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Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Microsoft is releasing its Windows 11 2023 Update today, which was originally supposed to be one of the biggest updates to Windows 11. But Microsoft went ahead and released a lot of the features in the Windows 11 2023 Update (23H2) a little early last month , including the new Windows Copilot, AI-powered updates to Paint, Snipping Tool, and Photos, RGB lighting support, a modernized File Explorer, and more. So, the main change to the Windows 11 2023 Update is the removal of the Microsoft Teams integration named Chat. “Chat is now Microsoft Teams (free) and is pinned by default to the taskbar,” explains John Cable , VP of program management for Windows servicing and delivery. “When you click to launch Microsoft Teams, you will discover a... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/31/23940033/microsoft-windows-11-2023-update-download-available

Illustration: The Verge More than three years after Microsoft gutted its news divisions and replaced their work with AI and algorithmic automation, the content generated by its systems continues to contain grave errors that human involvement could, or should, have stopped. Today, The Guardian accused the company of damaging its reputation with a poll labeled “insights by AI” that appeared in Microsoft Start next to a Guardian story about a woman’s death, asking readers to vote on how she died. The Guardian wrote that though the poll was removed, the damage had already been done. The poll asked readers to vote on whether a woman took her own life, was murdered, or died by accident. Five-day-old comments on the story indicate readers were upset, and some clearly... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/31/23940298/ai-generated-poll-guardian-microsoft-start-news-aggregation

Get to popular sites like example.com without having to stretch your thumbs. | Image: Google Google’s Chrome browser on iOS is officially getting the option to move the address bar from the top of the screen to the bottom, the search giant has announced. Early signs of the feature were spotted in a beta version of the browser this year , but as of this week, it’s getting a wide release. Without having to update my browser, I already have access to the feature on my phone. It’s an optional change, and judging by my own Chrome app, the default is still the top-oriented address bar. But if you want to move it down to the bottom, you can do so using the “address bar” option in the Settings menu or by long-pressing on the bar itself and tapping “move address bar to bottom.” Image: Google You can move the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/31/23940005/chrome-ios-address-bar-bottom-of-the-screen

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge In late 2018, Google CEO Sundar Pichai floated a bold idea to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Cook had just told Pichai he wanted to be “deep, deep partners, deeply connected where our services end and yours begin,” according to notes from the meeting. Pichai responded with a proposal: What if Apple preinstalled a Google Search app on every iOS device? Exactly what that would have looked like — a full-blown app, a native widget, some reinvention of the Spotlight feature — is hard to say. But Pichai’s case to Apple, revealed during the CEO’s testimony in the US v. Google antitrust trial today, was simple. Google had seen that the Google app and widget were popular on Android and drove people to do more searching. More Google searches on Apple... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/30/23938775/google-search-app-ios-built-in-antitrust

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge For a while, I really thought I could be a self-hoster. After months of talking to people about platforms and security and what it means that we really don’t own any of the data and apps we use every day, my big plan was to buy a mini PC and run my life off my own device. A lot of Docker experimentation later, I pretty much gave up. (As one person put it to me, if you ever find yourself typing in an IP address and port number, you’ve officially exited the realm of “things most people will ever do.”) And so this episode of The Vergecast , the fourth and final in our series about connectivity, became about something else. Self-hosting is a nice idea and a totally impractical reality for most people; signing into cloud services and... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23938533/self-hosting-local-first-software-vergecast

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge President Joe Biden signed an executive order providing rules around generative AI, ahead of any legislation coming from lawmakers. The order has eight goals: to create new standards for AI safety and security, protect privacy, advance equity and civil rights, stand up for consumers, patients, and students, support workers, promote innovation and competition, advance US leadership in AI technologies, and ensure the responsible and effective government use of the technology. Several government agencies are tasked with creating standards to protect against the use of AI to engineer biological materials, establish best practices around content authentication, and build advanced cybersecurity programs. The National Institute of Standards... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/30/23914507/biden-ai-executive-order-regulation-standards

Illustration: The Verge OpenAI is rolling out new beta features for ChatGPT Plus members right now. Subscribers have reported that the update includes the ability to upload files and work with them, as well as multimodal support. Basically, users won’t have to select modes like Browse with Bing from the GPT-4 dropdown — it will instead guess what they want based on context. The new features bring a dash of the office features offered by its ChatGPT Enterprise plan to the standalone individual chatbot subscription. I don’t seem to have the multimodal update on my own Plus plan, but I was able to test out the Advanced Data Analysis feature, which seems to work about as expected. Once the file is fed to ChatGPT, it takes a few moments to digest the file before... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/29/23937497/chatgpt-plus-new-beta-all-tools-update-pdf-data-analysis

Image: The Verge YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket streams have been plagued with buffering and pixelation, making afternoon games today unwatchable, according to many, many posts. The @TeamYouTube account acknowledged the issue at 1:53PM ET. The team wrote that they're aware YouTube is having issues and they are working to fix them, but acknowledged that “YouTube TV or NFL Sunday Ticket may also be impacted.” Now that YouTube is the only place to watch NFL Sunday Ticket , that leaves viewers across the country with no options to watch games apart from any available local broadcasts. People have taken to X to complain that streams are freezing up or lagging , or that it’s just like watching illegal streams . And plenty of them point out the money factor . NFL... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/29/23937429/nfl-sunday-ticket-youtube-tv-buffering-glitch

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Android apps are about to get better built-in passkey support. Google announced in a developer blog post last week that Credential Manager, a new Android-specific API for storing credentials like username and password combinations and passkeys, is going public on November 1st. Credential Manager, which has been in developer preview for months , houses biometric authentication of passkeys, traditional passwords, and federated identity login under one roof in Android phones. Ultimately, the change should allow apps to offer better authentication support in Android 14. Using Credential Manager, apps can offer users easy biometric logins through passkeys. That should mean a more friction-free sign-in experience since people who use that... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/29/23937095/android-14-passkey-support-credential-manager-api-third-party-apps

Illustration: The Verge Typical heart rate monitoring in wearable tech, like smart watches or wireless earbuds, relies at least partially on photoplethysmography (PPG), which uses light pulses to measure blood activity. It works generally well, but it has its limitations. Google scientists wrote in a new research blog spotted by 9to5Google yesterday that they had tried a different approach, called audioplethysmography (APG), that uses ultrasound to measure heart rate. And they did it with off-the-shelf active noise-canceling (ANC) earbuds and a software update. The trick works by bouncing a low-intensity ultrasound signal off the inside of the ear canal and using the tiny microphone that helps make ANC work to detect skin surface perturbations as blood pumps... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/28/23936562/google-heart-rate-monitoring-headphones-earbuds-active-noise-canceling

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is looking into an Android 14 bug that’s been wreaking havoc for people with multiple user profiles. On October 27th, a Google representative acknowledged the bug and said the team is “working hard on a fix” for it. Thanks for sticking with us. Our team is looking into this storage issue affecting some Pixel devices running Android 14 and we're working hard on a fix. We'll update this thread with more details soon. While the first reports were mostly from Pixel 6 owners who experienced the problem as the update started rolling out, Ars Technica reported this week that a Google issue tracker for the problem had grown beyond over 350 replies, extending to owners of many different devices. The problems range from missing apps to... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/28/23936313/google-android-14-bug-multiple-profiles-storage-crashing-stability

Illustration: The Verge Users have been reporting that their iPhone 15’s NFC chips were failing after using BMW’s in-car wireless charging, but until now, Apple hasn’t addressed the complaints. That seems to have changed as MacRumors reported this week that an Apple internal memo to third-party repair providers says a software update later this year should prevent a “small number” of in-car wireless chargers from “temporarily” disabling iPhone 15 NFC chips. Apple reportedly says that until the fix comes out, anyone who experiences this should not use the wireless charger in their car. Users have been complaining about BMW wireless chargers breaking Apple Pay and the BMW digital key feature in posts on Reddit , Apple’s Support community , and MacRumors’ own forums .... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/28/23936220/apple-says-bmw-wireless-chargers-really-are-messing-with-iphone-15s

Govee’s LED light strip can add a splash of pizzazz to your staircase with color-changing, dynamic lights. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Halloween isn’t the only holiday on the horizon now that October is drawing to a close. Once the clock strikes midnight on October 31st, Mariah Carey will defrost, peppermint mochas will inevitably return, and the 2023 holiday season will have officially begun. Thankfully for those looking to get in the festive spirit, Govee’s Matter-ready LED Strip Light M1 is on sale for an all-time low of $44.99 ($15 off) at Amazon when you clip the on-page coupon. You can also buy it for $3 more direct from Govee through October 31st, which is still one of its better prices to date. While handy throughout the year, Govee’s 6.56-foot (2m) light strip is particularly convenient during Halloween and other holidays. Not only can the bright, tunable LEDs... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/28/23934752/govee-le...

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge The US v. Google antitrust trial is about many things, but more than anything, it’s about the power of defaults. Even if it’s easy to switch browsers or platforms or search engines, the one that appears when you turn it on matters a lot. Google obviously agrees and has paid a staggering amount to make sure it is the default: testimony in the trial revealed that Google spent a total of $26.3 billion in 2021 to be the default search engine in multiple browsers, phones, and platforms. That number, the sum total of all of Google’s search distribution deals, came out during the Justice Department’s cross-examination of Google’s search head, Prabhakar Raghavan. It was made public after a debate earlier in the week between the two sides and... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/27/23934961/google-antitrust-trial-defaults-search-deal-26-3-billion

Shioli Kutsuna as Mitsuki. | Image: Apple For much of the first two seasons of Invasion , the show’s characters have seemingly been moving independently of each other. It’s clear that they were heading in similar directions, with paths that would converge in some way, but it wasn’t until the season 2 finale that Invasion finally started coming together. And it’s setting the show up for a big showdown in the future. Invasion has played out a lot like a character-driven drama that just so happens to be set at the ground level of an alien invasion. It started out slowly — we didn’t even get to see the spiky, blob-like invaders until a few episodes in — and largely stayed that way, even though season 2 ratcheted up the intensity somewhat to start . This story contains spoilers for... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23932047/invasion-season-2-review-apple-tv-plus

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge Regulators are still reviewing Adobe’s $20 billion proposed acquisition of Figma on antitrust grounds. In the meantime, it’s clear that both companies see lots of ways their products can work together. The below video shared exclusively with The Verge shows some of those ideas for the first time, including how Adobe’s generative AI engine, Firefly, could be integrated directly into Figma. Another example shows a working app prototype from Figma being dropped directly into After Effects, along with shared color palettes and fonts available in both Figma and Creative Cloud. “It’s really important that Figma operates as an independent team because their customer base is so distinct, and also, they’ve got a great thing going,” Adobe chief... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/26/23933425/adobe-figma-acquisition-integration-ai-video

Image: Viz Media As Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, a continuation of the popular Bleach anime — one of the “Big Three” of shonen anime series — continues its run, viewers were excited to see fan-favorite character Yoruichi make her first appearance in the show. But that excitement soured as fans and voice actors argued on social media over who has the “right” to voice a character of color, invoking the specter of racism versus nostalgia in voice casting. On October 7th, Afro-Latina voice actress Anairis Quiñones announced on X (formerly Twitter) that she had been cast to voice Yoruichi in Thousand-Year Blood War . I’m the English voice of Yoruichi in Bleach - Thousand Year Blood War!! ‍⬛ pic.twitter.com/rUQ5MaWAFh — Anairis Quiñones Baldur’s... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23930365/bleach-thousand-year-blood-war-yoruichi-voice-cast-controversy

Photo by Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge Chevy Bolt owners might have the option to receive a $1,400 payout from GM as compensation for dealing with defective EV batteries in model year vehicles from 2020-2022. As reported by Engadget , the new offer from GM comes as the company deals with a class action lawsuit over the Bolts that required a software update that limits range to protect it from catching fire. Previously, Chevy had two Bolt recalls that, over time, grew to include nearly every model ever released. To qualify for the offer, owners must install a “final remedy” software update on their Bolt through a Chevy dealership by December 31st, 2023. Owners will get a letter that grants them access to a web form to accept the money in the form of a Visa e-gift card. H... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/24/23930067/chevy-bolt-gm-compensation-class-action-batteries

Illustration: The Verge Google is adding some new features to the Google Play Games Beta on PC, its service that lets you play Android games on a PC, including support for 4K screen resolution on “supported monitors” and for popular console gaming controllers. Google detailed the updates in a blog post from Arjun Dayal , Google Play Games’ director of product. With the new support for 4K, you can now pick your screen resolutions while in game. “Simply press Shift + Tab in any game to select from a menu of supported resolutions,” according to Dayal. The game controllers that are now supported include the Xbox Series X / S controller, the Xbox One controller, Sony’s DualSense controller for PS5, and its DualShock controller for PS4. Google isn’t the only company... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/23/23928877/google-play-games-pc-4k-game-controllers-clash-of-clans-royale

Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge│Art by Junji Ito│Original story by Hirokatsu Kihara and Ichiro Nakayama It’s been an interesting year for fans of Junji Ito. 2023 will be bookended by animated adaptations of the famed horror master’s work; it started with Netflix’s anthology in January , while Adult Swim’s take on Uzumaki is expected by the end of the year. And right in the middle is a new collection of his work in English with Mimi’s Tales of Terror . It’s a series of short stories inspired by urban legends — just the thing for dark, cold October nights. The book is actually an adaptation itself, taking nine stories from Shin Mimibukuro — a collection of Japanese urban legends written by Hirokatsu Kihara and Ichiro Nakayama — and turning them into Ito’s particular brand of horror manga. They follow the story of a university student named... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23925649/junji-ito-mimis-tales-of-terror-review-horror-manga

New device types, including robot vacuums, smoke alarms, washing machines and refrigerators are coming to Matter. | Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge One year in, and Matter is adding support for fridges, robot vacuums, smoke alarms, and more. It’s a major step toward a complete smart home, but success hinges on platform and manufacturer follow-through. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/23/23925489/matter-1-2-smart-home-support-new-devices

Now your mom and dad can help you find your next potential partner and stop dunking on your questionable dating choices. | Image: Tinder If you’re the kind of person who asks friends and family for help with your love life, Tinder is aiming to make things a little easier by letting them suggest potential partners for you directly within the app. Tinder’s new Matchmaker feature lets users invite their loved ones, regardless of whether they have a Tinder profile or not, to view and recommend potential matches, essentially integrating a “friend test” into the dating app. Tinder Matchmaker is available now in 15 countries including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany, with a global rollout expected “in the coming months.” Users can start a Matchmaker session either directly from a profile card, or within the app settings — creating a link that can be shared... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/23/23928363/tinder-matchmaker-dating-app-feature-...

Metal Gear Solid 3 protagonist “Naked Snake.” | Image: Konami It’s hard to fault the breadth of content Konami has included in its tantalizingly-named ‘Vol. 1’ collection. Just don’t go in expecting many modern upgrades to these decades-old titles. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23925406/metal-gear-solid-master-collection-volume-1-review-sons-of-liberty-snake-eater

Image: The Verge Whether you want everything but the kitchen sink or top-tier performance for a midtier price, you’ve got options. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23674658/best-android-phone

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge October starting to slip away, and so far, all we’ve gotten was a very confusing Apple Pencil , despite rumors of iMacs and iPads . Well, it sounds like that new 24-inch M3-powered iMac is on its way this month after all. Mark Gurman thinks so, having written in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today that it’s coming very soon — as early as October 30th, in fact. That would end, as Gurman notes, an over 900-day drought since the M1 iMac launched in the first half of 2021. Gurman writes that he was “told that Apple is planning a Mac-centered product launch around the end of this month.” He adds that if you try to order the iMac, 13-inch MacBook Pro , and either of the other higher-end Pro models, several of their configurations aren’t... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/22/23927184/apple-m3-imac-13-inch-macbook-pro-rumored-october-announcement

Image: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 11, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome to the Installer verse, which is officially a thing now — we did it, everybody — and you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) I’m traveling this week, so I’ve got a slightly abbreviated issue for you. But there’s just way too much good stuff not to share. This week, I’m spending all my free time playing Subpar Pool , testing Twine as my new go-to Android RSS reader, watching Zane Lowe talk music with Blink-182 , learning about the incredible work of the masters of film set design , reading Cory Doctorow’s new book, The Internet Con , finally for real canceling some too-expensive streaming... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/22/23925495/super-mario-bros-wonder-oneplus-open-spiderman-2-installer-newsletter

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge In 2020, scientists decided just to rework the alphanumeric symbols they used to represent genes rather than try to deal with an Excel feature that was interpreting their names as dates and (un)helpfully reformatting them automatically. Yesterday, a member of the Excel team posted that the company is rolling out an update on Windows and macOS to fix that. Excel’s automatic conversions are intended to make it easier and faster to input certain types of commonly entered data — numbers and dates, for instance. But for scientists using quick shorthand to make things legible, it could ruin published, peer-reviewed data, as a 2016 study found . Microsoft detailed the update in a blog post this week, adding a checkbox labeled “Convert continuous... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/21/23926585/microsoft-excel-misreading-dates-human-genes-conversion-fixed

Illustration: The Verge A jury found Google guilty of sexual discrimination and awarded female Google Cloud executive Ulku Rowe, who filed the complaint, $1.1 million. Rowe’s lawsuit alleged that the company gave higher pay to less-experienced male cohorts and that it later denied her promotions in retaliation for her complaints, both internal and later in court. Bloomberg Law reports the jury ruled that Google owes Rowe for both punitive damages and pain and suffering. Rowe said before the trial started that her time at Google was “overshadowed by what I believe are unfair compensation and treatment due to my gender.” She alleged that, after the company passed her over for a promotion to vice president that was given to a man who had neither applied nor was... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/21/23926501/google-cloud-lawsuit-ulku-rowe-verdict

The Asus ROG Ally handheld PC in a Dbrand Killswitch case. | Images: Dbrand Your Asus ROG Ally gaming handheld is brilliantly white, and that will not stand: you’ve decided your gadgets must be black. Or... maybe you just want a rugged case that’ll survive a drop or three? Either way, Dbrand thinks it’s got what you need — a $60 Killswitch case like the one it makes for the Steam Deck that’ll ship early next year. “But wait,” I will pretend to hear some of you thinking, “Didn’t Dbrand royally screw that up? Didn’t The Verge trigger a million-dollar recall when you folks discovered it interfered with a Steam Deck fan?” Yes — but Dbrand did rapidly recall them, admitted its mistake, then shipped a replacement Killswitch 2.0 that I’ve been testing for months with no issue. It’s still an impressively rugged,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/20/23924719/dbrand-killswitch-asus-rog-ally-steam-deck-update

Image: GameMill Entertainment According to developers who worked on the project, Skull Island: Rise of Kong only had a year’s worth of development time. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/20/23925326/skull-island-rise-of-kong-development-gamemill-entertainment

Jaz Sinclair as Marie Moreau. | Photo by Brooke Palmer / Prime Video As invested as Amazon has been in its adaptation of The Boys , it always seemed like a given that the series’ new spinoff, Gen V , would be coming back for a second season following its debut last month. But just in case there was any doubt, Amazon’s just made Gen V ’s sophomore year official. This afternoon, ahead of Gen V ’s season 1 finale this November, Amazon announced that it has renewed Gen V for a second season. In a statement about the renewal, Amazon MGM Studios TV head Vernon Sanders described producing Gen V as “an incredible journey” and pointed to showrunners Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters’ desire to push boundaries as sources of the show’s success. “Their unapologetic approach is exactly what audiences love, and it has... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23924179/gen-v-the-boys-season-2-renewal

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Major record label Universal Music Group and other music publishers have sued artificial intelligence company Anthropic for distributing copyrighted lyrics with its AI model Claude 2. The music publishers’ complaint , filed in Tennessee, claims that Claude 2 can be prompted to distribute almost identical lyrics to songs like Katy Perry’s “Roar,” Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” and the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” They also allege Claude 2’s results use phrases extremely similar to existing lyrics, even when not asked to recreate songs. The complaint used the example prompt “Write me a song about the death of Buddy Holly,” which led the large language model to spit out the lyrics to Don Mclean’s “American Pie”... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/19/23924100/universal-music-sue-anthropic-lyrics-copyright-katy-perry

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The FCC has unanimously approved plans by several tech companies to use the 6GHz band for wireless devices. FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel proposed the new rules, which would authorize very low power (VLP) operations — meaning their signals won’t be able to go very far — in about 850MHz of the spectrum, on September 27th. The rules will also allow devices to “use higher power levels” so long as they’re geofenced to keep from interfering with actual licensed 6GHz usage, and the FCC will be taking comments on other ways it can expand 6GHz spectrum usage by technology devices. A September Bloomberg report pointed to some of the kinds of devices the FCC’s affirmative vote could open up, including in-car connections, mobile virtual or... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/19/23923015/fcc-6ghz-approval-very-low-power-devices-apple-google-meta

Image: OpenAI OpenAI is launching wider availability of its latest text-to-image generator. On Thursday, the company is giving ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise customers access to the new DALL-E 3 model that works within the ChatGPT app. OpenAI says it has prepared a safety mitigation stack for the model that makes it ready for an expanded release. DALL-E 3 was first announced last month , and OpenAI showed how it improved upon the previous DALL-E 2 by allowing users to leverage ChatGPT to write longer and more visually descriptive prompts for them to feed the image generator. DALL-E 3 was added to Bing Chat and Bing Image Generator, making Microsoft’s platform the first to introduce wider public access to the model — even before ChatGPT. The advertised... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/19/23923895/openai-dall-e-3-chatgpt-plus-enterprise

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google is upgrading Android’s Play Protect malware protection system to help it spot malicious apps that change their identifiable features to avoid detection, the company has announced. “This enhancement will help better protect users against malicious polymorphic apps that leverage various methods, such as AI, to be altered to avoid detection,” Google’s blog post reads. The update follows a rise in this so-called “polymorphic malware,” which is harder for Google’s existing systems to detect. So now, in addition to checking newly installed apps against existing scanning intelligence and using techniques like on-device machine learning, Play Protect will also recommend a real-time app scan when installing apps that haven’t been scanned... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/18/23922111/google-play-protect-malware-detection-apps-malicious-software-ai-polymorphic

Image: Sony While it’s still not clear when we’ll get a chance to see Sony’s much-anticipated third Spider-Verse animated film on the big screen, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is making its way to Netflix this fall. Deadline reports that following its monstrous $690 million worldwide theatrical run, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is scheduled to hit Netflix in the US on October 31st, just a few days after the premiere of Big Mouth ’s seventh season . Earlier this year, Sony pushed back the release dates for a number of its upcoming features like Kraven the Hunter and a Ghostbusters: Afterlife follow-up , and the studio took Beyond the Spider-Verse — Across the Spider-Verse ’s sequel — off its list of scheduled releases entirely . With the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23920975/across-the-spider-verse-netflix-october-release-date

New UI for drive modes and gauge views. | Image: Rivian Rivian is redesigning a bunch of key features for its electric trucks and SUVs to improve the user experience and make towing easier. The company is updating its Drive Mode app, introducing a real-time metrics screen that includes information like live motor temperatures and enhancing the towing experience to include a bed camera for the R1T. This software update, version 2023.38.0, is available now for both the R1T pickup truck and the R1S SUV. In a promotional video , Rivian’s SVP of software development, Wassym Bensaid, acknowledges customer feedback that the drive controls were difficult to reach. Now, controls like ride height, regen modes, and more are on the far left and easier to reach. For on-road, off-road, and trailer modes,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/17/23920632/rivian-ota-software-update-2023-38-drive-mode-towing-improvements

Mayor Eric Adams during a press conference at City Hall Blue Room on Tuesday, October 10th, 2023.  | Photo by Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images Thanks to artificial intelligence tools, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has sent a barrage of robocalls to residents in languages he doesn’t speak. That includes “thousands” of robocalls in Spanish, more than 250 in Yiddish, more than 160 in Mandarin, 89 in Cantonese, and 23 in Haitian Creole, The City reports . That’s triggered pushback over how ethical it is for Adams to portray himself to potential voters as someone who speaks their native language when he actually doesn’t. “This is deeply unethical, especially on the taxpayer’s dime. Using AI to convince New Yorkers that he speaks languages that he doesn’t is deeply Orwellian,” Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), said in a s... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/17/23920733/nyc-ma...

Honda’s autonomous work vehicle prototype is ready to be deployed at airports. | Image: Honda Honda’s latest robot is an autonomous work vehicle (AWV) designed to handle all the boring, repetitive tasks at airports. It’s also meant to demonstrate that autonomous vehicles can have other purposes that don’t involve jamming up city streets or obstructing emergency vehicles. The company is sending its first prototype to the Toronto Pearson Airport as part of a demonstration of how AI, robotics, and autonomous vehicle technology can help address many of the challenges facing airports, including labor shortages, safety, and emissions. The work vehicle was first introduced as a concept by Honda at CES in 2018 and is now being put to use. The company is sending its first prototype to the Toronto Pearson Airport Some of the tasks handled... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/17/23920622/honda-autonomous-work-vehicle-airport-robot-toronto

Illustration: The Verge Google responded to congressional child online safety proposals with its own counteroffer for the first time Monday, urging lawmakers to drop problematic protections like age-verification tech. In a blog post , Google released its “ Legislative Framework to Protect Children and Teens Online .” The framework comes as more lawmakers, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), are lining up behind the Kids Online Safety Act, a controversial bill intended to protect kids from dangerous content online. In the framework, Google rejects state and federal attempts at requiring platforms to verify the age of users, like forcing users to upload copies of their government IDs to access an online service. Some states have recently gone as far as passing laws... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/16/23919221/google-youtube-child-safety-age-verification-laws-privacy

Spotify’s new hub recommends merch to users from their favorite artists. | Image: The Verge Spotify introduced a new hub for artist merchandise on Monday that recommends goods like T-shirts, vinyl records, and this brass Lana Del Rey lighter for moody girls . It is the latest effort from Spotify to integrate merch purchasing into the app, which has been a priority for artists who distribute on the streaming service. Merch on Spotify isn’t new — the company launched a partnership with Shopify in 2021 and has been making small updates ever since to facilitate shopping. Still, the purchasing does not happen directly in the app; users can browse goods but are then directed to artists’ individual merch stores. Spotify does not take a cut from sales, but the merch push does serve a business purpose. It is well known how little artists... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/16/23919160/spotify-merch-hub-taylor-swift-shopify

Apple CEO Tim Cook talks to an employee at a solar farm in Hanstholm, Denmark. | Photo by Christoph Dernbach / picture alliance via Getty Images A new report compares climate initiatives by Apple, Dell, Google, HP, Microsoft, and Nvidia. Apple’s far from perfect, but so far, it’s ahead of the pack, according to today’s report. It’s the only company among the six tech giants that has set targets for its suppliers to switch to renewable energy. “Other brands need to send similarly clear signals to their suppliers,” Gary Cook, global climate policy director for the nonprofit Stand.earth that published the report , said in a press release. To be sure, a completely separate report published by a different environmental group last week casts some doubt on Apple’s recent carbon neutral claims. Stand.earth’s new report, however, puts Apple’s broader climate initiatives in perspective by... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/16/23915763/apple-big-tech-climate-ch...

Laker legend-turned-actor Rick Fox has a new passion: sustainable concrete. | Image: Partanna A new house in the Bahamas is built with an alternative concrete that sucks CO2 out of the air. It’s a home that’s supposed to help in the fight against climate change, and the plan is to build 999 more like it. That’s the slam dunk NBA Lakers legend-turned-actor Rick Fox is working toward now on the small island nation where he grew up. Fox is the CEO and co-founder of the sustainable building materials startup Partanna that unveiled its first home today. If they’re successful in the Bahamas, the goal is to make its alternative concrete an everyday building material that could cut down pollution from construction. “I shut down my entire career that was in Hollywood to pursue and create [climate] solutions,” Fox tells The Verge . “I had... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/16/23916106/nba-lakers-rick-fox-concrete-alternative-house-partanna-climate-change

Image: Mojang Minecraft already has the distinction of being the bestselling video game of all time . Today, it adds more down to that particular feather in its cap with the announcement that it has sold a staggering 300 million copies. “As we approach the 15th anniversary, Minecraft remains one of the best-selling games of all time, with over 300 million copies sold, a milestone no one could have dreamed of when we were all placing our first blocks,” Helen Chiang, head of Mojang Studios, said in a statement. The new milestone was announced during Minecraft Live 2023 , a Minecraft livestream event that shares news and community updates and features a neat voting event in which players can vote on which new creature should be added to the game. This... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/15/23916349/minecraft-mojang-sold-300-million-copies-live-2023

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Apple may have a surprise iPad update announcement in store for this week. 9to5Mac says it has corroborated a report from Supercharged that Apple will announce spec bumps for three of its iPads — the base model, the iPad Air, and the iPad Mini. In a story this morning for Bloomberg , Mark Gurman said, “I don’t believe updates of any significance are imminent,” while also mentioning Apple has versions of the iPads with new chips in development. 9to5Mac says Apple will issue a press release announcing that the iPad Air and the iPad mini will be bumped to M2 and A16 Bionic chips, respectively. Apple refreshed the iPad Air and 10th-generation iPad last year, but it’s been twice as long since the company updated the iPad Mini with an A15... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/15/23917926/apple-ipad-air-mini-tablet-m2-a16-bionic-rumor

Illustration: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 10, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, hooray! I’m so happy you’re here, and also, you can catch up on all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) We made it through 10 weeks! It’s been so fun to make this every week and to talk to you all about the cool stuff you’re into. Thanks for being part of the Installerverse (we’re gonna make that a thing, it’s gonna happen), and as always, tell me everything you think we can do to make it better! This week, I’ve been reading about Marvel’s plan to fix its TV shows and all the wild testimony from the Sam Bankman-Fried trial , making lots of deranged art in the improved Bing Chat , watching the David Beckham... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23915813/sequel-sofa-media-tracking-apps-roblox-razr-big-vape-installer-newsletter

Illustration: The Verge Caltech has had some ups (winning $1.1 billion) and some downs ( losing the $1.1 billion award and being ordered to a trial on damages) since suing Apple and Broadcom in 2016 over Wi-Fi patents. Reuters reported this week that Caltech is dropping its yearslong lawsuit against Apple and Broadcom, about two months after the companies came to a “potential settlement.” Caltech wrote in a filing with a US District Court in California that it would drop its claims “with prejudice,” meaning it can’t refile its case, and asked that Broadcom do so as well, stating later that Broadcom “does not oppose this request.” Caltech also writes that it will dismiss its claims against Apple — again, “with prejudice.” The filing then says that Caltech... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/14/23917210/caltech-ends-apple-broadcom-lawsuit-wi-fi-patent

Counter-Strike 2 players could get unceremoniously banned for using Anti-Lag Plus. | Image: Valve Counter-Strike 2 developers strongly warned players in a post that they’ll be banned if they turn on AMD’s Anti-Lag feature for CS2 . According to the post, the features from the most recent driver updates are “implemented by detouring engine dll functions,” adding that when AMD updates the drivers, the team will work on “identifying affected users and reversing their ban.” AMD added support for Anti-Lag Plus in CS2 in the Adrenaline Edition version 23.30.1 driver . The feature is exclusive to Radeon RX 7000-series GPUs, so older hardware shouldn’t be affected. We emailed AMD for a statement on the issue. Engadget notes that you can disable the feature by pressing Alt+L, and points out that you can verify the hotkey assignment in AMD... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/14/23916966/cs2-counter-strike-2-anti-lag-plus-ban-amd-gpu-radeon-rx-7000

The Verge CNBC reports that the National Labor Relations Board alleged, in a complaint filed Friday , that X violated labor law when it fired an employee who criticized the company. Elon Musk bought the company, then known as Twitter, in October and threatened to fire workers who didn’t return to in-person office work. After Yao Yue encouraged others in the company’s Slack to let the company fire them instead of quitting, she was fired for breaking an unspecified company policy. CNBC writes that in the complaint, the NLRB accuses X of keeping workers at the company from exercising their legal labor rights. Yue alleges the company laid her off “in retaliation for her attempt to organize her co-workers not to resign, so they would have better legal... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/14/23916931/x-labor-law-violation-nlrb-complaint-fired-return-to-work

The last annular eclipse in 2021 as viewed in Toronto. | Photo by Mark Blinch / Getty Images Many eyes will turn to the sky on Saturday to catch a glimpse of an extremely rare “ring of fire” solar eclipse. But experts are cautioning against looking directly at the eclipse to avoid serious eye damage. An annular eclipse occurs while the Moon is near or at the farthest point in its orbit around the Earth. The Moon, which appears smaller in the sky because of this distance, passes directly in front of the Sun, creating this “ring of fire” effect. People across the contiguous United States and part of Alaska should be able to see the eclipse. Most regions will only see a partial eclipse, in which only a part of the Sun is covered up by the Moon. A fuller eclipse will be viewable in parts of Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/13/23915654/annular-solar-eclipse-ring-of-fire-how-to-watch-safely