Twitter says source code was leaked on GitHub, now it’s trying to find the culprit

Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge

Parts of Twitter’s source code were recently leaked online via GitHub, theNew York Times reports, but were taken down after the social media platform filed a DMCA request. The request, which GitHub has published online, notes that the leaked information included “proprietary source code for Twitter’s platform and internal tools.”

The NYT notes that the source code maybe have been public for several months before being removed — the GitHub profile associated with the DMCA takedown lists a single (non-public) code contribution from early January. The name of the account is listed as “FreeSpeechEnthusiast,” in an apparent reference to Twitter CEO Elon Musk calling himself a “free speech absolutist” in the past.

Twitter has asked for the...

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Microsoft says it has stopped its Xbox Game Pass $1 trial offer

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft has stopped its $1 trial offer for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. The trial has been available for years, with brief periods where it wasn’t always available in certain markets, and it now looks like Microsoft is considering new promotions instead.

“We have stopped our previous introductory offer for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass and are evaluating different marketing promotions for new members in the future,” says Kari Perez, head of global communications at Xbox, in a statement to The Verge.

The $1 trial has allowed people to sign up to Xbox Game Pass for a month, before the full Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription kicks in at $14.99 per month or $9.99 a month for the PC- or console-only subscriptions....

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Apple staff reportedly express doubts about mixed-reality headset months ahead of launch

Image: The Verge

Although the expected launch of Apple’s mixed-reality headset is just months away, some employees don’t seem to think the device is ready yet, according to a report from The New York Times. While some employees reportedly exited the project due to their doubts, others remain skeptical about the headset’s potential for success — especially at a price point of $3,000.

Apple’s widely expected to reveal the headset at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple recently demoed the device in front of Apple’s top 100 executives at the Steve Jobs Theater in California, “suggesting that a public unveiling is getting close.”

But behind the “glitzy” presentation, the Times suggests that there has...

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Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS eShops shut down tomorrow

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge

The Wii U and Nintendo 3DS digital storefronts are shutting down tomorrow, March 27th, 2023. While you’ll no longer be able to purchase games or DLC from either eShop, you’ll still be able to redownload the games you’ve already bought and play online for the time being.

Nintendo first warned us of the shutdown last year and started barring users from loading money into the Wii U and 3DS eShops in August. Sadly, this imminent shutdown means we’ll have to bid farewell to the hundreds of great digital-only titles available on either store, such as Dr. Luigi, Pokemon Rumble U, Pushmo, Pokémon Picross, and many others.

The closures will also make it impossible to purchase the full range of Virtual Console games on the 3DS and Wii U, which...

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Elon Musk reportedly halves Twitter’s valuation in internal memo

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Elon Musk has put a $20 billion value on Twitter, making up less than half of the $44 billion Musk paid to acquire the site, according to reports from Platformer and The Information. In a memo sent to staff viewed by Platformer’s Zoë Schiffer, Musk reportedly says that employees will receive stock grants based on Twitter’s $20 billion valuation.

Musk stated last year that he’s “obviously overpaying” for Twitter at $54.20 per share. Price was also one of the reasons why he attempted to back out of the deal last year, claiming that the company made false and misleading statements about the presence of bots on the platform.

Comp increases will be based on X Corp stock. Current grants are based on a $20b valuation. Musk says he sees a...

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AirPods Pro with USB-C are supposedly on the way

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Apple could soon launch a USB-C version of its second-gen AirPods Pro. That’s according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who believes the company could start shipping the earbuds with a USB-C case during the second and third quarters of this year.

This apparently doesn’t apply to Apple’s standard AirPod models, though, as Kuo notes that the company “currently appears to have no plans for USB-C versions of the AirPods 2 & 3.” Kuo hinted at the change in response to a tweet from Twitter user @aaronp613, who spotted references to a new AirPods model number (A3048), along with a new AirPods case model number (A29680) in iOS 16.4.

I think this is likely the USB-C version of the AirPods Pro 2, with mass shipments expected in 2Q23-3Q23. By the...

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Succession’s final season doubles down on its core conceit — to a fault

Brian Cox as Logan Roy. | HBO

While Succession’s fourth and final season makes good on the series’ name, it does so while feeling comfortably stuck in a familiar holding pattern of treachery and ‘gotcha’ backstabbing.

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ChatGPT started a new kind of AI race — and made text boxes cool again

Tired: the metaverse. Wired: the message-verse? | Image: OpenAI / David Pierce

It’s pretty obvious that nobody saw ChatGPT coming. Not even OpenAI. Before it became by some measures the fastest growing consumer app in history, before it turned the phrase “generative pre-trained transformers” into common vernacular, before every company you can think of was racing to adopt its underlying model, ChatGPT launched in November as a “research preview.”

The blog post announcing ChatGPT is now a hilarious case study in underselling. “ChatGPT is a sibling model to InstructGPT, which is trained to follow an instruction in a prompt and provide a detailed response. We are excited to introduce ChatGPT to get users’ feedback and learn about its strengths and weaknesses.” That’s it! That’s the whole pitch! No waxing poetic about...

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Microsoft fixes reversible screenshot vulnerability on Windows

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft has pushed an update to fix a screenshot editing vulnerability in Windows 10 and 11, as spotted earlier by Bleeping Computer. The security flaw, dubbed the “aCropalypse,” could let bad actors recover the edited portions of screenshots, potentially revealing personal information that had been cropped out or concealed.

According to Microsoft, the issue (CVE-2023-28303) affects both the Snip & Sketch app on Windows 10 and the Snipping Tool on Windows 11. However, it only applies to images created in a very specific set of steps. That includes those that have been taken, saved, edited, and then saved over the original file, as well asthe ones opened in the Snipping Tool, edited, and then saved to the same location. It doesn’t have...

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Microsoft reportedly orders AI chatbot rivals to stop using Bing’s search data

Illustration: The Verge

Microsoft doesn’t want its rivals to use Bing’s search index to power their AI chatbots, according to a report from Bloomberg. The company reportedly told two unnamed Bing-powered search engines that it will restrict them from accessing Microsoft’s search data altogether if they continue using it with their AI tools.

As noted by Bloomberg, Microsoft licenses out Bing’s search data to several search engines, including DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, and the AI search engine You.com. While DuckDuckGo, for example, uses a combination of Bing and its own web crawler to provide search results, You.com and Neeva also pull some of their results from Bing, helping to conserve some of the time and resources that come along with crawling the entire web.

M...

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It turns out Arrested Development is staying on Netflix after all

Image: Netflix

Arrested Development isn’t leaving Netflix anymore. The streamer announced on Twitter that the show will remain on the platform after licensing issues nearly resulted in its removal.

While Netflix initially planned on taking down all five seasons of the show on March 15th, including the two produced by Netflix, that never happened. That’s because Netflix reached a deal with the Disney-owned 20th Century Studios, which still holds the rights to the series after it originally premiered on Fox in 2003, according to a report from Vulture.

The Bluths aren’t going anywhere!

Arrested Development is staying on Netflix! And there’s only one way to celebrate: pic.twitter.com/NlrSoBYk8t

— Netflix (@netflix) March 24, 2023

Under the terms of the...

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9 cool new games from GDC 2023

Naiad. | Image: Hiwarp

The Game Developers Conference was a chance to check out some fascinating new indie games, ranging from a charming family story told through cooking to a strategy game about building a city on top of a giant beast.

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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is great — you just have to roll with it

Image: Paramount Pictures and eOne

Engaging, comical, and unapologetically dorky, Honor Among Thieves occasionally stumbles under its own ambition but ultimately proves that high fantasy doesn’t always have to be highbrow.

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The Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Scribe are down to their best prices of the year

The ad-supported Kindle Paperwhite with 8GB of storage is $40 off. | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

Whether you’re looking to relax and unwind this weekend or simply pass some time while flying out for spring break, today’s deals on the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Scribe will help you do so. First up, the Kindle Paperwhite is on sale in various configurations, starting at $99.99 with ads and 8GB of storage at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target ($40 off). The model with 16GB of storage is on sale for just $10 more, while the 8GB model without ads costs $20 extra.

Not only are those the best discounts we’ve seen this year, but it also brings the Paperwhite down to the price of the base Kindle. Unlike that entry-level e-reader, though, the Paperwhite is waterproof with monthslong battery life, so you can enjoy reading for hours on end in the...

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Amazfit Band 7 review: where did all the budget trackers go?

This affordable fitness band stuffs in an impressive amount of features, but these budget trackers aren’t nearly as popular as they used to be.

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Gordon Moore, Intel co-founder and creator of Moore’s Law, has died

Intel co-founder Gordon Moore | Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Gordon Moore, one of Intel’s co-founders and a Silicon Valley titan, died today at 94 years old, according to a press release from the company. He was part of the “traitorous eight” who founded Fairchild Semiconductor, which became an incubator for many other Silicon Valley companies — including AMD. Moore and Robert Noyce, a fellow member of the eight, went on to found Intel, originally named Integrated Electronics, in 1968. He eventually became chairman and CEO of the company in 1979, and served as CEO for eight years.

While Moore obviously played a large role in the development of the tech that powers modern computing devices, many people will also be familiar with his name because of “Moore’s law,” his 1965 prediction that processors...

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The Internet Archive has lost its first fight to scan and lend e-books like a library

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

A federal judge has ruled against the Internet Archive in Hachette v. Internet Archive, a lawsuit brought against it by four book publishers, deciding that the website does not have the right to scan books and lend them out like a library.

Judge John G. Koeltl decided that the Internet Archive had done nothing more than create “derivative works,” and so would have needed authorization from the books’ copyright holders — the publishers — before lending them out through its National Emergency Library program.

The Internet Archive says it will appeal. “Today’s lower court decision in Hachette v. Internet Archive is a blow to all libraries and the communities we serve,” Chris Freeland, the director of Open Libraries at the Internet...

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ChatGPT’s history bug may have also exposed payment info, says OpenAI

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

OpenAI has announced new details about why it took ChatGPT offline on Monday, and it’s now saying that some users’ payment information may have been exposed during the incident.

According to a post from the company, a bug in an open source library called redis-py created a caching issue that may have shown some active users the last four digits and expiration date of another user’s credit card, along with their first and last name, email address, and payment address. Users also may have seen snippets of others’ chat histories as well.

This isn’t the first time caching issues have caused users to see each other people’s data — famously, on Christmas Day in 2015, Steam users were served pages with information from other users’ accounts....

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I nearly bought a Framework Laptop, but logistical realities got in the way

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

“My old Dell XPS 15 has gotten sluggish. The battery dies easily. It’s heavy to cart around, anyhow. Now that I’m going out in public again, I need a new work machine.”

These were the thoughts circling my head at yesterday’s Framework event — where the company known for its easily-upgradable laptops announced new chips and a new, longer-lasting battery. “Battery life has consistently been the main negative for the Framework laptop,” said CEO Nirav Patel, hitting on the one reason I’d only ever admired the company’s laptops from a distance. This morning, without that one reason to hold back, it was time to put down a $100 deposit for my own Framework Laptop 13.

But I didn’t — because Framework wouldn’t sell me that battery unless I...

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That TikTok hearing was pretty messed up, right?

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Yesterday continued Congress’s recent history of calling tech executives into a hearing to berate them about their excessive collection of users’ private data for financial means. But where Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai suffered through the hearings only to face little to no repercussions for their potentially egregious collection of data and anti-competitive practices, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was met with something far more defined — and the users of his platform immediately picked up on it.

“Your platform should be banned,” was one of the first things Chew heard when the hearing started. That was from Chair Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA) in her opening statement. Her mind seemed made up, as did many of the members of Congress on the...

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Some questions for the employees behind Google Docs

I have a lot of questions! | Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

• Why is the toolbar a different color?
• Why is it oval when the buttons it features are square?

I have helpfully labeled my concerns.

• Are you aware that this is ugly?
• Seriously, what is the logic behind the oval / rectangle divide?
• Do you think it’s important for us to notice the toolbar?
• You know it’s kind of distracting to make it a different color, right?
• How many committee meetings went into that toolbar?
• Is anyone working on a Chrome extension to make Google Docs look less hideous?
• Are you evaluated for how many products you successfully ship, or are you evaluated on whether the products are good?
• How many people made this toolbar decision?
• Is this an act of aggression against your users?
• Do you resent us?
• Or,...

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Trying to recreate Mario Kart in the Fortnite editor could get you banned

This is from Epic’s Unreal Editor for Fortnite, but it’s not from any Mario Kart track that I’m aware of. | Image: Epic Games

Epic Games’ new Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) toolset has only been out for two days, but the company is already having to threaten permanent bans for creators making content that violates copyright. That even goes for violating content that creators post about on social media and content that they aren’t going to actually publish.

“All content in Fortnite must adhere to Fortnite’s game rating, Fortnite Island Creator Rules and intellectual property and DMCA guidelines,” Epic wrote in a blog post on Friday. “Those who create violating content in UEFN — even if they never intend to publish it in Fortnite — or share violating content on social media, will face content takedowns and enforcement actions, up to and including permanent...

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Bing’s showing ‘AI-generated stories’ in some search results

Screenshot: Mitchell Clark / The Verge

Microsoft continues to add AI features to its Bing search engine, even outside of the GPT-powered chat features it’s been pushing. According to a feature roundup blog post, Bing will now “craft AI-generated stories” for some searches, giving you a small multimedia presentation about the thing you looked up. The company says it’s a way to let you “consume bite-sized information” while searching certain topics.

The stories look similar to the ones you’d find on social media platforms like Instagram or Snapchat, with a progress bar to tell you when it’s going to advance to the next slide. Slides have text explaining the thing you’ve searched as well as related images and videos. You can also unmute the story to have a voice read out the...

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Xencelabs’ new display drawing tablet gives Wacom a run for its money

Unlike the Wacom Cintiq Pro 27, the Xencelabs Pen Display 24 includes a stand and ExpressKey accessory as standard. | Image: Xencelabs

Graphics hardware manufacturer Xencelabs has announced the Pen Display 24 Studio Series, a new display drawing tablet designed for creative professionals. The 24-inch display is the company’s first drawing tablet with a built-in display to join its range of standard pen tablets and comes equipped with features that rival Wacom’s Cintiq series.

The biggest advantage that Xencelabs has against Wacom is affordability — at $1,899, the Pen Display 24 is considerably less expensive than the $3,500 Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 and includes accessories like a stand and a shortcut remote that Wacom doesn’t include as standard.

Like the Cintiq Pro 27, the Xencelabs Pen Display 24 features edge-to-edge tempered glass that’s been etched to provide friction...

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You might want to get your Mondo posters while you still can

Francesco Francavilla’s Us poster. | Image: Francesco Francavilla / Mondo

It wasn’t a good sign when Funko announced earlier this month its plans to straight up destroy somewhere between $30 and $36 million worth of its collectible vinyl figurines due to dwindling demand that’s tanked their value. But Funko’s recent decision to lay off about half of the staffers at subsidiary Mondo paints a clear picture of a company struggling to secure its financial footing.

Though Funko only acquired Mondo — the Austin-based nostalgic memorabilia outfit known for its small-batch movie posters and vinyl records — from Alamo Drafthouse last summer, The Wrap reports that “most of” Mondo’s staff, including co-founders Rob Jones and Mitch Putnam, were laid off this week. Along with the layoffs, Funko is said to be shuttering...

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Ford teases new ‘Millennium Falcon’-like electric truck, codenamed ‘Project T3’

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

Ford provided an update Friday on the construction of its massive new EV manufacturing complex in western Tennessee, where it says it will build its next electric truck, codenamed “Project T3.”

The so-called BlueOval City campus won’t come online until 2025, but when it does, Ford has said it will be a “mega campus” that houses a vehicle-production facility for Ford’s F-series pickup trucks and a battery assembly division. Now, the company says it will also serve as the main production line for its next electric truck.

Details are still scarce, but the new truck will sit alongside an electric Europe-only Ford Explorer, as well as the automaker’s Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning, and E-Transit van, as Ford’s family of electric vehicles...

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Twitter Blue subscribers may be able to hide their blue checks

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Photo: Getty Images

Twitter may be working on a feature that lets you hide the blue checkmark you got by paying for its Blue subscription. A screen found by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi shows that the company is working on a control panel for verification settings, with one of the options being “Show or hide your blue checkmark on your profile.”

This report should definitely be taken with a grain of salt, given that it appears to be an in-development feature that Twitter hasn’t announced (and that the company’s taking a long time to ship things it has said are coming). However, I can see why Twitter might want to add it. Depending on what part of the site you’re on, the blue verified checkmark can make you as much of a pariah as having an NFT profile...

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Window AC units and air purifiers in the US are about to get more energy-efficient

An air conditioning unit is seen in a window seal during a heatwave on July 21st, 2022, in Houston, Texas. | Image: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Window air conditioners and portable air purifiers will need to get more efficient to comply with new federal standards in the US. The new rules are expected to cut consumer electricity bills by $1.5 billion a year, according to the Department of Energy (DOE), which finalized the standards yesterday.

On top of saving consumers’ money, making air conditioners more energy-efficient can help take pressure off power grids during heatwaves and cut down on the greenhouse gas pollution causing climate change. This is also the first time the DOE has issued federal efficiency standards for portable air purifiers, which became a more common household fixture as a result of the covid-19 pandemic and worsening wildfires in the American West.

“These...

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Everything you need to know for the Diablo IV open beta

Image: Blizzard

Diablo IV is coming soon, and ahead of the full release, players can now access the open beta. You can check out all the important details on Blizzard’s website, but here’s a rundown of the most pertinent information.

Diablo IV’s general open beta has just kicked off, and it runs through March 27th at 3PM ET. You can access the open beta on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X / S, and Xbox One. Last week, there was an “early access” open beta for players who have prepurchased the game or sacrificed their blood pressure to the almighty chicken gods.

However, now that the beta is live to whoever wants to join, you might run into some long queues to get into a game — something that Blizzard is already warning players about. If you want to play, be...

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Yellowjackets season 2 is more of an appetizer than a feast

Image: Showtime

The gruesome mystery returns, but it’s lacking some of the punch that made the first season so potent.

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