Bose’s new SoundLink Max has a little handle and big sound

Image: Bose

Say what you will about Bose’s more ambitious swings — I appreciate that it takes them in the first place — but today, the company is releasing a new product in a category that it’s always been pretty excellent at: Bluetooth speakers. Bose is more or less supersizing its SoundLink Flex into a new, larger model called the SoundLink Max. Considering how Bose’s acoustic processing has for years squeezed impressive sound out of relatively small hardware, I’m excited to hear what a bigger device is capable of.

Coming May 16th for a price of $399, the new speaker is loaded with three transducers and two custom-designed passive radiators. So right there, you’re already in for quite an improvement over the mono SoundLink Flex.

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Nvidia makes it easier to get GeForce Now running on the Steam Deck

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Nvidia is releasing a script that simplifies getting its GeForce Now cloud gaming service up and running on Valve’s Steam Deck device. The script automatically installs Google Chrome, adjusts the browser to enable gamepad use, and then adds a GeForce Now shortcut to your Steam library.

While the script automates the process of using the SteamOS terminal app to install Chrome and enable gamepad support, you’ll still need to make some manual tweaks to get GeForce Now working as you’d expect. Once you launch GeForce Now, you’ll need to press the Steam menu button and head into controller settings to change the value of Current Button Layout to “Gamepad with Mouse Trackpad.” This will allow you to use the trackpad to control the mouse inside...

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Microsoft investigating VPN issues with latest Windows 11 update

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft says it’s investigating reports of VPN connection failures after installing the April 2024 Windows 11 update. The KB5036893 security update was issued on April 9th for all supported Windows 11 versions, and some users have reported that VPN connections with TPM-backed certificates aren’t working after the patch was installed.

Reddit user Flo-TPG says the Windows 11 update caused “a certificate could not be found” error while attempting to use a VPN connection. Microsoft warns that VPN connections could fail after installing this April 2024 security update and that the company is “investigating user reports, and we will provide more information in the coming days.”

The only workaround right now is to uninstall the KB5036893...

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Over 400 million Google accounts have used passkeys, but our passwordless future remains elusive

Google may start asking users that still utilize passwords instead of their passkeys to wait 24 hours before they can access their account. | Illustration: The Verge

Google is kicking off World Password Day by updating us on its efforts to replace the often hacked, guessed, and stolen form of authentication with passkeys. Their passwordless approach relies on device-based authentication instead, making logging in faster and more secure.

In a blog post on Thursday, the company announced that over 400 million Google accounts (of the at least 1.5 billion reported since 2018) have used passkeys since rolling them out, logging over a billion authentications between them. The majority of users find them easier to use than passwords, according to Google, adding that “since launching, passkeys have proven to be faster than passwords, since they only require users to simply unlock their device using a...

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Peloton announces new round of layoffs as CEO quits

Another dark day for Peloton. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Peloton’s CEO Barry McCarthy is stepping down after announcing yet another round of layoffs, this time affecting about 15 percent of its remaining workforce, or roughly 400 global team members. It’s the fifth round of layoffs to hit the pandemic darling and comes after McCarthy said on its Q1 2023 earnings call that the company was done with layoffs and that the “ship was turning.”

“Hard as the decision has been to make additional headcount cuts, Peloton simply had no other way to bring its spending in line with its revenue,” said McCarthy in his outgoing message, noting that it’s a crucial step as the company seeks to refinance its debt. The layoffs are part of a 12-month restructuring program meant to reduce annual expenses by more...

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TikTok and Universal Music Group end feud with new agreement

Taylor Swift’s label is returning to TikTok’s one billion-plus users. | Photo by DAVID GRAY/AFP via Getty Images

Universal Music Group has inked a “multi-dimensional” deal with TikTok that will see its roster of artists — which includes Taylor Swift, Drake, and Olivia Rodrigo — return to the social media platform’s one billion-plus users. UMG began pulling its music from TikTok on February 1st after the old contract expired.

Notably, the deal will address concerns that UMG and its artists have with generative AI. “TikTok and UMG will work together to ensure AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters,” reads a press release announcing the deal. “TikTok is also committed to working with UMG to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform, as well as...

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Asus won’t say if the ROG Ally’s SD card reader will ever be truly fixed

The Asus ROG Ally. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

What is Asus hiding?

Two weeks ago, I told you how Asus has officially extended its warranty on the ROG Ally gaming handheld’s SD card reader to two full years in the United States, presumably to give you more time to get it fixed. But Asus refuses to confirm to The Verge that it’s actually identified a fix for the issue. If you ship your Ally back to Asus, there’s no guarantee the problem won’t reappear.

Early on, some ROG Ally buyers discovered the SD card readers had a tendency to fail and possibly damage your SD cards in the process. One law firm, CSK&D, even threatened to pursue a class-action lawsuit on behalf of owners, though I haven’t yet found record of an actual suit being filed, and its class-action website has since been...

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Snapchat will soon let you edit your messages after sending

Edit messages, AI Bitmoji fashion, and reminders round out the new Snapchat update. | Image: Snap

Snap is launching a slew of new features in Snapchat, including the ability to edit already sent messages allowing you to rectify a “your” vs. “you’re” typo or other embarrassing errors. Snapchat is also getting emoji reactions, map reactions, and a new AI-powered reminders function.

The edit message feature does have a short window: you need to act within five minutes of sending — and only if the recipient has not yet opened it. Snap says the feature will come “first” to Snapchat Plus subscribers — a decision that echoes the same feature paywall on Elon Musk’s Twitter Blue (now called X Premium) established more than a year ago.

GIF: Snap

Post-sent message editing is a booming feature to have on messaging apps, with...

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UnitedHealth CEO admits it paid $22 million ransom to BlackCat

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Health insurance provider UnitedHealth paid a multimillion-dollar ransom to hackers who broke into one of its subsidiaries, disrupting healthcare providers across the country for months, CEO Andrew Witty confirmed on Wednesday.

In a hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance, Witty said the decision to pay the $22 million ransom was entirely his. “This was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” he said. UnitedHealth admitted last month that it had paid a ransom to the hackers who breached the Change Healthcare system — which is owned by UnitedHealth — but didn’t disclose the sum. In March, the company attributed the breach to BlackCat, the same entity responsible for the MGM casino hack in Las Vegas. That same month, W...

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Crunchyroll is about to get a little more expensive, just like all the other streamers

Image: Crunchyroll

While Crunchyroll’s monthly prices haven’t jumped in five years, Sony is getting ready to change that for subscribers in a handful of countries.

Crunchyroll announced today that the prices for its Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan streaming subscription tiers are going up as a result of “the company’s investment in more anime, additional services like music and games, and additional subscriber benefits.” While the basic Crunchyroll Premium will continue to cost $7.99 / month, subscriptions for the Mega Fan tier are increasing from $9.99 to $11.99 / month, and the Ultimate Fan tier will rise from $14.99 to $15.99 / month.

Crunchyroll is also shortening its free-trial period from two weeks down to just one. Notably, the price...

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How to play Netflix’s cloud games without waiting for an invitation

Why wait? | Image: Netflix

Want to try the nine games that Netflix now streams from cloud servers directly to your laptop, desktop, or TV? Officially, you’re supposed to wait until the beta rolls out more broadly, but for now, there may be an easier way.

If you fire up a desktop web browser, log in to Netflix, and click these links, you should be able to start playing, even if you don’t see any of these games listed normally.

• Oxenfree: https://www.netflix.com/title/81569946
• The Almost Gone: https://www.netflix.com/title/81708319
• Infernax: https://www.netflix.com/title/81708314
• Link Twin: https://www.netflix.com/title/81708315
• Mole Gem Mayhem: https://www.netflix.com/title/81633353
• Reigns: https://www.netflix.com/title/81708316
• Reigns Three Kingdoms:...

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Walmart is about to launch a 4K Chromecast that’s also a smart speaker

An ethernet port! | Screenshot: Superdell-TV

Walmart is apparently getting ready to release a new Onn “Pro” Google TV 4K streaming box that’s also a smart speaker. Yesterday, YouTuber Superdell-TV hosted a livestream where he showed off the streaming device, which he said he had bought from the retailer in-store for $50. As 9to5Google noted today, the Onn Pro was already previously rumored but hasn’t been announced, so it may have been stocked by mistake, as it still doesn’t appear on Walmart’s website.

The device is essentially a higher-end version of the Onn Google TV streaming box that Walmart already sells. According to the specs Superdell shared, in addition to 4K streaming and Chromecast support, the Onn Pro’s box includes support for Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. It also...

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AI security bill aims to prevent safety breaches of AI models

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images

A new bill seeking to track security issues by mandating the creation of a database recording all breaches of AI systems has been filed in the Senate.

The Secure Artificial Intelligence Act, introduced by Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), would establish an Artificial Intelligence Security Center at the National Security Agency. This center would lead research into what the bill calls “counter-AI,” or techniques to learn how to manipulate AI systems. This center would also develop guidance for preventing counter-AI measures.

The bill will also require the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to create a database of AI breaches, including...

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T-Mobile owns Mint Mobile

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

T-Mobile has completed its acquisition of Mint Mobile, the carrier partially owned by Ryan Reynolds. In an update on Wednesday, T-Mobile says Mint Mobile will continue to offer its $15 per month / 5GB of data plan (that requires paying for three months upfront), while also offering access to some of T-Mobile’s perks rolling out now and “over the next few months.”

The acquisition also includes Ka’ena Corporation, the parent company of Mint Mobile, along with the two other companies under its umbrella: the prepaid brand Ultra Mobile and the wholesale wireless provider Plum. Both Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile customers will get T-Mobile’s scam call screening service as part of the merger.

Additionally, Mint and Ultra customers will get free...

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WhatsApp’s new feature lets you plan your next event

Illustration: The Verge

WhatsApp is adding a new way to plan and organize events in group messages, making it easier for friends and organizations like schools and neighborhoods to set up virtual and in-person meetings.

The new events feature lets members of a group set up birthday parties, work meetings, and more, similar to various e-vite services that send out invitations via email. New WhatsApp events get pinned to a group’s information page and also get their own group chat thread so everyone can see who is down, hear out inevitable excuses for those who can’t make it, and confirm who is bringing cookies.

WhatsApp is additionally adding the ability to reply to “Announcement Groups” so members can add comments and feedback for the admin. It...

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Tesla reportedly shrinks its gigacasting manufacturing ambitions

Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

It’s gone from one piece to three.

Tesla’s ambitious plans to manufacture the underbody of its vehicles into a single piece, a process known as gigacasting, has been put on hold, according to Reuters, citing two sources with knowledge of the move. It was another sign that the company was pulling back from some of its previously reported plans as it struggles to adapt to falling sales and shrinking profits.

Typically, automakers piece together the underbody from hundreds of individual parts. But Tesla has been a leader in using huge presses to die-cast large sections, with the goal of eventually producing the entire underbody in a single piece. The goal was to simplify the process while also dramatically reducing the costs of its...

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It’s getting way easier to join PS5 multiplayer games with a friend

Inviting friends to your PS5 multiplayer sessions is getting much easier. | Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Sony is working on an easier way for anyone to join your gaming sessions — whether you’re friends on the PlayStation Network or not. The company says that “in the coming months,” you’ll be able to generate a link either on your PS5 or in the PlayStation App that you can share with others so they can join your multiplayer session.

On the PS5, that means popping up a QR code from the game lobby that players will need to scan using a smartphone, while the PlayStation App just creates a link users can copy or share through their phone’s share sheet. In its blog post today, Sony doesn’t say exactly how you get from tapping a link on your phone to playing a multiplayer game on your PS5, but presumably, you would need to have the PlayStation...

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Republicans release tech executives’ internal communications

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

Conservatives are pushing a story about Biden, covid-19, and content moderation on social media platforms in both the court of public opinion and the Supreme Court. A new report shared exclusively with The Verge and set to be released by a Republican-led House subcommittee brings the congressional effort to establish this narrative in line with a pending Supreme Court case, focusing on allegations that the Biden administration violated the First Amendment in its backchannel communications with platforms like Facebook.

That the communications happened in the first place is not illegal, though if they rise to the level of coercion — the issue that is in front of the Supreme Court now in Murthy v. Missouri— it would be.

Internal...

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This Qi2 3-in-1 charger has the best price we’ve seen from any brand

It was already the cheapest Qi2 multi-charger, and now the price is even better. | Image: ESR

If all-in-one chargers are your jam and you’ve been waiting for a great opportunity to upgrade to Qi2, check out this deal on ESR’s latest model. You can save $56.99 ($16 off) on ESR’s Qi2 3-in-1 wireless charging station after clipping the coupon at Amazon. That’s the lowest price we’ve seen on this particular model and easily the best deal you’ll find on a Qi2 3-in-1 charger from any brand right now.

The multipurpose charger has everything you’d expect: It uses magnets to hold your iPhone and Apple Watch in place and still has a free spot to charge your AirPods. The charger offers 15W charging speeds on any Qi2 phone, which, for now, is limited to the iPhone 12 and newer. The base of the charger accepts AirPods and other wireless...

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Starfield is finally getting a 60fps mode on Xbox

Image: Bethesda Softworks

Starfield players on Xbox will no longer have to deal with the game’s 30-frames-per-second (fps) cap. As part of an update arriving on May 15th, Bethesda will let Xbox Series X players run the game at 60fps.

The 60fps option comes as part of several new display customization settings. The game will let you choose to prioritize visuals to “[keep] the highest resolution while maintaining full detail for special effects, lighting, and crowds” or choose to prioritize frame rate performance, which will “[lower] internal resolution and detail for special effects, lighting, and crowds.” Bethesda recommends choosing the performance mode when running the game at 60fps or above.

It also recommends a variable refresh rate (VRR) display running at...

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Microsoft’s billion-dollar OpenAI investment was trigged by Google fears, emails reveal

Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 because it was “very worried” that Google was years ahead in scaling up its AI efforts. An internal email, titled “Thoughts on OpenAI,” between Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott, CEO Satya Nadella, and co-founder Bill Gates reveals some of the high-level discussions around an investment opportunity in the months before Microsoft revealed the partnership.

The email was released on Tuesday as part of the ongoing US Justice Department antitrust case against Google, Business Insider reports.

“We are multiple years behind the competition in terms of machine learning scale,” Scott writes in his June 12th, 2019, email to Nadella and Gates. He details how it took six months for Microsoft engineers to...

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Audible tries book recommendations based on your streaming history

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Audible is testing a new section that provides audiobook recommendations based on your Prime Video viewing history. The test is rolling out to half of all users with both Audible and Amazon Prime, and there’s no way to opt out for now.

If you have both services, you might see a new carousel on the mobile and web app titled “Based on what you watched recently on Prime Video.” It will contain audiobooks relevant to what you’ve watched on Prime Video, such as Dune, Project Hail Mary, and Fourth Wing.

Image: Audible

Audible is trying out the change after seeing connections between new releases on Prime Video and what audiobooks people are listening to. For example, the average daily listening minutes for Jack Reacher...

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Costa Rica restored its forests and switched to renewable energy — what can the world learn from it?

Land in Indigenous territory in Costa Rica that Cabécar leaders have reclaimed and are working to reforest. | Justine Calma / The Verge

The Verge takes you to Costa Rica to explore how it restored its forests and manages to get nearly 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy.

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LastPass goes independent over a year after serious breaches

Image: LastPass

It’s been over a year and a half since LastPass suffered back-to-back high-profile hacks, and the company now says it has separated from its parent company, GoTo.

GoTo announced that it would spin LastPass off as its own company back in December 2021, six years after buying the company. Now, the password vault company will operate under a shareholder holding company called LMI Parent.

LastPass’ most recent troubles began in late 2022, when it admitted that hackers stole source code in August of that year and then disclosed in November that hackers gained access to “certain elements” of “customer information” but insisted their passwords were safe. That’s open to interpretation, as hackers made off with a copy of a backup of customer...

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Anthropic finally releases a Claude mobile app

Image: The Verge

Anthropic, which makes the Claude 3 family of AI models, is launching an iOS app and adding a second paid tier for groups to share access to the models.

The Claude mobile app can act as a chatbot, and users can also upload photos straight to the app for “image analysis.” Previously, Claude was only available through Anthropic’s Claude.ai website and third-party model libraries like Amazon Bedrock, Hugging Face, or Microsoft Azure.

Scott White, product manager at Anthropic, says many Claude users have been accessing the AI models through the mobile web, which led Anthropic to offer an app version of Claude.ai. He says the company will come out with an Android version soon.

Anthropic, though, is a little late with its mobile app....

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How to get more space in your Google storage

The Verge

For many of us, Google storage is the modern-day hard drive. It’s the place where our most important thoughts, documents, and memories reside. But just like with a traditional hard drive, the space isn’t infinite, and running out of room can be a real problem.

By default, Google gives you 15GB of space to use for everything associated with your account. That includes content connected to Gmail, Google Drive, and all Google photos (except those saved before June 1st, 2021). Needless to say, data adds up fast.

You can check your current storage status by visiting this page, and if push comes to shove, you can purchase more space there, too, for as little as $2 a month for an extra 100GB. But shelling out more money might not be necessary....

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The next Batman: Arkham game is a Meta Quest exclusive

Image: Meta

Today, Meta has announced that the next entry in the iconic Batman: Arkham series will be Batman: Arkham Shadow, a VR game that’s exclusive to the Meta Quest 3.

Iron Man VR developer Camouflaj and Oculus Studios are developing the game, which is set to release later this year. Meta didn’t share much about the game itself, giving us a short trailer featuring Batman’s POV as he swoops over the grimy, rain-slicked streets of Gotham.

Though light on the actual gameplay features, the trailer suggests a big part of the game will likely include a lot of those “glide through Gotham” traversal sections that made Batman: Arkham City so damned cool. Meta also hasn’t yet shared who will be voicing Batman. Kevin Conroy, the voice actor best known for...

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LinkedIn is the latest company to get in on gaming

Photo: LinkedIn

LinkedIn is now in the gaming business. Starting today, users on the LinkedIn mobile app or on desktop can play one of three different games — Pinpoint, Queens, and Crossclimb. You’ll be able to play each game once per day, and after your daily session, you’ll get access to all kinds of metrics including your high score and daily streak, different leaderboards, and who in your networks has also played. The games are available here under the LinkedIn News and My Network section on desktop or the My Network tab on mobile.

Here’s a brief rundown of the three games.

Pinpoint is a word association game. The game will unveil five different words, and your job is to guess the category the words fit into. The words will reveal themselves on a...

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Ring’s first integrated pan and tilt camera comes in pink

Ring’s Indoor Cam now comes in a pan and tilt version and three new colors. | Image: Ring

Amazon-owned Ring has announced a new version of its wiredindoor security camera. The $79.99 Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam adds a motorized pan-tilt base to the Ring Indoor Cam (2nd Gen), which otherwise retains the same features as before: 1080p HD video, two-way talk, motion alerts, a built-in siren, and a manual privacy cover that blocks all audio and video. It’s just now you can point the camera up and down and all around using the Ring app.

The camera also has a new look, with Ring offering three new colors for the first time on any of its devices. Well, only one has any actual color; the blush version is a nice dark pink. Then there’s a charcoal gray and a cream white in addition to the existing white and black.

These new shades are...

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Nvidia’s AI chatbot now supports Google’s Gemma model, voice queries, and more

Image: Nvidia

Nvidia is updating its experimental ChatRTX chatbot with more AI models for RTX GPU owners. The chatbot, which runs locally on a Windows PC, can already use Mistral or Llama 2 to query personal documents that you feed into it, but now the list of supported AI models is growing to include Google’s Gemma, ChatGLM3, and even OpenAI’s CLIP model to make it easier to search your photos.

Nvidia first introduced ChatRTX as “Chat with RTX” in February as a demo app, and you’ll need an RTX 30- or 40-series GPU with 8GB of VRAM or more to be able to run it. The app essentially creates a local chatbot server that you can access from a browser and feed your local documents and even YouTube videos to get a powerful search tool complete with summaries...

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