Judge allows Roblox illegal gambling suit to proceed

Image: Roblox

Roblox asked a federal judge in California to dismiss a suit from two mothers who allege the platform allowed an illegal gambling ring to prey on their children. Instead, the judge has allowed the case to proceed — though some of the claims, including RICO allegations, have been dismissed.

The company argued that the plaintiffs’ claims were barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which prevents any “interactive computer service” — in this case, Roblox — from being held liable for third-party content published on its platform. The court, however, held that Section 230 doesn’t apply here because Roblox isn’t being held liable for content published on its platform. It’s being accused of “facilitating transactions between...

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Europe’s space agency prepares to blot out the Sun

Proba-3’s occulter blocks the Sun’s light for the coronagraph. | Image: European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing to create its own solar eclipses so that researchers can study one of the more difficult-to-observe parts of the Sun’s anatomy: its blazing-hot corona. To do that, it hopes to fly two separate spacecraft, 150 meters apart and aligned so that one satellite (called the “occulter”) blocks all but the corona from the other satellite, which will observe it using an instrument called a coronagraph.

The mission’s two craft will have to fly “in precise formation down to millimetre accuracy,” using satellite navigation, radio-based satellite interlinks, cameras, and a laser beam reflected between them. ESA technology director Dietmar Pilz said in a statement that getting the two to “act as if they are...

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Indie adventure Open Roads thrives on curiosity

Image: Annapurna Interactive

You could breeze through Open Roads, the new mystery game from publisher Annapurna Interactive. It’s only around two hours long, and it isn’t the kind of game where you’re likely to get stuck. There are no real puzzles to solve or obstacles to overcome. Instead, you steadily move through a story about a mother and daughter discovering long-lost family secrets while on a road trip together. But the game is filled with so many fun details and intriguing mysteries that it’s hard not to get caught up in it.

“We really want players to feel like they have to go looking for things,” says executive producer Amy Fincher. “And if they do, they get rewarded — especially if they’re curious by nature.”

Open Roads is what’s often derisively called a...

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Huberman fans aren’t leaving the show behind

Photo by Chance Yeh / Getty Images for HubSpot

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

I have never gotten so many responses to an issue as I did with last week’s on Andrew Huberman. He seems to elicit an even stronger response than Rogan, though perhaps response to Rogan has calmed down as we have all gotten more used to his shenanigans. Today, I have a look at what some of you all had to say about the value of his podcast and how the revelations from the New York Magazine article have (or have not) changed that. Plus, Spotify’s audiobook expansion, The New York Times’ new audio initiative, and Apple’s (alleged) pay-for-play scheme. Let’s get into it.

Andrew Huberman, reconsidered

ICYMI: NYM published an 8,000-word...

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WhatsApp is down worldwide and stuck on connecting

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

WhatsApp is down worldwide, impacting the 2 billion users of the messaging service. Users started experiencing issues connecting to WhatsApp in multiple countries just after 2PM ET today, with the service stuck on “connecting” for many. The Meta-owned messaging service appears to be experiencing a major outage worldwide.

WhatsApp doesn’t have its own status page, and it’s not listed on Meta’s own service status, either. Other Meta services like Facebook, Instagram, and Threads aren’t experiencing any issues right now, so it’s only WhatsApp that’s impacted by some type of service issue. You can still send messages, but they won’t be delivered until WhatsApp is back online.

The WhatsApp outage comes just weeks after a massive Meta outage...

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Meta’s AI image generator can’t imagine an Asian man with a white woman

Image: The Verge / Meta AI

Have you ever seen an Asian person with a white person, whether that’s a mixed-race couple or two friends of different races? Seems pretty common to me — I have lots of white friends!

To Meta’s AI-powered image generator, apparently this is impossible to imagine. I tried dozens of times to create an image using prompts like “Asian man and Caucasian friend,” “Asian man and white wife,” and “Asian woman and Caucasian husband.” Only once was Meta’s image generator able to return an accurate image featuring the races I specified.

Images: Mia Sato/The Verge

Tweaking the text-based prompt didn’t seem to help. When I asked for an “Asian man and white woman smiling with a...

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The Witcher: everything you need to know about Netflix’s fantasy epic

Image: Netflix

Henry Cavill may be gone, but Netflix’s live-action adaptation of The Witcher is soldiering on with even more seasons inspired by Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels.

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You can save 20 percent on three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Game Pass was already the best deal in gaming, but this discount makes it even better. | Photo by Mateusz Slodkowski / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

My digital game library is filled with titles that I’ve never played, so a few years ago, I promised myself that I would stop buying every new release. It’s easy with services like Game Pass, which offers hundreds of games and other benefits. Whether you’re new to the scene or in need of a renewal, now might be a good time to tack on some extra months. A three-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is 20 percent off at Target, bringing your total down to $39.99 ($10 off). It’s not the best price we’ve seen, but it’s still well worth it. You can also get a one-month subscription for $13.59 (close to $4 off) at Target.

I’ve long said that Xbox Game Pass is the best value in gaming, and while competing services are quickly catching...

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The Matrix is coming back for a fifth movie

Image: Warner Bros. Discovery

Though the last Matrix movie was basically a warning about corporations sucking the life out of iconic pieces of subversive IP, Warner Bros. Discovery is already going back to the well.

Deadline reports that The Martian writer Drew Goddard has been tapped to pen and direct another Matrix movie executive produced by Lana Wachowski. Currently, the new film has no title or projected premiere date, and there’s been no announcement as to whether franchise stars like Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, or Jessica Henwick will return.

In a statement, Warner Bros. Motion Pictures production head Jesse Ehrman said that Goddard came to the studio with a fresh idea for the franchise’s future that would honor...

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Microsoft reveals how much you’ll have to pay to keep using Windows 10 securely

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 on October 14th, 2025, and you’ll need to pay yearly if you want to continue using the operating system securely. Microsoft will offer Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 10 users, with pricing starting at $61 for the first year.

The pricing for additional security updates will be offered to consumers for the first time ever with Windows 10. Businesses and consumers will need to purchase ESU licenses for each Windows 10 device they plan to keep using after the end of support cutoff date next year. The first year is priced at $61. It then doubles to $122 for the second year and then doubles again in year three to $244. If you enter into the ESU program in year two, you’ll have to pay for...

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Facebook’s new full-screen video player looks a lot like TikTok

Image: Meta

Facebook is launching an updated mobile video player that will bring the vertical look made ubiquitous by TikTok and Reels to all of the platform’s video content, Meta announced in a blog post on Wednesday.

Under the new design, Reels, Facebook Live, and longform videos will default to a full-screen portrait-oriented video format. The new video player will debut on iOS and Android in the US and Canada in the next few weeks before launching globally in the months to follow.

Previously, Facebook alternated between multiple formats for its video experience. You might have seen a lengthier video in a horizontal view, for example, while other videos played directly in Facebook’s feed. The updated player will orient to vertical videos...

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Ford’s hybrids just posted their best sales quarter ever — but so did gas-guzzlers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Ford’s electric vehicles aren’t doing too bad despite a lot of gloom in the industry over a slowdown in EV sales growth. But hybrids are where the Blue Oval is really crushing it, posting its best quarter in its nearly 20 years of selling gas-electric hybrids.

The automaker sold 38,421 hybrid vehicles in the first three months of 2024, representing an increase of 42 percent compared to Q1 in 2023. Sales of the hybrid version of Ford’s midsize Maverick pickup truck were up 77 percent over a year ago on sales of 19,660. And with new F-150 hybrids preparing to ship to dealers, Ford says that hybrid sales will continue to grow throughout the year.

Ford says that hybrid sales will continue to grow throughout the year

Overall, hybrids are...

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How to use your Mac screen inside the Apple Vision Pro

Illustration by Samar Haddad for The Verge | Photo by The Verge

One of the coolest things you can do with the Apple Vision Pro is use your Mac screen — either floating by itself in a virtual landscape or, better yet, in mixed reality. It’s hard to make work exciting, but if you can, why not work on the Moon? Or on top of Haleakalā in Hawaii?

You can also blow up that Mac screen as big as you like or even stick it on the ceiling if you’re so inclined. The catch is that, for now, you can’t have multiple Mac screens. So, if you’ve got dual monitors, you’re a bit out of luck there.

You can use this feature with a MacBook or a Mac desktop, though the process is slightly different for each. Here’s how to get started.

Check your settings

Before diving in, make sure your Mac and Vision Pro are both logged...

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Lifx launches two new 1,600-lumen bulbs that work with Matter

Par38 Matter-compatible floodlight. | Image: Lifx

Lifx is bringing its high-end smart bulb chops to Matter with two new bulbs that support the standard over Wi-Fi. The two bulbs are an A21 indoor bulb ($39.98) and a Par38 indoor / outdoor option ($34.98) and will be available only through The Home Depot, starting today.

The big advantage Lifx has over many smart light bulbs is their brightness, and it looks like that’s the case here — both are 1,600-lumen bulbs, making them brighter than even Lifx’s own previous bulbs, which maxed out at 1,100 lumens. The A21 indoor bulb will be a 100-watt equivalent, while the indoor / outdoor Par38 — that’s the bell-shaped kind you might see in a recessed fixture — is a 150-watt equivalent and is rated IP65, meaning it’s dust-tight and can withstand...

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Elon Musk’s reputation is falling — and it’s taking Tesla with it

Studies show that consumers associated Tesla with Musk, which might be damaging the EV brand’s bottom line. | Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Elon Musk’s controversial behavior in recent years is “very likely” to be a contributing factor in Tesla’s declining sales, according to corporate reputation tracking firm Caliber.

Survey data reported by Reuters found that Tesla’s “consideration score” — a metric used by Caliber to track consumer interest in brands, based on how they respond to the prompt “I would buy, or continue buying, products and services from Tesla, if given the chance” — has fallen to 31 percent from its 70 percent high in November 2021, tumbling by 8 percent alone this January. Caliber’s consideration scores for rival EV-producing manufacturers Audi, BMW, and Mercedes, meanwhile, increased slightly during the same period, reaching between 44–47 percent.

A...

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FCC will vote on restoring net neutrality rules

Photo by Matt McClain / The Washington Post via Getty Images

The Federal Communications Commission will vote on April 25th on a proposal to restore net neutrality rules, the agency announced on Wednesday.

If the five-member panel votes to restore the rules, internet service providers (ISP) will be reclassified from information services to common carriers, bringing stricter regulations with the change.

The idea of net neutrality is to keep ISPs from treating internet traffic differently by throttling or blocking, for example. The FCC installed net neutrality rules back in 2015, but they were repealed in 2017 under a Trump-nominated chair. Republicans on the commission believed that removing what they saw to be onerous rules would lead to greater innovation. Democrats believed that repealing the...

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Spotify’s price is reportedly going up again

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

For many years, Spotify held strong at its monthly subscription of $9.99, but that changed last July when Premium jumped up to $10.99. Now it appears that the leading subscription music service is planning another price hike — and not waiting nearly as long this time. Bloomberg reports that the cost will go up by between $1 and $2 in the UK, Australia, Pakistan, and two other markets by the end of April, with an increase planned for US customers “later this year.”

But there’s one important asterisk here: this all assumes that you’re interested in listening to audiobooks on Spotify. Part of the reason for these subscription increases is to cover their cost, after all. Spotify has already grown to become the second-largest player in...

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Google brings keyboard shortcuts and custom mouse buttons to ChromeOS

Now you can customize these bad boys. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Google is rolling out a new ChromeOS update (M123) to its stable channel yesterday that brought features like the ability to customize keyboard shortcuts and mouse buttons and enabled hotspot connections on cellular Chromebooks. The company’s April updates also brought updates and bug fixes to Pixel Watches and Pixel phones from the 5A and up.

The keyboard shortcut feature will work like it does in other operating systems, in which you can assign specific actions to specific key combinations. Google uses the examples of tweaking shortcuts to be easier to carry out one-handed or making them resemble those you’re used to in, say, macOS. The same goes for mouse button customizing — if your mouse has extra buttons besides just left and...

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Fujifilm X100VI vs. Ricoh GR IIIx: battle for the best point-and-shoot

Fujifilm x100VI vs. Ricoh GR IIIx: battle of the best point-and-shoot

The $1,599.00 Fujifilm X100VI and the $1,046.95 Ricoh GR IIIx are two of the most popular digital point-and-shoot cameras for folks who aren’t looking to break the bank. They both come in a small package and have an APS-C sensor and a fixed focal length lens that can produce crisp images. In fact, these systems are so similar that, as a viewer, it can be hard to tell images from them apart (check out 1:29 in the video below). But as a photographer, the experience they provide could not be more different.

I don’t know two camera systems with fan bases as loyal as these two. So check out my video above, where these systems go head to head in order the answer the question of which one is best for you. And let me know where your alliance...

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Oura’s experimenting with a feature to detect early changes in your health

Oura’s new Symptom Radar feature detects early signs of change to your overall wellness. | Image: Victoria Song / The Verge

The Oura Ring is getting a bit more experimental. Starting today, Oura users will get access to a new Oura Labs feature, which allows them to opt in to experimental features. The first will be something called Symptom Radar, which detects early signs of physiological strain.

Symptom Radar isn’t quite illness detection — a feature that Oura and many other wearables companies put a lot of research into during the early days of the covid-19 pandemic. Instead, it notifies users of significant changes in biometric trends like temperature, respiratory rate, resting heart rate, and heart rate variability. When alerted, users can choose whether to enable Rest Mode or lower their daily activity goal to prioritize rest. While illness could...

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Patreon is taking Reddit’s approach to content moderation

Image: Patreon

Patreon is taking a page out of Reddit’s book. Now, podcasters, artists, writers, and other creators on the subscription-focused creator platform will be able to assign community members as moderators as the platform expands its product offering.

All Patreon content is subject to the company’s own guidelines, but different creators may have specific community rules, like a ban on posting spoilers — and having multiple moderators could help develop and enforce expectations. Previously, creators were able to assign teammates with certain permissions; this update allows creators to distribute some of the work of moderating their community to their liking. Like subreddits with their own rules and teams, moderators on Patreon will be tasked...

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Welcome to the AI gadget era

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Humane, Rabbit, Brilliant, Meta, and countless other companies are just about to launch AI-first gadgets. AI hardware may not be as big as the smartphone, but it’s going to be big.

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AI-generated songs are getting longer, not necessarily better

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Stable Audio 2.0, an audio generation model for Stability AI, now lets users upload their own audio samples that they can then transform using prompts and create AI-generated songs. But the songs will not win any Grammys just yet.

The first version of Stable Audio was released in September 2023 and only offered up to 90 seconds for some paying users, which meant they could only make short sound clips to experiment with. Stable Audio 2.0 offers a full three-minute sound clip — the length of most radio-friendly songs. All uploaded audio must be copyright-free.

Unlike OpenAI’s audio generation model, Voice Engine, which is only available to a select group of users, Stability AI made Stable Audio free and publicly available through its...

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Apple MacBook Air M3 review: small upgrades

The 13-inch and 15-inch Air are better than ever, but Apple needs to do something about the upgrade funnel.

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Microsoft could have prevented Chinese cloud email hack, US cyber report says

Photo by NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images

A new report from the US Cyber Safety Review Board has found that Microsoft could have prevented Chinese hackers from breaching US government emails through its Microsoft Exchange Online software last year. The incident, described as a “cascade of security failures” at Microsoft, allowed Chinese state-sponsored hackers to access online email inboxes of 22 organizations, affecting more than 500 people including US government employees working on national security.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released a scathing report that found that the hack was “preventable” and that a number of decisions inside Microsoft contributed to “a corporate culture that deprioritized enterprise security investments and rigorous risk...

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Microsoft 365’s Copilot gets a GPT-4 Turbo upgrade and improved image generation

The Verge

Microsoft is rolling out priority access to GPT-4 Turbo for business subscribers of its AI-powered Copilot assistant. This unlocks access to OpenAI’s latest model inside the Copilot mobile app, on the web, in Windows, and Edge as part of the $30 per user, per month pricing of Copilot for Microsoft 365.

While consumers subscribed to Copilot Pro already had access to GPT-4 Turbo, businesses using Copilot for Microsoft 365 now have access and no limits on the number of chats per day and turns per conversation.

GPT-4 Turbo will be available in Copilot for Microsoft 365 for both web queries against the latest public information, and to use across work data like querying emails, documents, meetings, and more. OpenAI’s latest model also...

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AI George Carlin case settled as performers demand better protection

The Dudesy podcast agreed to take the allegedly ai-generated comedy special offline as part of the settlement. | Photo by Mark Junge/Getty Images

George Carlin’s estate has reached a settlement with the media company that purportedly used generative artificial intelligence to imitate the late comedian. The decision arrives as a group representing artists like Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, and Stevie Wonder calls for performers to be better protected against being mimicked by AI technology.

According to the New York Times, Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen — the Dudesy podcast creators who imitated Carlin in a faked comedy special titled “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead” — agreed as part of the settlement reached on Tuesday to take the offending content offline and never upload it on any platform. Sassoo and Kultgen also agreed to not use Carlin’s voice or likeness in content they produce...

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A first look at Europe’s alternative iPhone app stores

Cath Virginia / The Verge

DMA is about to unleash a brave new world of game emulators, clipboard managers, and uncertainty.

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Intel’s chipmaking business lost a boatload of billions last year

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Intel’s chip-making division accumulated $7 billion in operating losses in 2023, Reuters reported on Tuesday. That’s a big increase from $5.2 billion it lost in 2022, and while it made $18.9 billion in revenue in 2023, that number is down 31 percent from the $27.49 billion it made the year prior.

However, based on CEO Pat Gelsinger’s comments to investors, the total loss isn’t a total surprise. Gelsinger says these latest numbers are partially the result of Intel’s past mistakes catching up with its foundry business, which caused the chipmaker to outsource about 30 percent of all its wafer production to other foundries, like TSMC, one of Intel’s biggest competitors currently.

But now Intel has invested in using extreme ultraviolet (EUV)...

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How one volunteer stopped a backdoor from exposing Linux systems worldwide

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Linux, the most widely used open source operating system in the world, narrowly escaped a massive cyber attack over Easter weekend, all thanks to one volunteer.

The backdoor had been inserted into a recent release of a Linux compression format called XZ Utils, a tool that is little-known outside the Linux world but is used in nearly every Linux distribution to compresses large files, making them easier to transfer. If it had spread more widely, an untold number of systems could have been left compromised for years.

And as Ars Technica noted in its exhaustive recap, the culprit had been working on the project out in the open.

The vulnerability, inserted into Linux’s remote log-in, only exposed itself to a single key, so that it could hide...

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