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Showing posts from December, 2024

All of Canoo’s employees are reportedly on a ‘mandatory unpaid break’

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Image: Canoo Days after furloughing dozens of its employees without pay, EV startup Canoo told the remainder of its staff they will be on a “mandatory unpaid break” through at least the end of the year, TechCrunch reported Friday . A company email seen by the outlet said employees would be locked out of Canoo’s systems by the end of Friday, with their benefits continuing through the end of this month. The report follows Canoo’s announcement last week that it was idling its Oklahoma factories and furloughing employees while it worked “to finalize securing the capital necessary to move forward with its operations.” As TechCrunch notes, the company reported that it had only about $700,000 left in the bank last month. Also on Friday, the company announced a 1-for-20 reverse stock split, effective December 24th. Canoo says the consolidation aims to keep its stock listed on the Nasdaq exchange and attract “a broader group of institutional and retail investors.” Canoo was fou...

Gemini can now tell when a PDF is on your phone screen

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Illustration: The Verge In the latest version of the Files by Google app, summoning Gemini while looking at a PDF gives you the option to ask about the file, writes Android Police . You’ll need to be a Gemini Advanced subscriber to use the feature though, according to Mishaal Rahman, who reported on Friday that it had started rolling out. If you have the feature, when you summon Gemini while looking at a PDF in the Files app, you’ll see an “Ask about this PDF” button appear. Tapping that lets you ask questions about the file, the same way you might ask ChatGPT about a PDF. Google first announced this screen-aware feature during its I/O developer conference in May. Rahman posted a screenshot of what it looks like in action: Other context-aware Gemini features include the ability to ask about web pages and YouTube videos. For apps or file types without Gemini’s context-aware support, the assistant instead offers to answer questions about your screen, using a screenshot it ta...

The US finalizes CHIPS Act funding for Samsung and Texas Instruments

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US Commerce Department has awarded Samsung and Texas Instruments with a combined over $6 billion in “direct funding under the CHIPS Incentives Program’s Funding Opportunity for Commercial Fabrication,” according to a pair of announcements published on Friday. Samsung will get the larger of the two awards at $4.745 billion. The Commerce Department says the company will use this as part of its planned $37 billion investment in Texas chip facilities that include two new “leading-edge logic fabs and an R&D fab” in Taylor, Texas, and the expansion of its plant in Austin. The company was originally slated to receive $6.4 billion. In a statement reported by Bloomberg , the company said that its “mid-to-long-term investment plan has been partially revised to optimize overall investment efficiency,” which suggests the company has dialed back its plans, according to the outlet. Texas Instruments will receive $1.61 billion to bolster t...

Here’s the first CoPilot plus mini PC with Intel’s new Core Ultra 9 processors

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Image: Asus Asus has announced the Asus NUC 14 Pro AI , the first Copilot Plus-capable AI mini PC that crams an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor into a form factor resembling a black M4 Mac Mini. First introduced at IFA in September , Asus is providing a little more detail about the mini PC’s specs than it did before, but still isn’t saying it will become available or how much it will cost. The NUC 14 Pro AI will come in five CPU configurations, from the Core Ultra 5 226V processor with 16GB of integrated RAM to a Core Ultra 9 288V processor with 32GB of RAM. The company says it has up to 67 TOPS of GPU performance and 48 NPU TOPS, and that its M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 x 4 slot supports 256GB to 2TB NVMe SSDs. All of that is packed into a PC that measures 130mm deep and wide and just 34mm tall; comparatively, the Mac Mini is 127mm deep and wide and 50mm tall. Here are some pictures from Asus’ website: The Asus NUC 14 Pro AI features a fingerprint sensor on top and a Copilot button on ...

ModRetro Chromatic review: an arms dealer’s Game Boy is among the best ever made

Stellar hardware from a controversial figure. Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/24303052/modretro-chromatic-review-game-boy-color-handheld-palmer-luckey

Squid Game: Unleashed is a fun game and a terrible adaptation

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Image: Netflix In Squid Game , schoolyard games are turned into nightmares, as players compete to survive and — if they’re lucky — earn a massive cash prize. But in Unleashed , a new mobile spinoff that’s part of the streamer’s fledgling gaming efforts , those games are fun . It’s a strange experience that sands off much of the appeal of Squid Game in service of making a multiplayer party game. Unleashed is sort of like Fall Guys but in a Squid Game wrapper. You compete against 31 other players across three random games pulled from the show, like “red light, green light” or racing across a bridge made of glass. Slowly other players die off, and by the end one wins a whole bunch of money. Aesthetically, the game mostly follows the show. There are a bunch of characters to play as — some pulled from the show, others new for the game — and even though there’s a cartoon aesthetic, things still get bloody, with players being shot for breaking the rules or crushed under some obs...

The MacBook Pro with M4 is matching its record low with $200 off

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The 14-inch MacBook Pro looks just as nicely as it performs. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge In recent years, base MacBook Pro models have felt like an automatic skip. It made more sense to pay just a few hundred more for upgrades that truly justify the “Pro” moniker, or save money by stepping down to a MacBook Air without many sacrifices. But that’s changed as of the M4 model. With the base MacBook Pro with M4 matching its all-time low price of $1,399 ($200 off) at Amazon and B&H Photo right now, it’s quite possibly the best value of any MacBook available. The 10-core M4 chipset has a decent speed advantage over the 8-core M3 inside last year’s MacBook Pro , of course. Apple claims its CPU has the strongest single-threaded performance of anything out there, not to mention a neural engine that’s two times faster than the M3’s. Our benchmarking certainly corroborates that it’s faster , although depending on what you’re doing on the laptop, you may not n...

The FAA is banning drones in parts of NJ after thousands of mystery sightings

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Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images The Federal Aviation Administration banned drones from flying over “critical New Jersey infrastructure” in the wake of thousands of drone sightings for which there seem to be very few satisfying answers . The ban will last until January 17th and will block unauthorized drone activity in 22 areas due to “special security reasons,” according to ABC7NY . Under the FAA’s temporary flight restriction , drones can’t operate within one nautical mile, from the ground up to an altitude of 400 feet, in the affected airspace. A Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) on the FAA’s website says the government “may use deadly force” against unmanned aircraft in restricted areas if it “poses an imminent security threat,” while the pilot may be “intercepted, detained and interviewed” by law enforcement. During a background call last week , an FAA official said the agency issued its first temporary flight restrictions over Morris County, New Jersey, and the Trump ...

Leak: This is Lenovo’s rollable display laptop

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Image: Evan Blass Lenovo showed off a laptop concept with a rollable display last year, and in 2025, it might release one that you can actually buy. Leaker Evan Blass just shared images of what he says is a sixth-generation Lenovo ThinkBook Plus, and based on two of the images, it has a display that extends upward to reveal more display underneath. It seems pretty similar to the concept from 2023 , which also extended upward to show more screen. In these images from Blass, Lenovo is showing how the extended screen can be used for multitasking, such as by watching a YouTube video in the lower half of the screen or having a document on hand under a PowerPoint presentation. Image: Evan Blass Image: Evan Blass Blass’ leak doesn’t include any specs, so we don’t yet know many important details about this rumored laptop. But if it’s real, and it does debut at CES, it could be one of the most interesting products at the show. Here’s a video of the 2023 concept : We’re fairly co...

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2024) review: an AMD upgrade

The AMD Strix Point CPU in the Zephyrus G16 gives this gaming laptop a battery life boost over the Intel version. Unfortunately, the price is also boosted. Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/24324299/asus-rog-zephyrus-g16-2024-gaming-laptop-review-amd-strix-point

Roku snaps up X Games streaming rights

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Skateboarder Carlos Ribeiro during X Games Ventura 2024. | Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images Roku got the exclusive US streaming rights to next year’s X Games Aspen and a “soon-to-be-announced” X Games event in the summer, the company announced on Wednesday . Both events will air on Roku’s free 24/7 sports channel as the service continues its push into live sports. Though the X Games were founded by ESPN in the ‘90s, the sports network sold majority ownership to MSP Sports in 2022. Since then, the X Games have streamed on various platforms , including YouTube, Twitch, ESPN, ABC, and the VR app Xtadium. But now, X Games Aspen will appear on the Roku Sports Channel , a newly launched hub for Roku’s live Sunday MLB games , Formula E races , and other sports-related content. This channel lives within the overarching Roku Channel that comes pre-installed on most Roku devices and is also available on the web , as well as an app on third-party smart TVs and mobile phones. Add...

Amy Klobuchar isn’t done with antitrust reform

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Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Nearly three years ago in January of 2022, the Senate seemed poised to reform antitrust law and place a check on Big Tech’s power. The Senate Judiciary Committee had just voted to advance the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), led by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA). The bill would have forced major changes to how many tech businesses operate, including by prohibiting them from self-preferencing their own products on their marketplaces. But the bill’s momentum petered out in the months to come. Congress did manage to pass two important competition updates that year, the first allowing state attorneys general to choose which courts they filed antitrust suits in, and the second raising merger filing fees on the largest transactions to raise money for federal enforcers. AICOA, though, never passed through the Senate — let alone into law. Klobuchar has been one of the leading advocates of antitrust reform. Aft...

Nest Learning Thermostat review: pretty smart

The fourth generation of the Nest Thermostat improves on the original in almost every way, and it’s still a stunner. Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/24322643/nest-learning-thermostat-4th-gen-review

Chuck Schumer wants answers after another weekend of drone chaos

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Sen. Chuck Schumer during a December 15th press conference. | Screenshot: NBC News Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has asked the Department of Homeland Security to provide New York and New Jersey authorities with an advanced drone detection system to help “determine what the heck is going on” with continued sightings in the Northeast. “We’ve seen lots of recent sightings in New York, New Jersey, Long Island, Staten Island.” Schumer said during a December 15th press conference . “With all these sightings over the last while, why do we have more questions than answers?” Over the weekend, parts of Stewart International Airport were temporarily shut down due to the drone sightings, prompting New York Governor Kathy Hochul to say, “this has gone too far.” Drone activity also shut down airspace over the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for over four hours. President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that he’s canceling a trip to Bedminster, New Jersey due t...

Amazon Teamsters in NYC have voted to authorize a strike

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Workers at a Staten Island, New York Amazon warehouse voted on Friday to authorize a strike if the company doesn’t agree to set dates for contract negotiations. The workers are asking Amazon to recognize the union and bargain for safer working conditions and better wages, threatening the possibility of a strike during one of Amazon’s busiest times of the year. Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien says in a press release that Amazon must agree to bargaining dates by December 15th, which passed yesterday. If Amazon hasn’t agreed, it risks facing a strike by the more than 5,500 workers at its Staten Island (JFK8) fulfillment center. Delivery drivers at a Queens (DBK4) last-mile delivery station also voted to authorize a strike. “This is my third holiday I’m giving to Amazon,” a worker named James said in a video published Friday by labor nonprofit More Perfect Union. “I haven’t been around for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It’s constant spe...

Snapchat is overhauling how influencers earn money on the platform

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Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Snapchat is tweaking how people earn money on the platform by introducing a new, unified monetization program. The new program will cover content posted to Stories as well as Spotlight, the platform’s TikTok-like discovery feed filled with recommended video content. Under the program, influencers earn revenue for ads placed within eligible Stories and Spotlight posts. Previously, monetization of these formats was splintered off from one another: Stories earnings were in one bucket , and Spotlight earnings were handled through a different program . The new program is currently in testing with a small group of users, and will roll out widely on February 1st, 2025. To participate, users need to hit a set of benchmarks to be invited: 50,000 followers and either 10 million Snap views, 1 million Spotlight views, or 12,000 hours of watch time in the last 28 days. They also need to post consistently, with at least 25 times per month to saved Stories ...

Europe’s Starlink competitor is go

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A Starlink terminal in the wild. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge The EU has signed a deal for its IRIS² constellation of 290 communication satellites that will operate in both medium and low-earth orbit. The Starlink rival will provide secure connectivity to governmental users as well as private companies and European citizens, and bring high-speed internet to dead-zones. The public-private deal valued at €10.6 billion (about $11 billion), according to The Financial Times , is expected to come online by 2030. SpaceRISE — a consortium led by European satellite network operators SES, Eutelsat, and Hispasat, and supported by European satcom subcontractors like Airbus and Deutsche Telekom — has been given a 12-year concession contract to develop, deploy, and operate the IRIS² constellation. IRIS² is an acronym for Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite. “This cutting-edge constellation will protect our critical infrastructures, connect our m...

Meta’s Instagram boss: who posted something matters more in the AI age

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Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge In a series of Threads posts this afternoon, Instagram head Adam Mosseri says users shouldn’t trust images they see online because AI is “clearly producing” content that’s easily mistaken for reality. Because of that, he says users should consider the source, and social platforms should help with that. “Our role as internet platforms is to label content generated as AI as best we can,” Mosseri writes, but he admits “some content” will be missed by those labels. Because of that, platforms “must also provide context about who is sharing” so users can decide how much to trust their content. Just as it’s good to remember that chatbots will confidently lie to you before you trust an AI-powered search engine , checking whether posted claims or images come from a reputable account can help you consider their veracity. At the moment, Meta’s platforms don’t offer much of the sort of context Mosseri posted about today, although the company rece...

This mod turns the PSP into a tiny PS2 with Bluetooth controller support

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The PS Placeable makes the PSP into a tiny PS2. | Image: Retro Mod Works What if you could turn a PSP with a broken screen into a miniature PS2, connect a Bluetooth controller to it, and play PSP games on your TV? That’s the idea behind Retro Mod Works’ PS Placeable , a mod that “consolizes” the PSP and was featured yesterday in a video from the YouTube channel Macho Nacho Productions. Retro Mod Works charges $274.99 for a prebuilt PS Placeable. Those are waitlisted at the moment, though — a message on the site says the project is a “one man show” and that the demand for the Placeable was higher than anticipated. Retro also offers to mod customer-provided PSPs for $100 less, and there’s an option preorder DIY parts and do the conversion work yourself. The mod requires either a PSP-2000 or PSP-3000 revision, as the first PSP didn’t have a video output. It’s not clear when the DIY parts will ship — we’ve asked Retro Mod Works and will update if we get a reply. Image: Retro Mod ...

YouTube TV is letting some subscribers hold off that price hike

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube announced a hefty subscription price increase this week that will shoot the monthly cost up by $10 to $82.99 on January 13th for existing members (or now, if you sign up today). Some subscribers are staving off the hike using the time-honored tradition of threatening to cancel, as one Verge reader indicated in a comment on our original story about the price hike. That’s backed up by users in a Reddit thread that 9to5Google spotted , several of whom reported getting the offer to keep paying $72.99 for six more months when they tried to cancel their subscriptions, although some report that didn’t work for them. Some who did get to keep the old price say it happened only when they logged in using a web browser on their computer and pushed through offers to pause their subscription instead. One Verge staffer, Jennifer Tuohy, did get the offer to extend her current price. She canceled by logging into YouTube TV in a browser on her c...

HDMI 2.2 will be announced next month — and it may require a new cable

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Photo: Wes Davis / The Verge The group behind the HDMI standard, HDMI Forum, says that it will detail a new spec release in a press conference on January 6th that will enable “a wide range of higher resolutions and refresh rates.” The new capabilities will be “supported with a new cable,” according to the HDMI Forum’s email to The Verge announcing the presser. The spec is likely to be HDMI 2.2, as VideoCardz notes . The Forum’s email hints at it too, noting that the HDMI Licensing Administrator, which two of the planned speakers at the event represent, is appointed “to license Version 2.2 of the HDMI specification.” HDMI 2.1, which has only ever received lettered revisions since its 2017 introduction, supports 48Gbps bandwidth, up to 120Hz variable refresh rates, and resolutions up to 10240 x 4320. VideoCardz speculates that the updated spec could allow for higher resolutions and framerates without the need for Display Stream Compression. Whatever the spec brings, that mention...

Amazon’s latest Kindle Paperwhite is nearly matching its Black Friday low

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There may be no setting that the new Paperwhite doesn’t look crisp in. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge If you missed the first sale on the 2024 Kindle Paperwhite during Black Friday, now’s your chance to write your own redemption arc. Right now, you can get Amazon’s newest ad-supported ebook reader at Amazon , Best Buy , and Target for $134.99 ($25 off). That’s still $5 shy of its all-time low, but it’s a pretty good discount this early into its life. You can also get it without ads at Amazon for $154.99 ($25 off). There’s not much incentive to upgrade if you already own an older Paperwhite, but if you’re an avid reader, you’ll likely appreciate the newly minted seven-inch display, which is the biggest of any Paperwhite to date. It’s also 25 percent brighter than the previous model and features a higher contrast ratio, allowing for improved readability. The jump from 10 weeks of battery life to three months is a more substantial upgrade — as is a new process...

Rhode Island’s online benefits system shuts down after cyberattack

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Illustration: Beatrice Sala Rhode Island took its RIBridges system for applying for public assistance programs like Medicaid offline Friday following a cyberattack that may have exposed the personal data of hundreds of thousands of people, reports CBS affiliate WPRI 12 . With its RIBridges system offline, Rhode Islanders won’t be able to log into RIBridges’ web portal or app, used to apply for Medicaid, food stamps, and other state benefits, says a government site providing updates on the breach. Governor Dan McKee said during a press briefing that attackers may have gotten personal info like names, addresses, and social security numbers of those who’ve used the system between 2019 to now. State Chief Digital Officer and Chief Information Officer Brian Tardiff, who also spoke at the briefing, said the attack is not ransomware, but “more of an extortion type activity by this cybercriminal group.” The attack also affected HealthSource RI, Rhode Island’s healthcare marketplace....

EVgo nabs $1.25 billion loan as Biden races to approve more EV spending

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Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images The US Department of Energy announced a $1.25 billion loan to electric vehicle charging company EVgo as the Biden administration races to finalize its spending on EVs before Donald Trump takes office. The money will fund EVgo’s plans to install approximately 7,500 chargers at roughly 1,100 charging stations across the US over the next five years, with a particular focus on fast-charging 350kW stalls that can charge two vehicles simultaneously. But more importantly, it shows how President Joe Biden is intent on doling out as much money for EV projects as he can before leaving office. Trump has promised to reverse or cancel much of the spending by Biden on EVs once he assumes office. He has said he will kill the $7,500 tax credit for new EV purchases and wipe out the rest of the spending from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on EV charging infrastructure. President Joe Biden is intent on doling out as much money for EV projects as he c...

Anker’s new 5K MagSafe battery is slimmer and faster

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Anker’s slim MagSafe power bank now supports Qi2 wireless charging speeds. | Image: Anker Anker has released its thinnest MagSafe-compatible power bank , measuring about a third of an inch thick. It’s only got a 5,000mAh battery inside, so you probably won’t get two full iPhone charges with it, but Anker has updated it with 15W Qi2 wireless charging speeds so your phone can charge faster. It’s currently available exclusively through Apple’s online and retail stores for $49.95 in either blue or white, making it $10 more expensive than the older MagGo 621 Magnetic Battery that Anker still sells through its website. For comparison, the older version of the 5K battery is 0.45-inches thick and only supports wireless charging speeds up to 7.5W. The bidirectional USB-C port on the bottom of the power bank can charge it or other devices at 20W. However, when both power outputs are in use, wireless charging speeds drop to 5W, while the USB-C port slows to 12W. The battery is compati...

Lenovo might soon announce a SteamOS handheld

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Image: Evan Blass ( X ) Valve revealed earlier this year that it will support the ROG Ally handheld with its Steam Deck operating system, and now it looks like Lenovo will soon have its own SteamOS handheld, too. Evan Blass has posted images of an unannounced Lenovo Legion Go S on X today, revealing black and white variants of a handheld gaming PC. The interesting part? The black one has a Steam button. While the low resolution images don’t immediately scream SteamOS, if you look closely you’ll notice a Steam logo is visible on a button to the left of the display. Interestingly, the white model doesn’t have the same Steam button — which could indicate Lenovo is preparing Windows- and SteamOS-powered models of its Legion Go S. Image: Evan Blass ( X ) You can clearly see a Steam logo on the button to the left of the display. PC makers like Lenovo, Asus, and MSI have all opted for Windows-based handhelds so far, but as consumer patience with Windows on tiny screens wears thin a...

BuzzFeed is selling Hot Ones

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First We Feast. After months of searching for a buyer to take First We Feast — the production company behind Hot Ones — off its hands, BuzzFeed has finally secured an $82.5 million all-cash deal to sell First We Feast to “a consortium led by an affiliate of Soros Fund Management LLC” The consortium’s list of investors includes First We Feast founder Chris Schonberger and Hot Ones host Sean Evans. In a press release , BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said that selling off First We Feast “marks an important step in BuzzFeed, Inc.’s strategic transformation into a media company positioned to fully benefit from the ongoing AI revolution.” “In the coming years, we will continue to invest in our most scalable and tech enabled services, launching new AI-powered interactive experiences, and delivering for our loyal audience and business partners,” Peretti said. BuzzFeed acquired First We Feast in 2021 when it bought rival media outfit Complex, the production company’s original owner. ...

Google announces Android XR, a new OS for headsets and smart glasses

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XR stands for “extended reality,” which you should get used to explaining to lots of people. | Image: Google Google is taking another run at making headsets work. The company just announced Android XR , a new operating system designed specifically for what Google calls “extended reality” devices like headsets and glasses. It’s working with Samsung and lots of other hardware manufacturers to develop those headsets and glasses, is making the new version of Android available to developers now, and hopes to start shipping XR stuff next year. We don’t yet have a ton of details on exactly how Android XR will work or how it might differ from the Android on your phone. ( The Verge ’s Victoria Song got to try a few demos and prototypes — make sure you read her story .) Google is making immersive XR versions of apps like Maps, Photos, and YouTube and says it’s developing a version of Chrome that lets you do multiwindow multitasking in your browser. It will also support existing phone and ta...

I saw Google’s plan to put Android on your face

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Google didn’t let me take my own photos, but this is strikingly similar to the demo I saw with my own eyes. | Image: Google I demoed Google’s new Android XR platform, Samsung’s Project Moohan, and prototype smart glasses. I felt as close to Tony Stark in a controlled demo as I’ll ever be. It’s an ordinary Tuesday. I’m wearing what look like ordinary glasses in a room surrounded by Google and Samsung representatives. One of them steps out in front of me and starts speaking in Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish. Hovering in mid-air, I can see her words being translated into English subtitles. Reading them, I can see she’s describing what I’m seeing in real time. I mumble an expletive. Everyone laughs. This is my first experience with Android XR — a new mixed reality OS designed for headsets and smart glasses, like the prototypes I’m wearing. It’s Google’s big bet to power a new generation of augmented reality devices that embody all our wildest dreams of what smart glasses can be. ...