The long-shot plan to save TikTok from a US ban

Frank McCourt. | Getty Images / The Verge

So far, ByteDance has shown zero willingness to spin off TikTok in the US. The Chinese parent company seems to be banking on the Supreme Court or President-elect Donald Trump rescuing the app before it’s banned next month.

The obvious names that would would buy TikTok if they could — Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, etc. — are sitting on the sidelines and waiting to see what happens in the coming weeks. The clock is ticking. Congress just sent letters to Sundar Pichai and Tim Cook reminding them that they will be legally liable for continuing to host TikTok in their app stores after January 19th.

Then there’s Frank McCourt, the real estate billionaire and former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. For months, McCourt has been very public about his desire to buy TikTok. He has ramped up his drumbeat since ByteDance recently lost its legal fight on appeal. This week, he pitched more investors on his Project Liberty plan to buy the app’s US operations.

When I spoke with McCourt over Zoom in between those investor meetings, he told me he currently has roughly $20 billion behind him for a bid. He has asked Kevin Mayer, who was briefly TikTok’s CEO the last time it was almost...

Read the full story at The Verge.

ChatGPT Projects are fancy folders for your AI chats

Image: The Verge

OpenAI is rolling out a feature called “Projects” to ChatGPT. It’s basically a folder system that makes it easier to organize things you’re working on while using the AI chatbot.

As shown in a demo video, your list of Projects will show up in the sidebar. If you make a new project, you can do things like edit the title, set a color for the project’s icon, and add files as well as instructions to tailor how ChatGPT responds to things in that individual project. You can also add previous chats to your project to keep track of them.

The new feature seems like a pretty useful way to keep track of, for lack of a better word, your projects. During the demo video, an OpenAI employee showed examples of how they use Projects to plan for a Secret Santa gift exchange and for home maintenance. Depending on your needs, it could be a better way to work on a project than my usual method, which is dumping everything I can think of into an Apple Note.

Projects is rolling out today to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Teams users. It will come to free users “as soon as possible” and to Enterprise and Edu users “early in the new year,” according to OpenAI CPO Kevin Weil.

Projects was announced as Day 7 of OpenAI’s 12 days of “ship-mas.” Previous announcements included the release of the Sora video generator, ChatGPT’s Canvas view, and the $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscription.

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Peak Design denies snitching on Luigi Mangione

Everyday Backpack V1 | Image: Peak Design

When the first grainy images of the UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect emerged, some viewers noticed a seemingly small detail: he looked like he was wearing a Peak Design Everyday V1 backpack. Now, on platforms like Threads and TikTok, a recurring accusation has circulated: Peak Design “traced” the bag owner using the backpack’s serial number.

However, the company says that’s just not true, in a statement shared with The Verge Friday afternoon. “Peak Design has not provided customer information to the police and would only do so under the order of a subpoena,” the statement signed by CEO Peter Dering reads.

“We cannot associate a product serial number with a customer unless that customer has voluntarily registered their product on our site.” The statement goes on to say that the serial numbers on the V1 of the Everyday backpack “were not unique or identifying ... We did not implement unique serial numbers until V2 iterations of our Everyday Backpack.”

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A post shared by Peak Design (@peakdesign)

So, how did we even get here?

In footage of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the shooter has a gray backpack with a top flap, which the NYPD believe is the same one they recovered in Central Park a few days later. The bag they eventually located is gray with black piping and what looks to be a tan-colored contrasting tab on the corner of the flap — just like Peak Design’s crowdfunded “Everyday” V1 model.

It’s no longer sold new, but the design has enough fans that we’ve called it “the de facto tech journalist’s bag.”

Dering saw the similarities, too.

He told The New York Times last week that the item was likely bought between 2016 and 2019. Dering told the Times that he called the NYPD tip line to share what he knew and vowed to do “whatever is possible” to identify the shooter, including consulting Peak Design’s legal team to see what he could share with police.

The Times story is just 300 words long, but it appears to have sparked a wave of anger among those sympathetic to the suspect, Luigi Mangione. Despite the Times story's lack of mention of a serial code, the rumor spread like wildfire before the company’s denial today.

On the Peak Design subreddit, which is moderated by the brand, posts have popped up discussing the company’s ability to track customers using the serial number on a bag and tips on how to delete customer information. The complaints largely center on the fact that Dering volunteered any information at all to police—a significant shift in public attitudes around a killing.

In a follow-up email to The Verge, Dering added: “If you do choose to register a Peak Design product, and it is lost or stolen, you can reach out to our customer service team and have your registration erased, so the bag is not traceable back to you.”

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Texas sues New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills via telemedicine

Illustration by William Joel

Texas is suing a New York doctor for prescribing mifepristone and misoprostol — the pills used for medication abortion — to a Texas resident via telemedicine, an alleged violation of the state’s strict abortion law.

Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit against Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter, founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedecine, in Collin County civil court on Thursday. Carpenter doesn’t face criminal charges, but the state is seeking up to a $250,000 fine.

This is the first time Texas has sued an out-of-state doctor for providing abortion services to a Texas patient via telemedicine. Notably, New York, where Carpenter is based, has a “shield law” that’s designed to protect doctors who prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in other states, including those that, like Texas, have outlawed abortion.

“Regardless of what the courts in Texas do, the real question is whether the courts in New York recognize it,” Greer Donley, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, told the Texas Tribune.

According to the complaint, a 20-year-old woman who became pregnant sometime in mid-May was prescribed mifepristone and misoprostol by Carpenter at an undisclosed time. The woman, who is not named in the lawsuit, experienced adverse side effects from the pills and asked her partner to take her to the hospital because of hemorrhage or severe bleeding on July 16th.

At the hospital, the woman’s partner was told that she “‘had been’ nine weeks pregnant before losing the child,” the complaint says, which made him conclude that she “had intentionally withheld information from him regarding her pregnancy, and he further suspected” that the woman “had in fact done something to contribute to the miscarriage or abortion” of the pregnancy. According to the complaint, she had not previously told her partner she was pregnant. Upon returning to their home, the woman’s partner found the two medications Carpenter allegedly prescribed to the woman.

The complaint does not say when the woman obtained the medication.

Texas has one of the strictest abortion laws in the country. The state has a near-total ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with narrow exceptions if the life of the mother is at risk but no exceptions for cases of rape and incest. According to the complaint, the unnamed 20-year-old woman “did not have any life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from the pregnancy that placed her at risk of death or any serious risk of substantial impairment.”

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A Gemini-boosted Google Assistant is now available on some Nest speakers

Google is slowly rolling out its Gemini-powered Google Assistant to some users of its smart speakers. | Photo: Dan Seifert / The Verge

Google has slowly started rolling out a Gemini-powered Google Assistant to some Google Home users on select Nest smart speakers. The company first teased a smarter Google Assistant for the home in August and is starting with Gemini-powered answers to your general knowledge questions. The regular Google Assistant will still handle things like smart home and music requests, but you’ll hear a chime before the Assistant responds with an AI-powered answer.

As detailed by Google in a new support document, Gemini in Google Assistant on Nest speakers (that’s a branding delight right there) can answer wider-ranging questions with more in-depth answers — similar to Gemini on Android and iOS. You can also ask it follow-up questions and interrupt the response to ask another question, although you’ll still need to say “Hey Google” each time.

First spotted by 9to5Google, the Gemini-enhanced Assistant began appearing on speakers earlier this month. However, it’s only available on Nest Audio and Nest Mini (2nd gen) smart speakers — Nest smart displays or earlier generations speakers aren’t compatible. The AI-powered answers are also only open to users in Google Home’s Public Preview, who are...

Read the full story at The Verge.

The best Nintendo Switch controllers to buy right now

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

From the unbeatable Switch Pro and comfy Joy-Con alternatives to a dongle that lets you use your Xbox or PlayStation controllers with your Switch, these are the best Switch controllers you can get.

Read the full story at The Verge.

Apple’s AI summary mangled a BBC headline about Luigi Mangione

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

We’ve already seen our fair share of bad Apple Intelligence-summarized notifications, but now that the feature is live in the UK, the BBC isn’t finding it so funny. The summarized notification mucked up a BBC headline about the UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect, falsely suggesting the network reported that Luigi Mangione shot himself.

In a report about the notification, a spokesperson for the network says it contacted Apple “to raise this concern and fix the problem.”

Screenshot: BBC

Only the first part of the summarized BBC news notification is incorrect, as it accurately references two other stories about Bashar Al-Assad and a raid on the president of South Korea’s office. As noted by 9to5Mac, the BBC report didn’t specify the original text of the notification or which article it was in reference to.

Other examples of the AI summaries missing the mark that we’ve seen have turned “that hike almost killed me” into “attempted suicide” or a Ring camera appearing to report that people are surrounding someone’s home.

If you’re getting too many summaries on your iPhone that don’t make sense, you can change the list of apps your iPhone summarizes with Apple Intelligence by going to Settings > Notifications > Summarize Notifications or even choose to turn off the feature entirely.

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The Nintendo Switch 2, as described by Dbrand

Image: Dbrand

Nintendo is inching ever closer to its promised deadline to reveal the Switch’s successor before April 2025. But new leaks from case manufacturers appear to reveal exactly what the Nintendo’s next console could look like, and a few notable upgrades it might have over the original Switch.

We were inspired to write this article in the first place because of Dbrand’s just-announced “Killswitch 2” case. The website for the product features an in-motion render of the case and, inside, a mockup of hardware that has some key differences from the Switch and Switch OLED: the new console appears to be larger, and it has a mysterious new second button on the right Joy-Con under the Home button. Accessory leaks over the past several days have shown a similar potential design for the hardware.

It seems Dbrand is reasonably confident in its case, but we asked CEO Adam Ijaz to be sure. He says Dbrand has “actual dimensions” — not an educated guess — based on a “3D scan of the real hardware.” (When we asked how he knows that, Ijaz only said “Nice try, Nintendo_._”)

Video: Dbrand

Here’s a GIF we cut of the new case from Dbrand’s video.

Based on Dbrand’s measurements, the next Switch (which we’ll call the Switch 2) will both be larger and taller than Nintendo’s Switch OLED, but roughly the same thickness. Nintendo’s spec sheet shows its previous handheld is 242mm wide, 102mm tall and 13.9mm thick, where Ijaz says the Switch 2 should measure closer to 270mm wide, 116mm tall, and 14mm thick, with the console portion taking up 200mm worth of that width.

Ijaz also says the kickstand will still measure around half the console’s height at around 55mm; a diagonal measurement of the cover glass supports previous rumors that it’ll have an 8-inch screen.

Ijaz says it’s his “understanding” that Joy-Cons are “magnetically attached” with an “an ejection button” that’s on the back of the Joy-Cons near the top, and his new case takes advantage of the detachable controllers — he says the controller portions of Dbrand’s case can detach with them inside.

He doesn’t know what the second square button is under the Home button, which he says has a “C” printed on it. The left Joy-Con in Dbrand’s mockup still has a button on the left Joy-Con, which is where you’ll find the capture button on the original Switch, so it’s unclear if this “C” button now means capture or if both buttons work differently. (Nintendo originally introduced C-buttons on the Nintendo 64 controller in 1996 as a way to control a game’s camera, before gamepads introduced a second stick to let you shift perspective.)

Ijaz says the joysticks stand 6.27mm tall, and the D-pad and ABXY buttons protrude by 1.57mm, with a 180mm wide kickstand, and back triggers that extend 14.1mm.

While Dbrand does seem to know a lot about the console, Ijaz is “genuinely unsure” about its potential release date. He says that Dbrand is working toward a late March or early April release for its case, though. Ijaz also doesn’t know about Nintendo’s possible TV dock for the Switch 2, but says that Dbrand’s assumption is that “the form factor will be similar to the previous gen.” He doesn’t know if the screen will be LCD or OLED.

While it’s highly unusual for an accessory maker to publicly reveal this much about a product from a powerful, litigious company like Nintendo, it’s not surprising that Dbrand’s the one stepping up to the plate. Having beef with console makers is an intentional (and often fun!) part of its marketing strategy, and Nintendo is a frequent target — like that Zelda skin that was a middle finger to Nintendo’s lawyers, or the “(not) Animal Crossing” one.

Much of what Dbrand is showing and what Ijaz is saying lines up with a video from SwitchUp showing what it calls a Switch 2 mockup sent to them by a case manufacturer. That mockup is clearly larger than today’s existing Switch OLED, and the new Joy-Cons are clearly bigger than the old Joy-Cons. You can also see the second square button under the home button there, the larger button under the triggers that presumably ejects them from the console, and a wide kickstand similar to the one on the Switch OLED.

One other nice addition? A second USB-C port on the top of the mockup, which theoretically means you’ll be able to plug in a charging cable while you’re using it in tabletop mode; with the current Switch, the charging port on the bottom is blocked when you’re standing it up on a table.

While we’re still waiting for Nintendo to actually announce concrete details about the Switch 2, the company has shared that the console will be able to play current Switch games and it will have Nintendo Switch Online as well.

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Amazon is shipping the Kindle Colorsoft again, but it’s unclear if it’s fixed

The Colorsoft is Amazon’s first Kindle with a color screen, but some users noticed colors they didn’t want. | Photo: Andrew Liszewski / The Verge

Amazon is once again shipping its Kindle Colorsoft. This follows reports of the company’s first color e-reader exhibiting a yellow discolored strip at the bottom of the e-reader’s display — including The Verge’s review unit. The Colorsoft’s listing on Amazon’s website says the company is “making the appropriate adjustments to ensure that new devices will not experience this issue moving forward,” but some customers are still seeing the issue on replacement units that recently arrived.

Several Reddit users who experienced the yellow discoloration issue on their original Colorsoft units and have received replacements in the last two weeks say the issue is still present, but much less noticeable. One user says the screens on their original and replacement Colorsofts “have different hues which may contribute to the yellow bar looking less prominent on the replacement,” while another says the replacement’s screen “is darker than the original” but that the “color really pops more in the replacement.”

Amazon is also sending The Verge a replacement Kindle Colorsoft unit. When asked what adjustments were being made to the Colorsoft to address the display issue, Amazon spokesperson Devon Corvasce said in a statement emailed to The Verge that “it was a combination of software and display adjustments.”

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Elmo needs a new streaming home after Max drops Sesame Street

Image: Max

After next season, Max will no longer be the place to watch new episodes of beloved children's show Sesame Street first, The Hollywood Reporter reports. Platform owner Warner Bros. Discovery has decided not to renew its HBO and Max deal with producer Sesame Workshop, which means new episodes of the series will need to find a new home.

Sesame Street is one of several shows for children on Max, but I find that other streaming services such as Disney Plus, Netflix, and even YouTube Kids have more content for parents to play for kids. According to THR, ending its deal for new Sesame Street episodes is part of a change in strategy to focus on adult and broader family content, such as the upcoming Harry Potter series for 2026.

The company is still going to keep current episodes streaming through 2027. Last year, Sesame Workshop executive Kay Wilson Stalling told The Hollywood Reporter that the upcoming 56th season (season 55 will be available on Max starting next month) would be a “reimagining” of the show with longer narrative segments and more sophisticated stories.

Sesame Street moved over to HBO in 2016, where new episodes aired before eventually making their way to PBS for free viewing months later. At the time, you could watch the show on demand via the long-gone HBO Go and HBO Now apps, and when Max launched, it picked up the timed-exclusive streaming deal. But a few years removed from investing heavily in kids’ programming and dropping the “HBO” from Max to become more welcoming as a service parents are comfortable with their kids using, now Warner Bros. Discovery is moving forward with a very different plan.

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OpenAI just dropped new Elon Musk receipts: ‘You can’t sue your way to AGI’

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

The lawsuit between Elon Musk and OpenAI is really heating up.

OpenAI just dropped a new blog post defending itself against Musk that outlines some new text messages between cofounders Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and former board member Shivon Zilis.

“You can’t sue your way to AGI,” the OpenAI blog post reads, referring to artificial general intelligence, which Altman has promised soon. “We have great respect for Elon’s accomplishments and gratitude for his early contributions to OpenAl, but he should be competing in the marketplace rather than the courtroom. It is critical for the U.S. to remain the global leader in Al. Our mission is to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity, and we have been and will remain a mission-driven organization. We hope Elon shares that goal, and will uphold the values of innovation and free market competition that have driven his own success.”

The blog highlights Musk’s attempts to maneuver into the CEO position and gain majority control of the company (though it adds that on one call Musk said he “didn’t care about equity” but “just needed to accumulate $80B for a city on Mars”). Musk also proposed that OpenAI spin into Tesla, which has been previously revealed. When the negotiations fell apart because OpenAI’s cofounders rejected his proposal (Brockman and Sutskever admitted they had fears of a power struggle), Musk resigned from the company.

The blog said that after Musk resigned, he hosted a goodbye all-hands with the team where he encouraged them to “pursue the path we saw to raising billions per year” and that “he would pursue advanced Al research at Tesla, which was the only vehicle he believed could obtain this level of funding.”

Later, around the time Musk was working to acquire Twitter, he texted Altman that he was “disturbed” to see the company’s new $20 billion valuation. “De facto. I provided almost all the seed, A and most of B round funding,” he wrote, according to the disclosed texts. “This is a bait and switch.”

A few months after that interaction, Musk started an OpenAI competitor, xAI.

Some of the messages published by OpenAI were previously outlined in court filings that Musk made in his ongoing suit against OpenAI and its partner Microsoft. The lawsuit, filed by Musk in March, alleges that OpenAI had strayed from its original nonprofit mission to develop AI for the public good (he withdrew it in June 2024 without explanation, then refiled in August 2024).

Today’s update from OpenAI attempts to counter Musk’s narrative by offering evidence that he, not Altman, attempted to seize control in the company’s early days — a direct response to Musk’s recent lawsuit claims about Altman’s power consolidation.

Developing...

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Leak: Lenovo’s larger Legion handheld adds OLED and keeps the detachable mouse

A leaked image of the new Lenovo Legion Go. | Image via Evan Blass

Earlier today, Evan Blass revealed an unannounced Lenovo Legion Go S handheld gaming PC with an extremely intriguing twist: a Steam button that suggests it could be the first third-party SteamOS handheld, and thus the first true competitor to the Steam Deck.

But that handheld gaming PC apparently won’t be alone: Blass just provided The Verge with these images of a new, larger Lenovo Legion Go as well.

As you can see, this Legion Go plans to keep the detachable Joy-Con like gamepads and kickstand that were the single most distinctive features of the original — and they’ll keep the “FPS mode” where you can plop one of those controllers on a disc-shaped skate and use it like a vertical mouse.

Image via Evan Blass

But one model may also swap out the Legion Go’s 8.8-inch IPS LCD screen for one with an OLED panel at the same size, according to the original filenames of these images. That should mean improved colors and deeper blacks, and potentially improved response times.

We don’t have any specs or marketing claims yet, though, like the all-important battery life size. Nor have we gotten a glimpse of the ports on this system. There is an AMD Z2 Extreme chip coming that could likely be the core of this handheld, but we don’t yet know.

Image via Evan Blass

In my review of the original Legion Go, I was mixed on the detachable controllers with their sharp-ish edges and loads of extra mouse buttons that made them awkward to hold. These one seem to be far more smoothly sculpted, though, with revised mouse buttons on the right detachable pad, and a cover you can place over the mounting rail so the copper charging pins don’t poke your palm.

The images we’ve seen do not feature a Steam button, so it’s quite likely Lenovo is still hedging its bets with Windows in addition to SteamOS.

But we are much more confident in our prediction that the smaller Lenovo Legion Go S will be a SteamOS handheld. Blass showed me filenames that suggest the S will be “powered by” Steam, mirroring Valve’s new branding guidelines for “Powered by SteamOS” devices.

Valve defines “Powered by SteamOS” as “hardware running the SteamOS operating system, implemented in close collaboration with Valve.”

We’ve reached out to Valve and Lenovo to hopefully learn more.

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Trump is probably going to kill the crash reporting rule that made Tesla look bad

Photo by Jeff Gritchen/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images

Donald Trump’s transition team is taking aim at a Biden-era rule requiring automakers and tech companies to report crashes that involve fully or partially autonomous vehicles, according to Reuters. Scrapping the crash reporting rule would greatly benefit Tesla, which to date, has reported the most number of crashes.

In 2021, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a standing general order (SGO) requiring automakers and tech companies to report crashes involving autonomous vehicles as well as Level 2 driver-assist systems found in millions of vehicles on the road today. Companies are now required to document collisions when an automated driving system was in use within 30 seconds of impact and report those incidents to the government.

The idea was to create more transparency around the deployment of a new technology that purports to improve safety but has also been tied to a number of deadly incidents. Regulators argued that more data was needed to determine whether these new systems were making roads safer or simply making driving more convenient.

Tesla, in particular, came under scrutiny. The company’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features, which are considered Level 2 systems that require drivers to pay attention, are both covered under the rule. Since it was implemented, Tesla has reported over 1,500 crashes to the federal government, Reuters says. An analysis of the crash data shows Tesla accounted for 40 out of 45 fatal crashes reported to NHTSA through October of this year.

Tesla’s numbers were much higher than other companies, most likely due to the fact that it sells more vehicles equipped with Level 2 systems than its rivals and collects more data. But it also resulted in a huge headache for the company. NHTSA has launched several investigations into Tesla’s driver-assist technology, most of which centered on crashes reported under the SGO.

Several sources close to Tesla told Reuters that the company “despises” the standing general order and concluded that it would need a change in administration in order to get rid of it. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was one of Trump’s most vocal defenders, spending at least $277 million of his own money to back his campaign. Musk has since been appointed to head the Department of Government Efficiency with the goal of cutting government spending.

Trump is also considering getting rid of other policies opposed by Tesla, including generous subsidies for EV companies. Musk believes Tesla is better positioned to weather a subsidy-free environment than other automakers due to its scale and maturity. Musk is also lobbying Trump to ease restrictions on fully autonomous vehicles in advance of Tesla’s plans to produce its own robotaxi in 2026.

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EVgo nabs $1.25 billion loan as Biden races to approve more EV spending

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

The US Department of Energy announced a $1.25 billion loan to electric vehicle charging company EVgo as the Biden administration races to finalize its spending on EVs before Donald Trump takes office. The money will fund EVgo’s plans to install approximately 7,500 chargers at roughly 1,100 charging stations across the US over the next five years, with a particular focus on fast-charging 350kW stalls that can charge two vehicles simultaneously.

But more importantly, it shows how President Joe Biden is intent on doling out as much money for EV projects as he can before leaving office. Trump has promised to reverse or cancel much of the spending by Biden on EVs once he assumes office. He has said he will kill the $7,500 tax credit for new EV purchases and wipe out the rest of the spending from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on EV charging infrastructure.

President Joe Biden is intent on doling out as much money for EV projects as he can before leaving office

With a little more than a month left in office, Biden’s Energy Department has been furiously approving EV-related loans. Stellantis and Samsung were given preliminary approval for $7.54 billion for a battery factory in Indiana, while Rivian will receive $6.6 billion for an EV plant in Georgia.

The loans are also intended to be job creators, the administration says. For example, EVgo said its expansion project will support the creation of 180 external construction jobs and over 550 maintenance and support jobs.

EVgo, which is based in Los Angeles, is working with General Motors on the installation of thousands of EV chargers across the country. The companies recently celebrated the activation of their 2,000th charging stall.

The fragmented and frustrating nature of our current EV charging landscape has been widely — and correctly — cited as one of the most significant barriers to EV adoption. Owners frequently complain about unreliable charging or broken equipment as one of the most frustrating things about driving an EV.

After his election, Biden vowed to build 500,000 chargers by 2030 as a way to spur more EV sales, including $7.5 billion for charging expansion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. While the first few years of funding were rather sluggish, recent updates have shown that things are finally picking up.

In its release, the DOE said, “there are currently more than 204,000 publicly available charging ports, with nearly 38,000 new public chargers already having been added this year and nearly 1,000 new public chargers being added every week thanks to a combination of direct federal funding, federal tax incentives, state and local funding, and private investment.”

That includes both Level 2 chargers and DC fast chargers. That’s roughly double the number of ports in operation at the outset of 2021 when Biden first took office.

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Anker’s new 5K MagSafe battery is slimmer and faster

Anker’s slim MagSafe power bank now supports Qi2 wireless charging speeds. | Image: Anker

Anker has released its thinnest MagSafe-compatible power bank, measuring about a third of an inch thick. It’s only got a 5,000mAh battery inside, so you probably won’t get two full iPhone charges with it, but Anker has updated it with 15W Qi2 wireless charging speeds so your phone can charge faster.

It’s currently available exclusively through Apple’s online and retail stores for $49.95 in either blue or white, making it $10 more expensive than the older MagGo 621 Magnetic Battery that Anker still sells through its website. For comparison, the older version of the 5K battery is 0.45-inches thick and only supports wireless charging speeds up to 7.5W.

The bidirectional USB-C port on the bottom of the power bank can charge it or other devices at 20W. However, when both power outputs are in use, wireless charging speeds drop to 5W, while the USB-C port slows to 12W. The battery is compatible with iPhone models going back to the iPhone 12, but it will also work with Android devices that fully support the Qi2 specifications.

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Game-like ‘task scams’ stole more than $220 million in six months

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning Americans about “game-like online job scams” that get people to perform tasks with the promise of a continuous income stream — only to be duped into giving money to the scammer. The FTC says in the first six months of this year, these “task scams” have raked in over $220 million from victims, often in the form of cryptocurrency. It’s accounted for about 40 percent of all scam reports in 2024.

There were 20,000 reports of task scams in the first half of 2024, a sharp increase from only 5,000 from 2020-2023.

These scams often start with a WhatsApp or text message to a victim asking them to do tasks about “app optimization” or “product boosting.” Sometimes, the scammers initially pay small amounts of money to seem trustworthy. Afterward, they convince victims to pay into some tasks with the promise of a larger payout, and then the scammers run away with the money.

Image: FTC

These are the three tips the FTC listed to avoid getting scammed:

Ignore generic and unexpected texts or WhatsApp messages about jobs. Real employers will never contact you that way.

Never pay anyone to get paid. Someone telling you to pay money to get the money you have supposedly earned is a sure sign of a scam. No legit business would ever do that.

Don’t trust anyone who says they’ll pay you to rate or “like” things online. That’s illegal and no honest company will do it.

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Lenovo might soon announce a SteamOS handheld

Image: Evan Blass (X)

Valve revealed earlier this year that it will support the ROG Ally handheld with its Steam Deck operating system, and now it looks like Lenovo will soon have its own SteamOS handheld, too. Evan Blass has posted images of an unannounced Lenovo Legion Go S on X today, revealing black and white variants of a handheld gaming PC. The interesting part? The black one has a Steam button.

While the low resolution images don’t immediately scream SteamOS, if you look closely you’ll notice a Steam logo is visible on a button to the left of the display. Interestingly, the white model doesn’t have the same Steam button — which could indicate Lenovo is preparing Windows- and SteamOS-powered models of its Legion Go S.

Image: Evan Blass (X)

You can clearly see a Steam logo on the button to the left of the display.

PC makers like Lenovo, Asus, and MSI have all opted for Windows-based handhelds so far, but as consumer patience with Windows on tiny screens wears thin and Microsoft’s progress in improving the experience is slow, it seems like OEMs are looking for a better alternative.

Lenovo’s potential entry into a SteamOS handheld comes just days after Valve quietly updated a document with new branding guidelines that include “Powered by SteamOS” hardware. It’s the surest sign yet that Valve is working with more third-party hardware manufacturers, beyond Asus, to certify devices with SteamOS. With CES 2025 just a few weeks away, we could be about to witness a lot more SteamOS-powered hardware.

Valve has been here before, though. At CES in 2013, it tried to tempt PC manufacturers to sign up to its Steam Machines initiative, but it didn’t get far enough with developers to convince them to port games to Linux to make these machines successful. There’s reason to believe this time things will be very different, thanks to Proton. The Steam Deck uses the Proton software compatibility layer and has already proved that many Windows games can even run better on Linux as a result.

As my colleague Sean Hollister wrote earlier this month: “it’s just as intriguing an idea as it was 12 years ago when Gabe Newell explained the initial vision to us, and this time, there’s a far better chance it’ll work.”

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Google’s NotebookLM AI podcast hosts can now talk to you, too

Illustration: The Verge

Google’s NotebookLM and its podcast-like Audio Overviews have been a surprise hit this year, and today Google company is starting to roll out a big new feature: the ability to actually talk with the AI “hosts” of the overviews.

When the feature is available to you, you can try it out with new Audio Overviews. (It won’t work with old ones.) Here’s how, according to a blog post:

Create a new Audio Overview.

Tap the new Interactive mode (BETA) button.

While listening, tap “Join.” A host will call on you.

Ask your question. The hosts will respond with a personalized answer based on your sources.

After answering, they’ll resume the original Audio Overview.

The ability to actually talk with NotebookLM seems like a potentially useful way to learn more about what you’ve collected in the app. But Google cautions that it’s an “experimental feature” and that “hosts may also pause awkwardly before responding or occasionally introduce inaccuracies,” so it may not be a totally polished experience to start.

In addition to the interactive Audio Overviews, Google is introducing a new interface for NotebookLM that organizes things into three areas: a “sources” panel for your information, a “chat” panel to talk with an AI chatbot about the sources, and a “studio” panel that lets you make things like Audio Overviews and Study Guides. I think it looks nice.

GIF: Google

Google is announcing a NotebookLM subscription, too: NotebookLM Plus. The subscription will give you “five times more Audio Overviews, notebooks, and sources per notebook,” let you “customize the style and tone of your notebook responses,” let you make shared team notebooks, and will offer “additional privacy and security,” Google says. The subscription is available today for businesses, schools and universities, and organizations and enterprise customers. It will be added to Google One AI Premium in “early 2025.”

Google is also launching “Agentspace,” a platform for custom AI agents for enterprises. “Agentspace can provide conversational assistance, answer complex questions, make proactive suggestions and take actions based on your company’s unique information,” Google says. It also has connectors for apps like Microsoft SharePoint, Jira, and ServiceNow.

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Kraven the Hunter is the flimsiest strand in Sony’s spider-free web

Sony

Sony has made bad Spider-Man spinoff movies before, but Kraven the Hunter is another level of terrible.

Read the full story at The Verge.

Platforms need the news — but they’re killing it

Image: The Verge / Photos: Getty

Media critic Matt Pearce on ‘Lessons on media policy at the slaughter-bench of history’

Read the full story at The Verge.

Waymo’s robotaxis pass the first responder test

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Waymo’s driverless vehicles can detect emergency vehicles, know how to respond to hand signals for traffic cops, and can be disabled manually when something goes wrong, according to an independent review of the company’s first responder protocols.

As such, the Alphabet company’s first responder protocols passed an independent review conducted by Tüv Süd, a German tech inspection company. The firm’s assessment found that Waymo’s First Responder Program “meets industry standards” for responding to emergency situations, which is in line with the best practices set out in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).

Waymo — and indeed the entire autonomous vehicle industry — has been under intense scrutiny, especially around how its driverless cars behave around police, fire, and other emergency responders. But Waymo is staking out the position that it goes beyond what’s required to prove that its vehicles are trustworthy.

The firm’s assessment found that Waymo’s First Responder Program “meets industry standards”

Case in point: having its first responder protocols scrutinized by an independent group like Tüv Süd. The company has also publicly released its own guide for first responders who are responding to incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The 32-page document includes a toll free number for getting in touch with remote operators, a visual guide for disabling the vehicle’s autonomous mode, and instructions for how to disconnect the high-voltage battery.

Waymo also hosts training sessions for police and fire officials in the cities in which it operates. The company says it has trained 15,000 first responders from over 75 agencies.

Waymo isn’t the only company to seek Tüv Süd’s stamp of approval. The German firm also audited Aurora’s safety guidelines for its self-driving trucks, as well as protocols for autonomous freight company Gatik.

Given some of the history, it’s understandable why Waymo feels it needs to go to such lengths to assure first responders that it's a good actor. In San Francisco last year, city officials pleaded with regulators to reconsider a measure to allow robotaxis to operate 24/7, citing a spate of incidents in which autonomous vehicles have stopped traffic, blocked buses, or obstructed emergency vehicles. And despite Waymo’s efforts to promote itself as a safe operator, these incidents keep happening.

Last July, Phoenix police pulled over a driverless Waymo vehicle that was driving in the oncoming lane of traffic. (The company blamed “inconsistent” construction signs.) And in October, a Waymo car ignored police in Austin trying to direct traffic outside a football game. Meanwhile, another Waymo partially blocked an intersection nearby and prevented an escorted bus from passing through, according to Axios. (The company said these were minor occurrences and that its vehicles provide thousands of rides each week in Austin without incident.)

As Waymo continues to slowly march ahead, launching in new cities and taking on new partners, the company is mindful that one bad incident is all it takes for everything to collapse. It happened to Uber and, more recently, to Cruise. That’s why it needs to take all precautions it can to prove that its vehicles are as safe, if not safer, than human drivers.

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NASA thinks it’s figured out why the Mars helicopter crashed

A color image taken by Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z instrument of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter in April 2023. | Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Ahead of a full technical report that’s expected to be released in the next few weeks, engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and AeroVironment have revealed what’s believed to be the cause of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s crash on January 18th, 2024. The craft’s vision navigation system, which was designed to track textured features on the surface of Mars, was confused by a featureless stretch of rippled sandy terrain, resulting in incorrect velocity estimates that led to a hard landing.

Relying on remote data, including photographs taken after the flight, the investigators believe that “navigation errors created high horizontal velocities at touchdown,” which most likely resulted in Ingenuity experiencing a “hard impact on the sand ripple’s slope,” causing it to pitch and roll.

Illustration: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A graphic shared by NASA depicts what’s thought to be the most likely scenario for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s final flight.

NASA’s engineers originally assumed that Ingenuity’s spinning rotor blades were damaged after making contact with the surface of Mars during the crash. They now believe they snapped off because “the rapid attitude change resulted in loads on the fast-rotating rotor blades beyond their design limits.” A part of one of the rotor blades was located about 49 feet away from the craft’s final resting place.

Communications were lost during the crash as a result of excessive vibration in the damaged and unbalanced rotor system that resulted in an excessive power demand. However, despite being permanently grounded, communications were reestablished the next day, and Ingenuity “still beams weather and avionics test data to the Perseverance rover about once a week,” which NASA says “is already proving useful to engineers working on future designs of aircraft and other vehicles for the Red Planet.”

Initially designed to perform only up to five experimental flights over the course of a month on Mars, Ingenuity operated for almost three years and accumulated over two hours of flight time across 72 flights.

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Airbnb’s anti-party tech is cracking down on ‘unauthorized’ get togethers

Airbnb would prefer if you have your rowdy New Year’s Eve bash elsewhere. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

If you were thinking of booking an Airbnb to host a rowdy New Year’s Eve shindig, the company is already one step ahead of you. Airbnb says it’s rolling out anti-party technology worldwide to help prevent “unauthorized and disruptive” get togethers over the holiday.

Airbnb describes its anti-party technology as machine learning tools to identify and block risky bookings. The tech will be rolled out globally, but Airbnb specifically called out the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Puerto Rico, Spain, and New Zealand. It assesses things like trip length, when the reservation is being made, and how far the booking is from your current location.

If a booking is deemed a high risk, guests will either be blocked or redirected to different accommodations. For folks hoping to book an entire home for a short holiday getaway, reservations of one to three nights will also be blocked. Guests booking entire homes will also have to agree to a “mandatory anti-party attestation.”

Airbnb says it blocked 74,000 such bookings last New Year’s Eve, with roughly 33,000 of those coming from the US.

The company’s stance against disruptive parties isn’t new. It started banning “party houses” in 2019 and added tighter restrictions in 2020 during the covid-19 pandemic as a public health measure. Airbnb then decided to permanently ban rowdy parties worldwide in 2022. The decision came after several shootings occurred at parties hosted at Airbnbs, including an incident where two teenagers were killed and eight people wounded at a Pittsburgh rental.

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The Backbone One with USB-C is just $50 for today only

The USB-C Backbone One (second-gen) offers the same experience as the Lightning version pictured.

As good as the Backbone One is (read our review of the original version), it can be hard to justify earmarking $100 for a mobile gaming controller. Even at its common $70 sale price, you’re entering pro controller territory. That said, a 50 percent discount for the second-gen Backbone One (USB-C) seems worth jumping over the fence for. Today only, you can get it for $49.99 at Best Buy, which is a record low price and just in time for the Resident Evil 2 remake that’s soon launching on the iPhone.

The Backbone One’s USB-C connector means it works both with Android smartphones and iPhones 15 or newer. It’s sleek with a bubbly grip sized just right to comfortably reach any of its face buttons, triggers, bumpers, or analog sticks. Ergonomically, it’ll lose to bulkier controllers, but should feel pretty good in most hands and is infinitely better than pecking away at the screen. The controller also has USB-C passthrough charging and 3.5mm for headphones and headsets.

The Best Buy-exclusive Warzone Mobile edition on sale here is mostly a spiritual tie-in: it’s visually and functionally identical to the standard Backbone One, but comes with free in-game rewards. You can use it with any games or apps with controller support, including cloud streaming services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now. The purchase includes a free one-month trial of Backbone Plus ($40 a year afterward), which unlocks more app features like gameplay recording, live streaming, and Play on Any Screen (the latter enabling wired gaming on PC and tablets). You’ll also get three months of Apple Arcade ($7 a month value).

More deals and discounts

• The Logitech G203 Lightsync is on sale starting at $18.99 ($21 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Logitech. The wired gaming mouse doesn’t boast the same button count or overall features from the brand’s flagship models. That said, it still has six programmable buttons total, plus an accurate sensor 8,000 DPI optical sensor and a scroll wheel with lock. It even has a touch of RGB lighting that you can customize with your favorite colors or sync to the action in your game using the G Hub app.
• You can get the Anker Power Bank (30W, Fusion, Built-In USB-C Cable) in black for $19.99 (50 percent off) from Amazon when clipping the on-page coupon.The versatile travel-friendly charger has a built-in folding wall plug on one end to charge the 5,000mAh battery inside, but you can use the USB-C cable on the opposite end to do the same. There’s versatility in charging modes, too — you can use it in battery mode with the USB-C cable to charge smartphones or other devices at 22.5W speeds, or plug it into an AC outlet and use it as a 30W USB-C adapter.
• Besides its name potentially stoking cravings for a sweet roll, the Ultimate Ears Minirollmay pique your interest for other reasons, one being the record low $49.99 price Amazon, Sweetwater, and Ultimate Ears have it for right now. The portable Bluetooth speaker is circular, roundish, and small enough to stow in a bag or pocket, and the integrated clip lets you attach it to belt loops, straps, pole, and any other object thin enough to clamp. The IP67 speaker has oversized buttons and floats in water, too, and lasts up to 12 hours per charge. You can buy a second one and sync it for stereo sound, but you may find it surprisingly loud on its own.

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Tumblr adds Reddit-like ‘communities’

Illustration: The Verge

Tumblr is introducing a new Community feature — in-app groups organized by topic or interest.

Communities are similar to subreddits or Facebook groups and had previously been in beta. Topics include things like film photography, marine biology, LGBTQ, and video games, and each topic has its own landing page where posts shared with the community populate. Many of the features mirror Reddit, like a count of how many members are online, moderators, and community guidelines. Posts shared to communities also get a new comments section that’s only visible within the group. Communities have the option to be public or private.

Image: Tumblr

Tumblr’s video games community

Tumblr pulling a page from Reddit’s playbook shouldn’t be surprising. As other communities and forums on the web have died off or been eaten by Google, Reddit has been on the up-and-up, growing its user base and turning a profit for the first time. But Subreddits managed by users are both Reddit’s crown jewels and a thorn in the side of corporate interests, as demonstrated by the coordinated action taken last year in protest of changes to the platform’s API pricing structure. As Google Search degrades in usefulness — or is replaced by AI summaries — platforms like Reddit have become a central part of finding helpful information online.

Reddit is also adding search engine-like features, including an AI-powered summary tool called Answers announced earlier this week. Though Tumblr’s communities feature — and Tumblr in general — isn’t the search destination Reddit is, the new grouping feature does streamline how users can find and engage with topic-based content and peers with similar interests. Communities is available on the web, iOS, and Android.

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Apple MacBook Pro (M4 Pro and Max) review: still on top

The 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros are still the best laptops for creative professionals. This year they’re a little faster, with better webcams, new anti-glare screen options, and that’s mostly it.

Read the full story at The Verge.

Searching for the first great AI app

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge

ChatGPT launched roughly two years and two weeks ago. Now, as we near the end of 2024, the AI race is... well, where is it, exactly? It’s more competitive than ever, there’s more money being poured into new models and products than ever, and it’s not at all clear when or even whether we’re going to get products that make it all worthwhile.

On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk about a lot of different AI news, all along a single trend line: the tech industry trying desperately to build a killer app for AI. (Ideally, for them, also one that makes money.) The Verge’s Richard Lawler joins us as we discuss Google Gemini 2.0, Project Astra and Project Mariner, and everything else Google is doing to put AI in the products you already use every day. We also talk through the new Android XR announcement, and Google’s renewed commitment to making headsets and smart glasses that work. It’s all an AI story, no matter how you look at it.

After that... more AI! We talk about the launch and near-immediate disappearance of OpenAI’s Sora, what’s new in iOS 18.2, Reddit’s clever-but-primitive new Answers feature, and more.

Finally, in the lightning round, it’s a smorgasbord of tech news. YouTube is big on TVs; Instagram is testing a way for you to test your posts; the TikTok ban is coming, but a sale sounds like the answer; Sonos once again made a great soundbar; and what the heck happened to Cruise? The year’s almost over, but the news keeps coming.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, beginning with Google:

• Google’s AI enters its ‘agentic era’
• Gemini 2.0: what’s new in Google’s new flagship AI model
• Google’s AI-powered smart glasses are a little closer to being real
• Google’s new Jules AI agent will help developers fix buggy code
• Google is testing Gemini AI agents that help you in video games
• Google built an AI tool that can do research for you
• I saw Google’s plan to put Android on your face

And in other AI news:

• OpenAI has finally released Sora
• iOS 18.2 is out now, adding ChatGPT integration and more Apple Intelligence tools
• From The Wall Street Journal: iOS 18.2 Review: The AI Apple Promised Us
• ChatGPT’s side-by-side ‘Canvas’ view is now available to everyone.
• Reddit’s new AI search tool helps you find Reddit answers without Google

And in the lightning round:

• YouTube is still growing fast on TVs in the living room
• Instagram will let creators test experimental reels on random people
• Adam Mosseri’s post on trial reels
• It sure sounds like Trump would be okay with a TikTok sale
• Sonos Arc Ultra review: don’t call it a comeback (yet)
• Cruise’s robotaxi service will likely shut down as GM pulls its funding
• Amazon’s online car ‘dealership’ with Hyundai is now live

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The UnitedHealthcare shooter got exactly what he wanted

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

The shooter had a message, and the internet was happy to spread it.

Read the full story at The Verge.

Microsoft kills off Skype credits and phone numbers in favor of subscriptions

Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Microsoft has quietly ended the sale of new credits and phone number features for Skype this week. Skype Credit and Skype Number are both being discontinued in favor of Microsoft pushing subscriptions instead.

Skype Credit was a pay-as-you-go plan for making calls both locally and internationally, and Skype Number allowed you to have a phone number that people could call and get through to your Skype account. Both have existed in Skype for years, making it a popular choice for calling landlines and mobile phones over the internet.

“New sales of Skype numbers and Skype credit have stopped, but customers can still use existing Skype numbers and credits,” says Amit Fulay, vice president of Microsoft Teams and Skype, in a statement to The Verge. “Users can also purchase new outbound PSTN calling services through monthly Skype subscriptions or use Skype’s free VoIP services for voice or video calls.”

While existing Skype phone numbers will continue to work for now, it seems inevitable that Microsoft will eventually force existing users into a subscription, too. Existing Skype Credit can also be used, but you can’t buy any additional top ups. Even with Microsoft’s Skype subscriptions, there’s still no direct replacement for having a phone number that people can ring to get to your Skype.

Microsoft made the surprise decision to remove ads from Skype earlier this year, alongside new features like AI image creation. The communications app, acquired by Microsoft in 2011, has struggled to remain relevant in recent years up against WhatsApp, Zoom, FaceTime, and other video calling apps. Microsoft has also turned its attention more to Teams in recent years, especially after launching a personal version of Teams in 2020.

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Intel executives hint at potential manufacturing spinoff

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

After the surprise ousting of former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger last week, the chip maker is facing an uncertain future that could involve splitting the company up. The temporary co-CEOs of Intel both appeared at Barclays investment banking conference on Thursday, hinting at a potential manufacturing spinoff.

Intel’s manufacturing business finances and operations are already being separated into a standalone subsidiary, according to Reuters. Intel’s chief financial officer, David Zinsner, admitted “that’s going to happen,” but stopped short of confirming whether Intel would ever fully spin off its manufacturing business. “Does it ever fully separate? That’s an open question for another day,” said Zinsner.

Intel Products CEO, Michelle Johnston Holthaus, also discussed the possibility of a manufacturing spinoff, as the two co-CEOs wait for Intel’s board to find a Gelsinger replacement. “Pragmatically, do I think it makes sense that they’re completely separated and there’s no tie? I don’t think so. But someone will decide that,” said Holthaus.

The decision on splitting up Intel will be a key one for the company, and any incoming CEO. Intel had to outsource the manufacturing of its Lunar Lake laptop chips to its rival TSMC earlier this year, in what turned out to be a financial mistake.

It won’t be easy for Intel to spin off its own foundries, though. Intel receives nearly $8 billion in CHIPS and Science Act funding from the US government, and the US Department of Commerce has oversight over any change of control. If Intel does end up spinning off its manufacturing business, then it will turn into a company that designs chips much like its direct rivals.

Now, it’s all eyes on Intel’s “18A” process which is set to arrive next year and may struggle to beat TSMC and deliver a flagship PC chip to rival AMD. Intel has faced a series of setbacks this year, ranging from the Lunar Lake financial mistake to crashing 13th and 14th Gen chips and underwhelming next-gen desktop CPUs.

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