The Polestar 4 electric SUV packs a lot of punch in a small package

Image: Polestar

Polestar’s fourth vehicle, the aptly named Polestar 4 compact SUV, made its debut today at the Shanghai Auto Show. When it’s released, it will likely compete with luxury heavy hitters like the Tesla Model Y, BMW iX, and Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV.

The Polestar 4 is a coupe-style SUV with a targeted range over 300 miles, a substantial 102kWh battery, and a starting price of $60,000. It will be positioned in size and price between the Swedish brand’s Polestar 2 fastback and upcoming Polestar 3 SUV. And it will go on sale first in China starting in late 2023, followed by North America in 2024.

Along with the Polestar 3, the Polestar 4 signals an acceleration of the company’s ambitions to broaden its lineup, reach more customers, and compete...

Continue reading…

Elon Musk claims to be working on ‘TruthGPT’ — a ‘maximum truth-seeking AI’

Laura Normand / The Verge

Elon Musk says he’s working on “TruthGPT,” a ChatGPT alternative that acts as a “maximum truth-seeking AI.” The billionaire laid out his vision for an AI rival during an interview with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, saying an alternative approach to AI creation was needed to avoid the destruction of humanity.

“I’m going to start something which I call TruthGPT or a maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe,” Musk said. “And I think this might be the best path to safety in the sense that an AI that cares about understanding the universe is unlikely to annihilate humans because we are an interesting part of the universe.”

What we need is TruthGPT

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2023

Musk compared an...

Continue reading…

The Pixel 7A might cost $50 more than the Pixel 6A

A Pixel 6A. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Google’s still-unannounced Pixel 7A might cost $499, meaning the rumored midrange phone will launch at a $50 premium over last year’s Pixel 6A, according to 9to5Google. While that price might be a bit of a disappointment, the new phone will apparently getting some big upgrades that could justify the cost.

The cameras, for example, are moving up to a 64MP main camera (up from 12MP in the Pixel 6A) and a 13MP ultrawide camera (up from 12MP), 9to5Google reports. The phone will apparently also be getting a 90hz display, the Tensor G2 chip that powers the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, and wireless charging. Those all seem like nice improvements from the very-good Pixel 6A.

If that all sounds good to you, you may not need to wait long to pick up a Pixel...

Continue reading…

Bluesky’s CEO wants to build a Musk-proof, decentralized version of Twitter

The logo for the AT Protocol that powers the Bluesky app. | Image: Bluesky

This interview was first published in April 13th’s edition of Command Line_, my weekly newsletter about the tech industry’s inside conversation._ You can subscribe here to get future editions delivered to your inbox.

As Elon Musk continues wielding Twitter like a blunt weapon against competitors like Substack, the downsides of centralized social media platforms are becoming more apparent every day. For those like me who have built a valuable audience on Twitter over the years, it’s unnerving to consider that those relationships could be broken or taken away completely in the blink of an eye.

That underlying unease animates much of the consternation toward Musk these days. Zooming out, it’s also why I’m closely watching the rise of...

Continue reading…

Everrati delivers its first electric Porsche 911 restomod built in the US

Everrati’s newest Porsche 911 restomod is built in the US. | Image: Everrati

Everrati, a UK-based company that restores classic cars and converts them to electric vehicles, has delivered its first US-built Porsche 911 in California, the company announced on Monday.

For Everrati, the delivery marks a milestone for the company and its CEO, Justin Lunny, who’s been working hard to expand manufacturing to the US since our conversation with him in 2021. Everrati’s pursuit of local manufacturing follows growing customer interest in the US, where many had voiced the desire to convert their prestigious classic cars to electric.

The first US customer to take delivery is Nest co-founder Matt Rogers, who first learned about Everrati through a UK publication. Rogers then became a major investor in Everrati, as we learned in...

Continue reading…

Bowser has been freed from prison

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Console hacker Gary Bowser is getting released from federal prison after spending over two years behind bars, as first reported by TorrentFreak (via Gizmodo). In an interview with YouTuber Nick Moses, Bowser says he was released to a Washington detention center last month, where he now awaits his return to his home country of Canada.

Bowser was arrested and charged with fraud in 2020 for his role in Team Xecuter, a hacking group that made and sold mod chips for the Nintendo Switch, 3DS, NES Classic Edition, Sony’s PlayStation Classic, and other consoles. Since Bowser was living in the Dominican Republic at the time, he was extradited to the US to serve his 40-month sentence, which he says has been cut short due to good behavior.

Although...

Continue reading…

The hunt for the next Twitter: all the news about alternative social media platforms

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Where will we all hang out next?

Continue reading…

The WGA has overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike

Image: The Writers Guild of America

While contract negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are still underway, the WGA’s members have just gotten one step closer to striking should this round of talks not resolve before May.

Deadline reports that an overwhelming majority (97 percent) of the WGA’s members voted today to authorize a strike — a move that empowers the WGA West Board and the WGA East Council to call for a strike if the WGA and the AMPTP can’t agree upon a fair labor contract by May 1st. (Disclosure: The Verge’s editorial staff is represented by the Writers Guild of America East.) Of the WGA’s eligible voting members, 9,020 voted in favor of the strike authorization, while 198 opposed. In an...

Continue reading…

I just discovered my Roomba can be a security camera

You can now use the Roomba j7’s camera to check in on your home.

Today, an alert popped up on my iRobot app telling me I could now use the j7 Combo robot vacuum to see a live view of my home, should I want to. A new beta feature called Remote Check In turns the company’s flagship robot vacuum into a livestreaming security camera. iRobot is playing catch-up here; lots of robot vacuum manufacturers have had the live view camera function for a while now (including Samsung’s JetBot AI and models from Roborock and Ecovacs). But I was intrigued to see how the Roomba would handle this new task.

Part of the iRobot beta program (which you sign up for in the app), Remote Check In launched in a limited capacity in November 2022. Today, it became broadly available, according to Ryan Schneider of iRobot. Hence the...

Continue reading…

Mercedes-Benz’s EQS electric SUV gets the Maybach treatment

The Maybach EQS SUV is only slightly more gaudy than the regular EQS. | Image: Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz revealed a sumptuous new Maybach version of its all-electric EQS SUV today — and it’s certainly made for owners who aren’t planning on driving it themselves. Instead, they’ll be sitting on one of the two rear captain seats, which are glamorously appointed in diamond-stitched Nappa leather and come with electric recliner seats, pillows, removable tablet screens, and even a bottle chiller to keep the drive alive.

The interior of the Maybach, of course, is designed for maximum comfort for the riders — but that comes at the cost of practicality. Even though it’s an SUV, it only sits four instead of five to seven people, something that makes more sense in the sedan S-Class Maybach vehicles.

Pricing on the Mercedes-Maybach EQS...

Continue reading…

WB announces a Harry Potter Quidditch multiplayer game

Image: Unbroken Studios / Portkey Games

Warner Bros. has revealed the existence of a new Harry Potter game. Harry Potter: Quidditch Championsis a competitive multiplayer game based on the fictional sport popularized by the Harry Potter novels.

The game’s website is a little bare, featuring only a sign-up portal to be a play tester and a lengthy FAQ highlighting details about the game, its publisher, Portkey Games, and the level of involvement of noted and vocal transphobe J.K. Rowling, who has said trans women are “predators” and should therefore be disallowed from “single gender” spaces. The FAQ doesn’t say when the game will be released or on what platforms but does denote that it’s been in development for several years.

Hogwarts Legacy, the open-world-ish Harry Potter g...

Continue reading…

Twitter will label ‘hateful’ tweets when it restricts them

An example of the label you might see. | Image: Twitter

Twitter is introducing new labels it will show on tweets the company limits for breaking its rules. The company occasionally restricts tweets that violate its policies by making them harder to find or visible to fewer people, and these new labels will make those actions more clear.

The new labels will first appear on tweets that violate Twitter’s Hateful Conduct policy, according to a blog post from the company. “Restricting the reach of Tweets, also known as visibility filtering, is one of our existing enforcement actions that allows us to move beyond the binary ‘leave up versus take down’ approach to content moderation,” Twitter wrote. “However, like other social platforms, we have not historically been transparent when we’ve taken...

Continue reading…

Looking for the northern lights? Use your phone camera

That little greenish smudge on the right is the northern lights, as seen by my phone camera’s night mode. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Somewhere over Greenland, I opened up the window shade. People see the northern lights on their flights to Iceland, right? Might as well check. I was sitting parallel to the wing, the blue and yellow Icelandair logo lit against the black sky. But as I looked back toward the tail of the plane, I saw something else: a faint white smudge in the sky. I looked away and back a few times, and sure enough, the light was moving. I could just make out a white line with vertical bands radiating upward. Not the awe-inspiring green waves you’d hope for, but not nothing.

The only camera I had close was my iPhone 13 Mini. Not ideal. A picture through a dirty plane window with a tiny phone camera sensor? Pfft. No chance. I figured I’d try anyway just to...

Continue reading…

The Idol’s latest trailer is a Max-branded bacchanal

Lily Rose-Depp as Jocelyn and Abel Tesfaye as Tedros in The Idol. | HBO

It was one thing to hear about how (HBO) Max’s upcoming series The Idol from Sam Levinson and The Weeknd had reportedly become an expensive showcase of “sexual torture porn,” but it’s another to actually see moments from the show in a trailer that lays out the general gist of what’s going on.

In the world of The Idol, a pop star known as Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) is one of the most famous and overexposed singers working in the industry — a precarious situation that leads to her having a very severe and very public nervous breakdown. After a personal crisis leads to the cancellation of her most recent tour, Jocelyn finds herself lost and adrift until she meets club promoter Tedros (Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye), who becomes an influential —...

Continue reading…

Joseph Staten, who helped get Halo Infinite over the finish line, is joining Netflix

Image: 343 Industries / Xbox Game Studios

Joseph Staten, Halo Infinite’s former head of creative who just announced he was leaving Microsoft, will be the creative director for a new AAA game from Netflix, Staten announced on Monday.

“In my work life, there’s nothing I love more than collaborating with others to build worlds filled with iconic characters, deep mysteries, and endless adventures,” Staten wrote in a short Twitter thread on Monday. He didn’t share many specific details about the new game, but he says it will be a “brand-new AAA multiplatform game and original IP.”

So today, I'm thrilled to announce that I've joined @Netflix Games as Creative Director for a brand-new AAA multiplatform game and original IP. Let's go! 2/2

— Joseph Staten (@joestaten) April 17, 2023

...

Continue reading…

Only six EVs still qualify for the $7,500 federal tax credit after new rules go into effect

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

The Internal Revenue Service released its list of electric vehicles that will still qualify for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit after strict new supply chain rules go into effect on April 18th. And oh boy, is it short.

Big winners include Tesla, Ford, Chrysler, Jeep, and General Motors. Gone from the list are heavy hitters like Volkswagen, BMW, Nissan, Hyundai, and Rivian. The revised list is sure to change as more battery factories come online in the US, but for now, the list of qualifying vehicles is significantly shorter than its ever been.

Big winners include Tesla, Ford, Chrysler, Jeep, and General Motors

Only six battery-electric models will initially qualify for the full $7,500 credit starting: Cadillac Lyriq, Chevy Bolt EV and...

Continue reading…

Spotify is losing its audiobooks chief

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Spotify is losing another talk content executive. The Verge has learned that Nir Zicherman, who leads the company’s new audiobook vertical, will be leaving the company this year. He will depart as one of the last remaining executives who built Spotify’s podcasting business.

Zicherman co-founded podcast creation and distribution tool Anchor with Michael Mignano, who left Spotify last year. Spotify bought Anchor in 2019 for $150 million, at which point Zicherman and Mignano joined the company’s product division. Zicherman took charge of the audiobook business in 2022. He will stay on until October 1st to help set up the next audiobook lead, according to Spotify spokesperson Rosa Oh.

Spotify debuted its audiobook vertical last fall after...

Continue reading…

The Nanoleaf Lines are $50 off so you can turn your room into a gamer nightclub

You can go full gamer with the Nanoleaf Lines or just use them as some unique accent lighting. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

The Nanoleaf Lines are a pretty unusual home lighting accessory, unless you normally decorate your rooms with the kind of lights you might find in a nightclub. The colorful LEDs allow you to create sculpture-like lighting on your walls that can be one of a kind. They add quite a dynamic pop of color and flare to a home gaming, streaming, or entertainment space, especially since they can connect to Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or Samsung’s SmartThings and do things like sync to music or to what’s on a screen. For today only, you can get a nine-light kit of Nanoleaf Lines for $149.99 ($50 off) at Best Buy — their best price to date. Read our review.

From decorating your home’s interior to keeping an eye on the going-ons...

Continue reading…

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, one of our favorite gaming laptops, is nearly half off

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is both powerful and portable, with nice perks like all-day battery life. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Want an excellent gaming laptop that won’t weigh you down while traveling? You might want to grab today’s deal on the Asus ROG Zephyrus then. Right now, Best Buy is selling the 14-inch Asus ROG Zephyrus gaming laptop for $999.99 ($650 off), and it comes with 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and an AMD Ryzen 9 processor. That marks a new all-time low price on this configuration.

Asus’ entry-level ROG Zephyrus G14 is our favorite gaming laptop, but it knows its way around spreadsheets, too. While it might be a little chunky and loud, it’s also still portable and, despite its compact size, exceptionally powerful. The laptop also comes equipped with a bright 16:10 QHD display and a 120Hz refresh rate, alongside all-day battery life — which is...

Continue reading…

Apple’s new savings account lets Card users grow their Daily Cash

Image: Apple

Apple is launching a new high-yield Savings account for Apple Card users. In a post shared on Monday, Apple says Card users can build upon their Daily Cash rewards by putting it in the company’s new Goldman Sachs savings account that comes with a 4.15 annual percentage yield (APY).

Apple previously offered no way for users to grow their Daily Cash, the cashback rewards users get when using their Apple Card. But now users can stash their funds into a savings account, which comes with no minimum deposits and no minimum balance requirements. Users can set up the account through the Apple Card in their Wallet app, and from there, Daily Cash will automatically get deposited into their savings account.

However, Apple says users can change...

Continue reading…

Lululemon Mirror review: a reflection of at-home fitness

Mirror, mirror on my wall, are you the fittest of them all? Probably not, but it’s the uncertain future of premium fitness hardware that’s to blame.

Continue reading…

How to see who else is using your streaming service subscriptions

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

It’s not difficult to share a password for Netflix or Spotify with a friend or leave yourself signed in at someone else’s house or in a hotel room, which means, after several years, there could be a host of people sharing your streaming services that you’ve completely forgotten about.

Whether it’s an ex-partner, a niece or nephew, a college roommate from back in the day, or whoever else, you don’t necessarily want your accounts being used by a whole cast of characters. It can lead to restrictions on your account, and it’s not great from a digital security perspective either.

Thankfully, you can check who’s logged in to your accounts relatively quickly and boot them out if needed. We’ll cover some of the most popular services here and...

Continue reading…

AT&T launches medical radar device that monitors older adults through walls

Image: AT&T / Cherish Medical

AT&T has teamed up with medical sensor manufacturer Cherish Health to create a claimed “industry first” radar device capable of detecting emergency conditions and monitoring people who are at risk of falling. It can do this across multiple rooms throughout the home, even through walls. Dubbed the Cherish Serenity, the device uses a combination of AT&T cellular connectivity and Cherish’s radar and AI technology to detect body position, movement, and biometrics without requiring cameras or wearable trackers.

The device is designed to help older generations live more independently while retaining some privacy. Data from the US Census Bureau shows that people over the age of 65 represent the fastest-growing segment of the country’s...

Continue reading…

JUICE spacecraft launched to investigate the habitability of Jupiter’s icy moons

Photo by JODY AMIET/AFP via Getty Images

The European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launched its JUICE spacecraft to study Jupiter’s icy moons on Friday, April 14th. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission will visit three of Jupiter’s largest moons — Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto — to investigate whether they could be potentially habitable, a question that has been igniting debate among astronomers since the first evidence of subsurface oceans on these moons was seen by the Galileo mission in the 1990s.

JUICE launched at 8:14AM ET from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, carried by an Ariane 5 rocket. The launch had been delayed from its original launch date of April 13th due to weather conditions, but the skies today were clear for liftoff.

The spacecraft separated from...

Continue reading…

VW aims to dethrone the Tesla Model 3 with its long-ranging ID.7 electric sedan

Image: VW

The ID.7 is a big, beefy sedan that comes in two battery sizes with a best-in-class range estimate. But can Volkswagen make sedans cool again?

Continue reading…

Sega is officially buying Angry Birds developer Rovio for $775 million

Image: Rovio

Sega, the Japanese-headquartered video game company best known in the West for its Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, is acquiring Angry Birds developer Rovio, the companies announced today. The Finnish-headquartered mobile games developer will be acquired for €706 million (around $775 million), which The Wall Street Journal notes represents a roughly a 19 percent premium over its share price at close on Friday. The deal is expected to close by the end of September.

In a press release, Sega said it hopes to use “Rovio’s distinctive know-how in live service mobile game operation, to bring Sega’s current and new titles to the global mobile gaming market.” It sounds like a similar aim to what Sega’s rival Nintendo has been doing with its...

Continue reading…

How to watch SpaceX Starship’s first test flight — the most powerful rocket ever

Image: SpaceX

SpaceX will attempt the first test flight of its integrated Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster on Monday morning. Known collectively as “Starship,” it’s the tallest rocket ever built, standing at 394 feet tall (120 meters) — about 90 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. It’s also the most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, with the Super Heavy booster fitted with 33 of SpaceX’s powerful Raptor engines — the most engines ever featured in a first stage rocket booster.

Starship is integral to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s vision of eventually sending a crew of people to Mars. It supersedes the company’s Falcon 9 rocket — currently the world’s most frequently launched rocket — capable of carrying more cargo and a larger crew while...

Continue reading…

Here’s our best look yet at what Apple’s announcing in June

Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro, announced earlier this year. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple’s long-anticipating mixed reality headset won’t be the only piece of hardware it announces at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who’s published a new overview of the event. Expected launches include new MacBooks, as well as a “major” update to the Apple Watch’s watchOS software.

Let’s start with the Macs. Gurman doesn’t explicitly say which macOS-powered computers Apple could announce in June, but lists around half a dozen devices it currently plans to release this year or early 2024. There’s an all new 15-inch MacBook Air, an updated 13-inch MacBook Air, and new 13-inch and “high-end” MacBook Pros. Meanwhile on the Mac side Apple still needs to replace its last...

Continue reading…

Google will reportedly release new AI powered search tools next month

Illustration: The Verge

Google will release new AI-powered search tools next month, with even more features coming in the fall, reports The New York Times.

The new features will be available exclusively in the US, and will be released initially to a maximum of one million users, says the NYT. It’s not clear exactly what the tools will offer, but they will likely build on the conversational promise of Google’s experimental Bard chatbot. They’re being developed under the codename “Magi.”

The plans are part of Google’s efforts to meet the threat posed by new systems like Microsoft’s Bing chatbot and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Many think these chatbots could one day replace traditional search engines like Google — despite their failings.

According to the NYT, Google’s...

Continue reading…

SpaceX Starship countdown: all of the news on its first flight to orbit

SpaceX Starship prototype stacked on top of a Super Heavy rocket in Boca Chica, TX. | Image: SpaceX

SpaceX’s first window to attempt an orbital launch for the Starship and its Super Heavy rocket opens at 8AM ET on Monday morning, targeting 9AM or so for liftoff.

Continue reading…