Google Meet adds skin smoothing and teeth whitening effects for video calls

Here’s something to stop you from hiding your tired face in early morning meetings. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A highly requested feature, according to Google, is finally being introduced in Google Meet that allows users to apply ‘beauty’ effects during video calls. Announced in a Google Workspace update on Wednesday, portrait touch-up is currently rolling out to Google Meet on mobile devices for early adopters, with an extended rollout to remaining accounts scheduled to begin on October 28th. Google said it also plans to bring the portrait touch-up feature to Google Meet on the web “by the end of 2023.”

There are two portrait modes available that provide different levels of complexion smoothing, under-eye lightening, and teeth whitening. “Subtle” mode, as the name suggests, provides very light cosmetic adjustments, while “Smoothing” mode is a...

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WhatsApp tests voice messages that disappear after your recipient hears them

Illustration: The Verge

WhatsApp is beta testing the ability to send voice messages that can only be listened to once by their intended recipient, WABetaInfo reports.

The feature, which is currently only available to a limited number of Android and iOS users running the beta version of the app, is reportedly accessible by tapping a small “1” icon that appears to the right of the voice note waveform when recording. “After sending the voice note with the view once mode enabled, you won’t be able to listen to it and the recipient can no longer listen to the voice note after dismissing it,” WABetaInfo reports.

The Meta-owned messaging service already has a similar “View Once” feature for photos and videos that it launched in 2021, so it makes sense it would expand...

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The US has new clean energy and efficiency programs for low-income housing

Solar panels, part of renovations done under the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, sit on the roof of New York City Housing Authority’s Ocean Bay Apartments in New York, NY. | Bess Adler/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Biden administration on Thursday announced $100 million in funding to make low-income homes in the US more energy efficient and resilient to climate change. It will also start taking applications Thursday for a new credit program aimed at making it more affordable for low-income communities to install small solar and wind projects. Both programs are funded through the Inflation Reduction Act.

New technologies like heat pumps and solar panels that can save energy, lower utility bills, and prevent greenhouse gas emissions often come with a hefty price tag initially. While costs tend to drop over time with greater adoption, this usually leaves low-income households last in line. These programs aim to flip that on its head by offering...

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WhatsApp will soon let you stay logged in to two accounts at once

Illustration: The Verge

If you use two different WhatsApp accounts, you’ll soon be able to access both from just one device. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that WhatsApp is rolling out the ability to switch between accounts on Android, and you won’t need to lug around an extra device or continuously log out of your account to be able to do so.

This new feature should make it easier to manage your conversations across multiple accounts, like if you have one WhatsApp account for work and another for messaging friends and family members. It’s rolling out in the coming weeks.

Meta notes that you’ll still need a separate phone number and SIM card (or a phone that accepts multi-SIM or eSIM) if you want to set up a second account. You’ll also need the...

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Elon Musk answers Tesla pricing question with anti work-from-home rant

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

On Tesla’s Q3 earnings call, CEO Elon Musk said people who work from home take advantage of the people who cannot work from home and are “detached from reality.” In the middle of talking about rising interest rates and their effect on the affordability of vehicles, Musk launched into a discussion about “Marie Antoinette” vibes of the person he describes asking why doesn’t everyone work from home.

“Like... what about all the people that have to come to the factory and and build the cars? What about all of the people that have to go to to the restaurant and make your food, and deliver your food? It’s like, what are you talking about...”

Musk carried on, saying “Why did I sleep in the factory so many times? Because it mattered,” referring...

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Only Nintendo DS lovers will fully appreciate this dual-screen handheld PC

The Ayaneo Flip DS. | Image: Ayaneo

Boutique handheld gaming company Ayaneo has announced the Ayaneo Flip DS — a 7-inch 120Hz handheld gaming clamshell with a second screen that’s clearly inspired by the Nintendo DS, and might let it play games like one too.

According to Liliputing’s Brad Linder, who deserves kudos for calling out the company’s attempt to plant a “leak,” both the Flip DS and a similar Flip KB will be powered by AMD’s Ryzen 7 7840U. That’s the same chip that’s in practically every other flagship Windows gaming handheld at the moment, including quite a few from Ayaneo itself.

Image: Ayaneo

The Ayaneo Flip DS...

Image: Ayaneo

...vs. the Ayaneo Flip KB.

While that AMD chip sounds like overkill for Nintendo...

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Here we go: all the news about Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Image: Nintendo

Stay up to date on Mario’s latest adventure.

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The Hydro Flask Tracker puts your fancy water bottle on Apple’s Find My network

The Hydro Flask Tracker lets you find your fancy water bottle. | Image: Nomad

If you’re in the club of people who spend too much money on water bottles (hey, no judgments — I own a $90 water bottle), you probably get irrationally upset when you can’t find it. To keep that from happening, phone accessories maker Nomad has a new solution: the Hydro Flask Tracker. It consists of a small disc with a pocket just for your Apple AirTag — but Nomad is counting on you to provide the rest of what you need to track your water bottle: a Hydro Flask bottle (32oz or 40oz), an AirTag, and a Hydro Flask Medium Flex Boot.

That’s right: it’s an accessory (the Tracker) for you to put an accessory (AirTag) in so you can put those accessories (the Tracker and the AirTag) inside the accessory (Flex Boot) for your accessory (Hydro...

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Meta’s Telegram-like ‘broadcast channels’ are coming to Facebook and Messenger

Here’s what broadcast channels will look like. | Image: Meta

Meta’s “broadcast channels,” previously available for Instagram and WhatsApp, will be coming to Facebook and Messenger “in the coming weeks,” according to a Meta blog post. CEO Mark Zuckerberg also shared the news in a post from his personal Facebook account.

Broadcast channels function a bit like giant but limited group chats. A creator can invite their followers and then blast things like voice notes, polls, text posts, videos, and photos to anyone who joins. Channel members receive notifications whenever the creator drops content.

Specifically, these channels will be available for Pages on Facebook, and they’re in testing now. Those who manage the official page for a celebrity or a company, for example, will be able to start a channel...

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Tesla’s first Cybertruck deliveries will happen on November 30th

Tesla Cybertruck prototype. | Image: Tesla

The Tesla Cybertruck finally has a delivery date, according to a company post on X (formerly Twitter). Along with its third quarter earnings today, Tesla announced the long-delayed Cybertruck electric pickup will have its first deliveries on November 30th at the company’s Gigafactory in Austin, Texas.

In the past few months, Cybertrucks have started showing up on the road, all labeled as RC for testing or as prototype vehicles. The company previously said there would be a delivery event by Q3, but that never happened.

Q3 Shareholder Update → https://t.co/sXBSeLibSL
—
Highlights

Cybertruck production remains on track for later this year, with first deliveries scheduled for November 30th at Giga Texas.

Production of our higher density 4680...

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Tesla profits dip as it invests in factory upgrades and AI development

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Tesla continues to see its margins slip due to price cuts. Today the company reported earnings of $1.9 billion in net income on $23.4 billion in revenue during the third quarter of 2023. The figures represent a small bump in revenue, from $21.4 billion the same time last year, but a big dip in profits, falling from $3.3 billion on close to the same amount of revenue.

Tesla also missed its target date for a Cybertruck delivery event. Tesla CEO Elon Musk had planned for a handover event sometime in the third quarter, and the company now plans for its first deliveries to occur on November 30th.

The company’s operating margins fell for the third quarter in a row, signaling that Tesla’s rampant price cutting was continuing to take a toll on...

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Microsoft tests support for hearing aids in Windows 11

Illustration: The Verge

Windows 11 will soon let some users with hearing aids take calls, listen to music, and stream audio from their PCs, Microsoft announced on Wednesday.

The recently rolled out Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25977 now supports hearing aids equipped with Bluetooth LE Audio technology, Microsoft revealed. Consequently, people can directly pair hearing aids with Windows 11 PCs.

The feature is currently only available on select Windows devices with Bluetooth LE Audio support, though Microsoft says more PCs will offer it in the future. The tech giant also says it will add more capabilities for hearing aids over time, such as the ability to control audio presets within Windows.

Microsoft announced it was adding support for Bluetooth LE in...

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The world’s biggest AI models aren’t very transparent, Stanford study says

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

No prominent developer of AI foundation models — a list including companies like OpenAI and Meta — is releasing sufficient information about their potential impact on society, determines a new report from Stanford HAI (Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence).

Today, Stanford HAI released its Foundation Model Transparency Index, which tracked whether creators of the 10 most popular AI models disclose information about their work and how people use their systems. Among the models it tested, Meta’s Llama 2 scored the highest, followed by BloomZ and then OpenAI’s GPT-4. But none of them, it turned out, got particularly high marks.

Other models evaluated include Stability’s Stable Diffusion, Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s PaLM 2, Command from...

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Amazon plans to deploy delivery drones in the UK and Italy next year

Image: Amazon

Despite running into obstacles in the US, Amazon is planning to expand its Prime Air drone delivery program to two additional countries. Amazon announced today that it will soon make drone delivery available for Prime members in Italy and the United Kingdom — in addition to expanding to one more yet-to-be-named US city. The new Prime Air locations will be announced in the coming months, with an anticipated launch date of late 2024.

The e-commerce giant stated that it is working with regulators and governments around the world to expand drone delivery.

“Not only will this help boost the economy, offering consumers even more choice while helping keep the environment clean with zero emission technology, but it will also build our...

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Here comes another Netflix price hike

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Netflix is getting another price increase. As part of the streamer’s third quarter earnings results, it announced that users on its $9.99 per month Basic plan will now have to pay $11.99, and those paying $19.99 per month for Premium will have to pay $22.99. Netflix’s $6.99 ad-supported plan will stay the same price.

Netflix last raised its prices in March 2022, bringing the Premium plan to $19.99 and the Standard tier to $15.49. The streamer stopped offering its $9.99 Basic ad-free plan to new and relapsed users in July, forcing them to fork out more to avoid ads. Prices for the Basic and Premium plans in the UK and France are going up as well, with the ad-supported plan remaining unchanged.

“As we deliver more value to our members, we...

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The creator of Apollo for Reddit has moved onto smaller and weirder things

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

Christian Selig may not be working on Apollo for Reddit anymore, but it seems he’s doing just fine. Since shutting down Apollo because of the potential costs of Reddit’s usage-based API pricing, Selig has poured his energy into Pixel Pals, a widget-focused app that takes advantage of many iOS features in some surprising and delightful ways. According to Selig, the app is proving to be lucrative, too.

Selig launched Pixel Pals in September 2022 as a feature in Apollo to have some fun with the then-new Dynamic Island feature let little pixelated animals hang out on your Dynamic Island while you were browsing Reddit in the app. He quickly built more Pixel Pals features and broke Pixel Pals out into its own app in October 2022. He released a...

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The last-gen Sonos Move is on sale for $150 less than the new model

It may not offer stereo sound or in-line playback, but the first-gen Sonos Move remains a great portable speaker. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

In case you somehow weren’t aware, we’re in the thick of gadget season, with Apple, Google, and Meta having all recently released a trove of new devices. Sonos, not to be outdone, has also launched a new portable speaker in the form of the Sonos Move 2. And now, unsurprisingly, Sonos has dropped the price of the first-gen model to make way for the updated version. Right now, the Sonos Move is on sale direct from Sonos for $299 ($100 off), matching its best price to date.

While not as capable as the $429 Move 2, the original model still offers plenty of power and portability. The hefty speaker is close to the original in terms of design, and while its battery doesn’t last quite as long and it doesn’t offer stereo sound like the new...

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Biden administration announces ‘largest ever’ investment in US electric grid

A worker repairs a utility pole during a power outage after Hurricane Ida in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., on Thursday, September 2nd, 2021. | Photo by Eva Marie Uzcategui / Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Biden administration announced $3.46 billion in funding today to upgrade the US’s aging electric grid, the largest investment to date in the grid. The money, which comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will go to 58 different projects across 44 states.

Stressed power grids need the money badly, both to prevent blackouts and bring more clean energy online. Weather disasters supercharged by climate change have already led to more power outages in the US. And President Biden has a goal of creating a 100 percent carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035, which will help the US keep commitments it made under the Paris climate agreement.

Stressed power grids need the money badly

“Much of [the grid] was built nearly a century ago...

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With a Switch 2 looming, Nintendo is sending out the original with a bang

Super Mario Bros. Wonder. | Image: Nintendo

There’s a very good chance that this will be the last year where the Switch is Nintendo’s main piece of hardware. While rumors of a Switch successor have persisted for years, recent reports suggest that an upgraded device is not only coming but will be here relatively soon, with a potential 2024 launch. If that is indeed the case, it seems that Nintendo isn’t content to let the device go out with a whimper — in fact, 2023 has been one of the Switch’s strongest years to date.

Just look at the company’s biggest properties. This year, we have both a new mainline Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom and a classic Mario title with Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The last time the company released a major Zelda and Super Mario in the same year was 2017,...

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Fortnite creators will get paid for encouraging players to spend

Image: Epic Games

Fortnite maker Epic Games is going to reward creators if players spend V-bucks before or after visiting that creator’s custom-made Fortnite experience. The change is happening as part of an update announced Wednesday to the engagement-based formula Epic uses to pay Fortnite creators_._

Epic first introduced the engagement-based payouts (which it calls “Creator Economy 2.0”) in March. Under the program, Epic pays creators who build experiences for Fortnite from a pool of 40 percent of Fortnite’s net revenues each month. Epic itself is also eligible to receive money from that pool. At launch, two of Epic’s key engagement metrics for payouts were player popularity and player retention, and soon after, the company added a metric that rewards...

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Fugees’ Pras Michél says lawyer bungled his case by using AI to write arguments

Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images

Rapper Pras Michél, known by many elder millennials as a member of the Fugees, claims his former lawyer mishandled his criminal conspiracy case by using AI to write closing arguments.

Michél, who was convicted by a Washington federal court in April for conspiracy to defraud the US, and his new legal team filed a motion for a new trial. First reported by Politico, the team alleges Michél’s former lawyer, David Kenner, “used an experimental AI program to write his closing argument, which made frivolous arguments, conflated the schemes, and failed to highlight the key weaknesses in the government’s case.”

They pointed to Kenner giving a quote to a press release for a company called EyeLevel.AI, which says Kenner’s use of its platform in...

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Google bulks up Android’s malware defenses to combat new tricks, including AI

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google is upgrading Android’s Play Protect malware protection system to help it spot malicious apps that change their identifiable features to avoid detection, the company has announced. “This enhancement will help better protect users against malicious polymorphic apps that leverage various methods, such as AI, to be altered to avoid detection,” Google’s blog post reads.

The update follows a rise in this so-called “polymorphic malware,” which is harder for Google’s existing systems to detect. So now, in addition to checking newly installed apps against existing scanning intelligence and using techniques like on-device machine learning, Play Protect will also recommend a real-time app scan when installing apps that haven’t been scanned...

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Google is tweaking Chrome’s search bar to make it easier to navigate the web

Google’s search box: not just for Google searches anymore. | Image: Google

Google is making a few changes to the way its search and address bar — known as the omnibox — works in the Chrome browser. The changes are individually pretty small, but there’s an important and somewhat unexpected trend in them all: Google is making it easier for you to move around the web without having to do so many Google searches.

If you’re in Chrome on desktop or mobile, the browser will now try and correct your URL typos, so when you type thevrege.com or ninteendo.com, you’ll get autocomplete suggestions based on the right site and not whatever is behind those misspelled domains. The omnibox’s autocomplete will now be smarter in general, predicting the site you’re looking for based on keywords rather than just guessing what URL...

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PSA: it’s time to update WinRAR due to a big security vulnerability

Image: Rarlab

If you use WinRAR, it’s time to update to the latest version after a serious security vulnerability has been discovered that’s already in use by attackers. Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has found that multiple government-backed hacking groups have been exploiting the WinRAR vulnerability since early 2023.

“A patch is now available, but many users still seem to be vulnerable,” says TAG in a blog post detailing the WinRAR exploit. “TAG has observed government-backed actors from a number of countries exploiting the WinRAR vulnerability as part of their operations.”

WinRAR versions 6.24 and 6.23 both include a fix for the security hole, but the app doesn’t update automatically, so you’ll have to manually download and install the...

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Amazon says its robots will speed up delivery and definitely not replace humans

These bots move shelves around so humans don’t have to bring around the forklift. | Image: Amazon

Amazon is rolling out expanded robotics operations at fulfillment centers built on updated sorting machines, robotic arms, and its Roomba-like mover bots. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon’s latest inventory processing system, which the company calls Sequoia, can speed up delivery fulfillment by 25 percent and launched this week at a facility in Houston.

The new system has robots designed to work alongside humans instead of replacing them, according to Amazon. Director of robotic storage technology David Guerin says that a significant portion of its operations will use them in the next three to five years.

The building blocks of Amazon’s latest system have already been in view, as the company has discussed the developments of...

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New leak lets us compare the OnePlus Open and Oppo Find N3 side by side

A leaked image of the Oppo Find N3. | Image: Evan Blass

OnePlus founder Peter Lau has already confirmed that the OnePlus Open shares its design with the Oppo Find N3, but new leaks are shedding light on just how similar the two devices look. The biggest difference is that the OnePlus Open is getting a global launch, while the Oppo Find N3 is exclusive to China.

Last night, leaker Evan Blass shared a set of images showing what appears to be the Oppo Find N3. The images show the device in four colors — black, green, gold, and red — along with marketing materials that reveal some potential specs. That includes a 5.8mm thickness, 245g weight, and a 4,805mAh battery that’s supposed to fully charge in 42 minutes. The leaks also show off the fingerprint sensor on the side of the phone, as well as...

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13 states join the IRS direct-file test after tax prep firms dropped the ball

The IRS headquarters on April 27th, 2020. | Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

An Internal Revenue Service pilot might just eventually bring US citizens a free direct-file alternative to commercial options like TurboTax and H&R Block. Yesterday, the agency announced that 13 states are joining its pilot program for the 2024 filing season, four of which will also be able to integrate their state taxes into the pilot.

Since 2001, a partnership between companies like TurboTax maker Intuit and the IRS called the Free File Alliance has given consumers a free alternative to paying for tax preparation. However, it turned out that when you try to get companies to offer an alternative to giving you money, they will do their best to hide that option. When the IRS updated the agreement to forbid companies from doing that — and...

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This Detroit-based electric RV has a 250-mile range, Starlink, and 640W of solar

The Grounded G2 is built atop GM’s BrightDrop Zevo 600 platform. | Image: Grounded

It’s not quite a replacement for diesel RVs, but the latest all-electric camper van from Grounded is getting there. The G2 claims a fully loaded range of 250 miles from its 165kWh vehicle battery, which easily trumps the Grounded G1’s range of 108 miles. It can be configured with up to 640W of rooftop solar and a hefty 10kWh house battery that can be charged from the main battery. It’s not cheap, with a starting price of $195,000, but living in the future never is.

“The G2 is radically different from any other offering on the market,” said Grounded CEO Sam Shapiro, a former SpaceX senior software engineer who worked on Starlink. “It’s a profound step toward a future of fully electrified motorhomes, and makes sustainable travel truly...

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The best entertainment of 2023

Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Right now, we are absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to entertainment. TV shows, movies, and games all come out at such a fast and furious pace that it’s hard to keep up. Not all of them are worth your time, of course — which is where we come in.

Our team spends a lot of time immersed in the various realms of pop culture so that we can handpick our favorites for you. That could mean a hot new indie game you might’ve otherwise missed or the streaming series that will become your new obsession. Either way, if you’re finding it hard to sort through the flood, this is the place to find a curated selection of the best stuff.

And like last year, this page will be updated regularly throughout the year — so make sure to check back in...

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Super Mario Bros. Wonder never stops surprising

Image: Nintendo

When a Super Mario game gets really good, you can’t help but move around in your seat. I find myself leaning into jumps as if it’ll give me an advantage and ducking my head down to avoid flying enemies. Even after a few decades of playing these games, it’s an instinct I can’t seem to avoid — and I was never sitting still while playing Super Mario Bros. Wonder on the Nintendo Switch.

Wonder is the first brand-new side-scrolling Mario game in over a decade and the first mainline entry in the series since Super Mario Odyssey in 2017. It’s also one of the best titles in the franchise to date. Wonder manages to pull from classics like Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. 3, while firmly updating the formula with a seemingly inexhaustible...

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