Wix’s new AI chatbot builds websites in seconds based on prompts

Image: Wix

You can now build a website, images and all, using only prompts in Wix’s new AI website builder. Creating a website is free, but you’ll have to upgrade to one of Wix’s premium plans if you want to do things like accept payments or don’t want to be limited to using a Wix domain name.

Wix’s prices range from $17 per month for the Light plan, which comes with things like 2GB of storage, support for two collaborators, and some basic marketing tools, to $159 for the Business Elite plan, which supports up to 15 collaborators and offers advanced analytics and e-commerce features.

To create a site, you’ll click on the “Create with AI” button and answer a few of the chatbot’s questions, like what you want to call the site, what it’s about, and...

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Microsoft’s Mistral deal beefs up Azure without spurning OpenAI

The Verge

Microsoft’s multiyear deal with French AI company Mistral signaled that the company wants longevity in the space.

The company invested €2 billion ($2.1 billion) into Mistral and announced it would bring Mistral’s newest AI model, Mistral Large, to Azure. But the investment into Mistral, mainly a developer of open-source AI models, doesn’t mean Microsoft lost faith in its first AI child, OpenAI. Instead, Microsoft is laying the groundwork to build Azure as a model garden and give itself a foothold in Europe.

Arun Chandrasekaran, an analyst at Gartner, tells The Verge the deal emphasizes the managed services business of AI, one in which Azure can play a role.

“Even before the Mistral announcement, Microsoft has been talking about...

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A tech-backed mission to monitor methane pollution launches today

MethaneSAT is scheduled to launch on March 4th. | Image: MethaneSAT via EDF

A mission to map and track global methane pollution, a powerful greenhouse gas, is scheduled to launch today after years of collaboration between some of the biggest names in tech. It’s called MethaneSAT, a satellite that’s garnered funding and support from Jeff Bezos, Google, and SpaceX, among others.

MethaneSAT is expected to launch today from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 2:05PM PT. Liftoff will be livestreamed on the SpaceX website and on the company’s X profile. The nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund that developed MethaneSAT is also promising a special program starting at 1:40PM PT with key experts and “supporters” to talk about the mission.

Methane pollution is responsible for...

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Lenovo Legion Go review: the Swiss Army knife of handhelds

It’s not better than a Steam Deck or ROG Ally — but it’s different.

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Anthropic says its latest AI bot can beat Gemini and ChatGPT

Image: The Verge

Anthropic, the AI company started by several former OpenAI employees, says the new Claude 3 family of AI models performs as well as or better than leading models from Google and OpenAI. Unlike earlier versions, Claude 3 is also multimodal, able to understand text and photo inputs.

Anthropic says Claude 3 will answer more questions, understand longer instructions, and be more accurate. Claude 3 can understand more context, meaning it can process more information. There’s Claude 3 Haiku, Claude 3 Sonnet, and Claude 3 Opus, with Opus being the largest and “most intelligent model.” Anthropic says Opus and Sonnet are now available on claude.ai and its API. Haiku will be released soon. All three models can be deployed on chatbots,...

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JetBlue and Spirit abandon their $3.8 billion merger

Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

JetBlue and Spirit Airlines are throwing out their $3.8 billion merger agreement. Both airlines agreed to terminate the deal, citing “legal and regulatory approvals” that “were unlikely to be met” by the merger’s July 2024 deadline.

A federal court blocked the deal in January over concerns that the merger would stifle competition in the airline industry. JetBlue and Spirit filed an appeal shortly after, and a court was set to hear the appeal in June. Now that the deal is off, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland calls the decision a “victory for the Justice Department’s work on behalf of American consumers,” adding that the merger would’ve caused “higher fares and fewer choices.”

Justice Department Statements on JetBlue Terminating...

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Guest host Hank Green makes Nilay Patel explain why websites have a future

Photo illustration: The Verge / Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales

On this special episode of Decoder, Complexly co-founder and YouTuber Hank Green turns the tables on Nilay Patel.

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Today’s smart homes: the hopes and the realities

Illustration by Adrián Astorgano

At The Verge, we work hard to bring you the most recent news and expert hands-on reviews. But another way, and sometimes the best way, to judge smart home technology is to learn about it from those who have used the tech on a day-to-day basis in real-life situations.

In these articles, we’ve concentrated on how our own experiences, and the experiences of others, have affected how we regard smart home tech. We’ve got personal accounts by one reporter who decided to put together a brand-new smart home and another whose brother moved into a home haunted by the ghosts of someone else’s smart tech. Several of our staffers wax enthusiastically about their favorite devices and automations. A writer describes how smart tech makes...

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How to keep your smart cam footage safe and private

Illustration by Adrián Astorgano

If you’re shopping around for a baby monitor, a pet camera, or a video doorbell, just a little research can make the world of network security cameras feel insecure. You don’t have to look far to find examples of companies breaking the trust of their customers.

• Ring, which introduced a feature that lets police ask for your footage, is the most obvious example. Even though the company says it’s sunsetting that feature, law enforcement can still request footage from the company in the event of “emergencies.”
• Wyze had a vulnerability it knew about for three years that allowed users to see into other people’s homes, causing many of us to be done with them entirely.
• Eufy had its share of issues, only admitting that its...

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The Verge’s favorite smart home devices

Illustration by Adrián Astorgano

With a staff so involved with and fascinated by tech news and devices, you’ve got to believe that many members of The Verge staff have their own stash of smart stuff. We asked them to write about some of the smart devices they use themselves — and why — and here are some of the answers that we received.

An efficient and inexpensive robovac

Emma Roth, news writer

I stumbled upon the Eufy Clean G30 Verge robovac during a trip to Walmart — and no, I didn’t just buy it for the name. At the time, I’d been wanting a robovac so I could stop lugging my hefty Kenmore around the house, but I also didn’t want to pay hundreds of dollars just to get one. With a price of just $150, the G30 Verge fit my budget without being too basic, so...

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The MacBook Air gets an M3 upgrade

Image: Apple

Apple has taken the wraps off a pair of new M3-equipped MacBook Air models. The 13- and 15-inch laptops are “up to 60 percent faster” than the M1 MacBook Air, according to Apple, and sport up to 18 hours of battery life. You can preorder both devices starting today and they start shipping on Friday, March 8th.

The 13-inch MacBook Air will cost $1,099, while the 15-inch model will cost $1,299. Both devices come with a Liquid Retina display and up to 500 nits of brightness, along with support for up to two external displays when the laptops are closed. They also offer WiFi 6E, MagSafe charging, and two Thunderbolt ports. The 13-inch M2 version of the laptop will stick around at a lower price of $999.

Image: Apple

T...

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Apple hit with first ever EU fine following Spotify complaint

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple has been hit with a fine of €1.84 billion (about $2 billion) by European Union antitrust regulators over its App Store rules, and has been told it cannot stop music services from advertising cheaper subscription deals outside of Apple’s store. News of today’s fine was earlier reported by the Financial Times, and comes ahead of Apple’s huge shakeup of the iPhone’s app distribution rules due to the EU’s Digital Markets Act.

In a press release on Monday, the EU Commission said its investigation found that “Apple bans music streaming app developers from fully informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of the app,” in addition to preventing app providers from sharing instructions on...

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Google Drive search on iOS gets better filtering options

Image: Google

Google Drive for iOS now lets you filter searches using dropdown menus for File Type, Owners, and Last Modified, the company wrote on Friday in its Workspace Updates blog. The dropdown menus show up before and after a search, and relevant filter recommendations will show up as well as users type.

Google says the update is available to Google Workspace customers and individual subscribers, as well as anyone with a personal Google account on iOS. The feature hasn’t been rolled out for Android users yet, but Google says that’s coming, too.

Here’s a screen recording I made to show how it works:

Screen recording: Wes Davis / The Verge

Dropdown menus are GOAT, as the youths say.

The new filter update makes it much...

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Crash of the Titan: a short history of Apple’s doomed car project

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images

Nothing is real until it ships.

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How smart is the smart kitchen, really?

Image: Samar Haddad for The Verge

The smart fridge is the dream. You’re telling me there’s a gadget in my kitchen that can know all about the food I have in my house, what goes well together, and what I need to cook before it starts to stink up the whole house? A truly smart fridge could help you meal plan, keep your grocery bills down, reduce your food waste, and just make life better.

But there are dreams and there’s reality. And on this episode of The Vergecast, for the second in our two-part series on the smart kitchen, we’re putting the dream to the test.

The Verge’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy has as smart a kitchen as any reasonable person possibly could. She has smart appliances, a smart sink, a smart fridge, and more voice assistants than anyone could ever talk...

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Apple may not do a spring event this year

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Apple has plenty of releases planned for the spring, by the rumor mill’s reckoning, but one thing it may not do is make a big production out of it, according to Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg. It’s not all that unusual for Apple to skip a spring event — it didn’t have one last year, and it’s skipped it in years past, too. Even so, it’s a little surprising, given the plethora of devices the company is expected to launch.

The biggest thing is a revamped iPad Pro with an OLED screen and an M3 chip. For the most part, Apple’s highest-end tablet’s design has been unchanged since its 2018 refresh, when it took on the flat-sided design language that also defines the company’s phones, laptops, and even the iMac. The...

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The very best food stuff on the internet

Illustration: William Joel / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 28, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome to the _Installer_verse, so glad you found us, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been reading about that wacky AI Willy Wonka eventand what happened to the Apple Car, dying laughing at “Indiana Jones and the $3,500 Headset,” testing Twodos as a new tasks app for iOS, giving both Notion and Notion Calendar another shot, and trying to figure out how to import the adorable Microlino Lite into my driveway.

I also have for you the new Dune movie, a new smartwatch, a buzzy new tech book, and oh so many food-related YouTube channels. It’s food week here at I...

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HP is in the rent-a-printer business now

Rent-a-print. | Image: HP

HP has a new proposition in a time when (companies like it have made sure) you don’t really control much about your computer anyway: why don’t you just let HP rent you one? The company debuted a subscription service today — just like CEO Enrique Lores said it would last month — called the HP All-In Plan. It’s essentially an extension of HP’s Instant Ink, and like that plan, you’ll have ink sent to you as you approach empty, but unlike it, your monthly fee also covers the printer itself.

Which printer you get depends on the plan you choose. They start at $6.99 per month for 20 pages’ worth of prints and whatever the current HP Envy model is, and go all the way up to a $35.99-a-month affair that gets you an OfficeJet Pro and 700 pages. If...

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California gives Waymo the green light to expand robotaxi operations

Photo by Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Waymo is now allowed to operate its self-driving robotaxis on highways in parts of Los Angeles and in the Bay Area following a California regulator’s approval of its expansion (PDF) plans on Friday. This means the company’s cars will now be allowed to drive at up to 65mph on local roads and highways in approved areas. In a statement to The Washington Post, Waymo spokesperson Julia Ilina said the company’s expansion will be “careful and incremental,” and that it has “no immediate plans” to extend service to highways.

Last month, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) put the company’s expansion on hold until June “for further staff review,” following protests from several San Francisco city agencies and other groups. Concerns...

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Apple is taking up to $150 off the Beats Studio Pro and Studio Buds Plus

The Apple-owned Beats Studio Pro support both iOS and Android devices. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Apple rarely discounts its own products, which is why I was pleasantly surprised to find Apple welcoming the weekend with some terrific deals on Beats headphones and earbuds. Both the Beats Studio Pro and Beats Studio Buds Plusare down to some of their best prices to date, with numerous third-party retailers matching Apple’s pricing. That means you can pick up the Beats Studio Pro for $199.95 ($150 off) directly from Apple, or at Amazon and Best Buy for around the same price. The Beats Studio Buds Plus, meanwhile, can be had starting at $129.95 ($40 off) from Apple, Amazon, and Best Buy.

Compared to Apple’s AirPods lineup, the Studio Pro and Studio Buds Plus offer more flexibility, with native support for both iOS and Android software...

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How to manage app permissions on your iPhone

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Every time you install an app on your iPhone, it comes with permissions attached — permissions that determine what it can and can’t do. These permissions cover some pretty fundamental parts of iOS, including access to the iPhone camera, microphone, and current location. The permissions get asked for one by one as they’re needed, so you’ve got plenty of control over how your apps are behaving.

But sometimes, especially when you’re in a hurry, it’s easy to accidentally give permission for an app to access data it doesn’t really require. Does your note-taking app really need to see your contact list, for example?

As a result, it’s well worth your while to do a regular audit of these permissions just in case you’ve previously allowed a...

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Halo’s latest episode showed us the best a Spartan could be

Image: Adrienn Szabo / Paramount Plus

When Halo season 2 finally covered the fall of the planet Reach — a foundational, emotional moment in Halo lore — I figured that I’d write a few words of praise about it. But then I saw the episode after, “Aleria,” and that episode, not “Reach,” is the one that truly delivers a Halo experience worthy of the games yet so wonderfully unlike them.

Spoilers for Halo season 2 to follow

One of the elements missing from Halo season 1 was the camaraderie between Spartans. The first half of Halo’s second season better developed and defined the relationships of Silver Team (Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, Riz-028, Kai-125, and Vannak-134); specifically, Riz-028 (Natasha Culzac) and Vannak-134 (Bentley Kalu), who were all but neglected in...

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Roblox says it hasn’t blocked Linux or Steam Deck, but it’s reportedly toast there

Image: The Verge

Bad news for Roblox fans on Linux — the workarounds are dead. GamingOnLinux reports that the latest version of Roblox “forcefully blocks it from working with Wine,” throwing a “Wine is not supported” error message even when Roblox-specific tools like Vinegar and Grapejuice are added. Wine is the compatibility layer that lets many Windows games run on Linux systems.

But Roblox claims it’s not personal. “Confirming there has been no change on our end to specifically block Linux or Steam Deck since Roblox never supported Linux or Steam Deck officially,” spokesperson Samantha Spielman tells The Verge.

“We’re constantly improving our Hyperion anti-cheat functionality, so it’s possible whatever the author was doing was no longer compatible...

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Copilot for OneDrive will fetch your files and summarize them

The Verge

In a blog post, Microsoft gave users a sneak peek into Copilot for OneDrive, which it plans to release in late April. Copilot for OneDrive will take on the role of a research assistant of sorts, being able to both find, summarize, and extract information from a wide range of files. These include text documents (Word and rich text), presentations, spreadsheets, HTML pages, PDF files, and more. Users can ask Copilot to tailor summaries to their liking, such as only including key points or highlights from a specific section.

We knew an AI overhaul of OneDrive was coming since last fall, when Microsoft announced the third generation of the cloud storage service. The company promised that AI would make searching for files easier and faster,...

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Here are the best Kindle deals right now

The Kindle Paperwhite, our favorite Kindle, is on sale with a power adapter and one of three fabric covers starting at $174.97 ($20). | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

When it comes to finding a device to use to read your ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your phone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality.

Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its ever-expanding Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons. The bulk of the devices function as simple ebook readers; however, with the Kindle Scribe, Amazon looks to be moving...

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Threads API coming in June

Image: The Verge

Threads plans to release its API by the end of June after testing it with a limited set of partners, including Hootsuite, Sprinklr, Sprout Social, Social News Desk, and Techmeme. The API will let developers build third-party apps for Threads and allow sites to publish directly to the platform.

The API will let users “authenticate, publish threads, and fetch the content they posted through these tools,” according to Threads developer Jesse Chan in a post on the social platform, with more features coming later**.**

In a post last October, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said that the team was developing an API while worrying that an API would result in more publisher content on Threads instead of user-created posts.

For years, users have...

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Apple TV Plus adds over 50 movies, including some in 4K and 3D

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple TV Plus subscribers in the US can now stream over 50 new movies from various studios, including Mad Max: Fury Road, A Star Is Born, Titanic, Con Air, The Bodyguard, Zoolander, and more. If that sounds like a random assortment of films, well, you’re not wrong. But it seems that Apple is experimenting with including some catalog content as part of its video subscription service. Normally, the appeal of Apple TV Plus centers on the company’s original programming (and increasingly, live sports).

Many of the movies can be streamed in 4K, and there are even a few — Jurassic World, Edge of Tomorrow, Gravity, and others — available in 3D for you early Apple Vision Pro adopters out there. Unfortunately, international subscribers won’t be...

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Meta says it’s deleting all Oculus accounts at the end of the month

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

If you still haven’t migrated your Oculus account to a Meta one, you might want to do that soon. In an email sent to users, the company says it will delete Oculus accounts on March 29th, 2024, preventing you from reactivating or retrieving your apps, in-app purchases, store credits, and more. You’ll lose your achievements, friends list, and any content created with your Oculus account if you don’t migrate to a Meta account before then.

Oculus accounts have been on the way out since 2020, when the company then known as Facebook started requiring new users to sign up with Facebook accounts instead. However, it added the ability to create a Meta account in 2022, offering an alternative to users who didn’t want to link their Facebook account...

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Balatro bumped from some console storefronts due to ratings change

Image: Playtonic

Balatro, the card game everyone’s talking about right now that’s not named Queen’s Blood, has apparently been removed from console storefronts in certain countries. The game’s publisher, Playstack, addressed the removals, attributing it to Balatro’s ratings suddenly changing from a game for players three and up to a game for players 18 and up.

Playstack wrote that the change happened “due to a mistaken belief that the game ‘contains prominent gambling imagery and material that instructs about gambling.’” Playstack went on to vehemently deny that Balatro contains gambling of any kind, affirming that its developer “is staunchly anti-gambling.”

pic.twitter.com/MroeavYY9U

— Playstack (@PlaystackGames) March 1, 2024

In an email to The...

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The Samsung Galaxy Ring may get up to nine days of battery

Five to nine days is slightly better than average for the category. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

When we got some hands-on time with Samsung’s Galaxy Ring earlier this week at Mobile World Congress, battery life was still a mystery. However, Samsung has since confirmed that the smart ring will get between five and nine days on a single charge.

The estimate comes from a few sources. As spotted by 9to5Google, Korean outlet Financial News reports that Dr. Hon Pak, Samsung’s VP of digital health, gave reporters that figure during a briefing. Android Authority also spotted a TechM report quoting Samsung Electronics chief Roh Tae-moon as saying the ring can be used for up to nine days.

But don’t put too much stock in Samsung’s battery estimates yet. The Oura Ring claims up to seven days of battery, but in practice, I only ever get three...

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