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Stop using generative AI as a search engine
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A fake presidential pardon explains why you can’t trust robots with the news.
The VergeThe VergeOpenAI is charging $200 a month for an exclusive version of its o1 ‘reasoning’ model
Image: OpenAI
OpenAI is creating a new, more expensive tier for its flagship chatbot ChatGPT, and is bringing its “reasoning” model series out of preview with an update.
The company is releasing the full version of its o1 model, which was initially released as a limited preview in September (code-named ‘Strawberry’). The new model will be available for ChatGPT Plus and Team users today, while Enterprise and Edu users will have access to it starting next week.
The company is also introducing ChatGPT Pro, a new $200 monthly subscription tier that includes unlimited access to OpenAI o1, GPT-4o, and Advanced Voice mode. It also includes a version of o1, exclusive to Pro users, that uses more compute to provide the best possible answer to the hardest problems. The company will continue to offer a Plus tier for $20 a month that includes early access to new features, access to all the company’s models (except the more powerful o1 version), and more.
The Verge previously reported on the startup’s plans to kick off a “shipmas” period of new features, products, and demos for 12 days, with announcements that’ll include OpenAI’s long-awaited text-to-video AI tool Sora and a new model.
The company said that compared to o1-preview, users can expect a faster, more powerful, and more accurate model that is better at coding and math. It can also provide “reasoning” responses to images. And OpenAI promises it’s been trained to be more concise, which should result in faster response times than o1-preview.
OpenAI plans to add support for web browsing, file uploads, and more in ChatGPT — though there’s no timeline for these changes.
It also announced a ChatGPT Pro Grant Program that awards 10 grants of ChatGPT Pro to medical researchers at leading institutions, with plans for additional grants across various disciplines.
The VergeThe pope goes electric with first EV popemobile from Mercedes-Benz
Image: Mercedes-Benz
Pope Francis will be riding in a new, all-electric popemobile after receiving a modified G-Class vehicle from Mercedes-Benz, the company announced Wednesday.
It’s the first electric popemobile from the luxury German automaker, which has been manufacturing vehicles for the Vatican for the last 90 years. For half that time, the popemobile has been based on Mercedes’ G-Class wagon. And now, for the first time, it wil be operating without any pollution, powered by the company’s EV technology.
“With the new Popemobile, Pope Francis is the first pope to be traveling in a fully electric Mercedes-Benz when making public appearances,” CEO Ola Kallenius, who personally delivered the vehicle to Pope Francis this week. “This is a special honor for our company, and I would like to thank His Holiness for his trust. With this Popemobile, we are also sending out a clear call for electromobility and decarbonisation.”
“With this Popemobile, we are also sending out a clear call for electromobility and decarbonisation”
The vehicle was modified to utilize four individual motors at each wheel for low-speed travel as the Pope greets visitors in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, for example. In the rear, the bench seat was replaced by an elevated, swiveling single seat, so the pope can face his followers from all sides. Two other seats were included behind the pope’s spot for additional passengers.
This is the first all-electric popemobile, but it isn’t Pope Francis’ first experience with zero-emission transportation. The Vatican was gifted a Renault Kangoo electric van in 2012, but it wasn’t used for official transport. Pope Francis was driven around in a hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai in Japan in 2019. And Mercedes-Benz has even made hybrid popemobiles for his holiness.
The possibility of an electric popemobile has been floating around for years. The now-defunct EV startup Fisker even proposed building one after founder Henrik Fisker met briefly with Pope Francis in 2021. The company declared bankruptcy earlier this year.
The VergeAndroid 15’s first major update has arrived
More features are coming to Android and Pixel phones starting today. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
New features are on the way for Android phones and Pixel devices thanks to Android 15’s first quarterly platform update. New features for all eligible Android phones include more descriptive video captions, a Gemini-powered update to the Lookout app, and a Spotify extension for Gemini. Pixel owners are getting a few additional updates, including deeper integration of the Pixel Screenshots app for Pixel 9 phones.
The enhanced captions — or Expressive Captions as Google calls them — add descriptive phrases to try and capture non-spoken moments in dialogue; think [gasp] or [applause]. They’ll appear throughout the system wherever you can access video captions, including social media apps and video messages.
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Image: Google
Descriptive Captions will capture more of what’s going on in the audio track.
Another accessibility-minded update targets Lookout, an app that provides audio descriptions of photos and objects for people with low vision or blindness. Google is bringing its Gemini 1.5 model to the Image Q&A portion of the app to offer better descriptions of photos taken or opened with the app. It’s a continuation of an effort Google highlighted at I/O to bring more AI features to Lookout.
On the AI front, Google is adding more extensions to Gemini Assistant. The Spotify extension allows you to play music from Spotify through Gemini. When Gemini Assistant debuted, it was missing basic features like this one — capabilities that the non-AI Assistant has been offering for the better part of a decade. This is one more step toward feature parity between Gemini and the standard Google Assistant. Gemini will also get access to the Utilities extension that’s been rolling out, allowing it to take more actions on your behalf, like making phone calls, sending emails, and changing phone settings.
Other highlights of this update include the ability to create stickers with Emoji Kitchen inside Gboard, share photos with a QR code in Quick Share, and an improved scanning mode for receipts and the like in Google Drive.
Pixel phones get a little more with the December feature drop, with several new features specifically for the Pixel 9 series. The call screening feature gets a potentially useful update with contextual reply suggestions. As the caller speaks to the assistant, you can tap on a response to answer questions without picking up the call.
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Image: Google
Gboard will offer some suggested phrases based on things you add to Screenshots.
The Pixel 9’s Screenshots app also gets a few updates. Now, when you use Circle to Search you’ll have an option to save that search in the Screenshots app, which feels like a logical place to keep tabs on your previous queries. You can also turn on a new feature to show suggested search phrases in Gboard based on things you save to Screenshots. And if you’ve added tickets or credit cards to Google Wallet with a screenshot, you’ll be able to save those in the Screenshots app, too.
There are a handful of other features in the feature drop for previous-gen Pixel phones, including Identity Check, which will require additional authentication if the phone detects it’s in a new location and sensitive settings are being accessed. It all starts rolling out today for phones on Android 15 and Pixel 6 and newer phones.
The VergeMicrosoft’s Copilot can browse the web with you using AI ‘Vision’
Image: The Verge
Microsoft is starting to test its new Copilot Vision feature today. Originally unveiled in October, Copilot Vision allows Microsoft’s AI companion to see what you see on an Edge webpage you’re browsing. You can then ask it questions about the text, images, and content you’re viewing or use it to assist you.
“When you choose to enable Copilot Vision, it sees the page you’re on, it reads along with you, and you can talk through the problem you’re facing together,” says the Copilot team in a blog post. “Browsing no longer needs to be a lonely experience with just you and all your tabs.”
It’s an entirely optional experience, and you have to explicitly grant permission for Copilot Vision to be able to read webpages in Microsoft’s Edge browser. Microsoft originally demonstrated the feature in October by showing how its AI assistant could read images from a collection on OneDrive on the web and even decipher hand-written recipes and offer up cooking tips. You could also use this feature while you’re shopping on the web to find product recommendations.
Copilot Vision is in limited testing right now, available only to Copilot Pro subscribers through Microsoft’s Copilot Labs program. It’s clear Microsoft is taking its time on this particular feature as it allows AI models to start reading things you’re seeing onscreen in a web browser, which will naturally generate privacy concerns. I’m sure the security concerns around the new Recall feature, which finally entered testing last month, played a big part in Microsoft treading carefully here.
“As we roll this out, Vision will only interact with a select set of websites to start,” says the Copilot team. “Over time, we will cautiously expand this list. It’s important to stress that Vision does not capture, store or use any data from publishers to train our models. In short, we’re prioritizing copyright, creators, and our user’s privacy and safety — and are putting them all first.”
A limited number of Copilot Pro subscribers will be able to get access to Copilot Vision today in the US as Microsoft works to listen to feedback and iterate on Copilot Vision. It plans to expand access to more Pro subscribers and websites “over time.”
The VergeMicrosoft and Google are fighting over the future of Xbox
Image: The Verge
In October, it became very clear that Microsoft and Google were at war again. After a six-year truce on legal battles ended in 2021, Google has, in recent months, been voicing its concerns about Microsoft’s cloud business. That particular dispute is at the “lobbying regulators” stage, but another disagreement between the two tech giants has slipped into the courts and the public sphere and could sway the very future of Xbox.
Microsoft revealed last week that it built a new Xbox game store for Android but has been unable to launch it. The store relies on a key court ruling that would force sweeping changes to Google’s Play Store, opening it up to competition and ending the requirement for apps to use Google Play Billing. Microsoft has been desperate for regulators to act and pave the way for its ambitious Xbox mobile efforts. But after the court ruling offered a brief moment of hope, Google won a temporary administrative stay blocking the changes from coming into effect in November.
Microsoft had planned to sell games directly in its Xbox app for Android and allow customers to immediately stream those games directly to their phones and tablets. These two features combined aren’t...
The VergePlayStation kicks off esports tournament series with live event in London
Tekken 8 will be one of the games people can compete in.
Sony is building on its PlayStation esports efforts with a new series of live tournament events called PlayStation Tournaments: XP. The first event will take place on January 18th, 2025 in London and feature Tekken 8, EA Sports FC 25, Fortnite, and Astro Bot.
“Qualifying players from across the globe and the competitive gaming community on PS5 will represent teams Triangle, Circle, Cross, and Square to earn points during the competition and vie for the title of champion, in addition to winning exclusive prizes,” Sony says in a blog post.
Open qualifiers for Tekken 8 and EA Sports FC 25 begin today, while qualifiers for Fortnite start on December 6th and for Astro Bot on December 13th. If you qualify for the live event, Sony will cover flights and lodging. Sony has more details about the qualifying events in a separate blog post.
The January event will also be live-streamed on January 18th on PlayStation’s Twitch and YouTube channels.
The VergeNZXT responded to the Flex PC rental program controversy, but it’s not over yet
Screenshot: NZXT.com
After a long video published over the weekend by Gamers Nexus called NZXT’s Flex PC rental program “a scam,” the company responded Tuesday with a statement titled “Addressing Your Concerns About the Flex Subscription Program.” “I want to acknowledge that we messed up,” said NZXT CEO Johnny Hou in a video, promising changes like making the names of PCs available for rent or purchase easier to tell apart.
However, what it said has not satisfied Gamers Nexus, which posted its own response, saying NZXT’s statement “not only misrepresents facts, but distorts the reality of their predatory rental computer program. The statement ignores major points and introduces several new concerns.” The post says GN is working on a new investigation into the program that “will take weeks or months to finalize.”
The two main actions NZXT says it’s taking are on the PC names, like switching the name of its “Player: One” rental PC to “Flex: One Subscription PC,” and influencer campaigns “where the statements did not accurately reflect the details of our NZXT Flex program.” NZXT says it has pulled all of its “influencer-led” advertising while it updates the language and process.
NZXT says it is adjusting the language in its subscriber agreement as well and will make it clear that the company doesn’t sell user data on customers’ returned PCs. “Every Flex PC that comes back is fully wiped,” Hou said.
Hou also addressed the rental PC specs that Gamers Nexus said fluctuated “day-to-day,” noting that the Flex program “doesn’t give you fixed specs” due to the changing availability of components. “Sometimes we don’t have more supply coming in, so in the midst of that we actually have to change the specs of our PCs.”
However, this still doesn’t explain why NZXT displayed the same estimated frames per second across builds with different components. The Verge has contacted NZXT about the program, but the company has not responded.
NZXT has posted a statement which not only misrepresents facts, but distorts the reality of their predatory rental computer program. The statement ignores major points and introduces several new concerns. GamersNexus has become aware of deeper elements connected to this story…
— GamersNexus (@GamersNexus) December 5, 2024
The VergeEA adds more tech patents to its accessibility program
EA is also releasing a UE5 plugin for it’s Iris photosensitivity tech, which features on games like Madden NFL 24 (Pictured). | Image: Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts is expanding its accessibility program with 23 additional tech patents that other companies and developers can freely use without being slapped with an infringement lawsuit. The expansion more than doubles the total number of patents that EA has opened up since launching the pledge in 2021, and includes generation and recognition tools for speech and audio.
“We believe that games should be accessible to everyone and our industry-leading teams are always looking for new ways to make this a reality,” Kerry Hopkins, SVP of Global Affairs at EA, said in a press release. “By making this technology available to others, we continue to work to enhance accessibility and inclusivity for players around the world by removing unintended barriers to access.”
Some examples of open tech patents include systems that can improve speech recognition, generate expressive speech audio from text data, and generate speech that mimics a player’s voice based on minimal sample speech data. One system uses machine learning to make a player’s voice sound older, while another “infers a player’s emotion while playing a video game” and automatically adjusts the game’s background music to best suit their emotional state.
EA says these patents could be used to improve gaming experiences for players with speech disorders or who struggle with verbally expressing themselves, helping them to communicate in a way that better represents their age, emotion, language, and speaking style. Alongside this announcement, EA is also releasing a Unreal Engine 5 plugin that enables in-engine use of IRIS — EA’s photosensitivity analysis tech — to help game developers identify frames that could impact photosensitive players.
The VergeMaster & Dynamic revived a pair of wired earphones
Master & Dynamic is bringing back a pair of wired earbuds it first introduced in 2015. | Image: Master & Dynamic
Master & Dynamic has announced an updated version of its ME05 wired earphones. First introduced in 2015, the ME05 were eventually discontinued in early 2022 but the company is reintroducing them with familiar design elements including “precision-machined brass acoustic enclosures” while updating other components to improve their performance. Like the originals, the new ME05 are $199 and are available now through Master & Dynamic’s website, and coming to Amazon “this winter.”
Upgrades made to the new version of the ME05 include “custom high-excursion 8mm bio-cellulose drivers” and a better microphone with “with proprietary wind reduction” to improve the quality of your voice during calls, even while outside.
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Image: Master & Dynamic
An included USB-C to 3.5mm adapter serves as a digital to audio converter.
The new ME05 also offer improved compatibility, says Master & Dynamic, with the inclusion of a 3.5mm to USB-C adapter featuring a built-in digital to analog converter that supports hi-res audio up to 32-bit/384kHz resolutions. For comparison, Tidal’s hi-res streaming audio maxes out at 24-bit / 192 kHz.
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Image: Master & Dynamic
The new version of the ME05 come in four different color options.
The earphones come with foam ear tips in two sizes and silicone tips in five different sizes, and are available in four color options including gold and black, gunmetal and black, palladium and black, and palladium and white.
Although Master & Dynamic has focused on premium wireless headphone offerings in recent years (amongst other headphone makers), wired headphones, including Apple’s iconic tethered EarPods, still remain popular. But while Apple still sells wired earphones for $19, Master & Dynamic’s revived ME05 are priced more in line with wired offerings from companies like Shure and Sennheiser that are targeted at audiophiles or musicians.
The VergeWhy investors don’t mind that AI is a money pit
Image: The Verge
AI investment is massive even though AI profits are not. How are investors justifying this pricey gamble on the future?
The VergeAmazon’s Secret Level is a hollow anthology of video game cutscenes
Pac-Man. | Image: Amazon
Ever since it was announced, there has been some confusion over just what Secret Level actually is. The video game-themed anthology streaming on Prime Video — helmed by Love, Death & Robots creator Tim Miller — is a collection of animated shorts, each based on a different gaming property. So there’s a Mega Man episode that explores the character’s origin and a Spelunky episode that attempts to create a metanarrative around the concept of a roguelike.
It’s an interesting idea let down by a lack of interesting ideas. The 15 shorts are almost universally dull and manage to neither make their source material seem compelling nor provide new insights for existing fans. The real confusion is who this is actually for.
The main problem is how homogenous Secret Level is. Working directly with game publishers, the show pulls from an oddball but also impressively global list, with titles like Chinese megahit Honor of Kings and Korean shooter Crossfire. But despite featuring a large variety of video games, its episodes all feel very samey. It’s kind of the opposite of Love, Death & Robots, which featured a number of different styles and tones as it explored horror and sci-fi. That’s how we...
The VergeWaymo’s next robotaxi city will be Miami
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images
Waymo is making the moves on Magic City.
Alphabet’s robotaxi service said it would launch in Miami in 2026. The company has been testing its autonomous vehicles in the Florida city on-and-off since 2019, and more recently has begun to lay the groundwork in earnest.
Waymo plans to start “reacquainting” its autonomous Jaguar I-Pace vehicles to Miami’s streets in 2025. And in 2026, it expects to start making its vehicles available to riders through its Waymo One ridehail app.
Waymo plans to start “reacquainting” its autonomous Jaguar I-Pace vehicles to Miami’s streets in 2025
The vehicles will be maintained by a company called Moove, which provides fleet services, as well as a range of financial products for mobility companies. The African company (it has several offices in Nigeria) is backed by Uber and was recently valued at $750 million.
Moove will start out by taking over Waymo’s fleet management operations in Phoenix. That includes cleaning the vehicles, charging them, and making sure that the sensors are calibrated and unobstructed.
Waymo’s robotaxi business is slowly growing. It currently operates fleets of driverless cars in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Phoenix. It also plans to launch a robotaxi service in Atlanta in an exclusive partnership with Uber. Waymo said recently it crossed the threshold of providing 150,000 paid trips per week.
Miami once played host to Ford-backed ArgoAI’s autonomous vehicle testing, but the company shut down when Ford pulled its funding.
The VergeThis new smart thermostat from Meross works with Matter
The Meross Matter Smart Thermostat is the company’s first thermostat compatible with North American heating and cooling systems. | Image: Meross
Smart home company Meross announced its first Matter-certified smart thermostat and its first to work with North American whole-home heating and cooling systems. The Meross Matter Smart Thermostat costs $99.99, works over Wi-Fi, and features a white glass panel with a touch screen, smart scheduling, and can track system usage through the Meross app.
The thermostat requires a C-Wire, and Meross says it’s compatible with 95 percent of heating and cooling systems. It also appears it will work with Meross’ smart temperature and humidity sensors, which are Matter-compatible. They cost $30 each, although you’ll need a Meross hub to use them.
Matter compatibility means the thermostat can integrate with platforms such as Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings locally over your Wi-Fi network without requiring a cloud connection. You should also be able to set up and use the thermostat directly on those platforms without requiring the Meross app.
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Image: Meross
The new smart thermostat from Meross can track the heating and cooling usage of your HVAC system.
Surprisingly, despite the popularity of smart thermostats — which take a lot of the pain out of programming your heating and cooling system and can use their smarts to help save you energy — there are only two Matter-compatible smart thermostats for US HVAC systems. Those are the Nest Thermostat ($129.99) and the new Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen) ($279.99) — both from Google. Other popular brands in the space, such as Ecobee, Amazon, and Honeywell Home, have not added Matter support to their thermostats.
This means that if you're interested in using a Matter device to control your HVAC, Meross’ new thermostat is now your least expensive option. While it doesn’t come with the Nest Thermostat’s smarts that will automatically adjust your schedule, it is the only thermostat with Matter-compatible room sensors. The Nest Learning Thermostat has room sensors, but they're not compatible with Matter.
One reason for the lack of support for more thermostats in Matter could be the limited controls Matter allows for. Currently, you can only adjust the temperature and change the mode on compatible platforms. However, the most recent spec release for Matter (1.4) added support for scheduling and preset modes such as home / away and vacation settings. This addition means that once a platform supports 1.4, it will be easier to set up and use a Matter smart thermostat directly in your smart home platform of choice and not need to use the manufacturer’s app.
The Meross Matter Smart Thermostat costs $99.99 and is available now, with a launch price of $69.99 from the Meross store.
The VergeIkea’s smart lights can now automatically adjust throughout the day
Ikea has updated its smart home app to bring dynamic lighting to its smart lights. | Image: Ikea
Ikea updated its Home smart mobile app this week with a new dynamic lighting feature that will automatically adjust the color temperature and brightness of its smart lights throughout the day. It’s similar to the natural light scene that Philips Hue introduced in late 2022, and is designed to provide warmer illumination in the mornings and evenings, with cooler hues in the day time.
The new feature is mentioned in the version history notes of a recent update to the iOS version of the Ikea Home smart app, and is described as a way to “keep your home in balance” that’s “great for mind, body, and soul.” The Android version of Ikea’s app was updated on the same day, according to Notebookcheck, but there’s no mention of the new adaptive lighting feature there, only bug fixes and minor improvements.
Given the feature is specifically tied to Ikea’s Home smart app, it’s only compatible with lighting products that connect to Ikea’s Matter-ready Dirigera smart home hub that launched in the latter half of 2022. That includes products like its Sonos-compatible Symfonisk speaker lamp. However, it’s not known if the feature will work with third-party smart lights through Matter, and The Verge has reached out to Ikea to confirm if it’s compatible with the Adaptive Lighting feature in Apple’s Home app.
The VergeTwos is a handy to-do list app with exactly the right amount of AI
A perfect example of the good and bad of Twos AI: paper towel prices are helpful, eBay listings, less helpful. | Image: Twos
A lot of AI tools promise something like magic. Just write down all the stuff you need to do, or better yet, just let the tool record every second of your life, and presto manifesto, it’ll do… something. Buy plane tickets, maybe, or magically reorder your calendar to maximize your flow state. The idea is huge and enticing, that you could just live your life and your AI assistant will make everything happen on your behalf. But hardly any of it works.
The developers of the app Twos are taking a much more cautious and, as a result, much more actually useful approach. Twos is an app for taking notes, managing to-dos, and generally making lists of any and every kind — Parker Klein, the app’s creator, just calls it “a place to write things down.” Klein has been working on the app for nearly a decade, first as a tool just for himself and most recently as a true startup. I’ve been using Twos off and on for a couple of years, and there’s a lot to like about the app.
The Twos AI approach, which Klein and cofounder Joe Steilberg call “smart suggestions,” is to use AI to help you simply take the first step in getting something done. If you write down the name of a movie, Twos might offer you a link to a JustWatch search or the IMDb page for that movie. If you write a person’s name and phone number, it can add them to your contacts with one tap. If you’re making a grocery list, it’ll send you to Amazon or Walmart or Instacart to buy it.
The logic behind all these suggestions is really simple: Twos looks for certain words and phrases to determine what you’re trying to do and which integration makes the most sense. (You can pick and choose, too — I never use Uber Eats, for instance, so I turned that off entirely.) All the smart suggestions really do is take the first step. They’re definitely not perfect — when I type “bake blueberry muffins,” it offers me an Allrecipes link, which is helpful and relevant, and a Google Maps search for “blueberry muffins around me,” which is not. But even in the feature’s early days, I’ve found it way more useful than almost every other, vastly more ambitious productivity tool.
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Image: Twos
Like any to-do list app worth its valuation, Twos now has an AI chatbot.
Twos also has a built-in chatbot, which you can use to ask questions about your notes. If you use your note-taking app like a journal, this can be really cool — “what was the name of that Thai food place we went to a few weeks ago?” is a surprisingly common question in my life. Lots of apps have something like this, and they all suffer from the same problem: if you don’t put everything in the app, the search isn’t that useful. But whether it’s Notion or Dropbox or Twos, the AI integrations reward the heaviest users.
AI turns Twos into not just my to-do list but the jumping-off point for all my tasks. Since the app works across platforms — it’s fundamentally a web app, but there are versions for Android and iOS, Windows and Mac, and more — it’s easy to just dump information into. Then, when it’s time to leave for the restaurant I wrote down and promptly forgot the name of, I open Twos, tap the sparkles that appear next to any item with a smart suggestion, and it opens Google Maps and directs me there. You can store and organize things inside of Twos, but I find myself using it transiently, just for the small things in day-to-day life. I need to make bread: click the sparkles, bread recipes appear. Remember to buy those Sesame Street bath toys for the kid: click the sparkles, Amazon search done. Ollie’s birthday is December 7th: click the sparkles, in my contacts.
For now, the Twos smart suggestions are only available in beta testing, and there’s a waitlist for new users. (Though Klein did tell me that if you sign up and use the code “Verge,” you’ll be able to skip the line.) Klein and Steilberg are working on more integrations and more ways to do even more with just a few words of your writing. They’re obviously enticed by how far this might go. Why not automatically buy the toys or start the grocery delivery and take a cut for themselves? It’s an age-old idea, that one. Any.do tried it years ago; there was even a frenzy of apps like Magic that would do it all via text message. Even the Alexa business model used to depend on you being willing to just shout “buy toilet paper” at your speaker and trust it to do the rest.
There’s just one problem with the idea: it doesn’t work. There are too many logistical questions, too many ways to screw it up, and too many consequences for getting it wrong that it’s not going to work anytime soon. If ever.
In the meantime, the best AI tools work the way Twos does: by just helping you get started. Some apps help you search for information even when you don’t know exactly how to ask for it; others write the first draft of code or an email to get you started. AI as a complete solution to just about anything still feels like fiction. AI as a first step? Pretty useful.
The VergeOura’s smart rings can now tell when you’re getting sick
Symptom Radar flags when you have no signs, minor signs, or major signs of respiratory illness. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
At the height of the covid-19 pandemic, many wearable companies rushed to see if their devices could detect early signs of the disease. Now, four years later, Oura is officially launching a feature that can flag when you may be coming down with a respiratory illness.
Technically, Symptom Radar isn’t diagnostic in nature — though its development does have roots in Oura’s illness prediction research during the pandemic. It can’t tell you if you’re catching a cold or the flu versus covid-19. Instead, it’s more of an “illness warning light” that flags when your body is showing early signs that something’s up.
“What we saw through all of the research and science that we’ve done is that your physiology actually starts changing a day or two before you start feeling symptoms,” Shyamal Patel, Oura’s head of science, tells The Verge. From there, the idea is to take precautionary measures.
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Image: Oura
Symptom Radar is moving out of beta.
Essentially, Symptom Radar works by evaluating metrics like resting heart rate, heart rate variability, temperature trends, and breathing rate to detect significant changes from your long-term baselines. When users sync their data in the morning, they’ll be notified if no signs, minor signs, or major signs of strain related to respiratory symptoms have been identified. In the case of minor or major signs, the Oura app will encourage users to turn on Rest Mode and take steps to prioritize rest.
Symptom Radar was actually introduced as a beta feature in April through Oura’s recently launched Labs program for experimental features. Patel says that’s been a valuable part of developing the feature for prime time. On the one hand, the Oura team was able to develop a new algorithm based on a much bigger data set. Even so, Patel acknowledged that the algorithm isn’t 100 percent accurate and that false positives and negatives were possible; Oura didn’t provide specific accuracy data.
Beta users also noted that they actually wanted to be notified when symptoms weren’t detected. Given that, Patel says the official version of Symptom Radar will now include a historical graph so that people can see how their health is trending over time.
“It will also be interesting to see how [people] recover from [illnesses]. That’s where I see some interesting things that we could kind of evolve towards,” Patel says. He notes that aside from flagging illness, Symptom Radar could be a useful tool in helping people identify what factors help in recovering from illnesses faster.
Symptom Radar will be available to all Oura Ring Gen 3 and Oura Ring 4 users by Monday, December 9th.
The VergeRivian opens up its charging network to other EVs for the first time
Image: Rivian
Rivian’s latest EV charging station is the first to be open to other companies’ vehicles.
The new station located in California’s Joshua Tree National Park will be the companies’ first that’s available to non-Rivian electric vehicles. The station features a new design, including larger displays with a tap-to-pay option, that can accommodate any car brands’ EVs.
Currently, the Rivian Adventure Network, which comprises 560 chargers at 92 sites across the country, are exclusive to owners of the company’s R1T and R1S vehicles. This was a similar approach to Tesla, which initially built its own Supercharger network so it could offer exclusive charging to its own customers.
But with billions of dollars in federal funding at stake, automakers are now reassessing this exclusivity. One of the requirements for receiving federal funding for EV charging installation is that chargers need to be available to all EVs, not just a single brand.
Rivian Adventure Network comprises 560 chargers at 92 sites across the country
Tesla began opening its network to non-Tesla EVs in 2023. Soon after, it open-sourced its charging plug, renaming it the North American Charging Standard (NACS), and began making a series of deals with the rest of the auto industry (including Rivian) to use it for their EVs.
Rivian’s EV chargers use the standard CCS connector for DC fast charging. But the stations are still exclusive to Rivian vehicles thanks to proprietary software. With today’s announcement, the company is beginning the process of unwinding that exclusivity.
Rivian has also said that it would adopt Tesla’s NACS charging standard. Current Rivian customers can buy an adapter if they want to use the Supercharger network. In 2026, Rivian said it will begin producing vehicles with a native NACS port.
Rivian spokesperson Evan Barbour said that the company’s future EV charging sites will also be open to non-Rivian EVs. Rivian plans to open additional charging sites in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New York before the end of 2024.
Meanwhile, current stations will be retrofitted with software updates to accommodate other brands, as well as hardware updates to add NACS charging plugs. In the meantime, the Joshua Tree location and others will be available to Tesla owners with NACS-to-CCS adapters.
EV ownership is currently a tangle of competing standards, subpar software experiences, and dueling payment apps. And while some customers admit that the EV charging experience is slowly improving, this next phase of adapters and formerly proprietary chargers going universal has really only just begun.
The VergeOpenAI strikes content deal with Tom’s Guide owner Future
Illustration: The Verge
OpenAI is partnering with Future, the publisher behind Tom’s Guide, PC Gamer, TechRadar, Marie Claire, and many other websites and magazines. The deal will give ChatGPT users access to news and lifestyle content from Future’s more than 200 media brands, while also displaying “attribution and links to the full original articles.”
This adds to the string of content licensing agreements OpenAI has made in recent months. In addition to The Verge’s parent company Vox Media, OpenAI has also struck deals with The Wall Street Journal owner News Corp, People publisher Dotdash Meredith, Politico parent Axel Springer, the Financial Times, and The Atlantic. However, some publishers, like The New York Times, The Intercept, and a group of Canadian outlets including the CBC, have sued OpenAI over allegations of copyright infringement.
OpenAI says its deal with Future builds on the company’s “existing deployment of OpenAI’s technology,” as it has already launched AI chatbots within Tom’s Hardware and Who What Wear. Future also plans to use OpenAI’s tech for sales, marketing, and editorial purposes.
“This partnership enables us to enhance the ChatGPT experience by providing more access to engaging, up to date, and reliable information from a range of specialist sources,” OpenAI chief operating officer Brad Lightcap said in the announcement. “Our goal is to help publishers and content creators both benefit from advanced AI technology and expand their reach.”
The VergeHow one creator visualized AI by using very little AI
Photo: Stormy Pyeatte for The Verge
The artist behind The Verge’s ‘Friend or Faux?’ feature explains the practical effects behind its design.
The VergeUber will deliver your Christmas tree — and even a troupe of carolers — to your front door
Uber is getting into the holiday spirit with a new update that will enable customers to order on-demand Christmas trees, and even a troupe of carolers, to their front door. The company is also rebranding its same-day delivery service as Uber Courier and expanding its feature that allows parents of small children to book a vehicle with a car seat.
Uber has offered limited Christmas tree delivery, off and on, since 2015 — usually through partnerships with local vendors. This year, the company is expanding the service nationwide. Customers can order a fresh-cut Christmas tree — or a selection of other holiday-themed decorations, including wreaths — through the Uber Eats app.
Not available nationwide is the company’s offer to send a group of singers to your home to serenade you with Christmas carols. That service will only be available to Uber customers in New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, and Washington, DC, starting on December 7th. The carolers will also bring you a boozy treat, courtesy of a partnership with alcohol provider Diageo.
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Holiday gimmicks aside, Uber is rebranding its same-day delivery service, Uber Connect, as Uber Courier. Deliveries can be scheduled ahead of time, and Uber offers live trip tracking as well as a PIN verification system to confirm receipt of the package.
And lastly, Uber is expanding its car seat offering to more cities, including Orlando, DC, Atlanta, Miami, and San Francisco. The service, which provides Nuna car seats to drivers, has been live in New York City and Los Angeles since 2023.
The VergeVodafone and Three clear to merge and form the UK’s biggest mobile operator
Image: Getty
Vodafone and Three have been cleared to create the UK’s biggest mobile operator after committing to address concerns around network upgrades and price hikes. The proposed £16.5 billion merger (about $20.9 billion) was approved by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday following months of regulatory scrutiny, and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.
“Having carefully considered the evidence, as well as the extensive feedback we have received, we believe the merger is likely to boost competition in the UK mobile sector and should be allowed to proceed – but only if Vodafone and Three agree to implement our proposed measures,” Stuart McIntosh, chair of the inquiry group leading the antitrust investigation, said in a statement.
The approval was subject to both companies signing binding commitments to invest billions into expanding their combined 5G network over the next eight years. The agreement also requires the new entity to cap some mobile tariffs and offer preset contractual terms to mobile virtual network operators for three years, addressing previous CMA concerns that the merger could harm competition and lead to higher prices for customers.
“Today’s approval releases the handbrake on the UK’s telecoms industry, and the increased investment will power the UK to the forefront of European telecommunications,” Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle said in a statement.
The plan to combine two of the country’s top four mobile operators was first announced in 2023, and will create a network with 27 million customers once complete. Vodafone will own 51 percent of the merged entity, and is expected to buy out the remaining 49 percent after three years. The deal follows similar large-scale mergers between companies like Orange and T-Mobile in 2010, and Virgin Mobile and O2 in 2021.
The VergeBitcoin just hit $100,000
Nick Barclay / The Verge
Bitcoin has passed $100,000, marking its highest price since the cryptocurrency launched more than a decade ago, and as of this writing, it has reached $103,359.00, according to Kraken. Despite its triumphs, Bitcoin’s value is still being measured in USD, emerging as an alternate payment option or investment rather than a replacement for fiat currency.
The price of Bitcoin spiked following the news that Donald Trump won the 2024 US Presidential Election. Bitcoin sat around $69,000 on Election Day but later shot to $75,000 following the news that Trump won, according to data from CoinDesk. Its price has been rising since, as investors expect a more crypto-friendly environment under the Trump administration.
Trump, who has launched his own cryptocurrency platform, has promised to hold onto the Bitcoin owned by the federal government while also vowing to fire Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler, who has fought to regulate crypto firms. Gensler later announced that he would step down from the position in January.
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Image: Dune Analytics
The final push past the $100k mark occurred a few hours after Trump announced several nominations for his administration, which included adding former Republican Securities and Exchange Commissioner Paul Atkins as his pick to lead the agency. Atkins has served as co-chair of the Chamber of Digital Commerce’s Token Alliance, and Trump said he “recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.”
Other factors contributed to the Bitcoin spike as well, including the start of options trading on Blackrock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, which saw $1.9 billion traded during its first day.
The VergeHumane wants to put the AI Pin’s software inside your phone, car, and smart speaker
Image: Humane
Humane, which makes the not-great AI Pin, wants other companies to build AI devices and gadgets that use its CosmOS operating system, and it has released a video that appears to show that the company already has it working in a car, TV, smart speaker, and phone.
But note that the video, according to Humane’s own fine print, is for “illustrative purposes only” — it shows “working prototypes” and some “simulated experiences,” and the print says that all “designs, features, and specifications” are subject to change. So don’t take it entirely at face value.
In one example, the video shows a person talking to CosmOS in their car (with a blurred out logo on the steering wheel) to turn the heat up at their house and figure out what time people are coming over. They ask their (blurred out) smart speaker about a guacamole recipe, and their TV about how many goals a soccer player onscreen has scored. The video also shows CosmOS reading an email on the person’s phone and responding to a question about whether the person can attend a meeting.
If you’ve been following recent AI hype, especially around agents, none of these examples should feel particularly novel — Humane wants to demonstrate that CosmOS is capable of powerful agent-like capabilities, and for companies to consider it as a possible backbone for their devices. But the items in this video aren’t Humane’s own products, and Humane clearly isn’t promising to make them. It’s building an SDK for others to do so.
That CosmOS SDK isn’t available publicly yet — the company’s website only says that it’s “coming soon,” though you can click a button to “sign up to build with us,” which takes you to a form to fill out. Humane doesn’t mention any partners building devices that rely on CosmOS — the blurred-out logos on the car and smart speaker suggest the company may have not gotten that far yet. We’ve asked Humane if it can share any examples.
Humane may be looking for a new line of business after the AI Pin flopped; we reported in August that daily returns of the device were outpacing sales. The product initially launched in April, but the company dropped the price of the Pin just six months later. Earlier this year, Humane was reportedly looking for a buyer, with HP at one point being a contender.
The VergeJeff Bezos says he’s ‘very optimistic this time around’ about Trump
Jeff Bezos. | Laura Normand / The Verge
Jeff Bezos and President-elect Donald Trump famously didn’t get along the last time Trump was in the White House. This time, Bezos says he’s “very optimistic” and even wants to help out.
“I’m actually very optimistic this time around,” Bezos said of Trump during a rare public appearance at The New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday. “He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. If I can help him do that, I’m going to help him.”
Trump railed against Bezos and his companies — Amazon, Blue Origin, and The Washington Post — during his 2016 term. Bezos defended himself but it did little to help his reputation with Trump. Now, his companies have a lot at stake in the coming administration, from the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit against Amazon to Blue Origin’s efforts to compete with SpaceX for government contracts.
Onstage at the DealBook Summit on Wednesday, Bezos called Trump “calmer this time” and “more settled.” He said he will try to “talk him out of” the idea that the press, which includes The Washington Post, is an enemy of the people.
“You’ve probably grown in the last eight years,” he said to DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. “He has, too.”
Bezos also echoed Sam...
The VergeThe NYPD is trying to track a Citi Bike used by the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer
On Wednesday morning, someone shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan before walking away and then getting on a Citi Bike that they rode to Central Park, said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenney during a press conference. Thompson was scheduled to appear at the company’s investor meeting today, which was canceled after the shooting.
Now Lyft, which owns the bikeshare service, says it’s prepared to help investigators if the shooter left a digital trail while renting or using one of its bikes. Lyft spokesperson Eric Smith said in an email to The Verge that the company is “ready to assist law enforcement.” However, as of the time the company responded to our inquiry, investigators hadn’t yet made contact.
“As far as where he got the Citi Bike, we’re still working that through,” Kenney told reporters, adding that the department was gathering video from “numerous sources” but that it doesn’t “have video or witness confirmation on how he obtained that bike.”
Kenney said it looked like the killer “specifically targeted” Thompson and that “at this point, we do not know why.” The CEO’s wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that “there had been some threats.”
Earlier this year, UnitedHealthcare suffered a massive ransomware attack, which leaked info on over 100 million people and snarled healthcare for weeks despite a $22 million payment to the attackers.
Police officials were spotted asking around for video footage of a Citi Bike kiosk on Madison Avenue and 82nd Street in Manhattan early Wednesday afternoon, reports The New York Times. NYPD shared images of the shooter, including one of them on the bike, and asked that anyone with “information as to the identity or location of this individual” contact police at 1-800-577-TIPS.
These are images of the individual sought in connection to this investigation. If anyone has information as to the identity or location of this individual please contact @NYPDTips at 1(800)577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/sm2GuEOYk1
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 4, 2024
The VergeUS officials recommend encrypted messaging to evade hackers in telecom networks
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images
US officials are urging Americans to make calls and send text messages over encrypted apps to minimize the risk of private information falling into the hands of foreign adversaries who might still be lurking in America’s telecommunications networks,NBC News reports.
Two officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) spoke with news outlets, including NBC News, Tuesday on the lasting effects of a recent attack on US telecommunications systems. The attack, which was tied to Chinese hacking group Salt Typhoon, impacted companies including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Lumen Technologies, The Wall Street Journal first reportedin October. The Journal later reported that targets of the hack included phone numbers for people in the Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigns.
Two months after the initial report of the hack, malicious actors may still be able to gain access to sensitive information about Americans’ communications from the telecom networks.
An FBI officialon the call, who was not identified in press reports, reportedly said hackers accessed information including call records showing phone numbers called and the times of the call, and in some cases actual live phone calls of certain targets. The Journal reported last month that hackers could have gained access to unencrypted texts as well.
Jeff Greene, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, told reporterson the call that the scale of the hack was so great that agencies could not possibly predict when there would be a “full eviction” of malicious material, NBC News writes.
“Encryption is your friend, whether it’s on text messaging or if you have the capacity to use encrypted voice communication,” Greene said, according to NBC News. “Even if the adversary is able to intercept the data, if it is encrypted, it will make it impossible.” Services like Signal and WhatsApp offer end-to-end encrypted messaging that can obscure communications outside of the users involved in the call or text.
Law enforcement’s embrace of encrypted apps is particularly notable given that the FBI has previously railed against tech companies’ protectiveness over the technology. Though the FBI publicly says it does not oppose encryption, it has strict parameters on its support. The agency’s website states that it “does not want encryption to be weakened or compromised so that it can be defeated by malicious actors,” but wants companies that “manage encrypted data to be able to decrypt that data and provide it to law enforcement only in response to U.S. legal process.” That’s something tech companies say could undermine the whole system.
The bureau engaged in a long standoff with Apple following a shooting in San Bernadino, California in 2015, because the company refused to break the encryption on the shooter’s iPhone to give investigators access, warning that to do so would endanger users’ privacy across its products. The FBI eventually found a way to get into the phone without Apple.
The VergeOpenAI is partnering with defense tech company Anduril
Illustration: The Verge
OpenAI, the AI model maker that used to describe its mission as saving the world, is partnering with Anduril, a military contractor, the two companies announced Wednesday.
As part of the partnership, OpenAI will integrate its software into Anduril’s counterdrone systems, which detect and take down drones. It’s OpenAI’s first partnership with a defense contractor — and a significant reversal of its earlier stance towards the military. OpenAI’s terms of service once banned “military and warfare” use of its technology, but it softened its position on military use earlier this year, changing its terms of service in January to remove the proscription.
“OpenAI builds AI to benefit as many people as possible, and supports U.S.-led efforts to ensure the technology upholds democratic values,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement. “Our partnership with Anduril will help ensure OpenAI technology protects U.S. military personnel, and will help the national security community understand and responsibly use this technology to keep our citizens safe and free.”
As the Wall Street Journal notes, Anduril — currently valued at $14 billion — has a $200 million counterdrone systems contract with the Marine Corps. But OpenAI won’t just benefit financially from its Anduril partnership; it also stands to gain political clout. Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey was an early supporter of president-elect Donald Trump, and also has ties to Elon Musk, one of the heads of the still-nebulous (and still nonexistent) Department of Government Efficiency. And the America First Policy Institute, a right-wing think-tank working closely with the Trump transition team, has proposed that Trump embrace AI to create a new “Manhattan Project” for defense.
The VergeVerizon is once again raising its fees
The fee creep is back. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Verizon customers will soon see yet another fee increase on their next bill, a game that wireless carriers love to play. As spotted by Android Police, Verizon customers on reddit noticed the small fee bump — just 20 cents extra per line. But it comes only a couple of years after a bigger increase to the “Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge” the company tacks onto monthly bills, and Verizon’s claim that it’s just the cost of doing business seems dubious at best.
Verizon spokesperson George Koroneos confirmed the fee hike to The Verge, saying that “Starting December 18, the monthly Verizon wireless Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge will increase by $0.20 per line for mobile voice (basic phones, Second Number, smartphones, etc.) and data-only (hotspots, tablets, etc.) products. Verizon Home Internet services are not affected.” That takes the fee from $3.30 to $3.50 for each voice line on a plan and $1.40 up to $1.60 per data line.
According to a Verizon support page, the fee “helps defray and recover certain direct and indirect costs we or our agents incur,” including network operating and maintenance costs. AT&T and T-Mobile have slightly different names for the same fee, and all make basically the same claim about offsetting the costs of running a wireless network.
A more cynical perspective is that these wireless companies separate this fee from their monthly rate plan charges so they can raise rates without saying they’re raising rates. That was the basis for a class-action lawsuit against AT&T in 2022, which that company agreed to settle.
It may just be 20 cents now, but that small increase adds up to a lot when you multiply it across millions of users. After all, Verizon only made $3.4 billion in net income the third quarter this year, down from $4.9 billion in the same quarter last year. And while the fee creep is nothing new, it’s yet another reminder of of the levers these companies can pull in order to pad out their bottom line.
The VergePeloton’s new audio-based app is like an invisible strength coach
The Strength Plus app isn’t Peloton’s first attempt at capitalizing on strength training. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Peloton announced the launch of Strength Plus, a new standalone, audio-based strength training app. The app was introduced in a limited beta program earlier in September, but is now officially available.
The Strength Plus app allows users to generate custom workouts by choosingworkout length, equipment, experience level, and which muscle groups they want to focus on. It also includes multi-weekprograms curated by Peloton’s strength coaches, though workouts can be done at a user’s own pace. Strength Plus includes audio cues and tips from instructors, as well as a library of instructional videos demonstrating exercises and equipment setup. It’s more like a strength training playlist than Peloton’s typical classes, which have you follow an instructor as they do the workout in real time.It works with the Apple Watch and users can log weights and reps within the app. And, instead of being stuck with instructor-curated workout music, users can listen to their own music, audio books, or podcasts.
This move isn’t surprising. Over the years, Peloton has repeatedly mentioned that strength training is its second most popular exercise type, though the company has had mixed success in capitalizing on it. In 2022, Peloton launched its own Guide strength training hardware, but it hasn’t taken off like its treadmills or bikes. When it revamped the Peloton app, it also added Peloton Gym workouts that catered to gym-goers with written workouts and video demos, though that wasn’t its own app, didn’t let you log reps, and didn’t include multi-week programming.
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Image: Peloton
Peloton really wants to make strength training work.
On paper, Strength Plus looks similar to other apps, most notably Ladder. (So much so, that Ladder has already clapped back with an entire Mac vs PC-style ad campaign.) The main difference is that Strength Plus leverages Peloton’s more widely known instructors. More broadly, this could be seen as an attempt to expand Peloton’s appeal outside the home — something the company has struggled to do after many people began returning to in-person gyms and classes once covid-19 lockdowns were lifted.
Existing Peloton All Access, Guide, and App Plus members can access the Strength Plus app for free. For everyone else, Peloton is offering a limited $1 monthly promotional subscription for the first six months, and then $9.99 monthly after. For now, the app will also be iOS only. The Verge asked Peloton whether it plans to expand further to Android, but didn’t immediately receive a response.