The Pixel Fold is reportedly coming in June

Image: OnLeaks and HowToiSolve

The Google Pixel Fold could be available as soon as the second week in June, according to WinFuture’s Roland Quandt. The reliable leaker tweeted on Tuesday that the phone will come with 256GB base storage and that you’ll be able to get it in either a black / dark gray color or white.

The foldable has been rumored for a long time, and there have been whispers that it would be announced sometime in the next few months. However, a January report from The Elec threw some cold water on that idea, saying that the screen wasn’t even set to go into production until July or August.

Google Pixel Fold (yep, that's the name):

256GB base storage (no idea if other variants)
Colors: Carbon, Porcelain
Available in June

Google Pixel 7a:
128GB only (?)
C...

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OpenAI announces GPT-4 — the next generation of its AI language model

Illustration: The Verge

After months of rumors and speculation, OpenAI has announced GPT-4: the latest in its line of AI language models that power applications like ChatGPT and the new Bing.

The company claims the model is “more creative and collaborative than ever before” and “can solve difficult problems with greater accuracy.” It can parse both text and image input, though it can only respond via text. OpenAI also cautions that the systems retain many of the same problems as earlier language models, including a tendency to make up information (or “hallucinate”) and the capacity to generate violent and harmful text.

OpenAI says it’s already partnered with a number of companies to integrate GPT-4 into their products, including Duolingo, Stripe, and Khan...

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Apple added refurbished iPhone 13 models to its online store

The refurbished base iPhone 13 Pro‌ model starts at $759 rather than $999, its original price when sold new. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

One of the best things about new Apple phones is how quickly prices on older models start to fall shortly after. If you’ve been waiting for a good deal to drop on the iPhone 13 lineup, you might want to head on over to Apple’s online store because Apple’s just added a bunch of discounted refurbished iPhone 13 devices.

In case you’re unfamiliar with what buying refurbished entails — basically, Apple thoroughly cleans, tests, and repackages each preowned product. It also throws in a one-year warranty for extra peace of mind, making these good options for bargain hunters.

The best deals are available on the 6.1-inch iPhone 13 Pro and ‌ 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro‌ Max, which Apple no longer sells in new condition. The refurbished base iPhone 13...

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Spotify co-president says HiFi is still ‘coming at some point’

Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge

Even though Spotify HiFi still hasn’t launched after being announced more than two years ago, some kind of lossless experience is still on the way, Spotify co-president Gustav Söderström said in an interview with The Verge. But don’t get your hopes up for any specific information about when.

“We announced it, but then the industry changed for a bunch of reasons,” Söderström said on the latest episode of Decoder. “We are going to do it, but we’re going to do it in a way where it makes sense for us and for our listeners. The industry changed and we had to adapt.”

Originally, Spotify said its plan was to launch HiFi as a premium tier by the end of 2021. Since then, Apple Music and Amazon have offered lossless music at no extra charge, and...

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YouTube TV begins testing multiview to let sports fans watch four games at once

Multiview early access is arriving in time for March Madness. | Image: YouTube

Today, YouTube TV is launching early access testing for multiview, a feature that will allow subscribers to watch up to four different programs at the same time. “Those who are part of early access will receive an email and see an alert about this feature in their YouTube TV experience,” YouTube wrote in a blog post. There’s no way to manually opt in at the moment. “We’ll gradually roll out availability to all members over the coming months,” the company said.

But don’t get too excited. While multiview will heavily factor into YouTube’s plans for NFL Sunday Ticket coverage, right now, it’s very limited. Like, strictly limited to sports. YouTube says early access customers will be able to “watch up to four, pre-selected different streams...

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Now you can shop for a new iPhone through a one-way video call

You’ll see the employee on your screen, but they won’t see you. | Image: Apple

Apple’s launching a new way to buy an iPhone. Instead of picking one up at the store or placing an order on Apple’s website, now you can get the best of both worlds by shopping for a device online with the help of an employee over a one-way video call.

The feature, called “shop with a specialist over video,” lets you chat with an Apple specialist on desktop or mobile who can guide you through the process of buying an iPhone, as well as provide more information about different iPhone features, trade-in offers, financing, and iOS. While you’ll see the person on the other end of the call in a thumbnail that appears on your screen, they won’t see you. That means you can even make the call from a device that doesn’t have a camera, although...

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Where to preorder Sonos’ new Era speakers

The upcoming speakers from Sonos usher in a new... period for the smart audio company. | Image: Sonos

Sonos’ new hotly anticipated Wi-Fi-connected bookshelf speakers, the Era 100 and Era 300, are inching closer to their March 28th release and can now be preordered at multiple retailers. There’s been quite a bit of hype and buildup for these new speakers, thanks in no small part to a mountain of leaks and teases but also because the Era 100 and 300 are kicking off new lines for Sonos while the sun will set on popular models like the Sonos One and Play:3.

The new Sonos Era speakers will incorporate more features into the meatier parts of the Sonos home speaker lineup, like Bluetooth, line-in, and new spatial audio capabilities. So if you’re hyped and want to get your own at launch, here’s more about the Era 100 and Era 300 speakers,...

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The nun who wants to stop the AI

Photo by Greg Gayne / Peacock

Artificial intelligence is one of those transformative technologies that we’ll reflect on in a decade or two with wonder. We’ll ask questions like how did we go without AIs that could automatically translate other languages from videos we fed them or quickly render art or churn out emails we didn’t especially want to write ourselves? But as AI enables us to do more faster, it is likely also going to be a terrific tool for churning out misinformation and killing jobs. But I do question whether we’ll, over time, react as badly to something like Bing or ChatGPT as violently as the nun in Mrs. Davis.

The new show from Lost and The Leftovers’ creator Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez (who worked on The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon)...

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Adobe’s subtitling AI is good, but this free Resolve add-on has far more potential

Making subtitles, including rough machine-translated ones, has never been easier in Resolve. | Photo by Chris Person / The Verge

I love when people care about their subtitles. Not enough people on YouTube do it, and it’s wildly important from a basic accessibility perspective. What’s more, tons of people (myself included) prefer to watch movies with the subtitles on. And while the process of transcription itself can be tedious, you can have a lot of metatextual fun with authoring subtitles for dramatic effect, in particular with descriptive subtitles. So I wanna talk a little bit about a tool I use in DaVinci Resolve called StoryToolkitAI, which not only simplifies the process but actually has some rudimentary translation services built into it.

What are SRTs?

Screenshot by Chris Person / The Verge

SRTs are one of the most common formats...

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Everything you need to know for the Diablo IV open beta

Image: Blizzard

Diablo IV is coming soon. And for the open betas that accompany the lead-up to launch day, Blizzard is sharing information on important dates, how players can access the beta, and what they can expect when they enter the world of Sanctuary. You can check out all the important details on Blizzard’s website, but here’s a rundown of the most pertinent information.

The early access open beta is from March 17th through the 20th and is for players who have prepurchased the game or sacrificed their blood pressure to the almighty chicken gods. If you’re participating in the early access open beta, you can start downloading the beta at 12PM ET on March 15th.

If you’ve decided to wait on purchasing Diablo IV or the hellfire and damnation sandwich,...

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TikTok is adding a third feed just for science and math videos

Image: Nick Barclay / The Verge

TikTok is adding a new feed dedicated exclusively to science, tech, engineering, and math content — with additional moderation before videos appear in the feed.

The STEM feed will live next to the two existing feeds, Following and For You, and will surface content for users looking specifically for trending science and technology videos. US users will begin to see the feed in the coming weeks.

Not all science and technology content will land on the STEM feed. TikTok says that, in order to be eligible for the feed, videos will need to pass additional layers of vetting by partner organizations focused on trust and safety efforts.

Image: TikTok

TikTok partner organizations will vet videos before they’re added to the...

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Why Spotify wants to look like TikTok, with co-president Gustav Söderström

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge

Gustav Söderström has worked at Spotify for a long time; his first big project was leading the launch of its mobile app back in 2009. That makes him the perfect company leader to talk to about Spotify’s recent redesign, which introduces a visual, TikTok-like feed for discovering new content on the app’s homepage. As his boss, CEO Daniel Ek, put it last week, it’s “the biggest change Spotify has undergone since we introduced mobile.”

With the title of co-president and chief product and technology officer, Söderström is responsible for not only how Spotify looks and feels but also all of the AI work happening behind the scenes to power its increasingly important recommendations. According to Söderström, it turns out that improving those...

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Amazon reveals its squared-off Project Kuiper satellite internet dishes

Project Kuiper’s most compact satellite dish weighs just one pound. | Image: Amazon

Amazon has revealed a range of customer terminals that connect to its broadband satellite network, Project Kuiper. In a blog post published on Tuesday, Amazon says its designs are “smaller, more affordable, and more capable” than competitors, such as the terminal offered by Elon Musk’s Starlink.

The company’s first device is Project Kuiper’s “standard” customer terminal, which Amazon initially revealed the design for in 2020. It measures less than 11 inches square and one inch thick. The terminal weighs less than five pounds — not counting its mounting bracket — and is capable of offering speeds of up to 400Mbps. Amazon says it expects to produce this terminal for less than $400.

Image: Amazon

Amazon’s standard...

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Amazon’s latest Echo Dot is discounted to its best price of the year

Both the base model and the LED-equipped upgrade are on sale for $15 off. | Image: Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Reading this half-asleep? We feel you. The first week after the clock springs forward can feel like hell, but today’s lead deal might help you adjust a little easier. That’s because you can currently buy Amazon’s latest Echo Dot with an LED display for $44.99 ($15 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. The model without the LED display, meanwhile, is on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target for just $34.99 ($15 off).

As an Alexa-enabled smart speaker, the fifth-gen Echo Dot is a versatile gadget. You can use it to set alarms to help you wake up, and it comes with a handful of perks the average alarm clock lacks. This includes a temperature sensor that’s capable of triggering Alexa Routines, which allows you to program the smart speaker to...

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Netflix’s Sweet Tooth is back for season 2 in April

Christian Convery in season 2 of Sweet Tooth_._ | Image: Netflix

The coziest dystopia around is coming back for its second season very soon. Netflix announced that season 2 of Sweet Tooth, the postapocalyptic series based on Jeff Lemire’s graphic novels, will start streaming on April 27th.

For the uninitiated, Sweet Tooth takes place in a world ravaged by a pandemic but also one where hybrid children — adorable creatures that are half-human, half-animal — have started to appear. The coincidental timing means that most humans blame the pandemic on the hybrids, and the world predictably descends into chaos. What makes the show unique isn’t just the hybrids but also its star: Gus (Christian Convery) a little boy with antlers, an insatiable desire for sweets, and a contagious level of hope and optimism.

T...

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Nothing’s upcoming Ear 2 earbuds leak in full

Image: OnLeaks via The Tech Outlook

Nothing’s latest pair of wireless earbuds have leaked just one week ahead of their launch. In a set of images shared by @OnLeaks with The Tech Outlook, we get our first glimpse at what appears to be the Nothing Ear 2 earbuds, which look nearly identical to the Ear 1 buds, complete with a partially transparent stem and wireless charging case.

The only noticeable difference between the design of these new buds and their predecessors is, of course, the “Nothing ear (2)” branding on the stem. However, if you look closely, you can see that Nothing moved the noise-canceling microphone to the top of the stem instead of the very bottom.

As you can see in the below gallery, the Nothing Ear 2s also feature a red and white dot to indicate which one...

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Microsoft Edge now has a Bing AI chatbot sidebar

Image: The Verge

Microsoft is now rolling out its Bing AI-powered chatbot in a sidebar inside its Edge browser. The Bing sidebar was initially only available in dev versions of Edge, but it’s now rolling out to stable versions of Microsoft Edge on both Windows and macOS.

The new sidebar appears as a big Bing button at the top left of Edge, and hovering over or clicking on it will activate the new Bing chatbot experience. If you’re a member of the Bing preview, you can use the chat function to ask the chatbot questions or the compose option to generate text for emails, blog posts, letters, and much more.

Image: Microsoft

The new Bing sidebar in Microsoft Edge.

As the sidebar is based on the context of the page you’re viewing in...

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Meta is laying off 10,000 more employees in a series of cuts

Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta will lay off an additional 10,000 employees through multiple rounds of cuts over the coming two months, close hiring for 5,000 open roles, and cancel more low-priority projects, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Tuesday. These cuts come just four months after he laid off 11,000 employees, or 13 percent of the company, last November.

The first wave of layoffs will start this week and impact Meta’s recruiting organization, followed by a second wave for tech roles in April and a third focused on business roles in late May. “My hope is to make these org changes as soon as possible in the year so we can get past this period of uncertainty and focus on the critical work ahead,” Zuckerberg wrote in a memo to employees that was also posted o...

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Google opens up its AI language model PaLM to challenge OpenAI and GPT-3

Illustration: The Verge

Google is offering developers access to one of its most advanced AI language models: PaLM. The search giant is launching an API for PaLM alongside a number of AI enterprise tools it says will help businesses “generate text, images, code, videos, audio, and more from simple natural language prompts.”

PaLM is a large language model, or LLM, similar to the GPT series created by OpenAI or Meta’s LLaMA family of models. Google first announced PaLM in April 2022. Like other LLMs, PaLM is a flexible system that can potentially carry out all sorts of text generation and editing tasks. You could train PaLM to be a conversational chatbot like ChatGPT, for example, or you could use it for tasks like summarizing text or even writing code. (It’s...

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Google announces AI features in Gmail, Docs, and more to rival Microsoft

Google has announced a suite of upcoming generative AI features for its various Workspace apps, including Google Docs, Gmail, Sheets, and Slides.

The features include new ways to generate, summarize, and brainstorm text with AI in Google Docs (similar to how many people use OpenAI’s ChatGPT), the option to generate full emails in Gmail based on users’ brief bullet points, and the ability to produce AI imagery, audio, and video to illustrate presentations in Slides (similar to features in both Microsoft Designer, powered by OpenAI’s DALL-E, and Canva, powered by Stable Diffusion).

The announcement shows Google’s eagerness to catch up to competitors in the new AI race. Ever since the arrival of ChatGPT last year and Microsoft’s launch of...

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Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is a gorgeous and gimmicky breath of fresh air

Art from Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon_._ | PlatinumGames / Nintendo

PlatinumGames’ new Bayonetta prequel for the Nintendo Switch is a breezy change of pace for the series that exceeds by keeping combat simple and satisfying.

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Netgear’s first Wi-Fi 7 Nighthawk router trades in the batwing look for a tower design

Netgear’s new NightHawk RS700 Wi-Fi 7 router. | Image: Netgear

Netgear’s releasing a new Nighthawk router that trades in the sci-fi spaceship look the line adopted in 2018 for a more monolithic tower design. The new Nighthawk RS700 will cost $699.99 when it launches this spring with looks that are more akin to the AmpliFi Alien or Linksys Velop routers. This is also the first of the line that’s equipped with Wi-Fi 7 — the upcoming IEEE specification that promises the lowest latency wireless connections yet.

Other devices we’ve seen announced with support for the new spec include a few from TP-Link and Asus; however, just like this one, they’re not available in stores yet.

The yet-to-be-adopted Wi-Fi 7 standard (known as 802.11BE) is designed to succeed Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 6. Wi-Fi 7’s biggest...

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Keychron Q1 Pro review: they actually pulled it off

The Q1 Pro keeps everything that made the wired Q1 great and makes it wireless. It even does a great job with battery life, so long as you’re prepared to sacrifice some RGB.

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Microsoft Teams will let you transform into a 3D avatar in May

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is finally adding its 3D avatars for all Microsoft Teams users starting in May, according to an update to its Microsoft 365 roadmap. Microsoft originally announced the avatars feature in 2021 and has been testing it privately in recent months.

Avatars in Microsoft Teams are designed to let people avoid appearing on camera during meetings. If you don’t feel for video or you need a break from constant calls then you can swap in a 3D avatar that will animate based on your vocal cues alone — no camera needed at all.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft Teams is getting 3D avatars in May.

“It’s not binary, so I can choose how I want to show up, whether it’s video or an avatar, and there’s a variety of customized...

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App turns Oppo’s Find N2 Flip cover display into a ‘fully functional mini phone’

Images show an app drawer, browser, and YouTube running on the Find N2 Flip’s cover display. | Image: Jagan2

CoverScreen OS is a piece of software that attempts to turn the Oppo Find N2 Flip’s small 3.26-inch cover display into a “fully functional mini phone.” Crucially, this means being able to access the app drawer and launch “almost any app” on the cover screen, massively increasing the amount you can do on the foldable flip phone without having to open it up. The software is downloadable from the Google Play Store.

CoverScreen OS has been available for awhile for the Samsung Z Flip 3 and 4. In fact, my colleague Allison tried it out on the Z Flip 4 last August. But while the app’s usefulness was limited on Samsung’s tiny 1.9-inch cover display, the Find N2 Flip’s portrait-oriented 3.26-inch, 720 x 382 cover display feels like it has a lot...

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This tiny chip is being used to develop a tooth-mounted sensor that can read your spit

Silicon Labs’ xG27 chips can be as small as 2.3mm by 2.6mm — and yes, this image is to scale. | Image: Silicon Labs

Miniaturizing tech is a perpetual challenge for wearable makers. The smaller the device, the better it is for wearability. The thing is, that usually comes at the expense of battery life. However, Silicon Labs is hoping its latest xG27 chipset is small and energy-efficient enough to spark some big ideas in the medical tech space — like a saliva reader that’s so tiny it can be mounted onto a tooth.

According to Silicon Labs, the xG27 family of SoCs consists of the BG27 and the MG27. Both are built around the ARM Cortex M33 processor, but the BG27 focuses on Bluetooth, while the MG27 supports Zigbee and other protocols. As for how small these chips are, the xG27 SoCs range from 2mm-squared to 5mm-squared — roughly the width of a No. 2...

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California’s gig worker-focused Prop 22 isn’t overturned after all

The law has been controversial for gig workers. | Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

An appeals court in California has ruled that the state’s Proposition 22 should mostly be allowed to stand, after a judge ruled to strike it down in 2021, declaring it unconstitutional, according to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. The law, which passed in 2020 following a massive and expensive campaign, made it so companies like Uber, Lyft, Instacart, and DoorDash can classify their workers as independent contractors instead of employees.

The three appeals judges did recommend removing sections 7465(c)(3) and (c)(4) from the law, which were seen as preventing workers from collectively bargaining. Two of the judges said it should otherwise said it should remain as-is, while one wrote a dissenting opinion saying that the...

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Microsoft lays off team that taught employees how to make AI tools responsibly

Image: The Verge

Microsoft laid off its entire ethics and society team within the artificial intelligence organization as part of recent layoffs that affected 10,000 employees across the company, Platformer has learned.

The move leaves Microsoft without a dedicated team to ensure its AI principles are closely tied to product design at a time when the company is leading the charge to make AI tools available to the mainstream, current and former employees said.

Microsoft still maintains an active Office of Responsible AI, which is tasked with creating rules and principles to govern the company’s AI initiatives. The company says its overall investment in responsibility work is increasing despite the recent layoffs.

“Microsoft is committed to developing AI...

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Meta gives up on NFTs for Facebook and Instagram

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta is “winding down” its work with NFTs on Facebook and Instagram, Meta commerce and fintech lead Stephane Kasriel said in a Twitter thread on Monday. The decision means Meta will end its tests of minting and selling NFTs on Instagram as well as the ability to share NFTs on Instagram and Facebook in the coming weeks, Meta spokesperson Joshua Gunter confirmed in an email to The Verge.

“Across the company, we’re looking closely at what we prioritize to increase our focus,” Kasriel said. “We’re winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.” Instead, the company is focusing on “areas where we can make impact at scale,” like messaging and monetization on Reels and on...

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Sony wants to help low-vision users enjoy photography by shining lasers in their eyes

It’s like the eye-level finders of old medium format film cameras, but now for a compact digital camera — with lasers. | Image: Sony

Giant frickin’ laser beams get all the buzz and sci-fi love, but it’s our little laser bros that are putting in the work: taking measurements, entertaining our cats, and now, in the case of a Sony camera, helping people with vision problems see clearly through an electronic viewfinder and take pictures.

Sony is working with fellow Japanese company QD Laser to release the HX99 RNV Retina Projection Camera kit, a compact camera with an add-on retinal laser housing for projecting the camera’s focused live view image into the user’s eye. The low-power laser projection is designed to effectively bypass the focusing of the eye, helping users with visual impairments like shortsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism see a clear image.

A 2018...

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