Lead Hacker

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at a hackathon event in 2016. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is closing down The Garage, a set of popular maker spaces where employees worked on experimental projects and collaborated on surprising new apps and hardware during the company's annual hackathon events. "We're winding down The Garage program as a centralized function," says Microsoft in an internal FAQ to employees, seen by Notepad . "We will continue to explore new ways to help employees build skills, collaborate across boundaries, and bring a hacker mindset to their work." GeekWire first reported on The Garage's closure. The main Garage space was located at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, campus and served as the central hub … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1016389/microsoft-garage-closure-hackathon-notepad

Your blood, for “immortality.” | Image: Cath Virgina / The Verge, Getty Images This is Optimizer , a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they're going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here . It's an overcast Saturday morning when I give my 12th vial of blood for testing in six weeks. It's my 24th this year. At this point, I feel like a pro. I schedule these blood draws first thing in the morning so I don't get hangry, download the requisition papers ahead of time, avoid strenuous exercise for the 24 hours prior, and make sure to drink a glass of water beforehand so my teeny veins are easier for the phlebotomist to f … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/column/1015563/blood-death-clock-longevity-apps-health-tech

Despite Meta saying it would stop creating new content for Supernatural , the beloved fitness VR game is back after spinning off to go its own way and is relaunching with an Early Access preview in the Meta Horizon Store . Thousands of "remastered" workouts and some new ones are available in the new app starting today, but more are on the way. As previously announced, the newly independent app also costs more, going from $9.99 per month to $20 per month or $200 per year. Starting next week, Supernatural will get new workouts every week. The game's developers also write, "More back-catalog favorites will return in the weeks and months ahead, w … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1015550/supernatural-vr-workout-app-relaunch

If you know for sure that a website flagged as suspicious is actually safe, you can mark it as such. | Image: Google Google is launching a new browser safety feature for Chrome that aims to keep you better informed about how malicious a website might be before you open it. The new suspicious site warnings, available when Chrome's Enhanced Protection is on, build on a similar two-stage system introduced for Chrome file downloads in 2024 , which provides visually different notifications for blocked files based on whether they're determined to be "suspicious" or "dangerous." For the Chrome site warnings, the feature will flag a website as suspicious if it detects that it has similar qualities to other sites associated with phishing, malware, and scams. Google … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1014446/google-chrome-suspicious-website-warning

Arturia is adding to its Freak line of proudly weird digital synths with the MiniFreak 49. Under the hood, it's almost identical to the current MiniFreak , but it adds a number of more professional features and some interface improvements. The most noticeable change is that, rather than the MiniFreak's 37 minikeys or the MicroFreak's 25 "key" touchplate, the MiniFreak 49 has (as you may have guessed) 49 full-sized, semi-weighted keys. Though it's somewhat disappointing that they feature only mono aftertouch instead of polyphonic aftertouch. It also trades the touchstrips of the other Freak instruments for proper aluminum pitch and mod wheel … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/1014255/arturias-minifreak-49-synthesizer

The Miles is a smart plug for your car. My 15-year-old daughter just got her learner's permit, so when I was pitched a new gadget tailored to teen drivers, I was intrigued. The Miles Plug is a small device that plugs into your car's OBD-II port and monitors location, driving habits, and vehicle health, along with emergency accident response and roadside assistance. The idea is that knowing all these things should help me feel more comfortable when my daughter starts driving alone. I tested the (now discontinued) Ring Car Cam when my son was learning to drive, but he hated it and refused to turn it on; I wondered if the Miles could provide the same peace of mind without feeling a … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1013918/miles-plug-vehicle-tracking-data-privacy-specs-price-launch-date

Sony’s WF-1000XM6 are on sale in black today only. | Image: Sony For a very limited time, Sony’s latest high-end noise-canceling earbuds are actually cheaper than their last-gen counterpart, the WF-1000XM5 . B&H Photo is selling Sony’s latest WF-1000XM6 in black for an all-time low of $238 ($92 off) at checkout. Other retailers aren’t currently offering a discount on the XM6. Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds Where to Buy: $329.99 $238 at B&H Photo The XM6 are a solid upgrade over their predecessor and easily amongst the best noise-canceling wireless earbuds on the market. In his review , John Higgins noted that they do a better job of tuning out other people’s conversations than any other earbuds he’s tested. Sony has also improved the bone-conduction sensor and added AI-powered microphones that help keep your voice clear during calls, even in noisy environments. The XM6 earbuds also deliver clean, balanced sound with impressive bass, raising the...

Apple has sent invites to a second product launch this month, and it's scheduled for October 28th at 1PM ET in Los Angeles. At the event, Apple is set to announce new Macs and a refreshed iPad Mini, according to Bloomberg . The big announcement is expected to be a new MacBook Pro with an OLED touchscreen that's also lighter and has an iPhone-like Dynamic Island. But Apple is also planning on revealing a 14-inch MacBook Pro and a new iMac with the M6 chip, which was recently introduced with the Mac Mini . Apple's updated iPad Mini will apparently finally get an OLED screen as well and put the selfie cam on the landscape edge. "Can't wait to p … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1013028/apple-second-october-product-launch-announcement

Now, former Savannah police officer Amber Harpe was fired in August following a department investigation that found she had shared her Flock login information with her husband, Tyler Harpe, an ICE agent. SPD does not share its Flock data with ICE and said sharing access to the system violated the department's security protocols. While he had unauthorized access to the system, Tyler Harpe conducted 983 searches related to 97 license plates, which were overwhelmingly registered to Hispanic drivers, according to Savannah's local ABC affiliate, WJCL . The Harpes defended their actions, saying they didn't use access for personal reasons and that … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/policy/1013573/spd-officer-fired-flock-ice-husband

Mister Organ doesn't reach the level of societal horror of The Act of Killing or the creepypasta-meets-true-crime gruesomeness of Beware the Slenderman , but there's something deeply unsettling about Michael Organ and his intimate campaign of terror against everyone who enters his life. Mister Organ is a documentary by David Farrier, an Auckland, New Zealand journalist. The movie starts with Farrier reporting on Bashford Antiques, a shop in Ponsonby that has begun aggressively clamping cars in its lot and demanding exorbitant fees to release them - up to $760. Farrier's article for The Spinoff eventually led the government to introduce legi … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/1013545/mister-organ-horror-documentary-review

Carolyn Marvin was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after blocking the path of an Uber delivery robot and refusing to get out of the way. Marvin told Philadelphia's ABC13 "I know they're taking the jobs of human delivery workers and so, I have been protesting them whenever I saw them by standing in front of them and preventing them from going forward." Police responded to the scene and asked Marvin to move out of the robot's way. When she refused, they placed her in cuffs and arrested her. The incident was captured on video and has now garnered considerable media attention. The delivery robots have become a common sight on the … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1013541/a-woman-was-arrested-in-philly-for-blocking-a-delivery-robot

Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York's 15th congressional district in the Bronx introduced the Power To The Players Act this week. If passed, the bill would direct the Federal Trade Commission to establish regulations that guarantee consumers ownership of a game when they pay for it, rather than a licensing agreement. It's increasingly common for games sold to require a connection to a server. Meaning that when a company decides to shut down those servers, the games often become unplayable. Rep. Torres singles out NBA 2K25 as a recent example. 2K will be delisting the game from storefronts at the end of the month and shutting down its servers on … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/policy/1013521/video-game-ownership-bill-congress-power-to-the-players-act

AUSTIN, TEXAS - APRIL 8: Tesla Cybercabs are lined up on a lot at Tesla Giga Texas in Austin, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. | Image: Getty Images This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on autonomous vehicles, policy, and road rules, follow Andrew J. Hawkins . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started The first state to pass a law legalizing self-driving cars operating on public roads was Nevada in June 2011 - long before such vehicles were operating on public roads. This was three years before the introduction of Tesla's Autopilot , five years before Waymo spun out of the Google self-driving car project, and seven years before the first commercial robotaxi … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/transportation/1013220/robotaxi-self-driving-car-laws

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capitol One Arena, in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images Just ahead of the wider release of Alex Gibney's Musk documentary, TikTok has banned the film's social media account from its platform. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to The Hollywood Reporter , the film's distributor, Bleecker Street, was informed Friday afternoon that a "permanent suspension" was imminent. Bleecker Street has not yet responded to a request for comment from The Verge . While TikTok has no official affiliation with Elon Musk, part owner Larry Ellison appears in the film via a text message offering to help Musk fund his Twitter purchase. Last month, YouTube, Meta, X, and TikTok all face … Read the full story at The Verge. ...

Earlier this year, Mercedes' AMG performance brand grabbed our attention with the GT four-door coupe , a souped-up sports sedan with three axial flux motors delivering over 1,150 horsepower. Well, now meet its beefier cousin, the 2028 Mercedes-AMG GT SUV, an equally powerful, ultra-fast-charging electric people-hauler. The AMG GT SUV (say that five times fast) marks the first time in the performance brand's 59-year history that it has developed a full-size SUV entirely in-house from the ground up. Scheduled to hit the US next summer, the new EV is built on Merc's high-performance AMG.EA architecture to combine sports-car handling with full-s … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/transportation/1013088/mercedes-amg-gt-suv-price-specs-performance

In 2024, Elon Musk promised to give away $1 million a day to a randomly selected registered voter in a swing state. That prompted legal challenges, raised questions about its legality, and drew lawsuits from two Arizona residents claiming the lottery was a fraud. Musk has now agreed to settle the two lawsuits filed in Austin, Texas, though the details of the settlement have not been made public. The plaintiffs claim that when Musk announced the sweepstakes, he falsely claimed the prizes would be awarded randomly. Philadelphia's District Attorney sued to stop the giveaway , claiming that Musk was running an illegal lottery. During a hearing, … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1013431/elon-musk-settles-lawsuits-over-1-million-voter-giveaway

After this horrific crash involving a Tesla driver who said he was asleep and using the driver assist mode, the California Highway Patrol warns that "Despite its name, full self-driving is not fully autonomous. Technology does not relieve drivers of their responsibility to safely operate their vehicles." Video released by CHP shows the Tesla speeding past flares, cones, and emergency lights where officers were on the scene of an earlier accident, before ramming into the back of a parked patrol vehicle. CHP says two officers were seriously injured in the accident and taken to a hospital. Two Solano CHP officers were seriously injured when … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/transportation/1013280/tesla-chp-fsd-crash

Apple’s Home Collection is part of the company’s first major push into the smart home category. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge For more than a decade, Apple has told other companies to build smart home devices for its platform. This week, Apple launched its own . The Apple Home Collection is a lineup of cameras, thermostats, sensors, a smart door lock, and a video doorbell, all codeveloped with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric. They arrive alongside HomeView , Apple's first smart display. Even after 12 years of HomeKit, Apple's smart home ecosystem still feels underdeveloped, especially compared to the competition. Amazon's and Google's ecosystems support more products, and both have popular in-house brands: Ring and Nest. Apple had nothing of its own to point c … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1013025/apple-home-collection-products-lg-schneider-smart-home

The new Apple TV 4K will be available in November. | Image: The Verge Earlier this week, Apple announced its new Apple TV 4K , which costs nearly twice as much as the 2022 model did at launch. Amazon is now offering the first discount on the forthcoming streaming box (coming out on November 13th), just days after discounting Apple’s new smart display for the first time. Right now, you can preorder the latest Apple TV 4K ahead of its November 13th release date for $289.99 ($9 off) at Amazon . Yes, it’s a tiny discount, but every little bit helps given the higher price tag. Apple TV 4K (2026) Where to Buy: $299 $289.99 at Amazon Powered by the new A19 chip, Apple’s latest streaming device now features support for Siri AI out of the box, which is coming to older Apple TV 4K models via a software update. Unlike its predecessors, though, the new model features far-field microphones so you can quickly make hands-free requests. You can, for example, ask ...

If you missed out on Prime Day’s headphones deals, you’re in luck. Sony’s latest flagship headphones are selling for even less than they did during Amazon’s big fall sale. As part of B&H Photo’s Deals of the Day , you can currently pick up Sony’s WH-1000XM6 noise-canceling headphones in silver for just $328 at checkout ($130 off) for the rest of the day. That’s one of the best prices we’ve seen, and much cheaper than what you’ll typically pay at major retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, even during seasonal sales. Sony WH-1000XM6 Where to Buy: $458 $328 at B&H Photo The WH-1000XM6 are Sony’s best over-ear headphones yet, thanks in part to a new chip, which Sony says delivers the most powerful active noise cancellation in the series. Unsurprisingly, they also deliver the best sound of any WH-1000XM-series headphones to date, with new drivers that produce clearer vocals and richer bass. They’re great for work and life...

An Nvidia RTX Spark chip aboard an Asus laptop motherboard. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Fourteen years ago this month, Microsoft released an Nvidia-powered Windows PC that would become one of the greatest tech flops in modern history. The original Microsoft Surface, which ran a stripped-down version of Windows on an Nvidia Tegra chip, bombed so hard that Microsoft had to write off $900 million in inventory . The problem was that Nvidia's Arm chip couldn't run existing Windows apps. Buyers had to leave their legacy programs behind. This Friday, October 16th, Nvidia will once again be at the heart of Arm-powered Windows PCs with the first wave of RTX Spark laptops. But now, the company says, they'll run everything . Adobe. Offic … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1011705/nvidia-rtx-spark-everything-runs-on-arm

Begone, Bot. | Image: Google / Android Android is introducing new scam defense features that aim to make it easier for users to evade mobile fraud, including bolstered protection in Google Messages and additional safeguarding tools. Building on the Scam Detection feature in Google Messages, a new "enhanced protection" setting will be rolling out in the coming weeks that taps into cloud-based Gemini AI models to quickly evaluate a potential scammer's intentions in conversations with an unrecognized sender. "Scammers often disguise their true motives behind slow-burn conversations," Google said in its update announcement . "This secure cloud analysis augments and extends our existi … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1010928/android-scam-protection-enhanced-protection-google-messages

After months sitting on the sidelines of the frontier AI race, Google has finally launched its long-awaited Gemini 4 Argon model, claiming it can compete with the best the industry has to offer. Google says Argon delivers "frontier reasoning and improved performance across complex workflows," while cutting down on hedging, repetition, and the cliches that continue to plague AI chatbots. The company claims Argon outperforms rival models like GPT-6 Astra, Claude Fable 5.1, and Claude Opus 5.5 across a range of benchmarks, including coding, cybersecurity, science, finance, and law. Google says it's already putting Argon to use internally, s … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1009862/google-releases-gemini-4-argon

Character.AI, one of the first breakout startups of the generative AI boom, has filed for bankruptcy and is selling some of its assets to Disney. The company, which builds various online bots for users to chat or roleplay with, has faced mounting scrutiny and lawsuits over the safety of its chatbots , but has continued releasing updates and products in recent months. In a press release and blog post published Monday, Character said it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US to facilitate the sale of the company and its assets. "Over the past year, we've taken meaningful steps to sustain and improve our business amid signific … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1009802/character-ai-files-for-bankruptcy-disney

As important as some of the messages in The Social Reckoning are, the movie has been drastically underperforming at the box office. Per Variety , Aaron's Sorkin's follow up to The Social Network only grossed a measly $5.5 million this past weekend against a budget that's somewhere within the $30-42 million range. That would make it a certifiable flop that's costing Columbia Pictures (and Sony) quite a bit of money - especially when you compare it to The Social Network 's $22 million opening. This isn't entirely surprising given how middling reviews for the film have been. It's currently got a 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has widely been … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/1009630/social-reckoning-box-office-other-mommy

So much for doing less political spending. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Elon Musk has handed out at least $276 million to Republican groups since July, The New York Times reports, making him both the party's top known donor and the biggest established midterm donor. $158 million of that money - one of the largest political donations in American history - has been funneled into the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC that aims to secure and maintain a Republican Senate majority. Among others, it's fighting to retain the party's Senate seat in Texas, which serves as a major hub for Musk's business empire. He's also donated over $76 million to America PAC, a super PAC Musk founded in 2024 that canvasses for … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1009604/elon-musk-2026-midterm-republican-donations

If you're driving through GM's sprawling campus in Warren, Michigan, you'd likely ignore the pair of adjacent, anonymous white buildings tucked away in the upper reaches of the 710-acre space. Inside those buildings, which total half a million square feet together, is a massive construction project that's still in progress. Once completed, it will house GM's new Battery Cell Development Center, where the automaker is working furiously to build new prototype cells with the goal of slashing the cost of its EVs. GM has to build faster and cheaper to meet its goal of selling affordable EVs in much higher volumes. Those EVs will have to compete … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/transportation/1008023/gm-bcdc-ev-battery-factory-china-tesla

BOULDER, CO - MARCH 5:A Flock Safety license plate recognition camera is seen near the intersection of Marine Street and Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder on Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Photo by Matthew Jonas/MediaNews Group/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images) | MediaNews Group via Getty Images In April of 2025, Elgin Community College had six Flock safety cameras installed to "enhance the safety and security of students." But by September of that year, the school's administration grew concerned that Flock was sharing data with Customs and Border Patrol, that camera feeds were not properly secured, and that both law enforcement and the company's employees were abusing access to the data. So in October of 2025, Elgin Community College requested Flock to remove its cameras . According to Elgin's President Peggy Heinrich, Flock rejected the request, saying it had not violated its contract. According to the Chicago Sun-Times , school o … R...

The latest rumors are that the new Apple TV will have a built-in microphone, while the upgraded remote will get a speaker. The mic would let users control the set-top box using Siri without having to speak into the remote or a connected HomePod device. That could also let the Apple TV serve as a simple smart home hub - controlling thermostats and locking doors - without the need to hunt for the remote. If you happen to misplace the remote, the new integrated speaker should make it easier to track down. It could play an audio alert to guide you to its location, whether it got carelessly kicked under the couch or a child mischievously hid it … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1009397/apple-tv-refresh-built-in-mic-remote-speaker

Baby’s first local AI agent. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge I'm embarking on a journey I've so far been hesitant to go on: actually using AI on the regular. Giving my most personal data to cloud services has been a major hold up for me, but it's increasingly possible to run powerful models locally to see what they're capable of. Is this tech so useful that it's worth throwing gobs of money at a computer or a laptop with lots of overpriced RAM? I'll try to help you find out. I'm not an AI expert, it's going to be a journey for me, but maybe I can help you see if that journey is worth taking - and I'll be posting my way through it. A big part of Apple's pitch for its new Mac desktops is how good they … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1008484/learning-local-ai-hermes-qwen-model-mac-studio-testing-diary-progress

In a lengthy post on X , Microsoft's CEO laid out his views on the dangers posed by highly advanced AI models and how to confront those risks. Nadella says we can no longer accept a world where AI is treated as a "set of nested black boxes" whose advice and actions we simply accept or reject. He calls for building a more transparent system where models can be contained, observed, and leaves behind "tamper-proof human readable evidence." Many of his recommendations align with what we've heard from others in the industry: timely incident disclosure, independent audits, verifiable data, and containment. It's on that last point that he appears t … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1009337/satya-nadella-says-we-should-assume-all-ai-models-are-compromised

Artists are taking to social media to complain that DistroKid has unceremoniously removed their work without notice. Now DistroKid has confirmed to The Verge that the takedowns are a direct response to claims made by UMG. The label filed a lawsuit in September claiming that DistroKid has created an "AI-slop pipeline." Artists are saying that their non-AI works are being caught up in the purge, however. Musician and self-described "Video Game boy" McGwire reported that six of his songs had been removed from streaming. As has been the case with others, McGwire says that there was no communication from DistroKid before or after the removals, a … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/1009309/distrokid-take-down-songs-umg-lawsuit

Reports have been mounting that users of the Ledger crypto wallet have seen their accounts drained , and suspicion is that it's related to reseller CryptoBillis and a bit of spy hardware. Ledger has asked CryptoBillis to pause all sales of its wallets while it conducts an investigation. Photos and videos posted on X and Threads appear to show a small circuit board sandwiched under the screen. The implant allegedly intercepts anything displayed on the screen, including the seed passphrase shown during the initial setup. Using an embedded SIM card, the implant then sends that information back to the attacker, who can then siphon funds from use … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1009294/ledger-wallet-tampering-suspected-after-reports-of-crypto-thefts

When Microsoft released Windows 11 five years ago, it felt like an operating system that was still being renovated, a work in progress . You'd think by now that those renovations would be complete, with Microsoft turning its attention to Windows 12. Instead, Windows 11 feels like it's here to stay, forming the foundation for Microsoft's next big ambition: transforming Windows into an agentic OS. At a Windows and Surface event this week, Microsoft laid out its plan to bring AI agents to Windows, including hybrid intelligence that lets Windows take advantage of free local models instead of expensive cloud ones. "I think today is the day we'll … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1008801/microsoft-windows-surface-event-hybrid-ai-notepad

A post on X from "pdfu," who has previously posted leaks and renders of suspected Apple features and LG smart home gear , shows new details of rumored Apple Home accessories from LG. According to the new leak, they could include an NFC-based "Proximity Control" feature that pops up a hint for a device's controls in the iPhone's Dynamic Island, simply by putting the phone close to it. The post also says it's executed using the Matter protocol, but appears to be an Apple Home-specific feature, and follows yesterday's leak showing a "tap to setup without power" pairing feature and other upcoming devices. Apple's "second-party" LG accessories w … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1008812/apple-lg-homekit-tap-to-control-rumor

New York is alleging that thousands of TikTok users, including kids and teens, were unknowingly given "ghost" versions of the platform's safety features rather than the working versions. Reuters reports the allegation is part of an "updated, sealed version" of New York's 2024 lawsuit against TikTok , which was "later ordered unsealed by a judge." According to the new allegations, TikTok's "experiment" effectively blocked some users from accessing features like an option to reset your algorithm , which can potentially help users avoid harmful content popping up in their feed. As Reuters notes, users in the experiment "believed they had activa … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1008112/new-york-tiktok-lawsuit-placebo-safety-features

Since TikTok burst into mainstream consciousness, many things have been called a "TikTok clone": YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, Snapchat Spotlight, Netflix's Clips, LinkedIn's vertical video feed, and countless other, less recognizable names like Triller, Zynn, and Byte. For years now, Facebook and Instagram have pumped users' feeds with video as Meta chases TikTok's runaway success. But if tests running abroad are any indication, the TikTok-ification of social media might finally be reaching its fullest form. TechCrunch reports that some users in India are getting a Facebook test that, upon opening the app, drops them directly into a … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/1006069/instagram-facebook-full-screen-reels-test-tiktok

Apple has just announced a new October event, taking place in New York on October 13th at 9AM ET. The event company is rumored to be launching smart home-focused products this month, and the event invite hints that'll be the case: Apple is using the tagline "Welcome home." Welcome home. October 13. pic.twitter.com/ChelGSDOTI - Greg Joswiak (@gregjoz) October 8, 2026 At the event, Apple is rumored to announce products including a smart home hub with a display, an updated HomePod Mini, a new Apple TV. The company is also reportedly teaming up with LG on new smart home devices that will launch at the event, including a video doorbell, thermo … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/news/1008039/apple-smart-home-event-october-13th

Xreal launched its xbx A01 Plus display glasses over the summer for $299, and they’re a decent value. The design and fit are more or less on-par with the company’s pricier 1S that are $399, though they don’t have my favorite feature: built-in three degrees of freedom to let you lock the virtual screen in place. Despite the omission, they’re a more tempting gadget at their current $254 price at Amazon and via Xreal during October Prime Day . Xreal xbx A01 Plus Where to Buy: $299.99 $254 at Amazon $299.99 at Best Buy $299.99 $254 at Xreal Like other display glasses, they connect via USB-C and can mirror the display from numerous gadgets that support video-out, including laptops and gaming handhelds. I really enjoy using them with my Steam Deck. The A01 Plus have great-looking screens, though as a nearsighted person, I needed prescription lenses to make them appear crisp. HonsVR makes them, and they’re $50 . The A01 Plus are unique compare...

The AstroLab is very difficult to play in this position. | Image: Terrence O’Brien / The Verge Arturia's AstroLab series was already amongst the best stage keyboards out there. They essentially put the company's AnalogLab suite of vintage synth emulations , sampled pianos, and original instrument plugins into playable hardware. But they were ultimately glorified preset browsers. You could lightly tweak patches using the four macro controls, or dial in some effects, but you couldn't do any real sound design. That's all changed now with the AstroLab 2.0 update. The latest firmware adds a Sound Edit menu that lets you dig into the individual parameters of any instrument. It's not super intuitive to quickly fire up a blank patch from the … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/1005671/arturia-astrolab-synth-firmware-update

An invisible, machine-readable watermark in text output is rolling out to ChatGPT and Codex, but only for users in the European Union at first. OpenAI says its textGrain watermarking "matched or exceeded" other approaches like Google DeepMind's SynthID for text, which is also the basis for the watermarking Anthropic announced in August . Like OpenAI, Anthropic made the move to meet the requirements of the EU's AI Act ; however, not everyone was happy to learn about the addition. OpenAI also included scores from AI benchmarks showing similar performance from watermarked and unwatermarked text. But it notes that textGrain "does not guarantee … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1004880/openai-chatgpt-text-watermarks-eu-ai-act

An OpenAI publicist tried to change the topic of CEO Sam Altman's interview with Vanity Fair 's Mark Guiducci after the editor brought up a ChatGPT user's suicide. When Guiducci confronted Altman about the incident, the publicist warned Guiducci about running out of time, saying she'd like to "move on" to another topic. The interruption came shortly after Guiducci asked Altman if he knew who Laura Reiley is, a journalist who wrote an essay for The New York Times about her daughter's conversations with ChatGPT before she took her own life. "Her daughter committed suicide after speaking to ChatGPT. ChatGPT did not tell her to kill herself-" Gu … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1004827/openai-sam-altman-vanity-fair-interview-pr

Sam Altman thinks that the benefits of AI will be so great that "the world should accept some bad things happening" along the way. The OpenAI CEO pointed to hacks, scams, and "other bad things" as costs society should expect to tolerate because "people will do tremendously orders of magnitude more good stuff" with AI, without elaborating on the potential benefits. His comments come as OpenAI pushes for a "lighter touch" approach to AI regulation amid intensifying anxiety over the safety of frontier models - fears fueled in part by the company's repeated failures to keep its increasingly capable AI agents from hacking real-world targets. I … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1004811/openai-altman-bad-things-ai-tradeoff

Norbert Wiener, godfather of cybernetics, once said, "The thought of every age is reflected in its technique." For the past century, our thought has been reflected in our computers, including by those in the AI industry. Google's Demis Hassabis calls the brain "a biological approximation to a Turing machine." Elon Musk puts it more bluntly, declaring that "people should just think of the brain as a biological computer." (Musk's brain often worries me.) But humans are more complex than a straightforward comparison to computers gives us credit for - and far more than most of the AI industry seems to appreciate. And as their products push e … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1003794/ai-education-computational-model-thought