Get ready to see a lot more product ads in YouTube videos

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube is giving creators better tools to show certain product ads exactly when they want to in their videos. According to an announcement on Wednesday, YouTube creators will be able to add timestamps to products they tag in their videos so that a shopping button appears at an opportune moment while you’re watching.

GIF: Google

A GIF showing the timestamp tool.

It’s a little thing, but it could make things easier for companies and creators that are working together on a video. I imagine both a creator and a sponsor will be happy about giving the creator control over when the shopping button appears. (Creators might also appreciate the controls given that YouTube is taking some other ad options away starting in...

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Got $10 million? Then you’re probably someone who could afford this 30-rotor electric jet

Lilium, an electric aviation company based in Germany, said it wants to be the first to sell electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in the US. But it won’t be cheap.

Lilium struck a partnership with a full-service air brokerage and management company, Texas-based EMC Jet, to connect it to the private jet market in the hopes of attracting bigwigs who might be tired of noisy, polluting private jets. And it has secured the first handful of production slots for the aircraft that it will sell to private customers.

But like most private jets, Lilium is going after a premium market that includes corporate executives and others who already own a private aircraft — or two. The company is pricing its Pioneer jets at a cool $10...

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Windows 11 is now used by 400 million devices, leaked Microsoft data shows

Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Windows 11 is reportedly in use by more than 400 million monthly active devices. Windows Central reports that it has seen “Microsoft internal data” that shows Windows 11 is expected to hit 500 million monthly active devices by early 2024. All signs have pointed towards a slower adoption of Windows 11 than its predecessor and this leaked data backs up the assumption.

Windows 10 first reached 400 million active devices just over a year after release, an adoption rate that Microsoft proudly noted was 115 percent faster than Windows 7. It has taken Windows 11 two years to reach that same adoption rate, a significant slowdown considering Windows 10 reached 600 million devices a few months after its two-year anniversary.

I...

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X will start charging new users in two countries $1 per year

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

If you want to join X, the service formerly known as Twitter, via its website in New Zealand and the Philippines, be prepared to fork over $1 a year for the privilege.

The subscription, part of a so-called “Not A Bot” program, is beginning in those two countries and is designed to “bolster our already significant efforts to reduce spam, manipulation of our platform and bot activity,” X said Tuesday in an unsigned post on its help center. In addition, new web users in New Zealand and the Philippines will have to verify their account with a phone number, the post says. Fortune first reported that Musk was going to charge new users $1 a year shortly before X’s announcement went live.

X’s post doesn’t explain why the new $1 subscription is...

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Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense finally woke up

A good day for the defense! | Photo illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Bloomberg, Getty Images

Nishad Singh looks less reliable. Is it enough?

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Apple’s latest iOS update could have a big impact on podcast downloads

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

This is Hot Pod_,_ The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.

Today, we’ve got a joint issue looking at why Apple’s latest iOS update could cause download numbers to go down and featuring a talk about brand safety with Spotify’s director of global advertising platform integrity.

Apple tweaked automatic podcast downloads in its latest iOS update. That could impact download numbers moving forward.

When Apple released iOS 17 in September, it included an adjustment to how automatic downloads work on podcasts. That may make your eyes glaze over, but it’s a little change that could have a big impact on download numbers, at least in the short term.

Could is the key word here since it will take some...

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Chrome on iOS and Android will now detect URL typos

Illustration: The Verge

Google Chrome on iOS and Android devices will look for possible typos in URLs and suggest corrections for you, Google announced in a blog post on Tuesday. This new accessibility feature for mobile versions of Chrome was promised earlier this year when Google released the same feature on Chrome for computers.

Google says the URL typo detector will help people with dyslexia or otherwise are language learners. However, after updating my Chrome app on iOS, it doesn’t seem to be here just yet, as it’s not correcting my mistakes such as www.microspft.com or www.nintwndo.com. When it does show up, it could help keep people from ending up on dubious websites if they accidentally enter the wrong URL.

Image: Google

Left:...

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Dead Space is coming to Xbox Game Pass just in time for Halloween

Image: EA

There’s a whole host of great games hitting Xbox Game Pass throughout October, including the grisly Dead Space remake that’s arriving just in time for Halloween. The Dead Space remake offers a complete overhaul of the original 2008 sci-fi horror title, and it’s headed to Game Pass for cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X / S on October 26th.

But if you can’t wait until then, the Yakuza spinoff Like A Dragon: Ishin! is available to play through Game Pass on cloud, console, and PC starting today. Here’s the rest of the games coming to Game Pass through the end of the month and when they’re arriving:

• F1 Manager 2023 (cloud, console, and PC): October 19th
• Cities: Skylines II (PC): October 24th
• Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery (cloud and...

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Reddit’s blockchain-based Community Points are going away

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Reddit is sunsetting its blockchain-based Community Points product, the company announced on Tuesday. A Reddit admin (employee) shared the announcement about Community Points, which uses the Ethereum blockchain, on a few subreddits, including r/CryptoCurrency (which had its own “moons” crypto token), r/FortniteBR (which had its own “bricks” token), and r/EthTrader (which had its own “donuts” token).

The value of those tokens has, predictably, fallen off of a cliff, as CoinDesk reports drops of between 60 and 90 percent. Some Reddit posters claim thousands of dollars in value disappeared from their wallets immediately, while others are pointing at transactions made just prior to Tuesday’s announcement that they think are suspicious.

C...

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OpenAI’s flagship AI model has gotten more trustworthy but easier to trick

Image: Microsoft

OpenAI’s GPT-4 large language model may be more trustworthy than GPT-3.5 but also more vulnerable to jailbreaking and bias, according to research backed by Microsoft.

The paper — by researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, Center for AI Safety, and Microsoft Research — gave GPT-4 a higher trustworthiness score than its predecessor. That means they found it was generally better at protecting private information, avoiding toxic results like biased information, and resisting adversarial attacks. However, it could also be told to ignore security measures and leak personal information and conversation histories. Researchers found that users can bypass safeguards...

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After promising support for Matter and Thread, Level launches a Wi-Fi bridge instead

Level Lock has launched a new Wi-Fi bridge for its “invisible” smart locks that pack all their tech into the deadbolt. But apparently, there’s no room in there for Matter or Thread. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

This week, smart lock maker Level announced a new Wi-Fi bridge for its locks to enable “remote access and integrations with smart home technology platforms,” including Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Welcome to 2015, Level.

Instead of embracing what are being touted as the future technologies of the smart home — Matter and Thread — Level has released the Level Connect, a $79 Wi-Fi bridge that plugs into an outlet and acts as a bridge between its lock’s Bluetooth radio and your internet router, so it can be controlled remotely and work with cloud-enabled smart home platforms.

Why is Level resorting to the old ways when it could implement Matter and Thread?

The Wi-Fi bridge was developed for the earliest smart locks (the August Lock got...

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Google is rolling out Wear OS 4 to the original Pixel Watch

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Google is bringing Wear OS 4 to its first Pixel Watch. In an announcement on Tuesday, Google says the update will start rolling out today and continue “over the coming weeks,” depending on your carrier and device.

The Wear OS 4 update will bring several new features to the Pixel Watch, including the Google Calendar app, better accessibility features, enhanced notifications, and the new Safety Check feature that will prompt you to confirm whether you’re safe after a specified period of time. If you don’t respond, the watch will automatically notify your emergency contacts.

Wear OS 4 also introduces the ability to transfer your Pixel Watch data to a new phone without a factory reset as well as a way to back up your data and settings from...

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Xbox chief says Activision Blizzard games aren’t coming to Xbox Game Pass until 2024

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Xbox chief and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has confirmed that Activision Blizzard games aren’t coming to Xbox Game Pass anytime soon. In the latest official Xbox podcast, Spencer confirms there’s not going to be a big drop of Activision Blizzard games into Xbox Game Pass in the coming weeks and that we won’t see any until 2024.

Here’s what Spencer had to say:

The regulatory process took so long... that we weren’t able to get in and work with the Activision Blizzard on that back catalog work. Now that the deal is closed, we’re starting that work, but there is work. I think the Activision Twitter handle... did put out something that talked about 2024, and I think that’s accurate. I would love it if there was some kind of secret...

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Here are the details on PS5 cloud streaming

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony has released more details about its PS5 cloud streaming feature for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers, including bandwidth recommendations and a detailed FAQ page coinciding with the Japanese launch of the service on October 17th.

The most interesting bit is the bandwidth recommendations, which seem relatively modest. Sony recommends 52Mbps for 4K, 38Mbps for 1440p, 23Mbps for 1080p, and 13Mbps for 720p. The games will run in HDR or SDR at 60Hz. Possibly of interest: those are the recommended settings; the minimum bandwidth is as low as 5Mbps for 720p and 38Mbps for 4K.

Most of the rest of the post just confirms what we already knew. For now, you can only stream PS5 games to your PS5. And you won’t be able to stream from the...

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Apple Pencil joins the iPad confusion zone

Three Pencils were given to the iPads. | Image: Apple

A third, cheaper Apple Pencil now sits in Apple’s lineup of styluses, giving iPad owners more choice than ever. And yet, that choice is fraught with compromises and caveats. There’s still not one Apple Pencil to rule them all, and that’s a problem for shoppers.

Let’s run down what was announced today. The new Apple Pencil is $79, can be magnetically attached to the side of your iPad, and no longer needs to be plugged directly into the iPad’s charging port for power, like the 2015 original. On the newest Pro models, it also supports the hover feature that shows where your Pencil is before you actually touch the screen. These are all good things!

But Apple made some strange omissions, too. Pressure sensitivity, a headlining feature of both...

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BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce are the latest to sync up with Tesla’s EV charging plug

Photo by Abigail Bassett for The Verge

BMW, famed German automaker and parent company to Mini and Rolls-Royce, announced its intention to adopt Tesla’s electric vehicle charging standard for its future EVs, in the latest win for Elon Musk’s company.

BMW said that owners of electric vehicles with the Combined Charging System (CCS) outlet will get access to Tesla’s Supercharger network in early 2025, most likely through the use of an adapter. BMW will also start producing EVs with Tesla’s charging standard built into the vehicle that same year.

BMW’s current EV lineup includes the iX, i4, and i7 as well as Mini Cooper electric models and the ultra-luxury Rolls-Royce Spectre. All currently come with the CCS plug for DC fast charging.

BMW said that EV owners will get access to...

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Nvidia’s H800 AI chip for China is blocked by new export rules

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

New US rules blocking the export of most artificial intelligence chips to China will build upon a sweeping set of restrictions introduced in October 2022.

Nvidia makes sought-after AI chips like the H100, and the AI boom has proven to be profitable as its valuation has expanded beyond $1 trillion. Last year’s restrictions meant the US-based company couldn’t sell the H100 to China, so it introduced a lower-specced H800 that could get around the US’s rules — but with the new rules, Nvidia won’t be able to sell that chip or its A800 chip to China, CNBC reports.

These new restrictions “are necessary to maintain the effectiveness of these controls, close loopholes, and ensure they remain durable,” according to a press release from the...

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Nvidia banking on TensorRT to expand generative AI dominance

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Nvidia looks to build a bigger presence outside GPU sales as it puts its AI-specific software development kit into more applications.

Nvidia announced that it’s adding support for its TensorRT-LLM SDK to Windows and models like Stable Diffusion. The company said in a blog post that it aims to make large language models (LLMs) and related tools run faster.

TensorRT speeds up inference, the process of going through pretrained information and calculating probabilities to come up with a result — like a newly generated Stable Diffusion image. With this software, Nvidia wants to play a bigger part in the inference side of generative AI.

Its TensorRT-LLM breaks down LLMs and lets them run faster on Nvidia’s H100 GPUs. It works with LLMs like...

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Fitbit is adding step streaks back into the app

Streaks are coming back, baby! | Image: Google / Fitbit

When the Fitbit app relaunched with a new design last month, some users were dismayed to find that their step streaks had disappeared. Now, Google — which owns Fitbit — says it’s taking user feedback into consideration and bringing the feature back.

“In these first few weeks of trying out the new Fitbit app, you voiced key areas where you think we can improve the experience,” Google wrote in a Fitbit support blog.

After “seeing the outpour of love,” step streaks will be returning to the iOS version of the app. Google also says it will be bringing step streaks to Android as well. For those wondering if they’ll have to start over from scratch — nope! Google says steps already taken will count toward streaks. When you hit goals, like...

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GM’s plan to make more electric trucks keeps running into delays

Photo by Bill Pugliano / Getty Images

General Motors’ plan to make more electric trucks has run into another snag. The company had originally planned to kick off production of its EV trucks at its Orion facility in Detroit in 2024 — but now it won’t get started until late 2025.

GM said it’s delaying production “to better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand.” Another reason cited is “engineering improvements” aimed at improving profitability.

Orion is where GM currently builds its Chevy Bolt EV and EUV, both of which are ceasing production at the end of 2023. GM has said it will build a new Chevy Bolt based on the automaker’s Ultium battery and drive technology — but has yet to say when that vehicle will go into production.

GM said it’s delaying...

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Meta will now let you stop Instagram from tracking you across the web

Image: Meta

Meta will now let you block Instagram from collecting your data across the apps and websites you visit. The company says that it’s expanding the ability to disable this kind of tracking to Instagram, allowing you to review which businesses are sharing information with Meta, disconnect specific activity, or clear the collected information.

You can now find this feature, called Activity Off-Meta Technologies, within the platform’s Accounts Center. It was previously only available for Facebook. Meta receives information from third-party websites that use its business tools, such as the Meta Pixel, which tracks users on the web and allows Meta to serve personalized ads on its platforms.

Image: Meta

You can now...

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The best instant cameras you can buy right now

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge

We found the best cameras for your budget and needs.

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Roblox says employees must return to office because the metaverse still isn’t good enough

Illustration: The Verge

Roblox — a company that builds a hugely popular virtual experiences platform, recently introduced its own spin on video chat, and even created an in-Roblox career center — is “transitioning away” from remote work and will be asking “a number of our remote employees to begin working from our headquarters in San Mateo by next summer,” CEO David Baszucki wrote in an email to staff shared publicly on Tuesday.

Like many other companies, Roblox will be shifting to a model where employees are expected to work three days in the office (Tuesday through Thursday). Staffers will have until January 16th, 2024, to decide if they want to stay on at the company under the new rules. If an employee chooses to stay at Roblox and relocate, the company...

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The Boy and the Heron’s English cast includes Christian Bale and Dave Bautista

Image: Studio Ghibli

When Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron finally hits North American theaters, it’ll be doing so with some star power. Distributor GKIDS announced the English voice cast for the animated feature, which debuted in Japan earlier this year, and it includes some big names: Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson, and Florence Pugh.

The news came alongside a new poster for the film:

Presenting the English voice cast of THE BOY AND THE HERON from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

In North American theatres & IMAX Dec 8.
Tickets on sale soon.

(All production of the English language version was done in compliance with SAG-AFTRA) pic.twitter.com/mvIxo33klH

— GKIDS Films (@GKIDSfilms) O...

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Netflix’s Geeked Week 2023 is coming in hot

Kim, Young Neil, Stephen, and Knives. | Image: Netflix

Netflix’s annual multiday Geeked Week virtual showcase has always been meant to get viewers hyped out of their minds over promising glimpses of all the new projects coming down the pipeline, and looking at the lineup for this year’s presentation, the streamer has more than a few promising things locked, loaded, and ready to send the internet into a tizzy.

Ahead of Geeked Week 2023’s launch on November 6th (which Netflix insists on referring to as “Stranger Things Day”), the streamer has just released a flashy new promo teasing a number of the upcoming shows and movies fans will get sneak peeks of.

Along with updates on shows that have already premiered like One Piece, The Umbrella Academy, and The Dragon Prince, Geeked...

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Across the Spider-Verse hits Netflix this month

Image: Sony

While it’s still not clear when we’ll get a chance to see Sony’s much-anticipated third Spider-Verse animated film on the big screen, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verseis making its way to Netflix this fall.

Deadline reports that following its monstrous $690 million worldwide theatrical run, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is scheduled to hit Netflix in the US on October 31st, just a few days after the premiere of Big Mouth’s seventh season. Earlier this year, Sony pushed back the release dates for a number of its upcoming features like Kraven the Hunter and a Ghostbusters: Afterlife follow-up, and the studio took Beyond the Spider-Verse — Across the Spider-Verse’s sequel — off its list of scheduled releases entirely.

With the...

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Rivian’s latest software update makes towing on tough terrain easier

New UI for drive modes and gauge views. | Image: Rivian

Rivian is redesigning a bunch of key features for its electric trucks and SUVs to improve the user experience and make towing easier. The company is updating its Drive Mode app, introducing a real-time metrics screen that includes information like live motor temperatures and enhancing the towing experience to include a bed camera for the R1T. This software update, version 2023.38.0, is available now for both the R1T pickup truck and the R1S SUV.

In a promotional video, Rivian’s SVP of software development, Wassym Bensaid, acknowledges customer feedback that the drive controls were difficult to reach. Now, controls like ride height, regen modes, and more are on the far left and easier to reach. For on-road, off-road, and trailer modes,...

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NYC Mayor Eric Adams uses AI to make robocalls in languages he doesn’t speak

Mayor Eric Adams during a press conference at City Hall Blue Room on Tuesday, October 10th, 2023. | Photo by Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images

Thanks to artificial intelligence tools, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has sent a barrage of robocalls to residents in languages he doesn’t speak.

That includes “thousands” of robocalls in Spanish, more than 250 in Yiddish, more than 160 in Mandarin, 89 in Cantonese, and 23 in Haitian Creole, The City reports. That’s triggered pushback over how ethical it is for Adams to portray himself to potential voters as someone who speaks their native language when he actually doesn’t.

“This is deeply unethical, especially on the taxpayer’s dime. Using AI to convince New Yorkers that he speaks languages that he doesn’t is deeply Orwellian,” Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), said in a s...

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Honda made an airport robot to handle all the boring, repetitive tasks

Honda’s autonomous work vehicle prototype is ready to be deployed at airports. | Image: Honda

Honda’s latest robot is an autonomous work vehicle (AWV) designed to handle all the boring, repetitive tasks at airports. It’s also meant to demonstrate that autonomous vehicles can have other purposes that don’t involve jamming up city streets or obstructing emergency vehicles.

The company is sending its first prototype to the Toronto Pearson Airport as part of a demonstration of how AI, robotics, and autonomous vehicle technology can help address many of the challenges facing airports, including labor shortages, safety, and emissions. The work vehicle was first introduced as a concept by Honda at CES in 2018 and is now being put to use.

The company is sending its first prototype to the Toronto Pearson Airport

Some of the tasks handled...

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China cracks open the door to flying taxis

EHang executives accept certification for the EHang 216-S. | Image: EHang Holdings

Life is amazing in 2023 — we have tiny computers with amazing cameras in our pockets; massive, dirt-cheap (or free!) TVs; cars that (sort of) drive themselves — but where are our flying cars and jet packs? The flying cars are at least in China, or that’s where they’ll get their first real commercial flights, anyway. EHang Holdings said last week that the government there issued it a certification to start actual passenger trials in the country.

The company will be allowed to take passengers on aerial tours, which Bloomberg reported it will offer through local partnerships in Xinjiang province and Shenzen. The “type certificate,” issued by CAAC, China’s aviation authority, signifies that its E216-S air taxi “fully complies with CAAC’s...

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