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Shopify Magic Media Editor. | Image: Shopify The Shopify Magic suite of generative AI tools that launched in April last year is adding a media editor that brings generative image fill to its platform and conversational search powered by AI. Merchants can prompt the image editor to change photo backgrounds without Photoshop experience to match whatever theme they have in mind. Shopify’s AI editor can also suggest backgrounds and styles that match existing product images in the merchant’s library once it rolls out this spring . Glen Coates, Shopify’s vice president of product, says many sellers on the platform don’t have access to big studios or professional photographers, but they still need to set their items up for success. Since there’s no additional cost to use this tool, it... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24056980/shopify-generative-ai-image-editing-search

Illustration: The Verge FTX says it will repay investors after the cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse led to the loss of billions of dollars. During a court hearing on Wednesday, FTX lawyer Andrew Dietderich said the company expects to “have sufficient funds to pay all allowed customer and creditor claims in full.” The company will recompense customers based on the price of the cryptocurrency they purchased as of November 2022 — when the exchange filed for bankruptcy. There are still some challenges associated with getting the lost funds back to customers, though, as Dietderich notes the company will need to comb through all the claims to determine whether they’re legitimate. “I would like the court and stakeholders to understand this not as a guarantee, but as... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/31/24056991/ftx-repay-customers-bankruptcy

There’s no word yet on how Bullitt-produced phones like the Cat S75 (pictured) will be affected. | Image: Cat Bullitt Group, the UK-based smartphone manufacturer behind the rugged handsets of Cat, Land Rover, and Motorola, has seemingly shut down. On Monday, Mobile World Live spotted several Bullitt Group employees on LinkedIn saying that the company folded on January 26th after a “ critical planned restructuring ” failed. The Telegraph reported earlier this month that the company was on the brink of insolvency. Bullitt Group has yet to issue an official statement confirming the closure. The manufacturer previously told The Telegraph that it planned to transfer its satellite connectivity business and all 100 of its employees to a new company owned by its creditors, though one former employee now claims the entire workforce has been laid off. We... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/31/24056970/bullitt-group-rugged-smartphones-cat-motorola-folded-i...

‘Circle to Search’ comes to Pixel 8 and 8 Pro phones. | Image: Google Google is rolling out its “Circle to Search” feature to Pixel 8 phones today, bringing new ideas about how to gather information on the internet using AI. The feature, which is also available on Samsung Galaxy S24 phones, builds on Google’s multisearch tool that lets you combine image searches with words in the Google app. Now you can simply circle, scribble, or highlight things in other apps and learn more about them in place. The big change here is leveraging generative AI for on-the-fly searches within other apps in Android. Instead of taking an image or screenshot over to the Google app, you can long-press on the home button or the navigation bar from wherever you are to initiate the search, then highlight whatever you want to know... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/31/24056890/circle-to-search-google-pixel-8-pro-update

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra is the largest and most capable phone in the lineup. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Decent deals on new gadgets aren’t always easy to come by, which is why we love a good preorder promotion. Samsung has offered some pretty solid ones in recent years and, true to form, is discounting the entire Galaxy S24 lineup ahead of its launch tomorrow, January 31st. Additionally, retailers like Amazon and Best Buy are offering similar storage upgrades and gift cards, regardless of whether you purchase the Samsung Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, or high-end S24 Ultra. But you might want to act fast. Samsung’s deals expire at 3AM ET / 12AM PT tonight, and we expect the promos at Amazon and other retailers to follow in short order. Where to preorder the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra Samsung’s smartphone lineup consists of three phones:... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/30/24050368/samsung-galaxy-s24-plus-ultra-preorder-gift-card...

Illustrator by Alex Castro / The Verge ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is proposing a change that could streamline the way you access your home’s internal network. That means, instead of using the 192.168.x.x address to configure your router, you’d just need to type .internal. As pointed out by The Register , ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) first identified a need to reserve a top-level domain for private networks in 2020 — but not necessarily to make it easier to connect to your router. The SSAC wants the new .internal string to prevent private domain-naming schemes from clashing with other networks. Currently, the SSAC says the “informal use of top-level domains,” such as the .dlink domain used by the networking... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/30/24055534/web-private-network-internal-icann-name

Image: The Verge Last week, I turned on my PC, installed a Windows update, and rebooted to find Microsoft Edge automatically open with the Chrome tabs I was working on before the update. I don’t use Microsoft Edge regularly, and I have Google Chrome set as my default browser. Bleary-eyed at 9AM, it took me a moment to realize that Microsoft Edge had simply taken over where I’d left off in Chrome. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I never imported my data into Microsoft Edge, nor did I confirm whether I wanted to import my tabs. But here was Edge automatically opening after a Windows update with all the Chrome tabs I’d been working on. I didn’t even realize I was using Edge at first, and I was confused why all my tabs were suddenly logged out. After the shock... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24054329/microsoft-edge-automatic-chrome-import-data-feature

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Not long after Xbox kicked off the year with a showcase featuring the first look at Indiana Jones and the Great Circle , Sony has announced that it’s holding a State of Play livestream later this week. It’ll be 40 minutes long and will take place on January 31st at 5PM ET. Sony says that the event will include more than 15 games that cover “titles coming to PS5 and PS VR2 in 2024 and beyond.” The last State of Play was in September , which featured a release date announcement for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and a lengthy trailer for Spider-Man 2 ( which launched one month later ). We’ll likely see more of Rebirth at the upcoming livestream, along with other PlayStation titles like Helldivers 2 , Rise of the Rōnin , and the Silent Hill 2 remake . O... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/29/24054261/playstation-state-of-play-february-2024-date-stream

One of iRobot’s Roombas in action. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Amazon’s deal to buy Roomba maker iRobot is off, the companies announced today , after iRobot said the deal has “no path to regulatory approval in the European Union.” iRobot is also announcing that it’s laying off around 350 employees, or around 31 percent of its workforce as part of a restructuring . As part of the announcement, iRobot’s chairman and CEO Colin Angle is stepping down. iRobot’s current executive vice president and chief legal officer Glen Weinstein will serve as interim CEO, and Andrew Miller, formerly lead independent director of the board, will become chairman. The announcement comes after the $1.4 billion acquisition ran into difficulties with EU regulators. Last November, the European Commission said it believed the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/29/24034201/amazon-irobot-acquisition-over-antitrust-regulator-scrutiny

SLIM landed close to its target, but engine troubles during the descent saw the lander flipped upside-down and unable to properly recharge its solar batteries. | Image: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) has been resurrected, over a week after the probe ran out of electricity following its troubled lunar touchdown on January 20th, leaving it upside-down and its solar panels pointing in the wrong direction. On Monday, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that communication with the SLIM spacecraft had been re-established, and operations to hunt for clues about the Moon’s origins had resumed. JAXA had predicted that a change in sunlight direction could allow the probe’s battery to be recharged from its awkwardly angled solar panels. It’s unclear how long this power will last — the agency previously said that SLIM was not designed to survive a lunar night, which will next... Continue reading… source htt...

The Nomad Stand offers 15W of wireless iPhone fast charging for $100. | Image: Nomad Nomad’s Stand is the latest Qi2 charger to hit the market, offering up to 15W of wireless charging speed to Qi2-compatible phones like the iPhone 15. The accessory was announced in late December , but it’s now shipping in a choice of black or white for $100 from Nomad’s website . It’s $100 price point makes the Stand $10 cheaper than Nomad’s equivalent MagSafe model, the Stand One , and offers the same “up to 15W” charging speeds and magnetic attachment compatibility as Apple’s MagSafe (Apple helped develop the Qi2 charging standard). The bad news is that Nomad’s $100 asking price doesn’t include the required 20W power adapter — you just get a USB-C to USB-C cable. Image: Nomad Nomad’s Stand in black. Nomad’s... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/29/24054150/nomad-stand-qi2-price-release-date-specs-details-15w-fast-charging-magsafe-iphone-15

Arc Search browses the web for you, and then builds you the webpage you wanted. That’s the idea, anyway. | Image: The Browser Company / David Pierce A few minutes ago, I opened the new Arc Search app and typed, “What happened in the Chiefs game.” That game, the AFC Championship, had just wrapped up. Normally, I’d Google it, click on a few links, and read about the game that way. But in Arc Search, I typed the query and tapped the “Browse for me” button instead. Arc Search , the new iOS app from The Browser Company, which has been working on a browser called Arc for the last few years, went to work. It scoured the web — reading six pages, it told me, from Twitter to The Guardian to USA Today — and returned a bunch of information a few seconds later. I got the headline: Chiefs win. I got the final score, the key play, a “notable event” that also just said the Chiefs won, a note about... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/28/24053882/arc-search-browser-web...

Image: The Verge X says it will hire 100 full-time employees for a new trust and safety office in Austin, Texas, according to a Saturday report by Bloomberg . The plan comes, as the article notes, just a few days before CEO Linda Yaccarino’s scheduled January 31st hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding X’s handling of child sexual exploitation moderation. The team would reportedly focus mainly on CSE and would be the first proper trust and safety team since Elon Musk gutted it shortly after purchasing the platform formerly known as Twitter. X updated a blog post about its CSE moderation approach to mention the new office yesterday, as well, though it doesn’t reveal what the new team will be doing, nor when the office will open. The... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/27/24053003/x-content-moderation-office-child-sexual-exploitation

Illustration: The Verge X appears to have blocked searches for Taylor Swift as a reaction to a recent trend of graphic AI fakes of the world-famous recording artist being posted to the site . Right now, if you search “Taylor Swift” or “Taylor Swift AI” on X, formerly Twitter, you may see a “Something went wrong” message. After Platformer ’s Casey Newton posted about the apparent block, we tried some other searches. If X is intentionally blocking searches for illicit AI-generated images of Swift, it doesn’t seem to have gotten very far. That’s because if you run into a blocked search term and decide to put the barest amount of effort into trying something else, you’ll get around it. “Taylor AI Swift” or simply putting quotation marks around her name both returned... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/27/24052841/taylor-swift-search-blocked-x-twitter-ai-images

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft released a new Canary test build for Windows yesterday that brings the company’s Voice Clarity feature, which previously only worked on Surface devices , to all Windows machines, including those using ARM CPUs. The company says in a blog post that the feature uses “low complexity AI models” to filter out background noise, echo, and reverberation in real-time. If Voice Clarity works well enough, its obvious best use case is to make Zoom or Teams meetings less insufferable — after all, how many times have you found yourself lost because someone is giving a presentation while standing 10 feet away from a laptop, their voice awash in a sea of reverb or echo? Or been unable to concentrate on what you’re saying because your every... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/27/24052759/microsoft-windows-background-noise-suppression-voice-clarity-zoom-teams-meetings-surface-x64-arm

Nomad’s minimalist Base One Max 3-in-1 is on sale for $95. | Image: Nomad Fancy phone chargers are nice, but they’re often too expensive to justify the cost. Nomad’s Base One Max 3-in-1 is one of those rare unicorns that delivers a lot of value for your money, however, thus making it worth the splurge. After all, the device can simultaneously charge a MagSafe-compatible phone, your Apple Watch, and a pair of AirPods (or another Qi-compatible device) — that’s something not even Nomad’s forthcoming Qi2 charger can do. What’s even better is that Nomad is currently selling the hefty, MagSafe-certified charger in both black and silver for its Black Friday price of $95 ($55 off). Designed with metal and glass, Nomad’s minimalist slab will look slick on any desk or bedside table. It’s also powerful, delivering up to... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/27/24051664/nomad-base-max-3-in-1-charger-samsung-frame-tv-sonos-one-speaker-deal-sale

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Whatever it’s called, it sounds like it’s coming soon. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24051677/nintendo-switch-2-pro-rumors-news

Twinkly’s smart string lights can make any room look dreamy for less than $50. | Image: Twinkly If “budget-friendly” and “high-quality” sound like oxymorons to you, you’re in for a surprise. As it turns out, you can buy many great gifts without completely draining your savings account, which makes it easy to pick up a present for your anniversary, a birthday party, or one of the many other gift-giving occasions strewn throughout the year. Finding the right gift can still be tough, though, even when there is a sea of inexpensive items for under $50 to choose from. That’s why we’ve put together a selection of techy gift ideas, ranging from disposable cameras and wireless earbuds to home security gadgets . We’ve also highlighted an array of last-minute gifts that are more unique than your run-of-the-mill gift card — including game... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23161828/best-cheap-tech-gadgets-under-50

In this marshy coastal region between Texas and Louisiana, the proliferation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal projects, massive facilities that receive and liquefy gas from pipelines, then transfer the LNG to ships for export, unsettles residents, who consider the plants to be a threat to their coast. | Photo by FRANCOIS PICARD/AFP via Getty Images The Biden administration announced a pause on new gas export projects today, saying it needs to better assess each project’s economic and environmental impact. The decision won’t affect ongoing exports, just pending decisions on liquified natural gas (LNG) exports to countries with which the US has no free trade agreement . “During this period, we will take a hard look at the impacts of LNG exports on energy costs, America’s energy security, and our environment,” Biden said in a statement today. “This pause on new LNG approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time.” “During this peri...

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge I fully get why some people might be wary of letting other people see their location constantly, but for me, location sharing tools such as Find My and Google Maps have only had advantages. They mean not having dozens of back-and-forth texts about which bar everyone is currently at, for example, or not needing to text “I’ll be five minutes late” because everyone can see I’m en route. And while tracking the location of older teens probably won’t happen without some intense negotiation, it can be handy to see when younger kids have made it to school or a friend’s house. In other words, while you only want to do this with the people in your life you trust the most, you might find you come to rely on it more than you thought you would. And... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24051550/iphone-apple-location-track-how-to

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge The iPhone’s app ecosystem is about to go through its biggest shake-up since the App Store launched in 2008. Today, Apple announced how it plans to change the rules for developers releasing iOS software in the European Union in response to the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) coming into force in March. The big news is that third-party app stores will be allowed on iOS for the first time, breaking the Apple App Store’s position as the sole distributor of iPhone apps. The changes will arrive with iOS 17.4 in March. Here’s how the new “alternative app marketplaces,” as Apple called them, will work. Users in the EU and on iOS 17.4 will be able to download a marketplace from that marketplace’s website. In order to be used on an iPhone, those... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/25/24050200/apple-third-party-app-stores-allowed-iphone-ios-europe-digital-markets-act

Image: OpenAI When OpenAI announced other people could build their own custom versions of ChatGPT-style chatbots , I was initially only interested in a journalistic way. I knew this was an interesting commercial step for OpenAI, but the value of the store is still an open question. Why should I use most GPTs (as the bots are called), when I can usually call up an app that does the same thing? But I can’t deny there’s one incredibly useful bot that’s changed a (small) part of my work life for the better. It’s called “What’s Another Word For,” and I made it myself. “What’s Another Word For” is a tool to help me find exactly that: another word for terms I overuse. Writing is about 60 percent looking for a synonym to avoid repeating phrases, and it’s not... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24049623/chatgpt-openai-custom-gpt-store-assistants

Amie does tasks and calendar side by side, which is delightful. | Image: Amie There’s another company vying to be the place you go to manage your time. It’s called Amie , and it’s one of the best-looking calendar apps I’ve used. It’s available today for iOS, Mac, and the web after four years in development and many months in beta testing. I’ve been using it off and on for a long time, and I like it a lot. The first thing that drew me to Amie was that it’s set up to be a combination of a task list and a calendar. You have lists of tasks in the left sidebar, and you then drag tasks into the calendar to give them a time slot. Each calendar event is like its own task, too, and you can check them off as you go through your day. A lot of smart productivity people will tell you that time blocking is the best strategy for... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/24/24048981/amie-calendar-app-ios-mac-web

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is launching its immersive 3D meetings inside Microsoft Teams today. Microsoft Mesh, the company’s mixed reality platform, is coming out of preview and being integrated into Teams to let people gather in virtual spaces with or without a VR headset. I got to try out Mesh inside Microsoft Teams late last year, and it feels a lot like a corporate version of AltspaceVR, the social VR platform Microsoft acquired in 2017 and shut down a year ago . The 3D Mesh meetings in Teams work best with a VR headset, with Microsoft only supporting Meta’s Quest devices currently. You can participate in virtual 3D meetings, and the impressive spatial audio feature mimics the ability to have the type of private conversations you’d have in an office... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/24/24048895/microsoft-teams-microsoft-mesh-launch-vr-meetings-3d-immersive

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple has started letting developers link to third-party payment processors, but only if it’s on Apple’s own terms. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24049014/apple-epic-court-ruling-developer-tax

Chrome’s AI features are simple for now — but bigger things are coming. | Image: Google Google’s Chrome browser is leaning into AI in a big way. Rather than just shove a Bard sidebar into the browser, Google is rolling out a couple of features that tap into its models in order to hopefully make your browser a little more pleasant to use. They’re launching today in an experimental mode (you can go to settings and turn on “Experimental AI” to get them), and Google says they’re just the beginning of the AI browser takeover. Chrome’s new Tab Organizer feature is the most compelling: you can right-click on a Chrome tab and select “organize similar tabs,” and Chrome will attempt to create a tab group filled with similar stuff. If you’re shopping for something, deep diving some esoteric subject, or just opening all your news... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/23/24047843/google-chrome-browser-ai-organize-tabs-themes

Image: Netflix We’re about a month away from the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix, which can only mean one thing: it’s time for a trailer. This clip is focused almost entirely on setting up Aang (played by Gordon Cormier) — the titular Avatar — as a young hero preparing to, well, save the world. It’s full of dramatic lines, some cool special effects, and at least one very cute critter. If nothing else, the trailer makes it seem like the live-action series will be a good entry point for newcomers who haven’t seen the animated series. It’s been a long road to this new take on the franchise. The adaptation was first announced in 2018 , and in 2020, the show’s original creators stepped away from the project citing creative... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24047888/avatar-the-last-airbender-trailer-netflix

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists decided to keep its Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight. | Image: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Despite a horrific war in Gaza and growing conflict in the region, the hottest year on record , and the hype surrounding artificial intelligence — the Doomsday Clock will stay put this year at 90 seconds to midnight. Last year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , which sets the time each year, moved the clock forward to 90 seconds from midnight — AKA doom. That was the closest the clock has ever been set to annihilation, and it will stay there this year. “Ninety seconds to midnight is profoundly unstable and must not engender complacency.” “There are two key messages in our statement and they are one: that 90 seconds to midnight is profoundly unstable and must not engender complacency and two: the advancement of technology is... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/23/24047902/doomsday-clock-artificial-inte...

Image: Nvidia Nvidia’s RTX Remix tool is now available for modders to try. The game remastering tool, currently out in open beta , allows modders to give older games a makeover with AI-powered texture tools, ray tracing, and Nvidia DLSS 3. This is the same tool that was used to give Portal a visual boost with upgraded textures, models, and improved lighting. It’s also what a community of modders are using to remaster Half-Life 2 with some realistic-looking headcrabs and way better textures. But now that it’s available for all modders to try, it should make for an even wider range of upgraded games. Not every classic game is compatible with RTX Remix, though. Nvidia says that the tool works best with DirectX 8 and 9 games “with fixed function... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/22/24046916/nvidia-rtx-remix-open-beta-ray-tracing

Whether it’s from reading Patricia Highsmith’s original 1955 novel, or seeing any of the films inspired by it , we’re all familiar with at least some of the beats from The Talented Mr. Ripley . But even if you’ve been a fan of all the past Ripley adaptations, Netflix’s new series from writer / director Steven Zaillian looks like it’s going to be something inspired. Set in 1960s New York City, and cities across Italy, Ripley tells the tale of Tom (Andrew Scott), a talented and cunning man whose relatively ordinary life starts to take a turn when he meets the father of Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn), a wealthy playboy who has run off to Europe with his good friend Marge (Dakota Fanning). Though The Talented Mr. Ripley focuses on how Tom... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24046846/ripley-netflix-trailer-andrew-scott

Photo illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Between the Apple Watch Series 9, the Ultra 2, and the second-gen SE, there are more options than ever. We’ll help you sort through them. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23037217/apple-watch-series-9-ultra-2-second-gen-se-best-smartwatch-how-to

The Verge When you want to check out your favorite news sites or other online information sources, you can take the time to go directly to each site, clog your email with newsletters and announcements, check the updates on your favorite social media app(s) — or you can use an RSS feed reader. RSS readers allow you to collect the articles of specific sources in one app, making it a lot easier to find the content you’re interested in without crawling through a lot of noise. RSS (which may stand for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary, or one of several other possibilities — nobody seems sure) has been around a while, having been first developed in 1999, although it wasn’t more widely adopted until a few years later. Since then, the idea... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24036427/rss-feed-reader-best

Image: Apple Apple is kicking off the week with the first trailer for its sci-fi series Constellation . The show stars Noomi Rapace as an astronaut who “returns to Earth after a disaster in space — only to discover that key pieces of her life seem to be missing.” In the trailer, this appears to manifest itself as a series of mysteries — a strange piano, an unknown voice on a tape recorder — along with plenty of unsettling hallucinations. The rest of the cast includes Jonathan Banks, James D’Arcy, Julian Looman, William Catlett, and Barbara Sukowa, and the series is being helmed by creator and writer Peter Harness ( Doctor Who ). Constellation premieres with three episodes on February 21st, and new episodes stream on Wednesdays after that. (Between this... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24044578/constellation-trailer-apple-tv-plus

Screen time is on my side, yes it is. | Image: Ford The 2024 Lincoln Nautilus will get the new super-sized screen, with other models to follow. And yes, it still supports CarPlay and Android Auto.  Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/22/24045932/ford-android-screen-display-size-os-apps-gaming-lincoln

Image: Meta EU users will be able to unlink their Instagram and Facebook accounts, as well as other Meta services ahead of the bloc’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA) coming into force in March, the company has announced . The changes will apply in the European Union, European Economic Area, and Switzerland, and notifications informing users of the change will appear in the coming weeks. The changes mean that EU users will be able to use many of Meta’s services without their information being shared between them. People will be able to use Facebook Messenger as a stand-alone service without a Facebook account, for example, and if they’ve previously linked their Facebook and Instagram accounts they’ll be able to unlink them. ( Meta’s help page notes that... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/22/24046645/meta-facebook-instagram-messenger-digital-markets-act-unlinked

Image: Apple It won’t be a huge shocker if the bulk of the “over 1 million” apps that Apple says the Vision Pro will launch with are mostly just existing iPad or iPhone versions . But what is a little surprising is that some of Apple’s big first-party apps will be, too, including Podcasts, News, Calendar, and Reminders, according to Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today. It seems like a bizarre choice for Apple’s big, shiny new platform at first glance. But whether it’s actually a problem may depend on how well the Vision Pro’s gaze-and-tap interface ports to the apps’ touch-first approach. After all, it’s not like the Reminders app needs mind-blowing immersive 3D effects. But part of the appeal of the platform for some folks will be... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/21/24045774/apple-vision-pro-first-party-apps-ipad-versions-only-news-calendar-reminders

Illustration: William Joel / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 22, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I’ve been reading about the unbearable sameness of coffee shops and what happened to Twitch , testing out the Funnel iOS app for quick-capturing everything, marveling over Federico Viticci’s truly wild iPad setup , setting up my Flipboard all over again now that Artifact is dead , filling my cabinets thanks to this list of great new snacks , adding all the Emmy winners to my Sofa queue, and watching every behind-the-scenes Jon Bellion video that exists on the internet. I also have for you a huge new Samsung... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24044630/notion-calendar-samsung-s24-prince-persia-after-midnight-installer-newsletter

Pssh. Who needs an SpO2 sensor, anyway? | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Lately, it seems like all the talk regarding the Apple Watch seems to revolve around Apple’s ongoing patent dispute with medical device maker Masimo — a legal battle that has resulted in Apple recently removing the blood oxygen features found on the Series 9 and Ultra 2. Sales have continued uninterrupted for the latest Apple Watch SE given it lacks the SpO2 sensor, however, and now the second-gen smartwatch can be had for as little as $179 ($50 off) at Walmart. To be honest, most healthy individuals are not missing out on the SpO2 sensor, nor are first-time smartwatch buyers likely to complain about the SE’s lack of an always-on display or some of the fancier health tracking features found on the Series 9. Apple’s latest entry-level... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/20/24042338/apple-watch-se-8bitdo-pro-2-controller-surface-pro-9-deal-sale

Govee’s full-color light strip features tunable LEDs and the ability to sync with your music. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Let’s face it, January can be a bleak month. The holidays are over, and all that’s left are dark, cold days, which is enough to bring anybody’s spirits down. Thankfully, Govee’s Matter-ready LED Strip Light M1 is on sale to brighten up your day. Right now, you can buy the light strip for just $39.99 ($20 off) at Amazon , which matches its all-time low price. You can also buy it for $5 more directly from Govee . If you miss seeing colorful holiday lights everywhere, then you’ll love Govee’s 6.56-foot (2m) light strip. The bright, tunable LEDs are capable of jazzing up your home with a wide range of vibrant colors and effects, making it almost feel as if it’s Christmas all over again. What’s even cooler is that the lights also flash and... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/19/24042971/govee-led-strip-light-m1-ma...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge If you get a message from someone at The Verge asking to schedule an interview about cryptocurrency, don’t do it. There’s a phishing scam going around that attempts to trick users into clicking on a fake Calendly link to “schedule” phony interviews in order to steal Discord credentials for a wallet-draining scam. We recently discovered that a bad actor has been impersonating Verge science reporter Justine Calma to carry out this scam. Justine recently changed her handle on X (formerly Twitter) from @justcalma to @justinecalmajourno. The scammer hijacked her old handle @justcalma — which was still present on her Verge profile at the time — and leveraged her identity when messaging users about a fake interview. Screenshot... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/19/24043482/the-verge-crypto-calendly-scam-phishing

Photo: Wes “Fish” Chan / Games Done Quick Awesome Games Done Quick 2024 has already raised over $1 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/24044172/agdq-2024-live-pittsburgh-speedrunning

Image: Google Google might be about to expand the color options for its Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro . Today the Pixel team’s social media channels began posting teases for a new mint green color that will be available next Thursday, January 25th. The messaging isn’t exactly subtle. This hue will apparently be exclusive to the Google Store and Google Fi , so carriers and retailers like Amazon and Best Buy are unlikely to offer it. 01000110 01110010 01100101 01110011 01101000 00100000 01111001 01100101 01100001 01110010 00101100 00100000 01100110 01110010 01100101 01110011 01101000 00100000 01100100 01110010 01101111 01110000 00101110 00100000 https://t.co/1nhhiCtNCe pic.twitter.com/CyOeJ9Czvd — Made by Google (@madebygoogle) January 19, 2024 The binary... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/google/2024/1/19/24044102/google-pixel-8-pro-mint-green-color-tease

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple’s most outspoken critics aren’t thrilled with the company’s recent App Store changes. In a statement to The Verge , Spotify spokesperson Jeanne Moran says that the new 27 percent tax on alternative payment methods shows that Apple “will stop at nothing to protect the profits they exact on the backs of developers and consumers under their app store monopoly.” The company updated its App Store policies to comply with a court order handed down as part of the Epic v. Apple ruling . The change lets developers in the US link to alternative payment methods, but only if they shell out a 27 percent commission for each purchase made outside the App Store. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney was one of the first to call out Apple’s changes as... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/18/24042892/apple-critics-27-percent-app-store-tax

Notion Calendar is just Cron, reskinned and deeply integrated with Notion. | Image: Notion Notion users have been asking for an integrated calendar system for years. Now, Notion is delivering: it’s launching Notion Calendar , a standalone app that integrates with all of your databases and notes in Notion. It’s yet another way Notion is attempting to be the only app your company needs to do pretty much everything. If you’ve ever used Cron , the calendar app Notion acquired in 2022 and has been operating ever since, you basically already know the deal with Notion Calendar. It’s just a redesigned, Notion-ified version of the app. Cron was always a fast, simple, nice-looking calendar with some clever features like Calendly-style booking tools and a command bar you can use for quickly setting up recurring meetings and the like. One... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/17/24041330/notion-calendar-app

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge As much of the potential legislation around AI requires reviews of models, groups have begun offering certification programs to AI companies to show how their work doesn’t violate copyright. Bloomberg reported Fairly Trained — founded by former Stability AI vice president for audio Ed Newton-Rex — adds a label to companies that prove they asked for permission to use copyrighted training data. Newton-Rex started Fairly Trained after he quit Stability AI in November, citing generative AI was “exploiting creators.” Its first accreditation, which it calls the Licensed Model certification, will be awarded to companies that license protected data to train its models. Fairly Trained claims it will not issue the certification to developers that... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/17/24041518/generative-ai-copyright-violation-fair-training-label-certification

Can you tell the difference between these two logos? Take-Two has its doubts. | Image: Take-Two / Rockstar Games / Remedy Entertainment Remedy Entertainment, the developer that created the Max Payne and Alan Wake video game franchises, is embroiled in a trademark dispute with Take-Two Interactive over claims that Remedy’s new “R” logo too closely resembles that of its subsidiary Rockstar Games. As first reported by RespawnFirst , the Rockstar parent company has objected to trademark filings Remedy submitted to the Intellectual Property Offices in the UK and EU last year, over grounds that the logo is likely to cause “ confusion on the part of the public .” Remedy publicly unveiled its updated “R” logo in a blog post on April 14th, 2023 — one day after the company filed its trademark application with the EU — saying that the “bullet in the letter R in the old logo... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/16/24040179/take-two-rockstar-games-remedy-entertai...

Image: Square Enix In Foamstars , Square Enix’s forthcoming Splatoon -esque multiplayer game , some of the art you’ll see will be AI-generated. In an interview with VGC , Kosuke Okatani, producer on Foamstars , said that the development team used AI generation tool Midjourney to create in-game art for album covers for the game’s soundtracks but explained that the majority of the game was still made by humans. “All of the core elements in Foamstars — the core gameplay, and the things that make the game enjoyable — those are all made by hand,” Okatani told VGC . “However, we did want to experiment with AI as well.” Earlier this year, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu said in his New Year’s Day letter that Square Enix intends to be “aggressive” in its use of AI... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/16/24040124/square-enix-foamstars-ai-art-midjourney

Illustration: The Verge After laying off about 1,000 employees last week, Google is now cutting jobs on its advertising sales team. In a statement to The Verge , Google spokesperson Chris Pappas confirmed that “a few hundred roles globally are being eliminated” as part of the change. The news of Google’s latest layoffs was first reported by Business Insider , which obtained a memo from Google senior vice president Philipp Schindler. Schindler reportedly hinted the layoffs will primarily affect its Large Customer Sales (LCS) unit, a team that sells ads to large businesses, while the Google Customer Solutions team (GCS), which sells ads to smaller clients, will become the “core” ad sales team instead. Google laid off some employees on its LCS team last October, a... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/16/24040093/google-layoffs-ad-sales-team

Ubisoft Ubisoft has renamed its monthly subscription service Ubisoft Plus and is combining the old pricing tiers (Multi-Access and PC Access) into one package dubbed Ubisoft Plus Premium. The new plan will allow players to play games on Xbox, PC, and Amazon Luna and is priced at $17.99. Premium members will get day one (and occasionally early) access to new releases, as well as their pick of premium editions, DLC, and monthly awards. If you already subscribe to PC Access, you’ll keep your plan as is, and you can continue to pay the old monthly fee of $14.99. It’s also adding another package, Ubisoft Plus Classics, that focuses on back catalog games like Fallout 4 , Assassin’s Creed , Far Cry 6 , Rainbow Six Siege , and Watch Dogs: Legion .... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/16/24038090/ubisoft-plus-premium-subscription-classics-activision

Illustration: The Verge Yesterday TikTok presented me with what appeared to be a deepfake of Timothee Chalamet sitting in Leonardo Dicaprio’s lap and yes, I did immediately think “if this stupid video is that good imagine how bad the election misinformation will be.” OpenAI has, by necessity, been thinking about the same thing and today updated its policies to begin to address the issue. The Wall Street Journal noted the new change in policy which were first published to OpenAI’s blog . ChatGPT, Dall-e, and other OpenAI tool users and makers are now forbidden from using OpenAI’s tools to impersonate candidates or local governments and users cannot use OpenAI’s tools for campaigns or lobbying either. Users are also not permitted to use OpenAI tools to discourage... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/15/24039333/openai-chatgpt-dalle-ai-2024-election-misinformation-plan