Samsung’s Galaxy S23 starts receiving Android 14 update

The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Samsung’s Android 14-based One UI 6 update is leaving beta on the Galaxy S23 in Europe, users in the region are reporting. Across X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and Reddit, people are seeing the update roll out in countries including the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, and Portugal. While many are updating from the beta version of One UI 6, some are receiving a larger 3GB patch to update from the stable version of One UI 5.1.

While the update appears to be limited to S23 users in European markets for now, Samsung’s approach in previous years suggests that a stable US release won’t be far behind. The company’s Android 13-based One UI 5 update started rolling out for European Galaxy S22 owners around October 24th last year,...

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Microsoft starts blocking ‘unauthorized’ Xbox controllers and accessories

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft is starting to block “unauthorized” Xbox controllers and accessories from being used on Xbox consoles. Resetera posters spotted a warning about the block last week, with some third-party Xbox controllers now throwing up a “connected accessory is not authorized” warning when connected to an Xbox console. It’s unclear if Microsoft is trying to target cheat devices, or whether the Xbox maker is trying to push its official partner program.

An error has now started appearing for some third-party Xbox controllers, alongside a warning that notes the accessory will be blocked from further use after two weeks. “From the moment you connect an unauthorized accessory and receive error code 0x82d60002, you’ll have two weeks to use the...

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Biden releases AI executive order directing agencies to develop safety guidelines

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

President Joe Biden signed an executive order providing rules around generative AI, ahead of any legislation coming from lawmakers.

The order has eight goals: to create new standards for AI safety and security, protect privacy, advance equity and civil rights, stand up for consumers, patients, and students, support workers, promote innovation and competition, advance US leadership in AI technologies, and ensure the responsible and effective government use of the technology.

Several government agencies are tasked with creating standards to protect against the use of AI to engineer biological materials, establish best practices around content authentication, and build advanced cybersecurity programs.

The National Institute of Standards...

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ChatGPT Plus members can upload and analyze files in the latest beta

Illustration: The Verge

OpenAI is rolling out new beta features for ChatGPT Plus members right now. Subscribers have reported that the update includes the ability to upload files and work with them, as well as multimodal support. Basically, users won’t have to select modes like Browse with Bing from the GPT-4 dropdown — it will instead guess what they want based on context.

The new features bring a dash of the office features offered by its ChatGPT Enterprise plan to the standalone individual chatbot subscription. I don’t seem to have the multimodal update on my own Plus plan, but I was able to test out the Advanced Data Analysis feature, which seems to work about as expected. Once the file is fed to ChatGPT, it takes a few moments to digest the file before...

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YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket streams are failing today

Image: The Verge

YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket streams have been plagued with buffering and pixelation, making afternoon games today unwatchable, according to many, many posts. The @TeamYouTube account acknowledged the issue at 1:53PM ET. The team wrote that they're aware YouTube is having issues and they are working to fix them, but acknowledged that “YouTube TV or NFL Sunday Ticket may also be impacted.”

Now that YouTube is the only place to watch NFL Sunday Ticket, that leaves viewers across the country with no options to watch games apart from any available local broadcasts. People have taken to X to complain that streams are freezing up or lagging, or that it’s just like watching illegal streams. And plenty of them point out the money factor. NFL...

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Android 14 will make it easier for apps to support passkeys soon

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Android apps are about to get better built-in passkey support. Google announced in a developer blog post last week that Credential Manager, a new Android-specific API for storing credentials like username and password combinations and passkeys, is going public on November 1st. Credential Manager, which has been in developer preview for months, houses biometric authentication of passkeys, traditional passwords, and federated identity login under one roof in Android phones.

Ultimately, the change should allow apps to offer better authentication support in Android 14. Using Credential Manager, apps can offer users easy biometric logins through passkeys. That should mean a more friction-free sign-in experience since people who use that...

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Apple is getting ready for Prime Time

Image: Apple

I’m trying to remember the last time a company’s big event came for prime time TV the way Apple’s 8pm ET keynote is trying to lock down our attention tomorrow. The only company I can think of that’s done it successfully lately is Victoria’s Secret with its Fashion Show. While I suspect there’s some overlap in audience between that and an Apple Keynote, I also suspect Bella Hadid is a bigger draw than a new iMac.

But Apple is still going for it! Promising a keynote that will air on its website, YouTube, and over Apple TV while things like Monday Night Football airs on broadcast TV. The company is ready to take all the cultural cache its phones, Bluetooth headsets, and computers have earned it and convert that fanbase into a bigger...

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Your guide to the internet’s most (and least) important moments

Image: William Joel / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 12, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome. I’m so psyched you found us, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been testing the Superlist tasks app, reading about thehigh-stakes race to crack crypto wallets, rehearsing my case for buying an e-bike, taking voice notes like a boss with Whisper Memos, and avoiding all my problems by watching Between Two Ferns bloopers on YouTube.

I also have for you a new pair of AR glasses, a Netflix thriller, all the great sci-fi you could ever need, a great parenting app, a super-deep interview about Windows, a new puzzling platform, and a bunch more.

As always, of...

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Google researchers use off-the-shelf headphones to measure heart rate

Illustration: The Verge

Typical heart rate monitoring in wearable tech, like smart watches or wireless earbuds, relies at least partially on photoplethysmography (PPG), which uses light pulses to measure blood activity. It works generally well, but it has its limitations. Google scientists wrote in a new research blog spotted by 9to5Googleyesterday that they had tried a different approach, called audioplethysmography (APG), that uses ultrasound to measure heart rate. And they did it with off-the-shelf active noise-canceling (ANC) earbuds and a software update.

The trick works by bouncing a low-intensity ultrasound signal off the inside of the ear canal and using the tiny microphone that helps make ANC work to detect skin surface perturbations as blood pumps...

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Google is investigating Android 14’s multiple profile update bug

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google is looking into an Android 14 bug that’s been wreaking havoc for people with multiple user profiles. On October 27th, a Google representative acknowledged the bug and said the team is “working hard on a fix” for it.

Thanks for sticking with us. Our team is looking into this storage issue affecting some Pixel devices running Android 14 and we're working hard on a fix. We'll update this thread with more details soon.

While the first reports were mostly from Pixel 6 owners who experienced the problem as the update started rolling out, Ars Technica reported this week that a Google issue tracker for the problem had grown beyond over 350 replies, extending to owners of many different devices. The problems range from missing apps to...

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Apple says BMW wireless chargers really are messing with iPhone 15s

Illustration: The Verge

Users have been reporting that their iPhone 15’s NFC chips were failing after using BMW’s in-car wireless charging, but until now, Apple hasn’t addressed the complaints. That seems to have changed as MacRumors reported this week that an Apple internal memo to third-party repair providers says a software update later this year should prevent a “small number” of in-car wireless chargers from “temporarily” disabling iPhone 15 NFC chips.

Apple reportedly says that until the fix comes out, anyone who experiences this should not use the wireless charger in their car. Users have been complaining about BMW wireless chargers breaking Apple Pay and the BMW digital key feature in posts on Reddit, Apple’s Support community, and MacRumors’ own forums....

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Govee’s colorful LED light strips are on sale just in time for Halloween

Govee’s LED light strip can add a splash of pizzazz to your staircase with color-changing, dynamic lights. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Halloween isn’t the only holiday on the horizon now that October is drawing to a close. Once the clock strikes midnight on October 31st, Mariah Carey will defrost, peppermint mochas will inevitably return, and the 2023 holiday season will have officially begun.

Thankfully for those looking to get in the festive spirit, Govee’s Matter-ready LED Strip Light M1 is on sale for an all-time low of $44.99 ($15 off) at Amazon when you clip the on-page coupon. You can also buy it for $3 more direct from Govee through October 31st, which is still one of its better prices to date.

While handy throughout the year, Govee’s 6.56-foot (2m) light strip is particularly convenient during Halloween and other holidays. Not only can the bright, tunable LEDs...

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Threads third-party app support could become a reality

Illustration: The Verge

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said in a reply on Threads last night that his team is working on an API for Threads, despite concern that it would help publishers push content more than it would creators. TechCrunch spotted his reply in a thread in which Platformer’s Casey Newton told another user the lack of a developer API is why Threads has no TweetDeck equivalent.

If the API is robust enough, it could open the platform up to new ideas, expressed through third-party apps and web experiences, about how to actually interact with Threads or view its content. It could also add features that Threads is missing right now, like lists or the ability to follow specific topics.

Big social platforms like X, formerly Twitter, and Reddit have...

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That’s one pricey subscription

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge

Netflix is at an all-time high. Disney is cracking down on password sharing. And Apple TV Plus has doubled its prices. Will the streaming squeeze ever end?

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Apple’s Journal app is kind of smart — and kind of basic

The Journal app itself is incredibly basic — it’s the Moments page that’s really interesting. | Image: David Pierce / Apple

The Apple Journal app is so simple that, at first, it felt like I was missing something. The whole app is just one screen: a reverse-chronological timeline of your journal entries, with a big plus button down at the bottom. I hit the plus, and an overlay appeared with some options: tap “new entry” at the top, or respond to one of Journal’s “reflection” prompts. “What could you do to make someone’s day better this week?” one of them asks. “Write about a time you found an unexpected solution to a hard problem,” reads another.

When you’re creating a journal entry, you can add photos and video, record a voice memo, or log a location associated with your entry. When you’re looking at the timeline, you can filter to see only the entries with...

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Sonic Superstars is so close to being a Sonic classic

Image: Sega

With Sonic Superstars, I’m starting to get the feeling I’ve been here before.

In Sonic’s return to the 2D format, there’s a good game here with lots of moments where I was pleased to see the innovation of Sonic Team shining through. These ideas were, unfortunately, buried in slower-than-it-should-be-for-a-Sonic-game moments with technical issues and unintuitive boss fights.

For Superstars, I really, really wanted another Sonic Mania. That game was sublime, and I feel like both Sonic Team and Sonic fans have been chasing that high ever since. I can say Superstars did not deliver as Mania did but also did not frustrate me as badly as Sonic Frontiers did. There were no moments when I wanted to put either my controller or my head through a...

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Microsoft is improving its Xbox app for Windows handheld gaming PCs

The new compact mode in the Xbox app. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

Microsoft has started testing new updates to its Xbox app on Windows 11 that improve the experience on handheld devices and smaller screens. In an Xbox test app released earlier this week, Microsoft has introduced a new compact mode that greatly reduces the sidebar on the left-hand side.

Compact mode is designed to improve “the experience on handhelds and small screens,” according to Microsoft — it also works on any size screen. It’s a relatively minor UI change, but very welcome on devices like the ROG Ally where you only have a 7-inch display. Windows 11 is a pretty cramped experience on the ROG Ally, and improvements to the Xbox app are an encouraging first step towards what we hope will be some type of handheld mode for Windows.

E...

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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried

The royal “we.” | Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Michael M. Santiago, Getty Images

He was an introvert!

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Humane’s Ai Pin could cost $1,000 — and require a subscription

Image: TED

The Ai Pin, the new gadget / wearable device / projector / thing from the secretive startup Humane, might cost as much as $1,000 and may require a monthly subscription for data, according to The Information.

The mysterious device has been in development for years, but we got our first good look at it during co-founder Imran Chaudhri’s presentation at TED this year. In the presentation, he used then unnamed device to accept a phone call, get information about where to buy a gift, translate a sentence that is then spoken in an AI-made version of his voice in French, and even get an opinion on whether he can eat a chocolate bar. It was an impressive demo, though we had a lot of questions about how it all worked.

As the November 9th launch...

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Every smart home device that works with Matter

The Verge

All the Matter-compatible devices you can buy now, plus what’s coming soon to the Apple, Amazon, Google, and Samsung-backed smart home standard.

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Google’s Bard chatbot now responds in real time — and you can shut it up mid-sentence

Illustration: The Verge

Google’s Bard AI chatbot can now reply to your questions in real time, as spotted earlier by 9to5Google. Bard previously only sent a response when it was complete, but now you can get a glimpse at your answer as it’s getting generated.

If you don’t want Bard to respond to your questions in real time, you can still switch between the “Respond in real time” and “Respond when complete” options from the cog icon in the top-right corner of Bard’s window. Bing Chat, Microsoft’s AI chatbot, also responds in real time.

Screenshot by Emma Roth / The Verge

In case you don’t like the response that’s getting generated, Google now lets you cut off the bot mid-sentence. When Bard starts generating a reply, you’ll see a “Skip...

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Meta wants Threads to be the ‘de facto platform’ for online public conversations

Illustration: The Verge

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri has high ambitions for Threads: he wants it to become the “de facto platform for public conversations online,” he said on Friday. Big statement to make on the one-year anniversary of Elon Musk taking over Twitter!

Meta’s aspirations came up as part of a question Mosseri answered in an AMA: “What do you think ‘success’ looks like for Threads in one year?”

“We’re actually debating this right now internally,” Mosseri said. “I do think the long-term aspiration is to be the de facto platform for public conversations online, which is about cultural relevance as much as it is about the overall size of Threads.”

Mosseri noted that Threads is “obviously” not the largest public conversation platform right now, saying...

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Meet the dwarfs from Disney’s live-action Snow White, which has been delayed

Snow White (Rachel Zegler) and (alphabetically) Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy, in Disney’s Snow White_._ | Image: Disney

Disney’s delaying its upcoming live-action Snow White remake starring Rachel Zegler, but the studio’s also just released a new photo of the film’s take on the seven dwarfs that’s rather… let’s say “interesting.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney has decided to push back the release dates for director Marc Webb’s Snow White and Pixar’s new feature Elio, from director Adrian Molina. The delay is in response to SAG-AFTRA’s ongoing labor strike, which reportedly has multiple studios considering the possibility of having to rearrange their 2024 release schedules to make up for the lack of new work. Though Snow White was originally meant to debut on March 22nd, 2024, it’s been pushed back to March 21st, 2025, and Elio, which was...

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Instagram tests collaborative carousels your friends can add to

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Instagram is testing a new feature that will let your friends add to your posts. When you’re about to post a carousel, Instagram will give you the option to let followers submit their own photos and videos that they want to include.

The submissions won’t get added to your post by default, as you’ll have to approve each photo and video before they’re added. In a screenshot of the feature shared by Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, collaborative carousels will have an “add to post” button in the bottom-left corner.

Image: Instagram

This feature seems like a nice way to invite friends to share memories of recent outings or events you attended together. There are probably a lot of other creative prompts people can come up...

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If you can’t motivate yourself to exercise, try this app

This is the Future app for iOS. | Image: Future

If you’re anything like me, making yourself work out is hard. You set an alarm but then can’t convince yourself to get out of bed. You’re done with work and have your clothes and sneakers packed, but tasks that seem more pressing just keep coming up, and oh look, they just released another episode of Billions, and do you really feel like leaving the house?

Many people’s answer to this conundrum is a personal trainer — someone you meet with once a week or so who walks you through various customized exercises and shouts encouragement. If you don’t show up to your workout, you probably still get billed for the session and — more importantly — your trainer will be upset with you, and that’s no fun. But personal trainers can cost well over...

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X launches two new subscriptions to boost your replies

Image: The Verge

X, the platform previously known as Twitter, has introduced a new $16 per month Premium Plus plan that lets subscribers pay more to get the biggest boost for their replies. Not only does the plan offer the “largest reply boost,” but it also removes ads from your For You and Following feeds, according to a page detailing the features of the subscription.

Premium Plus builds on the perks that come with X’s standard Premium plan (formerly Twitter Blue), which includes a blue checkmark, the ability to edit tweets, longer posts, longer video uploads, encrypted direct messages, and more.

introducing Premium+

– no ads in For You or Following
– largest boost for your replies (vs other Premium tiers or unverified users)
– access to our full suite...

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Onewheel follows up its massive recall with a new $3,200 board for ‘pros’

Image: OneWheel

One month after Onewheel recalled every single one of its electric skateboards after four known deaths and a year of delay, the company’s releasing its fastest, most powerful, and most expensive board yet.

It’s called the Onewheel GT S-Series, and the $3,200 board will already come with the new safety mechanism it told the government it’d add to several previous generations of Onewheel — called Haptic Buzz, it vibrates the board when it’s running out of battery, attempting to exert too much torque, or is erroring out.

Speaking of torque, the S-Series adds more of it — the primary upgrade here is a new motor with 50 percent more voltage and 50 percent more torque. The company promises “high-speed carves up even the steepest of hills,”...

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Disney’s cozy life sim won’t be free to play after all

Image: Disney

If you were expecting to try out Disney Dreamlight Valley — the Disneyfied version of Stardew Valley — for free when it’s released, you might be a bit disappointed. Disney says it’s doing away with the free-to-play option and will instead charge $39.99 to play the base game.

With the global launch of Disney Dreamlight Valley set for December 5th, this change feels a bit last-minute. Disney first released the game in early access last year and said at the time it would have a free-to-play model when it was officially out. But now, Disney revealed it will offer several different packages, with the base game costing $39.99.

Image: Disney

“This choice ensures that Disney Dreamlight Valley will be able to continue...

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Gaza Strip internet cut off following Israeli airstrikes

Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib / Anadolu via Getty Images

The Gaza Strip is suffering a near-total connectivity outage as the Israeli Defense Forces announced Friday that it was “expanding ground operations” in the region.

As of Friday, the connectivity tracker NetBlocks reported “a collapse in connectivity in the Gaza Strip,” with one of the largest and last remaining Palestinian telecom providers, Paltel, being highly impacted by intense airstrikes. Paltel said it had sustained “a complete disruption of all communication and internet services” as a result of the barrage, according to The Washington Post.

Since Israel cut off much of Gaza’s access to electricity earlier this month, the strip has largely relied on other power sources like generators to support connectivity. But in recent days,...

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Every trick Microsoft pulled to make you browse Edge instead of Chrome

Image: Microsoft

The fight to make Microsoft respect your browser choice.

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