The Verge
Vision Pro apps: the good, the bad, and the ridiculous
Image: Apple
Apple’s new platform is going to have some new — and maybe weird — apps.
The VergeThe VergeThis new retrofit door lock from Abode promises 12 months of battery life
The Abode Lock is a retrofit Wi-Fi smart door lock that comes with a Bluetooth keypad with a fingerprint reader. | Image: Abode
Hot on the heels of launching the first Wi-Fi HaLow security camera, DIY smart home security company Abode is leaning into Wi-Fi as its primary smart home protocol with the arrival of its first smart door lock.
The Abode Lock ($159.99) is a Wi-Fi-powered retrofit lock that replaces the rear portion of a deadbolt but keeps the front lock the same, so you can continue to use your keys but also have digital access through an app and with a fingerprint reader and keypad.
The smart lock works on 2.4 or 5 GHz Wi-Fi and is now available to buy. It comes with a Bluetooth-connected keypad you place on the outside of your door for PIN and fingerprint unlocking; the whole package costs $159.99, with a launch price of $149.99 on Goabode.com. The...
The VergeHot Pod Summit returns at On Air Fest 2024
The Verge is delighted to announce that Hot Pod Summit is returning for another day of must-hear interviews, crucial panels, and intimate networking with leading creators and decision-makers from across the audio world. Now in its third year with The Verge, Hot Pod Summit has become the leading event for exploring the buzziest and most important topics in the podcasting industry.
This year’s invite-only summit, presented by AdsWizz and Simplecast, will feature This American Life creator Ira Glass, Throughline hosts Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei, Israel Story co-founder Yochai Maital, and more exciting guests to be announced soon. It’ll also include breakout sessions discussing some of the biggest topics of the...
The VergeBard generates photos now, finally
Image: Google
Google’s Bard chatbot is adding AI image generation, catching up on a feature that rival ChatGPT Plus has had for months.
Users can prompt Bard to generate photos using Google’s Imagen 2 text-to-image model. Bard, now powered by Google’s Gemini Pro large language model, was always going to have image generation. It was assumed the more powerful Gemini Ultra model would power it; however, that model remains in development.
Google has been positioning Bard as a worthy competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus, which runs GPT-4 and lets users generate images thanks to DALL-E 3 integration. Both chatbots perform well, but Bard’s lack of text-to-image features gave ChatGPT Plus a bit of an edge. People can use the updated Bard with Imagen 2 at no...
The VergeApple reveals how many apps will work with the Vision Pro on day one
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Apple has finally put a number on how many apps will work with the Vision Pro at launch. In an announcement on Thursday, the company says more than 600 apps and games optimized for the Vision Pro will be available starting on Friday.
In addition to the compatible streaming apps Apple revealed last month, Apple now says wearers will be able to access apps from cable providers like Charter, Spectrum, Comcast, Cox, Sling TV, and Verizon Fios. There’s also support for the NBA app and PGA Tour Vision that provides users with “real-time shot tracking layered on top of 3D models of real golf courses.” More than 250 Apple Arcade games will also work on the Vision Pro, too, such as Lego Builder’s Journey, Super Fruit Ninja, Bloons TD 6, Skatrix...
The VergeNetflix’s 2024 movie slate will put rebels on the moon and cops in Beverly Hills
Image: Netflix
Though Netflix has had success in the past producing its own original feature-length projects, the streamer decided last year that it was high time to slow things down a bit and get back into the business of licensing popular movies created by other studios. You can see that strategic pivot reflected pretty clearly in the lineup of new films Netflix has planned to debut through 2024.
But while there’s nothing quite as buzzy as, say, a fresh Knives Out installment or a new picture from The Twisted Mind™ of Martin Scorsese, for the folks who’ve been patiently waiting for follow-ups to old classics like Beverly Hills Cop and newer fare like Rebel Moon, Netflix has you covered.
Along with director Tony Scott’s long-awaited Beverly Hills...
The VergeElgato’s new HDMI 2.1 capture cards are finally here for Xbox Series X and PS5 streaming
Image: Elgato
Elgato is finally ready to launch its HDMI 2.1 cards and on February 1st, or 2/1, no less. After months of teasers, there are now two options for gamers wanting to capture footage from the latest Xbox Series X and PS5 consoles at higher framerates and resolution. The $229.99 4K X is a new USB capture card that lets you capture at up to 4K / 144fps. If you have a full PC setup or you’re more interested in dual PC streaming, Elgato is also launching its $279.99 4K Pro, capable of supporting 8K / 60fps HDR passthrough, all while capturing at 4K / 60fps HDR.
The 4K X can handle a range of passthrough and capture resolutions too thanks to its USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) support. Elgato includes 10Gbps USB-C and HDMI 2.1 cables in the box, and both...
The VergeAmazon’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith series is a clever interpolation of the classic spy fantasy
Image: David Lee / Prime Video
The Mr. & Mrs. Smith series starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine cleverly reworks the original movie’s spy fantasy into a layered drama about relationships.
The VergeNetflix’s 2024 TV lineup has more Squid Game, Arcane, and lots of reality shows
Squid Game. | Image: Netflix
Things have been a little quiet for Netflix so far this year when it comes to television, but the streamer has at least a few heavy hitters in store. Today, it revealed its upcoming TV slate for 2024 — alongside similar lists for film and games — and, while there aren’t a lot of surprises or new reveals, the lineup is shaping up pretty well.
In addition to soon-to-premiere series like Avatar: The Last Airbender and 3 Body Problem, this year will also feature the return of some of Netflix’s biggest series, including Arcane, Squid Game, and Bridgerton, alongside quite a bit of reality television. Also, the Terminator anime is due this year, and Girls5eva is making the transition from Peacock to Netflix for its third season in March.
Of...
The VergeLawmakers want to know how TurboTax used $94 million in tax breaks
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is seen after the senate luncheons in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, January 23, 2024. | Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Intuit, maker of TurboTax, is in another row with lawmakers — this time over how it spent $94 million in tax breaks. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Representative Katie Porter (D-CA) sent a letter to Intuit yesterday blasting the company for not answering questions they have about how Intuit used the tax credits.
SEC filings show that Intuit received $94 million in federal research and experimentation credits in 2022, which grew to $106 million in 2023. The credit is supposed to support research that the company otherwise might not have been able to afford. The four lawmakers initially sent a letter to Intuit on January 2nd, demanding to know how the money was spent and setting a...
The VergeNothing confirms Phone 2A after rumors of the affordable followup
The company’s pre-existing Phone 2. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge
The Nothing Phone 2A is official... sort of. The company confirmed the name of the upcoming device during its most recent community update YouTube video, but that’s about all it announced. It didn’t show off much more about the phone, including its appearance, specs, or price. The name of the device was one of several announcements made in the video, which also included news of a new SDK to let third-party developers integrate with Nothing’s illuminated Glyph interface.
“With Phone 2A we’ve really doubled down on the core user needs — performance, camera, you name it,” Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis said, adding that the device includes “some of the most loved features of Phone 2.” He doesn’t explicitly say that the Phone 2A is...
The VergeGocycle’s CX lineup of electric cargo bikes are lightweight and foldable
The Gocycle CX+ cargo e-bike has a unique Flofit handlebar. | Image: Gocycle
Gocycle, the British e-bike company founded by a former McLaren car designer, has just taken the wraps off an innovative new electric cargo bike for families. The CX series of longtails are lightweight and foldable, as you’d expect from Gocycle, with an intriguing new handlebar on the CX Plus model that can be quickly adapted for rider comfort.
Gocycle calls it Flofit, and it’s “probably the most adjustable-for-comfort handlebar ever developed!” says company founder and designer Richard Thorpe in a press release. “Adjustable in reach, grip angle, offering multiple hand positions, and of course foldable — it’s a game-changer for discerning urban e-bikers.”
Image: Gocycle
Fold the chassis, handlebar, then remove...
The VergeTikTok loses Taylor Swift, Drake, and other major Universal Music artists
Major artists like Swift have been removed from TikTok. | Photo by Buda Mendes/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Universal Music Group (UMG) has started removing the music catalogs of performers the label represents — including Taylor Swift, Drake, and Olivia Rodrigo — from TikTok after negotiations to renew licensing agreements broke down this week. The previous licensing agreement between UMG and TikTok expired on January 31st.
On Tuesday, UMG accused the video platform of attempting to bully it into accepting a “bad deal” that didn’t soothe the record labels' concerns regarding adequate compensation for artists and songwriters, protections against AI-generated music, and online safety on the platform to protect artists from “hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment.” TikTok responded saying that it was “disappointing” that UMG had “chosen...
The VergeGoogle inks major new offshore wind deal
Google’s data center in Eemshaven, Netherlands. | Image: Google
Google announced its biggest deal yet to purchase offshore wind energy for its data centers in Europe, signing power purchase agreements to support two new wind farms off the coast of the Netherlands.
It’s part of Google’s plan to match all of its data center electricity consumption with clean energy generation on a 24/7 basis by 2030. To do that, the company will need to help get more renewable energy, including offshore wind, pulsing through power grids where it operates. It shared “the next step” of that plan for Europe today, where it says it’s adding more than 700 megawatts of clean energy capacity to the grid.
Much of that new capacity will come from the pair of new offshore wind farms in the Netherlands, where Google operates two...
The VergeHulu is cracking down on password sharing, just like Disney Plus and Netflix
Image: Disney
Hulu has just laid the groundwork to kick friends, family, and freeloaders off its streaming service unless they pay for their own accounts. This week, the company revised its Terms of Service to explicitly ban password sharing outside of “your primary personal residence,” and it’s begun to tell subscribers they’ll need to comply by March 14th, 2024.
This doesn’t come as much of a surprise: the writing’s been on the wall ever since Netflix reported that its password sharing crackdown was successful in driving more signups, after Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed he’d like to follow suit, and certainly after Disney Plus began its own password sharing crackdown in earnest. (Disney should soon own all of Hulu and the two apps are even beginning...
The VergeTikTok’s CEO can’t catch a break from xenophobia in Congress
Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
Today’s hearing on child safety was — mostly — an unusually focused affair. The Senate Judiciary Committee called up the CEOs of X, Meta, Snap, TikTok, and Discord and grilled them for four hours on the potential dangers their services posed for children. Many of the lawmakers emphasized emotional impact, playing to an audience filled with families who’d had kids targeted by predators or otherwise harmed online.
But midway through the hearing, it was dragged off course by a predictable tangent: the fact that TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. And a meeting ostensibly about keeping kids safe dipped into a now-familiar attempt to make TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew answer questions utterly unrelated to the rest of the day.
Although...
The VergeSpotify’s exclusivity era nears its end
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images
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I just got back from Puerto Rico and wow, there is a lot of podcast news! Let’s get into it.
Call Her Daddy is getting wide distribution
It’s very nearly the end of the exclusivity era for Spotify. The audio streamer announced today that Call Her Daddy, Spotify’s second-most-popular original podcast, is getting wide distribution across podcast platforms. Call Her Daddy was one of only two remaining Spotify exclusives, along with Rogan. The arrangement could be an indication of what is to come for Rogan as his contract is up for renewal.
There is a slight twist to the deal: Spotify is still hanging on to the video version of Call Her...
The VergeKonami just stealth launched a Silent Hill game
Image: Konami
Silent Hill, the town in desperate need of a city council or something, showed up during PlayStation’s State of Play in a big way with two new trailers and a stealth drop of a new, free-to-play game.
The first game was the debut of Silent Hill: The Short Message, an all-new entry in the Silent Hill franchise. According to PlayStation’s blog, The Short Message is a short, experimental, free-to-play game meant to introduce newcomers to the joys of that idyllic foggy city. Though the name was only just revealed, details on The Short Message including screenshots and the names of the main characters — Anita and Maya — were leaked in 2022. Based on the trailer below, the leaks were accurate.
After The Short Message, Konami showed off a new...
The VergeDeath Stranding 2’s new trailer is delightfully disturbing
Image: Kojima Productions
The sequel to Death Stranding is shaping up to be just as strange as the original. At its State of Play showcase today, Sony showed off a new trailer for the game that... starts out with a particularly disturbing bit of surgery. The lengthy clip features a whole bunch of new locations outside of the US, as well as the return of a villain who has been given a Joker-esque makeover. And yes, the baby makes an appearance — along with a new, talking doll.
The sequel also has an official title now: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. It’s due to launch in 2025. Here’s the premise:
Embark on an inspiring mission of human connection beyond the UCA. Sam — with companions by his side — sets out on a new journey to save humanity from extinction. Join...
The VergeApple’s Vision Pro battery pack is hiding the final boss of Lightning cables
The Vision Pro’s not-a-Lightning-connector connector. | Image: Nilay Patel / The Verge
Ray Wong of Inverse discovered a hidden joy today: The Apple Vision Pro power cable connects to the battery with what may well be Lightning’s final form. Using a SIM removal tool, he pushed into a small hole in the silver external battery pack of the Vision Pro next to the cable, and...
Out it popped, revealing what looks like a bigger, 12-pin version of the connector Apple’s iPhone moved away from last year.
l used a SIM card push pin to "unlock" the cable connected to the Apple Vision Pro battery pack. It popped right out. pic.twitter.com/tShScpMlvr
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) January 31, 2024
Nilay Patel, Verge editor-in-chief and Vision Pro reviewer, gave it a shot, and what do you know? The rumors are true. Like a Palpatinian...
The VergeMicrosoft LASERs away LLM inaccuracies
Illustration: The Verge
During the January Microsoft Research Forum, Dipendra Misra, a senior researcher at Microsoft Research Lab NYC and AI Frontiers, explained how Layer-Selective Rank Reduction (or LASER) can make large language models more accurate.
With LASER, researchers can “intervene” and replace one weight matrix with an approximate smaller one. Weights are the contextual connections models make. The heavier the weight, the more the model relies on it. So, does replacing something with more correlations and contexts make the model less accurate? Based on their test results, the answer, surprisingly, is no.
“We are doing intervention using LASER on the LLM, so one would expect that the model loss should go up as we are doing more approximation,...
The VergeAll the news from PlayStation’s 2024 State of Play
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
During the roughly 40-minute presentation, expect to hear new info on Rise of the Ronin, Death Stranding, Sonic Generations, Judas, and more.
The VergePhilips stops selling sleep apnea machines in US following mass recalls
Image: Philips
Philips is halting sales of its recalled sleep apnea machines in the US after finding they were pumping foam particles into users’ airways. In its earnings report on Monday, the company says it will not sell new CPAP or BiPAP devices in the US until it meets the requirements outlined by the Food and Drug Administration.
Philips first issued a recall on its sleep apnea machines in 2021 over “potential health risks.” The recall includes devices made between 2009 and April 21st, 2021, and stems from a polyester-based polyurethane foam Philips included in the machines to minimize sound and vibration. As noted by Philips, that foam “can break down,” leading the person using the device to breathe it in or swallow it, resulting in potential...
The VergeAmazon left Roomba with a huge mess to clean up
The newest Roomba vacuum — the Combo j9 Plus — faces stiff competition. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
By abandoning its deal to buy iRobot, Amazon has left the robot vacuum maker stuck under the couch.
The VergeThe creators of Twitterrific are making an app to read (almost) anything on the web
Iconfactory
After nearly 16 years in operation, Twitterrific was abruptly deactivated last year during Twitter’sunceremonious purging of third-party apps. Now, the app’s developer Iconfactory is raising funds on Kickstarter to create Project Tapestry**,** a new internet reader for the publicly accessible web. The iOS app will serve as a “universal, chronological timeline,” pulling from federated social media networks like Mastodon and Bluesky, as well as Tumblr, Micro.blog, and any RSS feed. It’ll also be able to access governmental data sources, such as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite imagery and US Geological Survey (USGS) earthquake data.
Because Tapestry (which will be the app’s official name) will let anyone...
The VergeMicrosoft’s new OneDrive design starts rolling out for consumers
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft is starting to roll out a new design for its OneDrive cloud storage service for consumers. The software maker first unveiled a Fluent design refresh for OneDrive last year, and it will be available to all OneDrive personal users by the end of February.
“It’s both a visual and functional upgrade designed to help you get to your files quickly and keep your content organized in multiple ways,” says Miceile Barrett, a Microsoft product manager. “The improved visual design reduces clutter and distractions, allowing you to focus on what’s important – your content.”
Image: Microsoft
The before and after.
The new visual interface for OneDrive more closely matches Windows 11 and changes to Microsoft’s various...
The VergeCrypto mines will have to start reporting their energy use in the US
Bitcoin mining machines in a warehouse at the Whinstone US Bitcoin mining facility in Rockdale, Texas, on October 10, 2021. | Photo by MARK FELIX/AFP /AFP via Getty Images
The US Department of Energy (DOE) will begin collecting data on crypto mines’ electricity use, following criticism from environmental advocates over how energy-hungry those operations are.
“We will specifically focus on how the energy demand for cryptocurrency mining is evolving, identify geographic areas of high growth, and quantify the sources of electricity used to meet cryptocurrency mining demand,” Joe DeCarolis, administrator of the Energy Information Administration (EIA), said in a press release today.
“We will specifically focus on how the energy demand for cryptocurrency mining is evolving.”
The EIA, the statistical agency of the Department of Energy, announced that it is “initiating a provisional survey of electricity...
The VergeJBL’s retro-inspired Authentics speakers are on sale for nearly 25 percent off
You can make Alexa and Google Assistant fight for your love with JBL’s retro-styled speakers. | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge
I know that someone, somewhere, shares my thinking that the virtual assistants we’ve grown fond of are mortal enemies somewhere in a digital parallel universe. But JBL’s new line of Authentics speakers has warped everything I thought I knew about the ancient rivalry, allowing you to call on either assistant without toggling a setting.
Right now, you can pay as little as $274.95 ($75 off) for the JBL Authentics 200 at Amazon, Best Buy, and JBL’s online storefront, which is the best discount we’ve seen on the travel-friendly speaker. The Authentics 300 is also available for $349.95 ($100 off) from Amazon, Best Buy, and JBL, while the larger Authentics 500 can be had for $549.95 ($150 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and direct from JBL.
JBL is...
The VergeMicrosoft Teams, Word, Excel, and more are coming to Apple’s Vision Pro at launch
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft is launching a suite of its Microsoft 365 apps on Apple’s Vision Pro headset later this week. Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Loop, and Microsoft Teams will all be available in the App Store for Apple Vision Pro on February 2nd — the same day Apple’s new headset is available in stores.
Apple Vision Pro owners will also be able to access an AI-powered version of Copilot while using the headset, including the ability to create drafts, summarize documents, and generate PowerPoint presentations with your voice.
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft Word on the Vision Pro.
Word on the Vision Pro includes a focus mode much like the reader mode found in the desktop versions, alongside a ribbon...
The VergePalworld isn’t slowing down, hits 19 million players across Steam and Xbox
Image: Pocketpair
Surprise viral gaming hit Palworld continues to reach new player milestones. Today, developer Pocketpair announced that the game has sold 12 million copies on Steam and reached 7 million players on Xbox. The Xbox number includes both sales and those who played via Game Pass, but the breakdown between the two isn’t clear.
According to Microsoft, though, these numbers make Palworld the biggest third-party (i.e. a game not made by an internal Microsoft studio) launch in Game Pass history. The company says it “recently” reached a “peak of nearly 3 million daily active users on Xbox, making it the most-played game on our platforms at that time.” (Which date that took place isn’t specified.)
Of course, we already knew Palworld was popular; the...