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The VergeThe VergeFacebook is researching AI systems that see, hear, and remember everything you do
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Facebook is pouring a lot of time and money into augmented reality, including building its own AR glasses with Ray-Ban. Right now, these gadgets can only record and share imagery, but what does the company think such devices will be used for in the future?
A new research project led by Facebook’s AI team suggests the scope of the company’s ambitions. It imagines AI systems that are constantly analyzing peoples’ lives using first-person video; recording what they see, do, and hear in order to help them with everyday tasks. Facebook’s researchers have outlined a series of skills it wants these systems to develop, including “episodic memory” (answering questions like “where did I leave my keys?”) and “audio-visual diarization” (remembering...
The VergeModular Framework laptop gets a marketplace for all those modules
Framework, makers of the modular 13.5-inch Framework laptop that’s designed to be easily repaired and upgraded, has launched a dedicated marketplace filled with replacement parts and upgrades for its portable computer. Writing in a blog post, the company said the marketplace is currently focused on replacement parts and expansion cards, but that it hopes to add more customization modules like additional language keyboards later this year, as well as third-party and community developed modules in 2022.
It’s an important step for the modular laptop, which has been shipping for a little over two months. After all, the laptop’s 10/10 iFixit score for repairability doesn’t matter much if you can’t get a spare part when a component fails. And...
The VergeApple extends AirPods Pro repair program for crackling or ANC issues
The AirPods Pro, first released in 2019. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Apple has quietly extended a repair program for the AirPods Pro that offers free repairs or replacements for earbuds that have issues with noise cancellation or static. Reddit users (via MacRumors) were first to spot the change to Apple’s support page for the repair program, which now notes that the program covers affected AirPods Pro for three years after their first retail sale, rather than two. The page appears to have been updated at the beginning of October.
The support program was originally introduced in October 2020, one year after the original release of the AirPods Pro in 2019. It meant that Apple’s repair program was introduced at the exact point that the warranty on launch units was set to expire. With the extension of the...
The VergeThe Ncase M1, a crowdfunded marvel of a PC case, has been discontinued
The final product wound up being remarkably faithful to this early render. | Image: Ncase
In 2012, fed up with the sorry state of small-form-factor (SFF) computer cases, two users on the HardOCP community forum decided to create their own. Wahaha360 and Necere came up with the $200+ Ncase M1, a 12.7-liter marvel designed to put every cubic centimeter of that space to good use. Amazingly, they managed to attract the attention of renowned PC manufacturer Lian-Li to manufacture small batches of their crowdfunded case out of high-quality aluminum, and the result was greeted with rave reviews.
Nine years later, though, Ncase has announced that it’s discontinuing the M1 for good.
It’s a weird situation. Yesterday, the company posted that it had discontinued the M1 entirely — but overnight, the post was updated to...
The VergeAdam Neumann is back, and he just got HBO Max to cave to his demands
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Months after HBO Max original docuseries Generation Hustle debuted on the service, a team representing WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann says the streamer has changed some language in an episode that mapped the startup’s rise and spectacular demise.
In a press release sent to a staffer at The Verge earlier this week, defamation attorney Thomas A. Clare — who now represents the known tequila enthusiast and reported aspiring immortal — announced that HBO Max had altered parts of a _Generation Hustle_episode, titled “Cult of WeWork,” as well as its description on the HBO Max site.
Previously, the show’s description said it combined “true-crime capers with fresh, glossy stories of charismatic fakes” and “colorful imposters,” according to a...
The VergeEA is removing ex-Raiders coach Jon Gruden from Madden after email scandal
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Electronic Arts is removing former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden from Madden NFL 22followingreports that he had used racist, homophobic, and misogynistic language in emails. Gruden resigned as the Raiders’ coach soon after the emails came to light.
“EA Sports is committed to taking action in maintaining a culture of inclusion and equity,” EA said on in a statement posted to the Madden NFL Twitter account. “Due to the circumstances of Jon Gruden’s resignation, we are taking steps to remove him from Madden NFL 22. We will replace him with a generic likeness via a title update in the coming weeks.”
This isn’t the first time EA has made changes to its hit football series in response to real-world events. In 2020, the company changed...
The VergeBiden administration gives offshore wind farms a big boost
The GE-Alstom Block Island Wind Farm stands in the water off Block Island, Rhode Island, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016. | Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Offshore wind farms could be coming to nearly every coastline along the continental US. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland today announced plans to auction off leases to developers for up to seven new areas by 2025. That includes waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Maine, Central Atlantic, New York Bight (between Long Island and New Jersey), and off the coasts of Oregon, California, and the Carolinas.
It’s a big scaling up of offshore wind in the US, which lags far behind Europe when it comes to deployment. The US’ first commercial-scale offshore wind farm just got federal approval in May. Two existing, smaller operations in US waters have a combined capacity of just 42 megawatts. The Biden administration set a goal of pushing capacity up...
The VergeTwitter is trying out ads in the perfect new place: right in the replies
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
I don’t know about you, but I sometimes feel like Twitter is overloaded with ads in my feed. Unfortunately, those ads don’t seem to be enough for the company, though, because it’s testing a new place to show them: right in the middle of conversations.
The new ad format is in testing on iOS and Android, and you’ll see ads after the first, third, or eighth reply to a tweet if you’re in the test, according to Bruce Falck, Twitter’s revenue product lead. He shared a GIF of what the new in-conversation ads look like:
Starting today, we’re trying something different and testing a new ad format in Tweet conversations. If you’re a part of this test (which is global; on iOS & Android only), you’ll see ads after the first, third or eighth reply...
The VergeHow to use the iOS app tracking blocker
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Privacy is on everyone’s mind these days. Last spring, iOS 14.5 introduced a new privacy feature called App Tracking Transparency that may have made its users happier but did not endear Apple to some other companies — specifically Facebook. The feature is still available in iOS 15, along with some new privacy features.
Many apps don’t just track your movements inside the app, but they track your movements outside of the app — in other words, where you go after you’ve left the app. This is why you see ads in Facebook and other apps for products you were just looking at on Amazon or other sites.
Before 14.5, you could turn tracking off for all of your apps by going to Settings > Privacy > Tracking and turning off “Allow Apps to Request to...
The VergeFox is trying to build a Masked Singer NFT community
Some TV studio was going to be the first to tie a big NFT project to a major show, and it turns out to be Fox — the company is launching the MaskVerse, an NFT collection / game / thing that ties into The Masked Singer. Fox has shown interest in doing NFT tie-ins before, but this one leans on a community aspect that we’ve seen other NFT projects use (sometimes to great success, other times to disaster). Fox also seems like it wants this project to become more of A Thing than the collectibles released by other TV shows.
The company says that the first NFT for the show, which will be free and grant “special access” to the MaskVerse’s Discord, will launch on Wednesday (along with, of course, an episode of The Masked Singer). After that,...
The VergeFacebook attempts to stop leaks by making some message boards private
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
For weeks, Facebook has been dealing with numerous bombshellrevelations resulting from a huge cache of leaked internal documents. Now, Facebook is making some groups on its internal Workplace message boards about platform safety and protecting elections private, according to The New York Times_._The move is seemingly in an effort to prevent further leaks.
It’s unclear exactly how many groups will be taken private, so we don’t know how broadly Facebook is locking things down. “Leaks make it harder for our teams to work together, can put employees working on sensitive subjects at risk externally and lead to complex topics being misrepresented and misunderstood,” a Facebook spokesman said to The New York Times. The company didn’t...
The VergeLuna Display can now turn your iPad into a second screen for Windows devices
Image: Astropad
Astropad’s Luna Display is a handy way to turn an iPad or another Mac into a wireless external monitor for Apple’s computers. Now the company has updated its wireless dongles to include support for Windows PCs, a solid step forward for the company after Apple’s Sidecar made its functionality a built-in part of iPadOS and MacOS.
Windows support is included in Luna Display 5.0 and requires “Windows 10 64-bit, Build 1809 or later” and at least iPadOS 12.1, according to Astropad. That means modern Windows devices and iPads can work together in a variety of configurations, including using the Apple Pencil along with an iPad as a very expensive drawing tablet for your Windows machine.
Gif: Astropad
The iPad’s touch...
The VergeFacebook execs tease VR prototype hardware with new photos
Image: Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook virtual reality lead and soon-to-be CTO Andrew Bosworth (or “Boz”) are playing around with prototype VR (or AR) tech and want to show it off. Both executives have posted pictures of themselveswearing prototype headsets and linking the concepts to Facebook’s work on the metaverse. While the headsets the two are wearing are in no way guaranteed to become actual retail products, it’s an interesting look at what’s going on in Facebook’s virtual reality lab.
The headset Zuckerberg is wearing looks similar to the company’s Oculus headsets. However, he identifies it as “retina resolution,” borrowing Apple’s phrase for screens with such high pixel density that you can’t discern individual points at a normal...
The VergeHow Axie Infinity is turning gaming on its head
Last month I wrote about Loot, a viral social project like nothing I had seen before. What made it possible was the unique digital objects known as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, which inspired the Loot community to go build an entire fictional universe around them from the bottom up. Today I want to talk about another big social experiment that NFTs have enabled, and the potentially profound consequences of the platform that is emerging as a result.
I realize that, for lots of you, talk of blockchain projects immediately triggers eye-rolling and tab closing. But as with Loot, today’s edition is about one of those unconventional startups that feels too interesting to ignore. Especially because, on the surface, it can look like little more...
The VergeThe Apple Watch Series 7 officially ditches the hidden diagnostic port
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
The Apple Watch’s diagnostic port has been a mysterious part of the wearable lineup since its first model, but the new Series 7 officially ditches the six-pin port entirely.
Intended for internal use for diagnostics, the port wasn’t officially acknowledged on Apple’s website or documentation. But the diagnostic port briefly hinted at the possibility of expanding the Apple Watch with hardware accessories.
The most famous of these was the Reserve Strap, which attempted to use the port for extending the battery life of the Apple Watch by incorporating extra batteries into a specially made band that would slot directly into the diagnostic port. The port actually offered faster charging than Apple’s own magnetic cable, too.
...
The VergeHow to use Safari extensions on your iPhone and iPad
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
One of the handiest types of software in anyone’s quiver is the browser extension: those cool little applets that let your browser do what you want it to do. And one of the nicest things about iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 is that you can now add extensions to the Safari browser. Even though this is a new feature that launched with the latest iOS version, there are already a number of useful extensions available for you to add.
What follows is a rundown on how to add extensions to your Safari app — while we’ve illustrated the process using an iPhone, you can follow the same basic directions with an iPad. We’ve also included a sampling of some extensions you can try.
How to add extensions
- Tap on the Settings app.
- Scroll down to and select Safari...
The VergeFossil fuels are forecast to dry up, but not soon enough
Climate protesters march to the White House on October 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. | Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
This decade could see the beginning of the end of fossil fuels’ dominance as a source of energy, according to a new report from an agency that was formed to safeguard the world’s oil supply. It’s the latest signal that the global energy economy is on the verge of a dramatic transformation.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) came together in the midst of the 1970s oil crisis to monitor global supply and demand and foster cooperation on energy policy. For the first time, its annual World Energy Outlook predicts that oil demand will reach a peak and begin to decline in all the future scenarios the agency examined — and it sees that as a good thing.
“The cusp of a new era.”
In the most optimistic scenario, with countries standing by...
The VergeTwitter is launching a Spaces accelerator program to pay live audio creators
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Twitter announced on Tuesday that it plans to support Twitter Spaces creators through a new three-month accelerator program called the Twitter Spaces Spark Program. Twitter’s plans follow a similar creator three-month program that Clubhouse launched in March 2021.
The Spark Program is designed to “discover and reward” around 150 Spaces creators with technical, financial, and marketing support, Twitter says. For anyone who applies and gets in, that includes a stipend of $2,500 per month, $500 in monthly ad credits to spend promoting your Spaces on Twitter, early access to new Twitter features, support from Twitter’s official social media handles, and “opportunities for prioritized in-app discoverability for well-performing Spaces.”
*...
The VergeFacebook says it will ban content that sexually harasses celebrities
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Facebook announced Wednesday that it would start removing “severe sexualizing content” targeting public figures as part of a new update to its bullying and harassment policies. The policy changes also include coordinated harassment attacks against users.
As part of this new policy update, Facebook said that it would remove any profiles, pages, groups, or events dedicated to sexualizing public figures, including celebrities, politicians, and content creators. The new policy bans sexualized photoshops and drawings and any degrading content “in the process of bodily functions,” Antigone Davis, global head of safety at Facebook, said in a blog post on Wednesday.
Facebook also said that it would remove “unwanted sexualized commentary” and...
The VergeVisible confirms account breaches, blames ‘outside sources’
Image: Visible
Cell service provider Visible has confirmed customer reports of attackers accessing and changing user accounts, and it has said that the breaches were carried out using usernames and passwords from “outside sources.” In a statement to The Verge (which you can read in full below), the Verizon-owned carrier said that it’s worked to “mitigate the issue” since it became aware of it, though it doesn’t mention exactly what measures it’s put in place to protect customers.
Starting earlier this week, customers of Verizon’s lower-cost service were reporting unauthorized charges from Visible on their PayPals or credit card statements, as well as emails telling them that their accounts’ passwords or addresses had been changed. Some customers have...
The VergeCall of Duty’s new anti-cheat system includes a kernel-level driver to catch PC cheaters
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Activision and Raven Software are finally cracking down on cheating in Call of Duty: Warzone. A new Ricochet anti-cheat system is arriving in both _Call of Duty: Warzone_and Call of Duty: Vanguard. The system will use a combination of a PC kernel-level driver, machine learning algorithms to examine player behavior, and a “team of dedicated professionals” working to investigate cheaters.
The PC kernel-level driver has been developed internally for the Call of Duty franchise and will launch first for Call of Duty: Warzone with the upcoming Pacific update. PC games are increasingly using kernel-level drivers to detect sophisticated cheating, but since they run at such a high level in Windows, there are always privacy concerns surrounding...
The VergeAurora’s autonomous trucks and taxis will be available to customers via subscription
Aurora, the autonomous vehicle company founded by the former lead engineer for Google’s self-driving car project, announced that its autonomous trucks and taxis will be available to customers via subscriptions.
Aurora doesn’t expect to roll out its self-driving trucks and ride-hailing vehicles until 2023 and 2024, respectively, but the company is providing more detail about how it plans on putting them into commercial operation.
Aurora’s trucking service will be called “Aurora Horizon,” in which the company says it will provide trucking carriers and private fleets “with a reliable and scalable driver supply powered by the Aurora Driver.” The Aurora Driver is the name the company uses to describe the hardware and software it uses to...
The VergeSafety regulator wants info on Tesla’s FSD beta, ‘safety score’ evaluation
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to know why Tesla didn’t issue a recall for Autopilot after it became obvious the driver assistance system had a problem “seeing” parked emergency vehicles. NHTSA is also asking Tesla for more information about the growing public beta test of its incomplete Full Self-Driving software, the recently launched “Safety Score” evaluation process for entering the program, and the non-disclosure agreements Tesla was making participants sign up until this week.
The safety regulator’s concerns were outlined in twoletters published Wednesday — the latest in a series of recent moves by NHTSA that show it’s paying far more serious attention to Tesla now than it ever did during the Trump...
The VergeRazer Blade 15 Advanced review: the new hotness
A technical achievement that struggles to hide its seams
The VergeWe might get a System Shock live-action series before System Shock 3
A live-action _System Shock_series is apparently on the table for games-focused streaming platform Binge, marking a third attempt at reviving the classic space horror series.
Deadline has offered a few details about the project, including that it will be executive produced by executives from NightDive — a studio and retro games publisher that acquired the remarkably tangled rights to System Shockin 2013. It’s being produced by Binge chief content officer Allan Ungar, and it’s supposed to be part of Binge’s original content lineup as the platform prepares for a 2022 launch.
There’s a heavy emphasis on “supposed to” here because System Shock adaptations have a troubled history. NightDive successfully released the long-unavailable 1994...
The VergeVerge Deals is our biweekly newsletter filled with tech sales and exclusive deals
Verge Deals, our weekly newsletter, highlights the best deals of the week, exclusive discounts, and more.
Every day, The Verge scours the web looking for and writing about the best tech deals — but did you know many of these highlights can also be found in our newsletter?
Each week, we deliver the top tech deals and sales straight to your inbox. We look for the kind of discounts we rarely see on items that are truly good investments — not small price drops on mediocre goods. These are deals on products we’ve tested, used, or feel confident in recommending, from laptops and 4K TVs to the latest smart speakers.
Occasionally, we even treat our readers to exclusive deals. Recent newsletter subscribers, for instance, were amongst the first to find out about the $150 discount we’re currently offering on a standard ticket to On The Verge, our...
The VergeBlue Origin successfully sends William Shatner and crew to edge of space and back
Image: Blue Origin
Famed Star Trek actor William Shatner and a crew of three fellow passengers successfully flew to the edge of space and back this morning on Blue Origin’s New Shepard tourist rocket. The foursome took off from Blue Origin’s launch facility in Van Horn, Texas at 9:50AM ET, climbed to an altitude of roughly 66 miles up, and then safely landed back on Earth.
Flying alongside Shatner today were two paying customers and a Blue Origin employee. They included Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of small satellite company Planet Labs, and Glen de Vries, co-founder of Medidata, a software company. Audrey Powers, vice president of mission and flight operations at Blue Origin, represented the company on the flight.
This morning’s flight, lasting just a...
The VergeReddit’s latest feature turns predictions into a tournament
Users pick a prediction and bet tokens on the outcome. | Image: Reddit
Reddit has officially launched its new Predictions feature after piloting it for almost a year. It lets users compete by guessing the outcome of upcoming events like sports matches or awards ceremonies. Predictions build upon, and gamify, the site’s existing Polls feature from last year, allowing users to bet and earn tokens based on successful predictions as part of miniature tournaments. There’s no real money involved, just bragging rights, though Reddit says Premium members “may get special advantages or benefits in the future.”
Predictions tournaments can only be posted by moderators and consist of a series of questions for users to bet on the answers to. This list can be expanded by moderators as the tournament progresses. Each user...
The VergeGaming and apparel brand 100 Thieves is getting into hardware with its first acquisition
The keyboard made by 100 Thieves and Higround. | Image: 100 Thieves
100 Thieves, a gaming organization known for its esports teams, apparel, and big-name streamers, is announcing its first acquisition: the gaming peripheral company Higround.
If you aren’t familiar, Higround makes what might be best described as designer gaming peripherals. (To get an idea of what that means, check out Higround’s Instagram, which is filled with pictures of colorful keyboards.) It releases its products in limited drops and says that every one of them has sold out. The company’s work even includes a collaboration with Apple’s Beats, though it had a limited distribution and wasn’t for sale.
100 Thieves is a gaming brand...