Cowboy releases cheeky app to keep VanMoof e-bike riders on the road

Cowboy sends you its love. | Image: Cowboy

Belgian e-bike maker Cowboy has released a free app to keep rival VanMoof owners on the road now that the Dutch company is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

The Bikey app — get it... bike key — can generate and save a VanMoof owner’s unique digital key, which might be needed if the company’s servers are ever taken offline. It also provides basic access to the VanMoof e-bike’s settings. The key can be exported elsewhere for safekeeping.

The app currently only works with S3 and X3 e-bike models, the most common VanMoof e-bikes currently on the road, with support for new S5 and A5 e-bikes on the way. It’s in beta and is iOS only for now, with an Android beta releasing soon. Cowboy says that “nothing is shared outside of the app,” not...

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Telly starts shipping its free ad-supported 55-inch TVs

Image: Telly

The free TV company Telly has started shipping its ad-supported TVs to its first wave of customers. Telly first opened its waitlist in May and plans on shipping 500,000 free TVs to customers by the end of 2023 — and “millions more” in 2024.

Unlike most TVs, beneath Telly’s 55-inch 4K display is a smaller screen separated from the main display by a soundbar. That thinner display is dedicated to showing advertisements, which is the point of its business model.

To even use the thing, you’ll need to commit to having your viewing data sucked up and used by advertisers. If you’re okay with that, you can also use the secondary display to show widgets that surface sports scores, a news sticker, the weather, and more. The TV features a camera...

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Foundation’s showrunner explains why big book adaptations start so dang slow

Lou Llobell in season 2 of Foundation_._ | Image: Apple

Adaptations of big, complex books tend to start slow — and that’s usually because there’s just so much to explain. It was true of Game of Thrones and The Rings of Power, and it was especially true of Foundation on Apple TV Plus, which took Isaac Asimov’s novels and turned them into prestige television. With unusual concepts like psychohistory (a kind of math that can predict the future) and a genetic dynasty (a never-ending line of clone emperors who rule the galaxy), the first few episodes of season 1 were bogged down by exposition.

According to David S. Goyer, showrunner on Foundation, there really wasn’t a way to avoid that. “I felt like the first three episodes of season 1 were so exposition heavy, but — trust me — we tormented...

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The best Amazon Prime Day deals you can still get

Illustration by Hugo Herrera for The Verge

We’ve now endured two whole days of Amazon Prime Day, which had us poring over thousands of deals and covering hundreds of the best the tech world had to offer — and yet, we’re not quite done here.

As usual, there are still a bunch of lingering discounts to sift through. So if you didn’t yet blow your entire budget on gadgets like wireless earbuds, tablets, e-readers, video games, or fancy smart home accessories, well, there’s still time to make that happen.

Below are the best remaining Prime Day deals for 2023, the stubborn ones that just won’t go quietly into the night, still vying for your hard-earned money. It’s your final chance to consider that big or small purchase and decide whether you’re pulling the trigger or holding out for...

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EA Sports FC 24: All the latest news on EA’s first post-FIFA soccer title

After parting ways with FIFA, EA is moving forward with a new brand this year.

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The Last of Us finally works on Steam Deck — with worse-than-PS3 level graphics

The Last of Us running on a Steam Deck. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

The Last of Us Part I arrived on PC this March as an embarrassing, broken PC port of a game, even on high-end machines. When I tried it on my Steam Deck handheld, the game was utterly unplayable — despite co-creator Neil Druckmann’s assurances that the game would “grace” the Steam Deck.

But after 11 patches, I can finally confirm The Last of Us is completely playable on Valve’s portable PC.

It’s safe to go back in the... clicker-infested water?

As of last night I’ve completed all 14 hours of the game on my Deck alone, and I haven’t seen a single crash or game-breaking glitch. I rarely saw the frame rate drop below a locked 30 frames per second on default settings, and I’ve comfortably pressed the power button at any time to suspend and...

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Now Google’s Bard AI chatbot can talk and respond to visual prompts

Illustration: The Verge

Google is adding some new features to its Bard AI chatbot, including the ability for Bard to speak its answers to you and for it to respond to prompts that also include images. The chatbot is also now available in much of the world, including the EU.

In a blog post, Google is positioning Bard’s spoken responses as a helpful way to “correct pronunciation of a word or listen to a poem or script.” You’ll be able to hear spoken responses by entering a prompt and selecting the sound icon. Spoken responses will be available in more than 40 languages and are live now, according to Google.

The feature that lets you add images to prompts is something that Google first showed off at its I/O conference in May. In one example, Google suggested you...

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Increasing speed limits can lead to more crashes and deaths, AAA finds

Photo by Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images

Raising speed limits leads to more frequent car crashes, while lowering them leads to fewer crashes, a new analysis by AAA concludes. It’s the kind of conclusion that seems obvious on the surface but still needs to be highlighted given how many states seem convinced that raising speed limits can save drivers time, when all it really does is endanger the lives of pedestrians and cyclists.

The report is the latest in a growing body of evidence that finds that changing speed limits can have a big impact on road safety in the US. AAA analyzed a dozen roadways of varying types in the US in which half raised their speed limits while the other half lowered the limit. The group then did a before-and-after assessment to see what kind of impact...

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FTC is appealing ruling that cleared Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says it is appealing a recent US federal court order that cleared the way for Microsoft to purchase Activision Blizzard. The FTC has filed a notice that it’s appealing Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s decision, but we won’t know the regulator’s full arguments until the full appeal is submitted to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Microsoft won a grueling fight with the FTC earlier this week, with a federal judge denying a preliminary injunction request from the US regulator. “The Court finds the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition,” Judge Corley wrote in the ruling. “To the contrary,...

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Bob Iger is sticking around Disney longer than he said he would

Photo by Axelle / Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic

Disney CEO Bob Iger has extended his contract through 2026, the company said in a press release. That means he’ll be staying at the company longer than he originally said back when he returned to the company. After his initial run as CEO from 2005 until 2020, Iger returned to Disney late last year in a surprise announcement, and at the time, he promised to only stay for two years and find a potential successor before his tenure was over.

Iger’s extended contract keeps him at the company until December 31st, 2026, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In a statement, Iger said he’s staying longer “because I want to ensure Disney is strongly positioned when my successor takes the helm.” He continued: “The...

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Here’s a reminder to make your Venmo transactions private, courtesy of Clarence Thomas

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

I’m currently looking at my Venmo feed. In an ideal world, I would see only a log of private payments I’ve made and received. Instead, I see a list of my friends’ business: someone paid a friend for “drinkies,” another for “rich bitch things.” Because we don’t live in an ideal world — we live in a society where a popular payment app will expose a Supreme Court justice’s potential conflicts of interest because someone else forgot to lock down their privacy settings.

The most recent example of poor Venmo security comes from Rajan Vasisht, a former aide to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The Guardian tracked down Vasisht’s Venmo account and found several payments in 2019 from lawyers who had been Thomas’ legal clerks. The amount of...

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The best Amazon Prime Day deals under $100

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

There are many, many deals going on during Amazon Prime Day, even now well into day two. But these sub-$100 deals right here are the Goldilocks of Prime Day deals — not too pricey and not too cheap. They’re that perfect balance of a good value that’s likely to still get you buzzing with anticipation for when the package arrives in the mail.

So what can $100 get you in the world of tech? Quite a lot, actually. There’s smart home stuff like a very capable smart display, an excellent e-reader for diving into more books than you can read in a lifetime, a mobile game controller for your iPhone, a desktop mic that’s a favorite among podcasters and Twitch streamers, and a whole lot more.

Here are some of the best Prime Day deals for a cool...

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The Mac sure is starting to look like the iPhone

It looks uncannily like my Lock Screen.

The general trend of macOS releases over the past few years is that it has been moving closer and closer to the look and feel of iOS. The icons have become iOS icons, and their shape has become the iOS shape, and you can now use your iPhone as the Mac’s webcam, etc. etc. This occasionally comes at the expense of other functionality (ask me how I feel about the new Settings menu), but it is the direction that Apple has clearly been heading in since (arguably) Big Sur. Every so often, other splashy features are announced (Stage Manager, Universal Control, Quick Notes) that I write a lot about and then never end up using ever again.

So, good news for Continuity fans: that’s basically what’s going on with Sonoma. Ventura looked a heck of a...

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Microsoft tests an AI hub for the Windows 11 app store

Image: Microsoft

After showing off an AI hub in the Microsoft Store earlier this year, now it’s finally arriving for Windows 11 Insiders in Preview Build (25905). The built-in AI hub will highlight a set of curated AI apps from both third-party developers and Microsoft.

Microsoft first announced the new hub during its Build conference in May, where it also showed off new AI-generated app review summaries for the Microsoft Store. These summaries haven’t been rolled out just yet, but they’re supposed to live alongside an app’s rating in the Microsoft store, summing up users’ reviews in just a few lines.

For now, though, the AI hub will get its own tab on the left side of the Microsoft Store, sitting directly beneath the Movies & TV option. It’s hard to...

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Google is spelling out rules for blockchain-based apps on Android

Illustration: The Verge

Google is introducing a new blockchain-based content policy for Android apps on the Google Play Store. The new policy, which will be effective on December 7th, covers things like cryptocurrency exchanges and software wallets, transparency requirements, and rules for NFT gamification that would cover things like loot boxes.

According to the new policy for tokenized digital assets secured on a blockchain:

• Crypto exchanges and software wallets must comply with applicable regulations in the regions they target, and the “purchase, holding, or exchange of cryptocurrencies should be conducted through certified services in regulated jurisdictions.” Google says it may request additional information from developers to prove their compliance with...

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Sony’s new A6700 puts the company’s best-in-class autofocus in a more affordable camera

Sony is launching its new A6700 APS-C mirrorless camera today, bringing key AI-powered autofocus enhancements from the company’s full-frame lineup to its mainstream (and more affordable) A6000-series. The 26-megapixel mirrorless camera, which succeeds 2019’s A6600, offers 4K video at up to 120fps, a big boost from the 30fps of its predecessor. It’s priced at $1,399.99 for the body alone.

The biggest upgrade here is AI processing. The new camera gets the same autofocus enhancements that made Sony’s $3,900 A7R V camera so great, giving it the ability to detect more granular subjects than before — it won’t only know you’re looking at an animal but what kind of animal — or bug — thanks to that pricey camera’s AI processor trickling down to...

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Microsoft’s close to delivering Windows 11’s long-delayed 3D emoji

Are... are they finally coming? | Image: Microsoft

It’s a few days short of two years since Microsoft teased 3D emoji that would eventually replace the company’s old and flat designs that look stuck in Apple’s iOS 7 era. But now the company has released a new Windows Insider Preview Build (25905) that will finally bring more modern 3D looks to your ghost, unicorn, and starry-eyed emoji throughout the OS.

The new emoji in the preview are similar to the ones released in Microsoft Teams last year, which added a gradient style to make the emoji appear 3D.

Image: Microsoft

The original Windows 11 emoji, the 3D upgrade promised in 2021, and the flat icons that eventually arrived.

These 3D emoji have long been in the works after Microsoft first announced them in July...

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NASA shows off new Canoo EVs that will shuttle its Artemis crew around

Photo by NASA / Isaac Watson

NASA got some new crew transports yesterday: a small fleet of three all-electric, “specially designed” vans designed by EV startup Canoo that will shuttle the fully suited-up Artemis crew, support personnel, and equipment to the launchpad at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA will also use the new fleet for astronaut training exercises ahead of next year’s planned Artemis II mission — a sort of test run that’ll zip astronauts around the Moon and back.

It would be the first crewed mission out of low Earth orbit since 1972. If all goes well, Artemis III will follow with a 2025 launch, aiming to put a crew on the Moon’s surface.

Canoo was reportedly having issues with its funding last year but seems to have been saved by...

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This is a quietly big year for the Apple TV and tvOS

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Instead of living by the whims of everyone involved in the streaming wars, Apple is refocusing on its own software and (finally) bringing features like FaceTime to the TV.

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How to install the macOS Sonoma public beta

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Apple is launching the public beta for macOS Sonoma today. This is the next big update coming to Mac computers (the final version is expected later in 2023), and it brings several big changes. In this article, we’re going to walk you through how to get the beta onto your computer, should you want it. Once you install the beta, it will likely receive several updates between now and the final release.

(Looking for steps to install the iOS 17 public beta? We’ve got you covered here.)

What’s new about macOS Sonoma?

We’ve covered the latest features of macOS Sonoma elsewhere, but some of the highlights include:

• Support for widgets, which can be dragged from your Notification Center to the desktop
• A new “Game Mode,” which will make sure that...

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Succession, The Last of Us, and The White Lotus are the 2023 Emmy nominees to beat this year

Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie. | HBO

Ahead of the very real possibility of the Screen Actors Guild going on strike tonight, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced this morning the nominees for the 2023 Emmy Awards, a celebration that’s going to be very interesting this year, to say the least.

Before he and actress Yvette Nicole Brown began announcing this year’s Emmy nominees at a small presentation streamed from the Hollywood Athletic Club, Academy chair Frank Scherma took a moment to briefly acknowledge the looming potential strike and express his hope that “the ongoing guild negotiations can come to an equitable and swift resolution.”

“We are committed to supporting a television industry that stands strong in equity and where we can continue to honor all...

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Canoo, struggling EV startup, is trying to stay afloat on government largesse

Image: Canoo

When Canoo first unveiled its cool, futuristic-looking electric van back in 2021, a non-zero number of friends reached out to me to ask when they could buy one.

The answer is probably never. Not unless they work for the federal government.

The struggling EV startup has been on the verge of running out of money since last year. Its cash burn remains high, and analysts say it’s at risk for insolvency. Indeed, Canoo’s stock has been trading for less than a dollar, putting it at risk of being delisted from the stock exchange. But despite its financial woes, the federal government is more than happy to continue to do business with the company.

Today, Canoo announced it had successfully delivered three crew transportation vehicles to NASA...

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watchOS 10 preview: widgets all the way down

Widgets are back.

watchOS 10 rethinks how you’ll interact with the Apple Watch — and would ya look at that, Apple finally did something about the app grid.

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iOS 17’s StandBy is my favorite new iPhone feature in years

StandBy can be a desk clock, or it can do all sorts of other things.

It only took a few minutes of using the iPhone’s new StandBy mode before I started using it all the time. After a few weeks of testing the early betas of Apple’s iOS 17, I’ve already changed my daily phone routine around it — and acquired a new desk accessory in the process. I can’t remember the last time a new iOS feature clicked so well for me, and I almost can’t believe the iPhone hasn’t always had it.

StandBy, in case you missed it during this year’s blisteringly fast WWDC announcements, is a new docking mode for the iPhone. If your phone’s screen is off and it’s charging and rotated to landscape orientation, it becomes a widget machine. You can see a full-screen clock, a clock next to your calendar, a full-screen slideshow of your...

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In iPadOS 17, Apple fixed the worst thing about Stage Manager

Image: David Pierce/The Verge

When Stage Manager first launched last year as part of iPadOS 16, I turned the setting off as fast as I could and never looked back. It was a half-hearted attempt to build a better multitasking system, with too many quirks and complications that all added up to more clutter and confusion on my iPad.

But this year is different. Ish. I’ve been using the iPadOS 17 beta for a while ahead of the public beta that’s available today, and I have good news: Stage Manager feels much closer to the multitasking system Apple always said it was trying to build. It’s still nowhere near perfect, and Stage Manager still interacts with apps and even other iPad features in odd and confusing ways. But for the first time, I can at least say the iPad is a...

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iOS 17 is a lot of little updates that make a big impact

StandBy might be one of the headliners, but iOS 17 is all about the supporting acts, too.

There’s no single must-have feature in Apple’s latest iPhone OS update, but a lot of little improvements make it worth getting excited about.

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How to install the iOS 17 developer and public betas

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Last month, the developer beta of iOS 17 hit — and it was accessible to everyone, non-developers included, for free. This month, the public beta has become available, and here we’re going to offer directions on how to install either on your iPhone or iPad once it’s available for your device.

Before we get started, a word of warning: beta software is inherently unfinished and may contain bugs. Apple’s public betas are generally more stable, but its developer betas are less so, and you should think carefully before installing either on any device you depend on. They also may not include all the features that will be in the final release. Your experience may differ from others, depending on the apps you use. And finally, if you do decide to...

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Roblox is coming to Meta’s Quest VR headsets

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Roblox will be coming to Meta’s Quest VR headsets starting with an open beta that will be available in the “coming weeks,” according to a blog post from Meta. You’ll be able to try out this Quest version of Roblox on the Quest 2 and Quest Pro, and Meta says Roblox will work on the forthcoming Quest 3 as well.

“Roblox is automatically publishing some experiences that use default player scripts to support VR devices,” Meta writes. “They’ve found that those experiences typically run well in VR without modifications, so they’re seeding the Roblox VR library with great content from day one.” There should be a lot of experiences to choose from; the platform has more than 15 million “active experiences” right now, Roblox says. And this Quest...

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Elon Musk’s new xAI company launches to ‘understand the true nature of the universe’

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

xAI, Elon Musk’s newly formed AI company, has revealed itself with a new website detailing its mission and team at https://x.ai/.

“The goal of xAI is to understand the true nature of the universe,” according to the website. The team is headed up by Elon Musk and includes team members that have worked at other big names in AI, including OpenAI, Google Research, Microsoft Research, and DeepMind (which was recently folded into Google).

In addition to Musk, the website lists Igor Babuschkin, Manuel Kroiss, Yuhuai (Tony) Wu, Christian Szegedy, Jimmy Ba, Toby Pohlen, Ross Nordeen, Kyle Kosic, Greg Yang, Guodong Zhang, and Zihang Dai. xAI’s team is currently advised by Dan Hendrycks, a researcher who currently leads the Center for AI Safety,...

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Google’s AI-powered notes app is now called NotebookLM, and it’s launching today

Illustration: The Verge

Project Tailwind, the AI-backed note-taking tool that Google launched at this year’s I/O developer conference, is rebranding. It’s now known as NotebookLM, and it’s launching today to “a small group of users in the US,” according to a Google blog post. (The LM stands for Language Model because Google really wants to make sure you don’t forget about all the AI in here.) The product hasn’t changed, though: Google’s still trying to give users their own personal AI, trained on their data and notes and able to help them make sense of it all.

The core of NotebookLM seems to actually start in Google Docs. (“We’ll be adding additional formats soon,” the blog post says.) Once you get access to the app, you’ll be able to select a bunch of docs and...

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