TikTok is paying creators to up its search game

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

TikTok is leaning in even more to its app being used like a search engine.

Creators making money on the platform will now be paid based in part on how well their content meets what other users are searching for. TikTok calls this metric “search value,” and it’s one of four core elements in determining creator payouts. TikTok announced the change as part of its new monetization program, called Creator Rewards.

This metric is the TikTok version of search engine optimization (SEO). One tactic in SEO is keyword research, where publishers make content that aligns with what searchers (the vast majority of whom are using Google) are looking up. On TikTok, search value is whether a creator is posting content that is about topics users are...

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YouTube adds new AI-generated content labeling tool

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Today, YouTube announced a way for creators to self-label when their videos contain AI-generated or synthetic material.

The checkbox appears in the uploading and posting process, and creators are required to disclose “altered or synthetic” content that seems realistic. That includes things like making a real person say or do something they didn’t; altering footage of real events and places; or showing a “realistic-looking scene” that didn’t actually happen. Some examples YouTube offers are showing a fake tornado moving toward a real town or using deepfake voices to have a real person narrate a video.

On the other hand, disclosures won’t be required for things like beauty filters, special effects like background blur, and “clearly...

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Rivian owners now have access to Tesla Superchargers

Rivian owners will be able to charge their electric trucks and SUVs at Tesla Supercharger stations starting today at 9AM PT / 12 PM ET, the company tells The Verge. The news comes after several Rivian owners noticed a software update allowing Supercharger access over the weekend.

Rivian was one of the first automakers to announce plans to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) for its future EVs. For current owners, Rivian will send out a Tesla-made adapter free of charge, much like Ford started doing last month.

The adapter will allow Rivian owners to connect Tesla’s charging plug into their vehicles’ port

The adapter will allow Rivian owners to connect Tesla’s charging plug into their vehicles’ port. The company’s...

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How to get more battery life out of your Wear OS smartwatch

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Some days away from the home or office can seem like a constant battle against battery life: your phone is dying, your laptop is dying, and your smartwatch is dying. Despite all of the advances we’ve seen in tech in recent years, battery life doesn’t seem to be getting much beyond the standard 24 hours of use for a lot of devices.

Limited by the physical restrictions of their hardware, manufacturers are putting battery-saving tweaks into software instead, like the Low Power Mode you’ll find on the Apple Watch and the iPhone. These settings can actually make a difference, and they’re available on Wear OS, too.

In Victoria Song’s Pixel Watch 2 review last year, she mentioned being impressed by the improved battery life compared to the...

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Here’s the Elon Musk interview that got Don Lemon’s show canceled

Things started getting tense about halfway into the interview. | Image: Don Lemon Show

Don Lemon has published the “tense” interview with Elon Musk that got his show canceled on X. During the interview, Lemon touches on various topics related to hate speech on X and Musk’s own views on right-wing conspiracy theories, with the billionaire becoming noticeably irritated by the interview’s end.

Things start to take a turn about halfway into the interview. Lemon asks Musk about his comments on illegal immigration and the far-right great replacement theory, then turns to the topic of content moderation. Lemon asks whether better content moderation on X would let Musk avoid some of the criticism of his posts about the great replacement theory.

“I don’t have to answer questions from reporters,” Musk responds. “Don, the only...

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Playtron: the startup hoping to Steam Deck-ify the world

The former CEO of Cyanogen has a plan for a platform-agnostic gaming operating system.

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The best smartwatches for Android

Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge

Wear OS is much better than it used to be, so there’s never been a better time to consider a smartwatch.

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Apex Legends postpones competition amid hacking concerns

Two pro players were forcibly given cheats while livestreaming their finals matches. | Image: Respawn

Apex Legends has postponed the North America finals for its Global Series championship over concerns that hackers have compromised the “competitive integrity” of the game. Two professional players from major teams were targeted while livestreaming on Sunday by an attack that forcibly applied advantage-granting cheats during competitive gameplay.

The cause of these attacks hasn’t been officially verified, leading to speculation that the hack may have been delivered via Apex Legend’s anti-cheat protections. An exchange posted by a cheat monitoring account on X claims that the attacker found an RCE, or remote code execution, exploit to run their code directly on the players’ computers.

A Twitch clip of DarkZero’s Noyan “Genburten” Ozkose...

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Why Figma CEO Dylan Field is optimistic about AI and the future of design

Photo by Rick Kern / Getty Images for Vox Media

The leader of design toolmaker Figma on life after the failed Adobe deal and what comes next in a live interview from SXSW.

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Adobe Substance 3D’s AI features can turn text into backgrounds and textures

The new “Text to Texture” feature is now available in the Adobe Substance 3D Sampler 4.4 beta. | Image: Adobe

While many developers are working out how generative AI could be used to produce entire 3D objects from scratch, Adobe is already using its Firefly AI model to streamline existing 3D workflows. At the Game Developers Conference on Monday, Adobe debuted two new integrations for its Substance 3D design software suite that allow 3D artists to quickly produce creative assets for their projects using text descriptions.

The first is a “Text to Texture” feature for Substance 3D Sampler that Adobe says can generate “photorealistic or stylized textures” from prompt descriptions, such as scaled skin or woven fabric. These textures can then be applied directly to 3D models, sparing designers from needing to find appropriate reference materials.

T...

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Sony is reportedly pausing PSVR2 production to clear excess inventory

Sony’s PlayStation VR2. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

After producing in excess of two million units of its latest virtual reality headset, Bloomberg is reporting that Sony is hitting pause on production to try and shift its unsold inventory. The PlayStation VR2 launched last February for $549 as an accessory for the PlayStation 5, but IDC data suggests that shipments have declined each quarter since.

Bloomberg suggests that the problem is a lack of content for the headset. The PSVR2 is compatible with a handful of AAA games including Horizon Call of the Mountain, Gran Turismo 7, and entries in the Resident Evil series, as well as a range of smaller titles. But, at $549, the headset costs more than the PS5 itself, so expectations are high. Bloomberg notes that Meta and Apple have faced...

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Apple’s AI ambitions could include Google or OpenAI

Last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple is reportedly in “active negotiations” with Google to bring its Gemini generative AI technology to the iPhone, Bloomberg reports, and has also considered using OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

CEO Tim Cook has already confirmed that Apple is spending “a tremendous amount of time and effort” on artificial intelligence features, and plans to release them to its customers “later this year.” Bloomberg’s report suggests that the AI features built into Apple’s products could eventually be powered by a mix of first- and third-party AI models. Apple’s models could power on-device generative AI with iOS 18, releasing later this year, while cloud-based AI features like text- and image-generation could come via partnerships with the likes of Google.

If a...

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Qualcomm’s new 8S Gen 3 targets not-quite flagship phones

Is it upper midrange? Is it lesser high-end? Hard to say. | Image: Qualcomm

Qualcomm just launched a new chipset that’s designed to sit just below its current flagship in terms of capabilities and price. The Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 aims to bring most of the 8 Gen 3’s features — including support for on-device generative AI models — to more affordable phones. It represents a new tier for the top-of-the-line 8-series chips, and it’s also a little bit confusing.

Before we get into all that, let’s start with the straightforward stuff: the 8S Gen 3 includes a GPU similar to the standard 8 Gen 3, though it has one less performance core and runs at a lower frequency — the prime core runs at up to 3.0GHz versus 3.4GHz on the 8 Gen 3. The new 8S Gen 3 also uses a previous-gen modem, the X70 5G, which includes Wi-Fi 7...

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xAI open sources Grok

The Verge

On March 11th, Elon Musk said xAI would open source its AI chatbot Grok, and now an open release is available on GitHub. This will allow researchers and developers to build on the model and impact how xAI updates Grok in the future as it competes with rival tech from OpenAI, Meta, Google, and others.

A company blog post explains that this open release includes the “base model weights and network architecture” of the “314 billion parameter Mixture-of-Experts model, Grok-1.” It continues saying the model is from a checkpoint last October and hasn’t undergone fine-tuning “for any specific application, such as dialogue.”

As VentureBeat notes, it’s being released under the Apache 2.0 license that enables commercial use but doesn’t include...

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A24’s Problemista is a surreal fairy tale about finding the people who truly see you

Image: A24

The magic of writer / director Julio Torres’ Problemista lies in its imaginative production design and its thoughtful deconstruction of the American immigration dream.

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Nidus turns a beautiful ecosystem into a frantic shooter

Image: Caleb Wood

Scavengers Reign is a beautiful exploration of a complicated, fascinating, sometimes brutal ecology. Nidus is also a beautiful exploration of a complicated, fascinating, sometimes brutal ecology. Their approaches and styles are different, but the underlying themes share a connection — and an artist. Caleb Wood is an animator and now game developer who worked as a concept artist on Max’s sci-fi show while simultaneously solo-developing his recently released arcade bullet hell game.

Having begun his animation career 15 years ago, Wood decided that he wanted to figure out game development in 2020. Nidus was meant to be something simple that he could use to teach himself programming. “But because I’m able to produce some pretty good art...

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A better way to find stuff to watch

Cath Virginia / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 30, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome. So psyched you found us, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been playing the fun puzzler Close Cities,scrounging up money to buy TikTok, reading the latest in my favorite spy-thriller series,debating becoming a mansion squatter, testing Today for simple tasks, taking notes on this great video about the editing in Oppenheimer, and yelling “SPACE!” while watching the most recent SpaceX launch.

I also have for you a new AI productivity tool, a great way to find stuff to watch, some new shows about old events, and a deep dive into the collapse of the Apple...

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Starship Home for the Quest 3 is an attempt to give meaning to mixed reality

Starship Home, a cozy mixed-reality game for the Meta Quest 3, is trying to get to the heart of “what makes a game meaningful in mixed reality.” That’s according to developer Doug North Cook, who wrote on Reddit that the game, which turns your environment into a custom spaceship and you into an intergalactic horticulturist, is indie studio Creature’s “first answer to that question.”

A Meta Quest blog post says players will customize their starship by “strategically placing virtual windows, control panels, and other components” in their room. Outside the windows, the game’s trailer shows you’ll see things like space creatures, planets, cloud-tops, and travel animations as you leave planets. When players land on a planet, they’ll collect...

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SpaceX is reportedly building a network of spy satellites for US intelligence

Image

SpaceX’s Starshield unit has had a classified contract with the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) since 2021 to build a network of “hundreds” of spy satellites for the agency, Reuters reports today, citing unnamed sources “familiar with the program.”

A Wall Street Journal report in February listed a classified $1.8 billion SpaceX contract with a then-unnamed government agency. Now Reuters has attached a name, and that it’s to build a network of “hundreds of satellites bearing Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate as a swarm in low orbits.”

The report didn’t say when the network will be operational or what other companies are involved. It does mention that a US database of space objects lists satellites deployed by SpaceX...

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US prosecutors are investigating how Meta platforms played a part in illegal drug sales

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Federal prosecutors asking questions about Meta are "looking into whether the company’s social-media platforms are facilitating and profiting from the illegal sale of drugs," according to unnamed sources in a report today by the Wall Street Journal. Prosecutors reportedly sent Meta subpoenas last year seeking records on “violative drug content on Meta’s platforms and/or the illicit sale of drugs via Meta’s platforms.”

A Meta spokesperson told the Journal that, “The sale of illicit drugs is against our policies and we work to find and remove this content from our services. Meta proactively cooperates with law enforcement authorities to help combat the sale and distribution of illicit drugs.”

The WSJ said TikTok did not respond when...

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Behind Ryuichi Sakamoto’s last performance

Kab Inc.

The legendary Japanese composer wanted to record his final concert. So he asked his son, Neo Sora, to direct it.

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Bose’s noise-canceling QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are back at their lowest price

Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds drown out noise exceptionally well while delivering enjoyable sound. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Working from coffee shops can be great, but noisy neighbors can make it hard to focus. If you’re looking for a way to drown out the noise without being rude, the best noise-canceling earbuds have thankfully returned to their best price. Best Buy, Walmart, and Bose are all selling the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbudsfor $249 ($50 off).

In addition to top-notch noise cancellation, the wireless earbuds sound great with a new immersive audio component. Bose also improved voice call performance, so you should have no problem making calls from cafes, while the transparency mode remains crystal clear. The buds are now designed to fit even more securely in your ears while retaining perks like IPX4 water resistance, so you don’t have to worry...

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How the House quietly revived the TikTok ban before most of us noticed

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images

An unusually fast process. A classified briefing. Phone lines clogged with teenagers “in near tears.” The bill, meant to force the sale of TikTok, passed by a landslide.

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Smash hit Balatro is coming to iPhone and Android

Image: Playstack

I’m sorry, there’s simply no escape. The addictive magic roguelike poker game Balatro, which grossed $1M in eight hours, sold 500,000 copies in 10 days, and has now been played for 1,742 years, is now coming to iPhone and Android too.

That’s the word directly from the game’s anonymous solo developer LocalThunk and their publisher Playstack Games, who participated in a verified Reddit AMA earlier this week.

The game originally shipped for consoles and Windows PCs — and was briefly banned from some storefronts over a ratings mistake. It’s back, and there’s also now a MacOS port that you can access by buying the game on Steam.

The full Reddit AMA has loads of insight into Balatro’s development process, including their biggest...

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Spotify is letting authors market like musicians

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

This week, Spotify announced a new feature to let audiobook authors and publishers tease their new releases. Countdown Pages, which debuted for music artists last year and has been used by the likes of Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, let fans pre-save an upcoming title and have it pop into their library when it’s released. The page is adorned with a large countdown clock — with a timer going down to the second — to get listeners excited. The feature’s not revolutionary, but it is in line with how Spotify differentiates itself as an audiobook provider.

Getting ahead of a new audiobook is pretty standard. On traditional platforms like Audible, you can preorder the title, and it will show up in your library on release day. But most people...

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Sony’s PS5 Pro is up to three times faster, may arrive holiday 2024

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony is reportedly working on a PlayStation 5 Pro model that may well include a far more powerful GPU that’s up to three times faster than the existing PS5 models. YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead claims to have gotten access to a technical overview document for the PS5 Pro, codenamed Trinity, and now Tom Henderson at Insider Gaming reports that the leaked specifications are accurate and the console is currently set to release during the holiday 2024 period.

Screenshots from the technical document include a mention of 67 teraflops of 16-bit floating point calculations, which works out to around 33.5 teraflops of single-precision compute. That reportedly works out to a 45 percent rendering performance improvement over the PS5. The existing...

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Google Meet’s face touch-up filters come to desktop

Image: Google

Google Meet is rolling out filters you can use to “lightly” touch up your complexion before you head into a meeting. The company first launched the feature on mobile last year, but now it’s coming to Google Meet’s web app.

You can choose from two different filters: subtle and smoothing. While Google says the subtle filter applies “very light” complexion smoothing, under-eye lightening, and eye whitening, the smoothing filter makes all three effects slightly more noticeable.

GIF: Google

Judging by the GIF provided by Google, it doesn’t look like either option dramatically changes your appearance like some of the filters you’ll find on Snapchat. Instead, it seems to apply much lighter effects that make it look like...

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Supreme Court defines when it’s illegal for public officials to block social media critics

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images

In an opinion signed by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court established a test to determine when a public official can be considered to be engaging in state action in blocking someone from their social media account. The official must have both “(1) possessed actual authority to speak on the State’s behalf on a particular matter, and (2) purported to exercise that authority when speaking in the relevant social-media posts.”

The court issued a unanimous decision in Lindke v. Freed, a case about whether Port Huron, Michigan city manager James Freed violated the First Amendment by blocking and deleting comments on his Facebook page from resident Kevin Lindke, who critiqued Freed’s pandemic policies. The test creates a new way to...

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PC games start at just $1 in Steam’s spring sale

From AAA blockbusters to indie cult classics, there are tons of games up to 95 percent off. | Valve / Steam

You’d think most gamers would have indulged enough over the long winter season that they wouldn’t want to spend the first moments of spring doing the same, but rainy days are still a thing, yeah? And the grind never truly stops for many of us. That’s why I can appreciate the Steam spring sale, happening now through March 21st. It happens around this time every year and offers up to 90 percent off thousands of titles. You can find deals on game-of-the-year-worthy titles like Baldur’s Gate 3 for $53.99 ($6 off), for example, while Diablo IV is 50 percent off no matter which version you buy, whether it’s the base game going for $34.99 or the Ultimate Edition for $49.99.

It’s also a great chance to check out older titles you may have passed...

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Zoomers are turning on the TikTok famous congressman who voted to ban the app

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Until relatively recently, Rep. Jeff Jackson, a freshman Democratic congressman from North Carolina, had more than 2.5 million followers on TikTok. Jackson’s follower count dropped by over 100,000 virtually overnight — as did his esteem among some of TikTok’s young users — after he voted to ban the app.

The bill passed with 352 votes, but to the legions of TikTokers who called their representatives to urge them not to ban the app, Jackson’s vote feels like a unique betrayal.

@noahglenncarter

An update on Jeff Jackson. Hes losing everything right now because he boted yes #keeptiktok #jeffjackson #tiktokban #foryou

♬ Stargazing (Slowed + Reverb) - Marcelo De Carvalho

On Wednesday, Jackson posted a video on X laying out the...

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