-playing game. Path tracing is film-like rendering that’s been used by studios like Pixar to create incredible visuals in movies. Visual effects artists use path tracing for film and TV graphics, but it’s incredibly GPU-intensive for video games. CD Projekt Red is using Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) upscaling technology to bring this full ray tracing mode to Cyberpunk 2077 . Image: Nvidia A comparison between ray tracing, path tracing, and regular... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/23/23653237/cyberpunk-2077-overdrive-mode-full-ray-tracing-path-tracing

Dentists hate this one easy trick. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung’s recently caught some flak after widespread reports that its camera software fakes zoom pictures of the moon , but things may be about to get way more unsettling. A Verge reader wrote in on Wednesday to tell us that the company’s software is adding teeth to pictures of their seven-month old daughter. This reader says they recently got an S23 Ultra, and decided to try out the Remaster feature in Samsung’s photo-viewing app, Gallery. (It’s the default photo app for the phone, and the feature is available inside the camera if you visit your photo roll.) They expected something like what Google Photos does, suggesting specific adjustments and filters, unbluring pictures , and the like. Instead, they got the results you can see below,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/22/23652488/samsung-gallery-remaster-feature-teeth-baby-photos-moon

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge IFTTT, the productivity platform that lets users create automations across various apps and devices, has announced three new AI-powered services. The platform will now let users incorporate AI-generated social media posts, blogs, and summaries into their automations, but only if they subscribe to its $5 monthly Pro Plus plan. IFTTT, which stands for “if this, then that,” is a service that lets users chain together a series of actions between devices and apps, called “applets.” This includes automations like adding songs from liked videos on YouTube to a Spotify playlist or receiving a notification on your phone about the weather every morning. But now, IFTTT’s adding another layer of automation to its service. Its new automations — AI... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/22/23652355/ifttt-ai-powered-automations-gpt-3

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Epic Games has just wrapped its State of Unreal 2023 keynote, where it showed off new enhancements coming to Unreal Engine 5.2, stunning new MetaHuman technology, a big push to unify its disparate assets marketplaces, and Fortnite’s long-awaited Unreal Editor tools. Given the popularity of Unreal Engine and Fortnite , the day’s announcements could have a major impact on the games we play in the future. Here are the biggest announcements from the show. Epic showed off a stunning, foliage-filled Unreal Engine 5.2 demo One of Unreal Engine 5.2’s biggest additions is new procedural generation tools, which Epic showed off in a gorgeous “Electric Dreams” demo that took place in a dense, foliage-filled forest partially created... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/22/23645702/epic-games-state-of-unreal-2023-keynote-biggest-announcements-fortnite-engine

Image: Valve Counter-Strike 2 is official, and for some, it’s coming today . In a post on Twitter, Valve writes that a limited test for CS2 is starting today, which it describes as an “overhaul to every system, every piece of content, and every part of the C-S experience.” A website for the game describes it as “the largest technical leap forward in Counter-Strike’s history” and promises years of updates and new features. The full game is expected to release in summer 2023, according to the game’s FAQ . It will be free to play. CS2 is based on Valve’s Source 2 engine and includes updates to some of the game’s core mechanics, including improved smoke grenades and “sub-tick updates” that Valve says will let “servers know the exact instant that motion... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/22/23651939/counterstrike-cs2-valve-smoke-grenades-limited-test

Microsoft’s Notion competitor is ready for everyone to try. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is now letting anyone preview Microsoft Loop, a collaborative hub offering a new way of working across Office apps and managing tasks and projects. Much like Notion, Microsoft Loop includes workspaces and pages where you can import and organize tasks, projects, and documents. But what sets the two apart is Loop’s shareable components that let you turn any page into a real-time block of content that can be pasted into Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Word on the web, and Whiteboard. Loop components are constantly updated and editable for whoever they’re shared with. Imagine a table that you’re working on with colleagues; you can drop that as a Loop component into a Teams message or Outlook email, and any edits to the table will be... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/22/23651487/microsoft-loop-public-preview-notion-competitor

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta’s Horizon Worlds VR social network is getting quests. No, not Quest headsets, but in-game missions with rewards that might make its experiences more entertaining to visit and more interesting to return to. With the new quests, which are now in testing , you can complete certain tasks in a given world to earn in-game rewards like clothing for your avatar. Meta’s test takes place in an experience called Giant Mini Paddle Golf , which is set in a whimsical mini golf course where you use a paddle to whack a ball toward each hole. If you’re in the test, you can access the quests screen from a new icon you’ll see in the card with your profile picture, and when you complete a quest in that screen, you’ll get a prize. GIF:... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/21/23650916/meta-horizon-worlds-in-game-quests-rewards

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge You know how researchers recently discovered that the Pixel’s built-in cropping tool didn’t actually get rid of the data you removed and that a little digging let you see the parts of the image that had been supposedly cut out? One of those researchers is now reporting that Microsoft’s Snipping Tool for Windows 11 as well as the Snip & Sketch tool in Windows 10 have a very similar exploit, which could mean that information people thought they’d gotten rid of is now floating around on the internet. According to a tweet from David Buchanan , if you take a screenshot with the tool, press the save button, and then crop it and save it to the same file, the data may still be available in the file. Buchanan says you can even use pretty much the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/21/23650657/windows-snipping-tool-crop-screenshots-vulnerability