Adobe’s new prototype generative AI tool is the ‘Photoshop’ of music-making and editing

Project Music GenAI Control is an “early-stage” prototype tool, so it may be some time before Adobe officially launches it. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Adobe’s latest generative AI experiment aims to help people create and customize music without any professional audio experience. Announced during the Hot Pod Summit in Brooklyn on Wednesday, Project Music GenAI Control is a new prototype tool that allows users to generate music using text prompts and then edit that audio without jumping over to dedicated editing software.

Users start by inputting a text description that will generate music in a specified style, such as “happy dance” or “sad jazz.” Adobe says its integrated editing controls then allow users to customize those results, adjusting any repeating patterns, tempo, intensity, and structure. Sections of music can be remixed, and audio can be generated as a repeating loop for...

Continue reading…

Honda’s ‘extended reality’ is a mash-up of VR and motorized wheelchairs

It’s me, living my best life. | Image: Honda

Honda announced a new “extended reality” experience that combines virtual reality with personal mobility devices like the automaker’s self-balancing Uni-One wheelchairs. Honda said it will show off its technology at SXSW in Austin, Texas, next month.

The aim is to “elevate” the VR experience, which is largely stationary and confined to a single space, by combining it with Honda’s Segway-like Uni-One mobility device that responds to a user’s movements. In this way, Honda can simulate racing through an immersive alien landscape. The device is hands-free, allowing users the freedom to use their upper bodies to enhance the VR experience.

The Uni-One can be raised to a “high position” seat height of 27.6 inches, where the user is close to...

Continue reading…

Biden orders crackdown on selling Americans’ personal data abroad

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

President Joe Biden has issued an executive order authorizing the US attorney general “to prevent the large-scale transfer of Americans’ personal data to countries of concern.” According to the US Department of Justice today, those countries could include China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

The White House says it’s targeting data brokers, which it says collect more personal data than ever before — data that includes things like personal health and financial data. The scale can be staggering: in a recent extreme example from a Consumer Reports study, 48,000 companies had sent Facebook data on a single user.

Several departments will be required to roll out new protections under the order. The White House writes that the Department of...

Continue reading…

Smart lighting stalwart Lifx reemerges with a new line of outdoor lights

Lifx has a new outdoor line of smart lighting that supports Matter. | Image: Lifx

If you’ve been around the smart home for a while, you’ll remember Lifx. One of the first smart lighting companies, Lifx was Philips Hue’s main competitor in its heyday, both being known for high-quality products and compatibility with all the major platforms. But over the last few years, the Australian-based company and its Wi-Fi smart bulbs have struggled, almost going out of business in 2022. Now, Lifx is back, and it’s promising to be better and brighter than ever.

Purchased by US-based Feit Electric early last year, Lifx now has an influx of cash and a robust distribution network to lean on and is ramping up for a big 2024. “Two years before the acquisition, we had one product launch; in the next 18 months, we’ll be launching 11 to...

Continue reading…

Akihabara still shows off Japan’s love for physical media

The nerd haven isn’t what it once was, but its importance is arguably greater than ever.

Continue reading…

From Eliza to ChatGPT: why people spent 60 years building chatbots

People have been trying to talk to computers for almost as long as they’ve been building computers. For decades, many in tech have been convinced that this was the trick: if we could figure out a way to talk to our computers the way we talk to other people, and for computers to talk back the same way, it would make those computers easier to understand and operate, more accessible to everyone, and just more fun to use.

ChatGPT and the current revolution in AI chatbots is really only the latest version of this trend, which extends all the way back to the 1960s. That’s when Joseph Weizenbaum, a professor at MIT, built a chatbot named Eliza. Weizenbaum wrote in an academic journal in 1966 that Eliza “makes certain kinds of natural language...

Continue reading…

The case for 4K Blu-ray in a world of streaming

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images

With Christopher Nolan praising the benefits of 4K Blu-ray, is now the time to revisit physical media?

Continue reading…

This DIY AirPods Max mod means you can stop waiting for a USB-C upgrade

Image: Ken Pillonel via YouTube

For AirPod Max owners, engineer Ken Pillonel has beaten Apple to the punch by swapping the four-year-old headphones from a Lightning port to USB-C. In a new video posted to YouTube, Pillonel shows how to install his custom printed circuit board (PCB) with USB-C support without drilling any new holes, as well as how he designed it to fit comfortably inside the headset.

He’s made the board available for purchase on his website for around $45, along with detailed installation instructions — if you feel brave enough to mod the $549 headset, of course. Pillonel also considered adding support for USB-C audio but dropped that idea after finding that you’d need an extra chip to make it happen, which would make the mod more expensive.

Pillonel...

Continue reading…

Android 101: how to free up space on your phone

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

It can happen all too easily, especially if you’ve got an Android phone with less than 128GB of storage: one day, you try to install a cool new game or an intriguing new app, and you can’t. You’ve run out of space.

Don’t panic. If you’re not ready to buy a new phone, and your phone doesn’t have a handy microSD slot for some extra storage, you can probably still pick up a decent amount of free space with some simple house cleaning. Here are suggestions on how to get back some of that storage.

Note: These were tested using a Pixel 6 phone and a Samsung Galaxy S23, both running Android 14. Depending on your phone’s make and operating system, your directions may vary slightly.

Free up space with a cleaning tool

Both Pixels and Galaxy phones...

Continue reading…

What a bunch of A-list celebs taught me about how to use my phone

If Justin Bieber can figure out how to leave his phone behind, so can I. | Photo by Bellocqimages / Bauer-Griffin / GC Images

It was, of all people, Justin Bieber who first opened my eyes to a new way of thinking about my phone. See, Bieber isn’t into phones. He ditched his a while back and became an iPad guy. According to a 2021 Billboard article, he wakes up in the morning, grabs his tablet, and checks in with his management to see what’s going on for the day. The idea was to “limit who can reach him.” This is something you hear a lot from phone-free celebs: they’re not trying to disconnect from everyone, but they are trying to get away from that feeling of being tapped constantly on the shoulder by all the calls, texts, and emails.

I’ve been obsessed with celebrity technology usage, or lack thereof, for years. In so many cases, it seems that once you become...

Continue reading…

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 renders appear ahead of rumored July Unpacked

Say goodbye to the rounded-corners that featured on previous Galaxy Z Fold devices. | Image: Onleaks / Smartprix

Samsung’s incoming Galaxy Z Fold 6 smartphone appears to have leaked in unofficial renders published on Wednesday by SmartPrix and OnLeaks, giving us our first look at the company’s latest flagship foldable. The images show a much boxier design that’s more in keeping with the recently launched Galaxy S24 Ultra, with squared edges in place of the softer, rounded ones adorning the Galaxy Z Fold 5.

According to Smartprix, the dimensions for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 are 153.5 x 132.5 x 6.1mm (around 6 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches) when unfolded, making it a smidge shorter and wider than its predecessor. The inner screen reportedly measures 7.6 inches diagonally, with the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s front cover display coming in at approximately 6.2 inches.

O...

Continue reading…

The Vision Pro isn’t destroying your eyes, but maybe get some eye drops

The 20-20-20 rule and some eye drops can help if you’re feeling eye strain. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

We’ve all heard that screens aren’t good for your eyes. So it might not be too surprising to hear that many Vision Pro users have complained about eye strain. (After all, the headset does use two 4K screens, one in front of each eyeball.) However, these are common complaints from overall VR usage and experts say it isn’t something to freak out over.

“Despite what many people believe, sitting too close to the TV does not damage your eyes. Screens ruining your eyes is another myth,” says Dr. Arvind Saini, clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

If you peruse VR subreddits, not just the Apple Vision Pro one, that can be hard to believe. You’ll often find people complaining that their eyes “hurt like hell,” are i...

Continue reading…

Google CEO says Gemini AI diversity errors are ‘completely unacceptable’

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. | Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge

The historically inaccurate images and text generated by Google’s Gemini AI have “offended our users and shown bias,” CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in an internal memo obtained by The Verge.

Last week, Google paused Gemini’s ability to generate images after it was widely discovered that the model generated racially diverse, Nazi-era German soldiers, US Founding Fathers who were non-white, and even inaccurately portrayed the races of Google’s own co-founders. While Google has since apologized for “missing the mark” and said it’s working to re-enable image generation in the coming weeks, Tuesday’s memo is the first time the CEO has widely addressed the controversy.

In the memo, which was first reported by Semafor, Pichai says the...

Continue reading…

Amazon’s Road House reboot is accused of copyright infringement — and AI voice cloning

Amazon MGM Studios

The screenwriter of the 1989 action film Road House is suing MGM Studios and its owner Amazon Studios, accusing them of copyright infringement over the upcoming Road House remake, report the Los Angeles Timesand The Hollywood Reporter. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in the U.S. Central District Court in Los Angeles, also alleges that Amazon Studios resorted to generative AI to clone actor’s voices in order to finish the Road House remake during last year’s Hollywood strikes, which largely shut down film production.

In the complaint, screenwriter R. Lance Hill reportedly states that he filed a petition with the US Copyright Office in November 2021 to reclaim the rights for the screenplay (which both the original Road House and Amazon...

Continue reading…

Eufy’s new 360-degree 4K camera doesn’t need Wi-Fi or power outlets

Eufy

Anker’s Eufy brand has started shipping a new 4K security camera that should offer 360-degree views, panning 344 degrees and tilting up to 70 degrees. It could also run indefinitely without wired internet or power.

That’s because in addition to Wi-Fi, the $249.99 Eufy 4G LTE Cam S330 can connect to nearby LTE towers instead, and comes with a detachable solar panel that supposedly needs just two hours under the sun to keep the 36.2Wh battery charged. Since the battery also lasts up to a month on a full charge, according to Anker, it could keep going even through the rainy season.

On paper, the S330 seems to address many of the pain points we encountered with earlier LTE-capable cameras from both Eufy and Arlo for around the same...

Continue reading…

Nintendo sues Switch emulator Yuzu for ‘facilitating piracy at a colossal scale’

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

If you’ve ever seen a Steam Deck playing a Legend of Zelda game, chances are you were seeing the Yuzu emulator at work. Now, Nintendo has sued the developers of Yuzu in US federal court, with the intent of squashing Yuzu for good.

In the lawsuit, spotted by Stephen Totilo, Nintendo alleges that Yuzu violates the anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) as well as accusing the creators of copyright infringement. It alleges Yuzu is “primarily designed” to circumvent several layers of Nintendo Switch encryption so its users can play copyrighted Nintendo games.

“...immediately transfer the domain name yuzu-emu.org ... to Nintendo’s control”

The company’s not only asking for the courts...

Continue reading…

OpenAI claims the Times cheated to get ChatGPT to regurgitate articles

Illustration: The Verge

OpenAI has claimed in a motion filed Monday that The New York Times used “deceptive prompts” to get ChatGPT to regurgitate its content. For that and other reasons, the company is asking the US District Court in southern New York to dismiss several of the claims in the outlet’s copyright infringement lawsuit.

OpenAI asserts that the Times exploited a bug that it’s currently working to fix and that the outlet fed articles directly to the chatbot to get it to spit out verbatim passages. “Normal people do not use OpenAI’s products this way,” the company says, citing an April 2023 Times article titled “35 Ways Real People Are Using A.I. Right Now.” This is all very similar to the arguments OpenAI made in its public response in January.

Times...

Continue reading…

You can save $20 on several Nintendo Switch games for Pokémon Day

Twist on your trainer’s cap and try to catch these deals before they sell out. | Image: The Pokémon Company

Oh, would you look at that. It’s Pokémon Day, an annual celebration commemorating the game’s launch on this very day in 1996. Fun fact: Pokémon was first a video game, but it was quickly adapted as a trading card game and anime, both of which are arguably equally as responsible as the Game Boy titles for its success in becoming a global craze.

Today, we’re celebrating all facets of our fandom by tuning in to the latest announcements from Pokémon Presents and highlighting a few of the best Pokémon Day deals. Right now, for example, Walmart is discounting Pokémon Legends: Arceus for the Nintendo Switch to $39.99 ($20 off), which nearly matches the title’s lowest price to date.

Pokémon Legends: Arceusis a prequel to Shining Pearl and B...

Continue reading…

Meta might demo a pair of ‘true’ AR smart glasses later in 2024

The Orion smart glasses would be a totally different product from the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses pictured above. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

It’s been long rumored that Meta is working on a pair of augmented reality smart glasses — and it’s possible we could finally get a glimpse of them later this year.

Citing unnamed Meta sources, a Business Insider report claims that the company plans to demo a pair of true AR smart glasses later this fall at Meta Connect. The glasses, dubbed internally as “Orion,” are a separate product from the recently launched Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses and its Meta Quest headsets. The former product, while featuring some beta multimodal audio AI features and a camera, doesn’t have any visual AR elements. Meanwhile, Meta Quest headsets are primarily used for VR gaming and a handful of mixed reality experiences. Ostensibly, what makes these Orion...

Continue reading…

Tumblr’s owner is striking deals with OpenAI and Midjourney for training data, says report

Illustration: The Verge

The owner of Tumblr and WordPress.com is in talks with AI companies Midjourney and OpenAI to provide training data scraped from users’ posts, a report from 404 Media alleges. The report, based on an anonymous source inside the company, says that deals between Automattic and the two AI companies are “imminent.” It follows nebulous rumors that have spread on Tumblr over the past week, suggesting a deal with Midjourney could provide a new revenue stream for the site.

According to 404’sreport, Automattic plans to launch a new setting Wednesday that will “allow users to opt-out of data sharing with third parties, including AI companies.” But it cites internal posts that suggest the company scraped an “initial data dump” containing “all...

Continue reading…

Apple’s electric car project is dead

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Apple has halted its long-rumored project to create an electric car, according to Bloomberg. The company reportedly announced the news internally on Tuesday and said many people in the 2,000-person team behind the car will shift to generative AI efforts instead.

Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch, a vice president in charge of the project, informed employees of the project’s discontinuation, Bloomberg reports. Apple’s efforts to build its own electric car have been rumored for years, with a recent report from Wired saying that Apple had driven over 45,000 miles using the autonomous driving tech it’s developed.

Developing...

Continue reading…

Podcasting’s data rules get a refresh

Image: The Verge

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

Hello! I am very excited to see so many of you at Hot Pod Summit and On Air Fest this week. I’ll be back on Tuesday with a recap of the events. But first, I’ve got a look at the layoffs at WAMU, the IAB’s new podcast guidelines, and the ticking clock on union contract negotiations at Spotify.

WAMU shuts down DCist and lays off 15 staffers

Another NPR member station has conducted layoffs, this time at WAMU in Washington, DC. While some public radio organizations have addressed budget shortfalls by cutting podcasts (NPR, WNYC), WAMU is leaving its audio operation intact as it lays off 15 staffers and shuts down DCist, the local news...

Continue reading…

Sonos’ first headphones now rumored to launch in June for $449

The company’s most recent new product was the Move 2 portable speaker. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Sonos plans to release its first pair of wireless headphones in June after dealing with some late-stage software setbacks, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The headphones will tie into the company’s ecosystem of speakers and home theater soundbars and are expected to be priced at $449, putting them firmly in the premium market of mainstream consumer headphones.

There’s a lot riding on these upcoming headphones for Sonos. CEO Patrick Spence has made it clear that the company has high hopes for its latest hardware category. “This is the beginning of a multi-year product cycle where we expect to reap the rewards of our R&D investments,” Spence said on an earnings call in November. “This cycle begins with our entry into a new...

Continue reading…

Aqara kick-starts its first Matter-over-Thread smart lock with a promise of Home Key support

Aqara’s U200 smart lock is a retrofit, Matter-over-Thread door lock, with support for Apple Home Key promised. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Aqara has launched its Smart Lock U200 on Kickstarter, where you can currently nab the device for $209, down from the $249.99 it’ll cost you when it goes on sale later this year. According to the Kickstarter page, it will ship to backers in April.

The company debuted its new retrofit lock at the IFA 2023 tech show last summer; showcasing its Matter-over-Thread connectivity and separate Bluetooth keypad with a fingerprint reader and NFC built in. This gives you the option to unlock with digital codes, Aqara NFC cards, the Aqara app on your phone, and voice control with compatible voice assistants. That’s in addition to still being able to use your existing key (at least for US locks).

Uniquely for a retrofit lock (where you don't need...

Continue reading…

The Humane AI Pin worked better than I expected — until it didn’t

Life beyond a phone screen? Or just a neat gadget?

Look, I’m a Humane AI Pin doubter as much as the next person. And I still think the wearable, AI-powered assistant suffers from a case of this-thing-could-have-been-an-app. But I finally got to spend a little face-to-face time with the pin this morning, and you know what? It’s a darn cool gadget. It’s just buried under a layer of marketing so thick that it’s hard to appreciate what it actually could be if Humane wasn’t so self-serious.

If you spend time on Tech Threads or the like, you probably already know what the pin does: you clip it to your shirt, talk to it, and it uses generative AI to answer. It’s a standalone device with its own SIM card, and there’s no screen — just vibes. That, and a little laser that projects menus and text...

Continue reading…

GameStop is taking 50 percent off Persona 5 Tactica and other hit titles

The PlayStation 5 version of Persona 5 Tactica is down to just $29.99. | Image: Atlus

Spring may be just around the corner, but it’s still cold and rainy in many parts of the US. If you’re looking for ways to keep yourself entertained while indoors, GameStop is currently taking up to 50 percent off select titlesas a part of its ”OMG” sale. The ongoing promotion includes steep 50 percent discounts on newer hits like Persona 5 Tacticafor the PlayStation 5 ($29.99) and S_onic Superstars_ ($29.99) for the PS4. The deluxe edition of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which comes with a handful of in-game items, is also on sale for the PS5 for $44.99 (half off).

While the best deals are on new PlayStation games, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch players can also get in on the savings. Modern classics like Octopath Traveler II ($29.99...

Continue reading…

Texas sues Pornhub owner for not adding age verification requirements

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the company behind Pornhub for not complying with state-level age verification rules. The suit, filed in Travis County District Court against Pornhub parent Aylo, accuses Aylo of failing to implement “reasonable age verification methods” on Pornhub and other adult sites that it owns. It seeks millions of dollars in damages under a law that was initially blocked as unconstitutional, then allowed to take effect last year.

Texas is one of numerous states that have pushed for stricter age verification on either pornographic sites specifically or large parts of the internet as a whole. Its version of the law, HB 1181, requires that pornographic sites use either their own methods or a third-party...

Continue reading…

Physical media week

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Amelia Holowaty Krales and Getty Images

The bright promise of streaming and digital stores has given way to a darker reality: we rarely have ownership over the art we love, and much is getting lost in the process. Only a fraction of movies released over the last century are available on streaming services, while a staggering 90 percent of classic video games are considered “critically endangered” by archivists. As these platforms continue to dominate the media landscape, a whole lot of cultural history is being abandoned.

In this special issue, The Verge will explore how physical media factors into this and its importance in keeping art alive and accessible. That could mean boutique publishers releasing beautiful special editions of games and movies, foundations dedicated to...

Continue reading…

Fortnite continues to expand with two new Lego games

Image: Lego

The transformation of Fortnite into a gaming platform continues with the addition of some new games from Lego. Following the release of the Minecraft-like survival game Lego Fortnite in December, Lego has launched two more titles inside of Fortnite. One is a multiplayer title called Lego Raft Survival; the other is an obstacle course called Lego Obby Fun. Both games were built with the Unreal Editor for Fortnite tool.

The launches come as Epic is attempting to expand Fortnite beyond its battle royale roots, with a series of different experiences inside of the game. Lego Fortnite’s launch was quickly followed by the arcade racer Rocket Racing and the music game Fortnite Festival.

Epic and Lego first announced their partnership in 2022,...

Continue reading…

Wendy’s betrays spicy nugget lovers everywhere and will introduce surge pricing

Image: Wendy’s

Imagine waiting in line at your local Wendy’s drive-thru during the lunch rush, only to pull up to the menu board and realize that the spicy chicken nuggets you’ve been craving all day will cost you a dollar extra. That nightmare may soon become a reality, because Wendy’s plans on testing surge pricing that will increase the price of its spicy nuggets, burgers, Frostys, and other favorites during its busiest times.

During an earnings call earlier this month, Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said the fast food chain plans on investing $20 million to roll out digital menu boards to US-based restaurants by the end of 2025. As part of the change, Wendy’s will also introduce something called “dynamic prices” that will change the prices on the digital...

Continue reading…