Some BMW EVs aren’t making their pedestrian warning sounds

As Jalopnik jokes, the cars are being recalled because they’re too quiet. | Image: Roberto Baldwin for The Verge

BMW is recalling almost 3,500 EVs due to issues with the artificial sound generator that’s meant to warn people when the vehicles are backing up or traveling at low speeds. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website, the recall applies to some 2022 and 2023 BMW i4 and iX models.

Federal safety standards require EVs or hybrids to make a certain amount of noise so that pedestrians can tell that there’s a car coming. Since electric motors are generally pretty quiet, especially at low speeds (the tires will likely be pretty loud on their own when you’re going faster), auto manufacturers usually have their cars make artificial sounds. That often ends up being a futuristic hum or whir; for performance...

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Meta is testing members-only worlds for its social VR platform

Some Horizon Worlds avatars hanging out around a virtual campfire. | Image: Meta

Meta is starting to test members-only worlds in Horizon Worlds, its social VR platform, which will allow people to build curated worlds for a select community of users.

These members-only worlds will offer something of a middle ground for creators on the platform. You can currently make public worlds for lots of people to go to, and the company is also testing what it calls personal spaces, which function like a private home in VR where you have tight control over who visits. Members-only worlds, on the other hand, are limited to 150 members and 25 concurrent visitors.

Meta suggests the new members-only spaces could be useful for groups like book clubs, gaming groups, a place for VIP creator supporters, or a spot to hang out with...

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Here’s how the HomePod Mini’s new bundle of features work

Apple’s HomePod Mini can now monitor temperature and humidity.

While the sort of new HomePod grabbed all the attention this week, the HomePod Mini is also getting some new features. With the launch of iOS 16.3 (likely later this month), the Mini will get all the same smart home capabilities as the new, bigger HomePod second-gen. The differences between the two Apple speaker siblings are now mainly in size and sound capability. From new temperature and humidity sensing tricks to the ability to find your family for you and even set up automations with just your voice, these new features should make the HomePod Mini a little more useful around the house.

These new features bring some much-needed functionality to the HomePod line

Both HomePods are also getting a Sound Recognition feature later this...

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The FAA updates flight system to prevent future outages

Image: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

The US Federal Aviation Administration has made some changes to prevent outages similar to the one that disrupted thousands of flights earlier this month, according to reports from Reuters and Bloomberg. In a letter to lawmakers viewed by the outlets, FAA administrator Billy Nolen says the agency’s system now has safeguards in place to stop corrupt files from interfering with its backup database.

The outage took place on January 11th and involved a computer glitch affecting the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system. This system provides pilots and other personnel with essential status updates, including information about runway closures, flocks of birds in the airspace, and other safety hazards. The outage lasted more than two...

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More Electrify America EV chargers are coming, this time at TA rest stops

An example of a TravelCenters of America EV charging station built by Electrify America | Image: TravelCenters of America

TravelCenters of America is working with Electrify America to get much-needed EV fast chargers installed at its rest stops across the US. The agreement has Electrify America deploying a sizable 1,000 charging stalls across 200 TravelCenters of America (TA), TA Express, and Petro shopping center locations nationwide.

TA’s goal is to install the chargers over the next five years, with the first ones showing up in 2023. The first installations are slated for locations in Texas and Ohio, according to TA’s senior director of communications, Tina Arundel.

This isn’t TA’s first foray into providing EV chargers; the company has Tesla Supercharger stations in Washington, Minnesota, and Nevada, as well as FreeWire EV stations in California and...

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New LG Gram 17 with RTX 3050 will launch on February 1st

A new, more powerful LG Gram. | Image: LG Electronics USA

The 2023 model of LG’s ultralight Gram 17 now has an official release date and price. LG has announced that the devices will be available for purchase on February 1st on LG’s website, with other “select LG-authorized retailers” to follow. Models will start at $1,999.

A number of refreshes to the Gram line were announced at CES 2023 in early January. The laptops will support variable refresh rate and Dolby Atmos for the first time. They’ve also been updated to 13th Gen Intel processors. LG refers to these new LG Gram 17 models as the “LG Gram Pro,” though they are simply labeled as “LG Gram 17” on its website.

There look to be two models available at launch. The $1,999.99 model will include an Nvidia RTX 3050 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of...

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SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle could be used to evacuate ISS astronauts in an emergency

Image: SpaceX

A SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle currently docked to the International Space Station (ISS) could be used to transport extra crew members back to Earth in the event of an emergency, NASA announced.

Following a coolant leak in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked to the ISS in December, international space agencies including NASA and Roscosmos worked together to come up with a plan to safely transport crew members home. The plan they settled on was to use a replacement Soyuz craft that will be launched in February.

However, observers were concerned about what would happen in the event of an emergency that required the ISS to be evacuated between now and the arrival of the replacement Soyuz. Usually, crew members would evacuate in the vehicles in...

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Meta’s Account Center came with a 2FA-defeating bug

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta’s Accounts Center feature had a bug that let hackers brute force SMS two-factor authentication, allowing them to bypass the additional protection (via TechCrunch). The vulnerability, which Meta says it fixed in December, was reported by Nepalese security researcher Gtm Mänôz, who detailed the exploit in a Medium post earlier this month.

It was a significant find, as Meta seems to be putting more and more focus on its Accounts Center feature, letting you manage settings and security information from it, as well as use it to switch to your other accounts. According to Mänôz, the attack was relatively simple; if you knew the phone number or email address the other person used for two-factor authentication, you could link it to your own...

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Frontier’s expanding its 5-gig fiber network across the country

Frontier joins AT&T as another 5-gig capable ISP available in the United States | Graphic by William Joel / The Verge

Frontier, an internet service provider (ISP) that services 25 US states, has just launched 5 Gig fiber internet service across its entire network. Frontier launched 2 Gig fiber internet service less than a year ago, and the 5 Gig plan is currently available in all of Frontier’s fiber-connected markets, with no phased rollouts.

Compared to the cable-bound internet that most of us are familiar with, Frontier’s 5 Gig internet is reported to have upload speeds that are up to 125 times faster and up to five times faster downloads, all delivered with less latency. The new 5 Gig network is one of the fastest internet options currently available in the US, with other fiber-enabled ISPs like Verizon Fios and Google Fiber still capped at around...

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Fortnite’s new concert is a strange musical raid

The Kid Laroi’s avatar performing in Fortnite. | Image: Epic Games

Checking out The Kid Laroi might be the first time I ever died during a concert — virtually, of course. The Australian singer is the latest artist to headline an interactive Fortnite experience, but this one differs a bit, adding a touch more of the shooter action that’s core to the game. The result is a strangely compelling experience that further expands what these kinds of virtual concerts can be. It even has a miniature raid.

Called “Wild Dreams,” the virtual music experience is billed as an “immersive sonic experience portraying Laroi’s journey from humble beginnings to headlining sold-out performances as a worldwide superstar.” Unlike virtual concerts from the likes of Travis Scott and Ariana Grande, which took over the entire...

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Instagram’s AIM-like text status feature is expanding to Europe and Japan

These Notes are all wasted opportunities to post vague lyrics that are definitely not targeted toward your crush. | Image: Meta

Instagram Notes, the social network’s recently launched text status feature that reminds me of the AOL Instant Messenger away messages of my youth, is expanding to the EU, UK, and Japan this week, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced Monday. The rollout is beginning on Monday, spokesperson Christine Pai said in an email to The Verge.

Notes are short text posts of up to 60 characters that float above your profile icon and disappear after 24 hours. The feature officially launched in December, and Mosseri says it’s done “really well” in Asia, North America, and Latin America and “specifically with teens.” The later launch in Europe and Japan was to ensure the feature complied with local regulations, Mosseri said.

Notes Launch Worldwide...

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The Meta Quest Pro is $400 off this week

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Meta has given its professional Meta Quest Pro headset a temporary $400 discount, bringing its cost down to $1,099 in the US. The deal, which, according to CNET,runs for one week in the US and two weeks in the UK at a price of £1,299, at least temporarily mitigates one major point of criticism for the high-end headset.

The Quest Pro offers a few significant features that Meta’s $399 Quest 2 doesn’t. It supports full-color passthrough mixed reality with front-facing cameras, and it comes with new self-tracked controllers that are more compact, plus eye and facial feature tracking. The tradeoff is a heavier design that we had some notable problems with. For anyone who’s specifically interested in those options, the price cut makes it a...

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Apple’s M1 MacBook Air for $799 is still easy to recommend

Even though it came out in late 2020, the $799 MacBook Air should still satisfy a lot of people. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Even though Apple’s M1 MacBook Air laptop is well over two years old, we still highly recommend it, especially when stores like Best Buy knock its price down to $799.99 ($200 off its original price that Apple still sells it for). You probably won’t find a faster, more compact, and better-designed machine for that amount of money. Despite being on the lowest rung and the oldest of Apple’s M1 and M2 silicon, don’t count it out. In our review, we came away impressed with its fast performance in most tasks and surprisingly long battery life. That was November 2020, but we still think you’ll be impressed now. Read our review.

This is far from the first time that this deal has appeared (truthfully, I’ve lost count), but if you’re in the market...

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TikTok CEO to testify before Congress in March

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to appear before Congress in March to face questions from lawmakers over US user safety and security on the popular video app, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The Energy and Commerce Committee confirmed the hearing in a press release Monday announcing that the TikTok chief would testify on March 23rd. TikTok chief operating officer Vanessa Pappas has testified before a congressional committee as recently as last September, but this upcoming hearing will be the first time a chief executive of the company has been hauled to Capitol Hill to face questioning.

“ByteDance-owned TikTok has knowingly allowed the ability for the Chinese Communist Party to access American user data.”

“Big Tech has...

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Nothing’s next phone will launch in the US later this year

Last year’s Nothing Phone 1. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Nothing’s next smartphone, the Phone 2, will be getting an official US release, the company’s CEO Carl Pei has confirmed in an interview with Inverse. Although the Phone 1’s transparent rear design and flashing light strips didn’t see a US release after the company chose to focus its attention on Europe and Asia, Nothing has decided to change its focus for its 2023 flagship. “We decided to make the U.S. our No. 1 priority in terms of markets,” Pei tells Inverse.

Hints of a US launch came earlier this month when Nothing announced a beta program for American buyers, which would supply them with a Phone 1 handset for a $299 fee. But the program is a far cry from an official US release, with Nothing cautioning that devices won’t support 5G...

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Cash-strapped EV startup Arrival is laying off half its workforce

Arrival said it would reduce costs by laying off 50 percent of its employees. | Image: Arrival

Arrival, an electric vehicle startup based in the UK, said it was laying off 50 percent of its employees in a bid to reduce costs. The company also named a new CEO, Igor Torgov, who previously served as executive vice president of digital at the company.

Arrival, which announced last year that it was winding down its UK operations in favor of refocusing its business in the US, became a publicly traded company in March 2021 after merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Founded in 2015, Arrival was developing electric delivery vans for UPS as a customer, as well as ridehailing cars for Uber and public buses. It also has backing from Hyundai and Kia.

The layoffs were the latest piece of bad news to hit the EV startup...

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What to expect from Samsung’s February Unpacked event

A leaked image claiming to show the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. | Image: NieuweMobiel.NL

Three new phones plus as many as five new laptops could await us on February 1st.

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Netflix’s live-action One Piece series is coming in 2023

A teaser poster for One Piece on Netflix. | Image: Netflix

Netflix has confirmed that its live-action take on One Piece will be streaming in 2023. That’s about all we know so far; Netflix didn’t give a specific date, though the company did show off a new poster for its adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s long-running pirate manga / anime.

Adventure is on the horizon! One Piece sets sail in 2023 https://t.co/5YhPXFt8GS pic.twitter.com/GQH2MSAvCF

— Netflix (@netflix) January 30, 2023

The adaptation was first announced back in 2020 and will be led by showrunners Matt Owens and Steven Maeda. The main cast includes the likes of Iñaki Godoy as Luffy (who you can see the back of in the new poster), Mackenyu as Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, and Taz Skylar as Sanji. And while we...

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Ford’s slashing Mustang Mach-E prices in latest volley in EV price wars

Image: Sean O’Kane / The Verge

A little more than six months after it raised prices on the Mustang Mach-E, Ford said it would now be slashing prices on its flagship electric vehicle as well as increasing its production targets for the year.

The Mach-E will drop by an average of around 5.85 percent, depending on the trim level. (Some versions are seeing steeper discounts than others.) According to Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer for Ford Model e division, the “center cut” discount was roughly $4,500.

Here’s a breakdown of the new prices:

The company also said it was expanding the production capacity for the Mach-E, opening new space in its factory and adding new equipment. As such, Ford says it expects to produce 130,000 vehicles for customers in North America...

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Sony promises ‘increased supply of PS5 consoles’ ahead of PSVR2 launch

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony says it should now be a lot easier to find PS5 stock at retailers. After two years of supply challenges, Sony has thanked fans for their patience as it delt with “unprecedented demand” since the PS5 launch in November 2020.

“If you’re looking to purchase a PS5 console, you should now have a much easier time finding one at retailers globally,” says Isabelle Tomatis, VP of brand, hardware, and peripherals at Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Sony recommends its own PlayStation direct store for those looking for a PS5 in the US, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. There are a variety of bundles available, alongside the base digital and disc PS5 consoles.

Breaking News - A GIANT Leviathan Axe spotted in London.

R...

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Monday’s top tech news: the chip war ramps up

Holding a silicon wafer with microchips. | Photo by Michael Matthey/picture alliance via Getty Images

And hear Seth Rogen’s Donkey Kong in the latest Mario movie trailer.

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Foldable iPad could arrive as early as next year, claims noted Apple analyst

Apple’s 10th-gen iPad, released last year. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Apple could be on track to release a foldable iPad as early as next year, according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. “I’m positive about the foldable iPad in 2024 and expect this new model will boost shipments and improve the product mix,” he tweeted early Monday. Kuo expects it to be joined by a revamped iPad Mini, due to enter mass production in early 2024.

Kuo didn’t offer many new details on the rumored iPad foldable, but said that it will feature a “carbon fiber” kickstand produced by Chinese component manufacturer Anjie Technology.

(4/4)
Thus, I'm taking a cautious approach to iPad shipments for 2023, predicting a YoY decline of 10-15%. Nevertheless, I'm positive about the foldable iPad in 2024 and expect this new model...

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Check out these emulated calculators at the Internet Archive

Image: Internet Archive

I never thought I’d actually have fun with a calculator emulator. But here I am, toying with the old-school graphing calculators that the Internet Archive has freed from their plastic chassis and put in a digital form for all to enjoy.

The Internet Archive calls this new collection the Calculator Drawer. There are 14 calculators to choose from, including the HP 48GX, TI-82, TI-83 Plus, and even the Electronic Number Muncher, which is an 80s-era toy calculator. The Internet Archive doesn’t just emulate the interface of each device, either; it incorporates their physical design and buttons, making it feel like you have the actual device right in front of you.

Screenshot: Emma Roth / The Verge

Doing some tough math...

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The latest Super Mario Bros. Movie teaser showcases Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong

Image: Nintendo

The latest Super Mario Bros. Movie teaser lets us hear Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong for the first time. During the clip, Mario faces off against Donkey Kong in an arena of sorts — just like we’ve seen in the previous trailer — but this trailer expands on the scene.

While it seems like Mario’s on the losing side of the battle, this appears to change when the titular plumber hits a question mark block, and (presumably) gets the Super Bell, transforming him into Cat Mario. Seeing Mario in his adorably fuzzy catsuit sends Donkey Kong into a laughing fit, which gives us a chance to hear Rogen’s signature laugh.

Image: Nintendo

Don’t laugh at Cat Mario.

It’s nice to finally hear Rogen as Donkey Kong, and I have to...

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San Francisco wants to slow robotaxi rollout over blocked traffic and false 911 calls

Cruise and Waymo are causing traffic issues in San Francisco. | Image: Getty Images

San Francisco transportation officials want Waymo and Cruise to slow the expansion of their robotaxi services in the city due to safety concerns, as reported earlier by NBC News. In two letters written to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the officials on San Francisco County’s Transportation Authority say the expansion of either service “is unreasonable,” citing recent incidents involving stopped driverless vehicles blocking traffic and obstructing emergency responders.

The GM-backed Cruise and Alphabet-owned Waymo are currently the only companies permitted to offer driverless rides to passengers in San Francisco. In June, Cruise won a permit to charge for rides in its autonomous vehicles (AV) between 10PM and 6AM,...

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How to use the Apple HomePod’s temperature and humidity sensors

Samar Haddad / The Verge

With the latest update to iOS 16.3, your Apple HomePod Mini smart speaker can now monitor the temperature and humidity in your home. No setup or extra hardware needed! The soon-to-be-released HomePod 2 will also have this capability.

In this article, we’ll go over how to use this new feature and show you how to use it with Apple Home smart home automations.

How to check the temperature and humidity in your room using your HomePod

With the new temperature and humidity sensing in the HomePod, you can easily check what the temperature is in the room your smart speaker is situated in just by asking Siri. Say, “hey Siri, what's the temperature in here?” and the voice assistant will reply with its current reading. The same goes for checking...

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Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI ask court to throw out AI copyright lawsuit

Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI claim the lawsuit doesn’t hold up. | Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa-Zentralbild/ZB (Photo by Jens Büttner/picture alliance via Getty Images

Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI want the court to dismiss a proposed class action complaint that accuses the companies of scraping licensed code to build GitHub’s AI-powered Copilot tool, as reported earlier by Reuters. In a pair of filings submitted to a San Francisco federal court on Thursday, the Microsoft-owned GitHub and OpenAI say the claims outlined in the suit don’t hold up.

Launched in 2021, Copilot leverages OpenAI’s technology to generate and suggest lines of code directly within a programmer’s code editor. The tool, which is trained on publicly available code from GitHub, sparked concerns over whether it violates copyright laws soon after its release.

Things came to a head when programmer and lawyer, Matthew Butterick, teamed...

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Japan and the Netherlands join US with tough chip controls on China

The deal likely won’t be announced publicly. | Image: Getty

Following years of lobbying from Washington, Japan and the Netherlands agreed on Friday to tighten restrictions on the export of chip manufacturing technology to Chinese companies. News of the agreement was reported by Bloomberg, the Financial Times, and The New York Times.

The controls are designed to limit China’s ability to ramp up its own domestic chip production and come after the Biden administration announced similar restrictions in October 2022. The fear is that easier access to advanced semiconductors will allow China to shore up its military and artificial intelligence capabilities.

There aren’t any plans for a public announcement about the agreement, and it may take “months” for Japan and the Netherlands to “finalize legal...

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Capcom’s major Street Fighter 5 tournament ditches PlayStation consoles for PCs

Image: Capcom

Capcom will exclusively use PCs to power its upcoming Capcom Cup tournament, which has the world’s top Street Fighter 5 players battling it out for a $300,000 prize pool. In a post on Twitter, Capcom Fighters says all matches will be played on PCs with the displays set to 144Hz.

The company doesn’t provide any information on the hardware going into these PCs (or if they’ll just use gaming laptops), but the move’s expected to reduce input lag — the time it takes for a system to translate your button press on a keyboard or controller to an action displayed on the screen. Low input lag is a necessity for pros in the fighting game scene, where a delayed punch or kick can greatly affect the outcome of a match.

pic.twitter.com/UbQK0gESD2

—...

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The Apple Watch Series 7 with LTE is down to just $329 today

Frankly, you’re not losing out on much if you opt for Apple’s last-gen wearable. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

The Apple Watch remains the go-to smartwatch for iPhone users, but unless you absolutely need some of the new features found on the Apple Watch Series 8, the last-gen Series 7 remains an attractive wearable — that is, when you can find it. Thankfully, you can currently pick it up at Walmart in the 45mm, LTE-equipped configuration for $329, which is $200 less than its newer counterpart typically goes for.

In terms of specs, the Series 7 is a lot like the newer Series 8. It features better dust resistance and a larger display than its predecessor, along with all the fitness-tracking metrics you expect and compatibility with watchOS 9. What it doesn’t offer is things like menstrual tracking and crash detection, two features unique to the...

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