The first Superman trailer is full of hope

The first trailer for the next theatrical take on Superman is finally here. After some teasing, DC Studios released the debut look at the new film, which is simply called Superman. It opens with Superman crashing in a frozen landscape, clearly injured, before flashing back to his life as Clark Kent. A handful of villains make an appearance — including Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor — but overall the vibe seems to be one of hope. There’s even a very dramatic take on the classic Superman theme song. And yes, the dog makes an appearance.

The movie is a major part of the revamped DC Studios, which saw James Gunn and Peter Safran take over the division as co-CEOs back in 2022. Gunn is the writer and director for Superman. Meanwhile, David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan are the new Clark Kent and Lois Lane, with the latter taking up the red cape from Henry Cavill, who is now working on a live-action take on Warhammer for Amazon.

Gunn, who is best known as the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, has previously said that he wants all of the new DC films — Superman included — to feel distinct from each other. “I want each project to have the feelings of the individual artist that’s working on it and to give them a lot of freedom — as long as it works — to create something special because what I’ve found through Marvel, what wasn’t exciting was when movies were tonally the same,” he explained.

Superman hits theaters on July 11th, 2025.

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Starlink’s first nationwide satellite texting service launches in New Zealand

Image: One NZ

SpaceX’s satellite-to-cell Starlink service has hit a nationwide coverage milestone in New Zealand — albeit with a few limitations. One NZ says it’s the first telecommunications company globally to power a nationwide satellite text messaging service via Starlink. Starlink has also signed up partners in Canada, Australia, Japan, Peru, Switzerland, and Chile, partnering with T-Mobile in the US.

Only four phone models are currently supported: the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and OPPO Find X8 Pro. Eligibility is expected to expand to more devices next year. Most text messages can be sent and received within three minutes during the initial rollout, according One NZ, though that may increase to “10 minutes or longer” during the first few months.

“We continue to test the capabilities of One NZ Satellite TXT, and this is an initial service that will get better. For example, text messages will take longer to send but will get quicker over time,” One NZ’s Experience and Commercial Director Joe Goddard said. “We’re beginning with a small number of phones as part of the staggered rollout of the technology. And critically, from today customers can send and receive text messages only, but in the future, we expect voice calling and data to also be available.”

The One NZ Satellite TXT service will be free for existing customers on paid-monthly plans. One NZ hasn’t revealed if new customers or those on other contracts will be required to pay an additional fee to access satellite-to-cell coverage.

Starlink’s text-by-satellite service was previously piloted with T-Mobile customers in areas affected by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in October. T-Mobile was granted FCC approval for the service in November, and is now signing up customers to test the US Starlink beta program “early next year.”

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Apple pushed hard by EU to make iOS and iPadOS more interoperable

Cath Virginia / The Verge

The European Union has published several recommendations for Apple to make iOS and iPadOS more interoperable with competitors following two separate DMA proceedings launched in September, sparking concerns about user privacy from the iPhone maker.

On Wednesday, the EU Commission submitted draft recommendations to Apple regarding changes that would make the iOS operating system more compatible with third-party devices like smartwatches, earbuds, and headsets. The Commission is also proposing measures to improve how Apple communicates with developers who make interoperability requests for iOS and iPadOS, including increased transparency around internal features and rejections.

The EU’s proposed iOS interoperability measures cover interactivity features like automatic audio switching, background activity like maintaining Bluetooth and network connections, and notifications — which could address long-standing complaints from iPhone users who are unable to send quick replies from connected Garmin watches, for example. The EU also proposes several measures to improve iOS data transfer interoperability across Airdrop, Airplay, media casting, Wi-Fi sharing, and close-range file transfers, alongside device configuration measures covering proximity-triggered pairing and automatic Wi-Fi connectivity.

Apple has raised concerns about the DMA’s interoperability mandates, as you’d expect. In a white paper published shortly after the EU’s announcement, Apple criticized “data-hungry companies” like Meta that have made numerous requests to access the iPhone maker’s software tools.

“The security risks would be substantial and virtually impossible to mitigate”

“Meta has made 15 requests (and counting) for potentially far-reaching access to Apple’s technology stack that, if granted as sought, would reduce the protections around personal data that our users have come to expect from their devices,” Apple said in the paper. “If Apple is forced to allow access to sensitive technologies that it has no ability to protect, the security risks would be substantial and virtually impossible to mitigate.”

Apple doesn’t specify which of the EU’s DMA proposals it takes issue with, generalizing them in their entirety as a risk to user privacy. Meta has hit back about being targeted in Apple’s complaint and says the iPhone maker is being anticompetitive.

“What Apple is actually saying is they don’t believe in interoperability,” an unnamed Meta spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg. “Every time Apple is called out for its anticompetitive behavior, they defend themselves on privacy grounds that have no basis in reality.”

The Commission is requesting feedback from companies seeking interoperability with Apple by January 9th, 2025. The interoperability recommendations proposed by the EU Commission are subject to change depending on submitted feedback. The final, legally-binding measures applying to Apple are expected to be finalized before March 2025. If Apple doesn’t comply then the EU may launch a formal investigation next year, and could be liable for fines up to 10 percent of its global annual sales.

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Samsung starts making refrigerators for thermoelectric nerds

Some Samsung fridges are getting hybrid cooling tech in 2025. | Image: Samsung

Samsung just announced new hybrid cooling tech coming to its refrigerators in 2025. They’ll use a traditional compressor alongside a new Peltier module — a semiconductor device that transfers heat from one side to the other when current passes through it. This approach results in a fridge that reduces temperature variations to keep foods fresher longer while better utilizing interior space, according to Samsung.

The Peltier effect is something we’ve seen harnessed by wearable personal air conditioners, microclimate chairs, and hobbyist coolers in the past. This is the first time we can recall seeing it used in a full-sized refrigerator sold by a major brand.

Samsung says the Peltier module is only called into action when significant cooling is needed. This might be after loading the weekly shopping haul into the fridge or when adding hot leftovers. In these situations the Peltier module works alongside the compressor to avoid a big internal temperature spike. Otherwise, the fridge relies exclusively on the compressor for optimal cooling efficiency. Samsung says its hybrid cooling tech will be introduced into a fridge (model RM80F23VM) that can be “recognized as the most efficient of Energy Star in 2025.”

Samsung’s fridges featuring the new hybrid cooling tech will be available with 900-liter capacities. The company says they have a 25-liter increase in usable internal space as a result of using a Peltier module instead of traditional heating elements. And according to Samsung, its hybrid cooling can keep foods fresher for longer, with tests showing pork lasting 1.4 times longer and salmon 1.2 times.

Expect to hear more from Samsung about its hybrid cooling fridges in early January when the big CES trade show kicks off in earnest from Las Vegas.

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Biden administration passes the torch to local leaders to keep climate action alive

National climate adviser Ali Zaidi speaks at the daily press briefing at the White House on January 26th, 2024, in Washington, DC. | Photo by Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images

The Biden administration set ambitious new goals to slash US greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris climate accord, urging states and local governments to stay on course regardless of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to purposefully ignore climate change.

The nearly 200 countries that have joined the Paris agreement face a deadline in February to update their national climate plans. Biden’s team decided to put out its own plan before Trump steps into office, setting a new target today of cutting net emissions by 61–66 percent in 2035 compared to a 2005 baseline. It also sets a specific target of cutting methane emissions by at least 35 percent by the same date. Methane comes from livestock, landfills, and leaking oil and gas infrastructure and is an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Trump has called climate change a “hoax” and has vowed to pull the US out of the Paris agreement. So Biden’s last-ditch effort to keep the US on track to meet global climate goals is more symbolic — seemingly designed to encourage a grassroots movement in defiance of Trump’s national agenda.

“Escape velocity, an inexorable path, a place from which we will not turn back”

“Across the country, we see decarbonization efforts to reduce our emissions in many ways achieving escape velocity, an inexorable path, a place from which we will not turn back,” White House national climate adviser Ali Zaidi said in a call with reporters.

It helps that new solar and onshore wind farms have become cheaper sources of electricity than coal or gas. Around 95 percent of new sources of electricity queued up to connect to US power grids is carbon-free — mostly solar and wind energy and batteries. The Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have also authorized hundreds of billions of dollars of funding for clean energy. Current policies put the US on track to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by around 40 percent by the end of the decade compared to 2005.

That’s a big drop in pollution, but still shy of the initial goal Biden set upon stepping into office. Shortly after Biden’s inauguration in 2021, the US rejoined the Paris agreement (which Trump had previously pulled the US out of) and set a target of reducing emissions by 50 to 52 percent by 2030. That’s in line with the pollution cuts needed globally to meet the most ambitious target in the Paris agreement, keeping global average temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius above what they were before the Industrial Revolution.

Keeping that global goal alive is increasingly dubious, especially since the US is the second-biggest climate polluter after China. The planet is about 1.2 degrees warmer today than it was before humans started pumping out massive amounts of greenhouse gas emissions by burning fossil fuels. All that pollution has already triggered more intense storms, wildfires, droughts, and other climate disasters. And things could get worse with Trump’s plans to dismantle environmental policies, encourage the development of more energy-hungry crypto mines and AI data centers, and increase oil and gas drilling.

Even so, Trump didn’t completely kill US climate action during his first stint as president. State and cities crafted their own climate plans and local leaders created a coalition called We Are Still In after Trump moved to take the US out of the Paris agreement. Thanks in large part to their work, the US still surpassed the Obama administration’s climate goal of cutting emissions 17 percent by 2020. Biden raised the bar with his climate goals, so there’s far more work to do to keep up the pace this time around. A University of Maryland analysis from September found that local action can reduce US greenhouse gas pollution by 48–60 percent by 2035 even without federal support.

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Here comes Sandisk with a rebrand

New logo up top and old one on the bottom. | Image: Sandisk

SanDisk is now SANDISK. It’s also now Sandisk. The company is announcing a fresh rebranding this week with a new logo that drops the inter-capped styling it’s generally maintained since 1995 with one that is inspired by “a single point of data” or a “pixel.”

In a new video, Sandisk says its “slab serif is back and bolder” and it maintains its open “D” letter, but pairs it with a new “pixel-driven S.” The company says the letters symbolize “the collaboration and partnership required to actualize our purpose and tap into new possibilities.”

As noted in a report by Fast Company, the Sandisk rebranding comes ahead of a spinoff from its parent company Western Digital planned for next year (it was originally planned for this year). Western Digital had originally acquired Sandisk back in 2016.

Last year, Western Digital was embroiled in controversy surrounding the popular, pricey portable SanDisk Extreme SSD, in which publications reported that the product would wipe owners’ data erroneously. It happened to our supervising producer Vjeran Pavic, and Western Digital refused to answer our questions at the time to explain what was happening.

Controversy aside, we’re big fans of “unfinished” logo styles here at The Verge, and it looks like Sandisk did alright with its rebrand. It certainly could do worse -- just look at PayPal, Kia, Paramount. or JaGUar.

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DJI escapes US drone ban — but may get banned automatically unless Trump steps in

Image: DJI

The US Senate has passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual defense spending bill, and it may have major consequences for the world’s largest drone company — though not necessarily the immediate ban that China’s DJI feared.

While it did not contain the full “Countering CCP Drones Act” provisions that would have quickly blocked imports of DJI products into the United States, it instead kicks off a one-year countdown until its products (and those of rival dronemaker Autel Robotics) are automatically banned.

If DJI cannot convince “an appropriate national security agency” to publicly declare that its products do not “pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States,” the act instructs the FCC to add DJI’s gear to its “covered list” under the Secure and Trusted Communication Networks Act. Not only does that list keep that gear from running on US networks, it bars the FCC from authorizing their internal radios for use in the US, effectively blocking all imports.

While none of that would keep US citizens from continuing to use their existing DJI gadgets, it wouldn’t just ban new DJI drones from import into the United States. Every DJI product with a radio or camera, like the Verge favorite DJI Osmo Pocket 3, would technically be banned. (The NDAA doesn’t specify just drones, but rather communications and video surveillance equipment.)

The text of the bill (PDF, see page 1084-1088) should theoretically prevent DJI from exploiting the loophole of whitelabeling its drones under other brand names or licensing its technology, too, as it seemed to be doing with the Anzu Robotics Raptor and Cogito Specta. The bill explicitly tells the FCC to add “any subsidiary, affiliate, or partner” and “any entity to which the named entity has a technology sharing or licensing agreement” to the covered list, too.

The bill had already passed the House of Representatives and is headed to President Biden’s desk, where it’s considered a must-sign: it would trigger a partial government shutdown if not signed, and it already passed both houses of Congress with strong bipartisan support.

So it’ll really be up to the Trump administration as to whether it wants to rescue the Chinese drone company, in the year after he takes office. Trump may not need to lift a finger if he’d prefer to see fewer DJI products in the country, so the ball’s in DJI’s court. It wouldn’t be surprising if DJI tries to get face time with Trump in the near future — like TikTok, which is more imminently facing a ban.

Even without the NDAA, DJI was already facing increased US scrutiny, reporting that its products had begun to see surprise import restrictions (allegedly over the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act), and making a conscious decision to ship fewer of them into the United States as a result. In October, it sued the US Department of Defense for labeling it a “Chinese Military Company”.

In a blog post, DJI calls it “good news” that the NDAA doesn’t explicitly ban DJI products, but says the US government is singling out Chinese drones for scrutiny, and worries about the fact that the law doesn’t specify a government agency to actually carry out the task of determining whether it poses a risk.

“This means that DJI would be prevented from launching new products in the US market through no fault of its own, but simply because no agency chose to take on the work of studying our products,” the company writes. It’s asking Congress to pick a “technically focused agency to assure the assessment is evidence-based,” and to give the company the opportunity to reply.

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Here are the best AirPods deals you can get right now

If you’re okay with a Lightning connector, you can pick up Apple’s original AirPods Max starting at $399. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

If you know where to look, you can often score discounts on Apple’s ever-expanding AirPods lineup. Both the AirPods 4 and AirPods Max are just starting to receive discounts, for instance, while the third-gen AirPods can often be found at a steep discount. The same goes for the original Max, which are nearly indistinguishable from the last-gen model aside from the switch to a USB-C connector.

Below, we’ve rounded up the best deals currently available on each model, including the third-gen AirPods, both iterations of the AirPods 4, the latest AirPods Pro with USB-C, and the last-gen AirPods Max.

The best AirPods (third-gen) deals

With support for the company’s MagSafe charger and an asking price of $179, Apple’s third-gen AirPods were once considered the middle child in the AirPods lineup. The shorter stems made for a more subtle design, too, while improved sound and features like sweat and water resistance, support for head-tracking spatial audio, and improved battery life rendered them a nice upgrade over their predecessor.

However, the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation have since replaced the third-gen AirPods in Apple’s lineup. The new earbuds run $129 and $179, respectively, with the step-up model offering a few perks once reserved for the Pro models, including ANC, a helpful transparency mode, and a case with a built-in speaker. You can also squeeze the stem to control media playback — a feature also available on the entry-level AirPods 4.

We recently saw the third-gen AirPods with a Lightning charging case drop to $94 at Walmart. However, the best deal you can get right now is only available at Adorama, where members can buy them with a MagSafe charging case for $149 ($50 off). That being said, it’s worth noting that you can currently buy the AirPods 4 at Amazon starting at $119, which is a far better deal.

Read our AirPods (third-gen) review.

The best AirPods 4 deals

During Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event in September, the company introduced the AirPods 4, a pair of wireless earbuds available in two flavors: a $129 standard model and a noise-canceling version for $179. Both models represent significant upgrades over the second-gen AirPods, with a more comfortable design and improved audio performance. They’re also better for taking calls thanks to Apple’s Voice Isolation feature, which better isolates your voice so that you can more clearly be heard in noisy environments.

For $50 extra, you can also buy the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, which offer ANC, a helpful transparency mode, and several more Pro-like features. Admittedly, the latest AirPods Pro do a better job of tuning out noise, but Apple’s newest pair of wireless earbuds still do a good job of reducing sound. They also offer other perks formerly reserved for Apple’s highest-end earbuds, including wireless charging and a case with a built-in speaker that allows you to easily track it down via Apple’s Find My app.

Although they just launched, we’re already starting to see discounts on both versions of the AirPods 4. Right now, for instance, Amazon is offering the standard AirPods 4 for $119 ($10 off) and the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation for $168.99 ($10 off), the latter of which is about $30 shy of the lowest price we’ve seen on the ANC model.

Read our AirPods 4 review.

The best AirPods Pro (second-gen) deals

In 2022, Apple released the second-gen AirPods Pro, which feature a similar build to the first-gen model but offer better noise cancellation, swipe-based controls, and an extra-small pair of swappable silicone ear tips for smaller ears. Apple followed them up last year with a minor refresh, one that features a USB-C charging case and an upgraded IP54 rating for water and dust resistance. The newest model also supports lossless audio when used with Apple’s new Vision Pro headset and doubles as a pair of FDA-approved hearing aids.

Apple’s updated AirPods Pro with USB-C are currently available at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy for $189.99, which is their usual sale price and about $36 more than their best price to date.

Read our AirPods Pro with USB-C impressions.

The best AirPods Max deals

The AirPods Max aren’t the iconic in-ears that have become synonymous with the AirPods name. They’re large and luxurious, comprised of aluminum, steel, and mesh fabric that remains comfortable during extended listening sessions. They also sport excellent noise cancellation, Apple’s spatial audio feature, and expansive, balanced sound, even if they lag behind some of their peers when it comes to bass response and features. They’re not the best noise-canceling headphones for most people — blame the sticker price — but it’s hard to find a better pair of Bluetooth headphones if you’re an iPhone user.

At the beginning of September, Apple replaced the first-gen Max with a new model that features support for USB-C charging and a few new color options. They’re currently on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo for around $529 ($20 off) — which matches their second-best price to date — while the first-gen model is on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart starting at $399 ($150 off). That’s not the lowest price we’ve seen on the original model, but it’s one of the best prices we’ve seen this year.

Read our original AirPods Max review.

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Balatro’s creator isn’t happy about the game’s 18-plus rating in Europe

Image: Playstack

The creator of the poker roguelike Balatro, who goes by the alias LocalThunk, has been sharing some frustrations over the game’s 18-plus rating in Europe.

“Since PEGI gave us an 18-plus rating for having evil playing cards maybe I should add microtransactions / loot boxes / real gambling to lower that rating to 3-plus like EA Sports FC,” LocalThunk posted on X over the weekend.

Balatro’s 18-plus rating isn’t new. The game was originally rated 3-plus, but shortly after its February launch, PEGI bumped it up to 18-plus, as spelled out at the time by Playstack, Balatro’s publisher. The game was briefly delisted from “a number of digital stores in some countries” as a result.

According to PEGI’s page for Balatro, the rating was given because the game “features prominent gambling imagery.” PEGI also spells out the following “content specific issues”:

This game teaches — by way of images, information and gameplay — skills and knowledge that are used in poker. During gameplay, the player is rewarded with ‘chips’ for playing certain hands. The player is able to access a list of poker hand names. As the player hovers over these poker hands, the game explains what types of cards the player would need in order to play certain hands. As the game goes on, the player becomes increasingly familiar with which hands would earn more points. Because these are hands that exist in the real world, this knowledge and skill could be transferred to a real-life game of poker.

While it’s true that the game does feature poker imagery and poker hands that a player could translate into an actual game of poker, it’s worth noting that Balatro doesn’t actually have any gambling as part of playing the game. (LocalThunk has even stipulated in their will that Balatro can’t be sold or licensed to a gambling company.)

Games like EA Sports FC include in-game purchases with randomized content, which is what LocalThunk takes issue with. “I’m way more irked at the 3-plus for these games with actual gambling mechanics for children than I am about Balatro having an 18-plus rating,” he said on Sunday.

LocalThunk said Wednesday that they attempted to discuss Balatro’s rating with PEGI, but “they do not see anything wrong Balatro being rated 18-plus, nor with EA Sports FC (and similar games) having a 3-plus rating.” PEGI was “blaming EU laws, blaming storefronts, waiting for the future,” LocalThunk said.

PEGI didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

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Honda teases reveal of two new Honda Zero EV prototypes

Image: Honda

Honda teased the reveal of the first two Honda Zero prototypes, which will be making their official debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. The company also said it would have a new proprietary operating system for the global electric vehicle series to show off.

Honda announced Honda Zero at CES 2024, describing it as a new “global EV series” that would be “lighter” and more space-age than the current crop of heavy, boxy electric SUVs and trucks. The three defining principles of Honda Zero were “thin,” “light,” and “wise.” And the company would use its learnings from F1 and its robotics work to introduce a new lineup of vehicles that were distinctly of the future.

At the upcoming CES, Honda says it will expand on its “wise” principle by releasing more details about its new OS, automated driving technologies, and an overview of its system-on-a-chip that will support its Honda Zero vehicles.

The teaser image features rear profiles of the two concept vehicles first revealed earlier this year: the Saloon and the Space-Hub. The Saloon has a sloping fastback shape with unique rectangular lights in the front and rear that resemble a vintage Black & Decker Dustbuster. The Space-Hub resembles a minivan with minimal overhangs and a rear light that has a similar look to Rivian’s electric delivery vans for Amazon.

Honda says it will expand on its “wise” principle

Earlier this year, Verge contributor Abigail Bassett flew out to Japan to get up close with Honda’s new global EV series. She drove a prototype CR-V equipped with Honda Zero tech and found it to be lighter and more nimble than a Honda Prologue.

The new Honda Zero platform feels similar to other EV platforms on the market in terms of acceleration and handling. Because the weight is low in the floor, the prototype CR-V cornered quickly and flat as you approached the limit. The powertrain is quick and responsive, and on the short, front straight that the engineers set up for our test laps, I hit 110km (just shy of 70mph) in a relatively short distance.

It will be interesting to see more production-ready versions of the Saloon and Space-Hub in the flesh, especially with all the chatter about Honda in the background (working on solid-state batteries, collaborating with Sony on the Afeela EV, potentially merging with Nissan).

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Intel outlines the performance fixes for Arrow Lake CPUs

Image: Intel

Intel’s new Arrow Lake CPUs came out in October promising high performance at lower power levels, but reviews, including ours, noted surprisingly lackluster gaming performance. Tom Warren said of the Core Ultra 9 285K, “...in many titles, it provides worse performance than the 14th Gen chips it was designed to replace.”

Now, the troubled chipmaker says it has been gradually releasing updates that fixed most of the issues it identified, as reported earlier by Tom’s Hardware.

“At the end of the day, there were four root issues that we needed to address, and fixes for those are actually already in the field right now,” Robert Hallock, Intel’s VP and GM of client AI and technical marketing said during an interview with HotHardware. “They’ve been coming out over the last two weeks or so in drips and drabs, as update schedules allow.”

One issue stemmed from a “mistimed” update that was supposed to optimize Windows’ processor power management (PPM) system for Intel’s Core Ultra 200S-series processors. (PPM adjusts the performance of a CPU based on the current power plan, such as Balanced, High Performance, Power Saver, etc).

Instead of releasing the PPM update before reviewers got their hands on the processors, Intel says it scheduled the update to go out when it became widely available, which may have caused reviewers to see worse-than-expected performance. Due to the missing PPM update, Intel’s performance-boosting Application Performance Optimizer (APO) also couldn’t take effect in games, while “misconfigured” performance settings also had a negative impact on reviewers’ benchmarks.

Image: Intel

A fix was already applied for these issues in Windows 11 build 26100.2161. Intel also says Epic Games resolved a driver compatibility issue causing the blue screen of death when running games with Easy Anti-Cheat, such as Star Wars Outlaws.

Intel is planning to release another set of performance upgrades for Arrow Lake CPUs in January, and it will “provide a comprehensive performance update” at CES. For now, Intel recommends updating Windows and applying the latest BIOS update to your motherboard if you haven’t already. Otherwise, you can wait until the “final” performance update next year.

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Here’s everything we don’t know about New Jersey’s drone mystery

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

So far, possible answers include aliens, an international conspiracy, secret military tests, or just planes.

2024’s drone hysteria has gone on for weeks across the East Coast, and we still have far more questions than answers. The sightings may have started in New Jersey, but reports of possible drone sightings have continued to spread.

The usual authorities haven’t helped much, with bland statements like “There continues to be no known threat to public safety,” failing to tamp down anxiety and interest. What we do know so far is that this is a perfect storm for clout-chasing politicians and that our phone cameras aren’t really up to the task of taking pictures of stuff flying around in the sky.

Meanwhile, social media-fueled misinformation has rushed to fill the information vacuum about what people are seeing. Even if, in many cases, what they’ve seen are planes, stars, meteors, or drones sent up by drone hunters to try to find the mystery drones.

We’ll keep track of the best information we can pull together right here.

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The Nintendo Switch 2 and its dock, as described by the mystery Reddit leaker

Not a Switch 2. Think bigger. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

Last Friday, we brought you leaked dimensions of the next Nintendo Switch from the most likely source yet: a “3D scan of the actual hardware” obtained by case manufacturer Dbrand. But case manufacturers aren’t the only source of leaks.

A Redditor named “NextHandheld” claims to have seen and touched an actual final retail unit of the Nintendo Switch 2. I spoke with them, and I’ve now heard and seen enough to think they might be legit.

In particular, I’ve seen two photos of a possible Nintendo Switch 2 dock, and one photo of the inside of a possible Switch 2 controller rail, covered in certification logos and with copper contacts exposed, which also shows its metal kickstand hinge open at an angle. Notably, the dock was not included in the 3D scan that’s circulating among case manufacturers.

If NextHandheld is telling the truth, we now know a good bit more about Nintendo’s next console. For example: as much as we’d love it to be called the “Super Nintendo Switch,” it’ll likely be introduced as the Nintendo Switch 2.

Name and date

Officially, Nintendo has only called it “the successor to Nintendo Switch,” promised to formally announce the new console by March 31st, 2025, and revealed that it will be backward compatible with original Switch games.

Unofficially, NextHandheld’s source has heard it might be announced as soon as January — and shared what they claim is first-hand evidence with The Verge that it is the Nintendo Switch 2. I saw a picture of a dock, with the same logo as as the original Nintendo Switch, only with a 2 attached.

It wasn’t far off from this Redditor’s guess:

Image: u/DjuncleMC

And while NextHandheld says they’re “disappointed” that the dock doesn’t seem to have any more ports than the original — two USB-A, one HDMI, one ethernet, and one USB-C likely used for its power brick — it may have a different trick up its sleeve.

Magnetic controllers — finally with drift-resistant joysticks

In April, Spanish pub Vandal (which correctly reported minor details of the Switch OLED before launch) reported that, incredibly, Nintendo might replace the Switch’s controller rails with magnets so your Joy-Cons can magically snap into place.

Today, it no longer seems incredible, because the photo I saw of a joystick rail region contains no rail: it’s just a long, rounded, hollow area, with a 13-pin connector that sticks out so it can slot into the Joy-Con. NextHandheld says there’s a physical magnetic click when you attach them, and that you’ll press a much larger button on the controller, one that’s physically connected to a magnet, to release. (You can see mockups of such buttons in our Dbrand story.)

More importantly, the Nintendo Switch 2 might finally get rid of the infamous “Joy-Con Drift” that plagues its controllers to this day. NextHandheld claims the controllers will have magnetic Hall effect joysticks, which don’t contain the same deteriorating sensor material and can be recalibrated easily.

A U-shaped kickstand

The original Nintendo Switch had a tiny, easy-to-topple gumstick of a kickstand, and the Switch OLED had a wide, flat plate. But the Nintendo Switch 2 will feature a U-shaped rail of a kickstand, according to a photo that NextHandheld shared with me.

I understand that the 3D CAD file shows the U-shape, too — and case manufacturers have begun sharing images of similar U-shaped kickstands, too. But it looks like it could be beefier than some of the mockups floating around:

Nintendo Switch 2 New Photos ⚠️

✅️ U Shaped Kickstand
✅️ Console - 118.5mm x 273mm
✅️ Switch 2 Lighter than Steam Deck
✅️ Larger ZL/ZR Buttons than Switch 1
✅️ Magnet Joycons make a "Click" Sound
✅️ 2 Joycon Back Release Buttons pic.twitter.com/Ay5xUQAMg3

— Deck Wizard (@deckwizardyt) December 15, 2024

Extra power when docked?

Once upon a time, Nintendo was reportedly planning to release a Nintendo Switch Pro, one that would output 4K graphics when docked to your TV, at least partly thanks to Nvidia’s DLSS AI upscaling. That didn’t happen, but the Nintendo Switch 2’s dock might be designed to let the handheld run a bit faster.

On Reddit, NextHandheld cryptically teased that asking if the dock had a fan was “the right question,” and in a picture shared with The Verge, I can see the alleged dock has big feet around back, ones positioned so it can lie down horizontally without blocking a set of vents.

While I don’t imagine you’d intentionally put it on its back, as the handheld might fall out of the completely open slot up top, I can imagine Nintendo wanting to make sure the console doesn’t overheat if you accidentally knock it over.

Intriguingly, NextHandheld says the dock is rated for 60W, while the Switch 2 is rated for 45W, both of which would be substantially higher than the original if true. The original Switch had an unusual 39W charger for both docked and handheld modes, which only provided up to 18W for the handheld.

The many things we still don’t know

You can dig through NextHandheld’s Reddit comments or read this early summary for a lot more possible details about the new console. But the Redditor is upfront that they never got to turn the handheld on, or play any games. They don’t know whether a Switch 2 can play original Switch cartridges, or only digital Switch 1 games. They don’t know if it has a microphone, or a camera, or how much storage space it has, or its performance, or anything about its reportedly 8-inch screen, or its launch titles.

They do say it will launch in dark grey, however, like the original Nintendo Switch, and that it will be followed by a white model, and one themed with a Nintendo game that hasn’t received a themed Switch yet. And, they’re the latest to possibly corroborate a new second USB-C port on the top, though that was obviously revealed in the 3D scan.

If it’s true that Nintendo will announce the Switch 2 in January, though, you won’t have to wait long for more answers — or to find out if these ones are true.

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This waterproof coffin gives your AirTag 10 years of battery life

You’ll need to remove an AirTag’s battery door to install it inside the TimeCapsule. | Image: Elevation Lab

Elevation Lab’s new TimeCapsule is a protective case for an Apple AirTag that turns it into a waterproof, dustproof tracker with a ten-year battery life. It’s available now for $19.99, but you can also get a pair for $29.99, or a heavily-discounted four-pack for $39.99.

The TimeCapsule is a candy bar-sized enclosure that replaces an AirTag’s CR2032 coin cell battery with an electrical contact and slots for a pair of AA batteries. It’s made of “fiber reinforced polycarbonate” that won’t block or reduce the range of Bluetooth or UWB signals, according to Elevation Lab’s Casey Hopkins. The case also has an IP69 rating, which offers the highest protection against water, dust, and dirt ingress. No point in a ten-year tracker that can’t handle a puddle.

Image: Elevation Lab

The TimeCapsule can also help camouflage an AirTag, making it look more like an external storage drive instead of a tracking device.

There are tradeoffs, of course. The TimeCapsule weighs 3.5 ounces with the batteries installed, compared to .39 ounces for a regulation AirTag. And the case does muffle the volume of the AirTag’s chirps by about a third, potentially making it harder to locate by ear. But for situations where you really don’t want to be replacing your AirTag’s battery every year, that seems like a small price to pay.

The company recommends using Energizer Ultimate Lithium AAs to maximize battery life and avoid the leaks and corrosion that alkaline batteries are known for. You can also use nickel–metal hydride batteries, but they won’t quite last as long before needing to be recharged.

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The best smartwatches for Android

Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge

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

Read the full story at The Verge.

Wrapped 2024: the annual app recaps are here

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

You were listening, walking, and playing, and they were watching. The app recaps, best-of lists, and awards for 2024 that we can find are here.

It’s not just Spotify anymore — the Wrapped phenomenon has taken over. From music and podcasts to gaming (Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, and Steam are all accounted for) and beyond, the data breakdowns of what you’ve been doing are a reminder that with so many connected devices, someone is always watching.

Once Dunkin and Shake Shack started doing roundups, the trend was cemented, and it doesn’t seem like it will turn around any time soon.

Of course, Spotify is still taking the lead. For 2024, Wrapped integrates Google’s NotebookLM to have two AI-generated podcast hosts review facts you already knew about your favorite musicians and track how your taste changed throughout the year. If you haven’t pulled up your Wrapped 2024 stats yet, here’s how you can find them.

If you have recaps to share or spot a few that we’ve missed, drop them in the comments.

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GM and ChargePoint plan to install hundreds of fast EV chargers by the end of 2025

A station render with Chargepoint-built GM Energy chargers. | Image: GM

GM is partnering with ChargePoint to build out a new EV charging network under the GM Energy brand, the companies announced today.

GM plans to install up to 500 DC fast-charging ports at stations deployed in “strategic” places across the US, with some equipped with ChargePoint’s Express Plus platform that supports charge speeds up to 500kW. GM and Chargepoint plan to open the stations “rapidly, with the locations deployed by the end of 2025.”

ChargePoint will bring its Omni Port charging hardware for the project, which can connect with vehicles fitted with either CCS or Tesla’s NACS ports so that owners generally would not need to carry an adapter.

“With ultra-fast charging, Omni Port technology, and excellent customer experiences, this collaboration should be another reason why EV drivers and the EV-curious should be excited,” GM Energy VP Wade Sheffer said in a statement.

This isn’t GM Energy’s only EV charger partnership. The automaker also has an ongoing deal with EVgo that has already installed 2,000 DC fast chargers as of December. GM is also building stations with Flying J and Pilot truck stops, while also taking a role in the EV charging consortium Ionna with major players like Hyundai, Kia, BMW, and Stellantis.

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The Ram 1500 Rev is now delayed to 2026

Image: Ram

Ram brand owner Stellantis is delaying its long-awaited all-electric Ram 1500 Rev pickup truck from the first half of 2025 to 2026. The automaker is now prioritizing the launch of its gas-extended hybrid Ramcharger truck, which is also being delayed beyond the first half of 2025 that it originally targeted.

Stellantis says launching the Ramcharger first is a decision “driven by overwhelming consumer interest” and a slowdown in demand for heavy all-electric models. Stellantis’ CEO Carlos Tavares, stepped down earlier this month following a sharp decline in the automaker’s sales. The company has been accused of degrading its US brands and failing to release more affordable models.

The Ramcharger and the Rev are both built on Stellantis’ STLA Frame body-on-frame platform designed to handle electric, gas, hybrid, and hydrogen powertrains. The platform helps stretch the Ramcharger gas-extended EV range up to 690 miles on a full charge and tank.

Stellantis and battery partner Samsung SDI just secured a federal loan from the Biden administration to build domestic EV batteries.

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Apple reportedly won’t launch an iPhone subscription service

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple is no longer developing a hardware subscription service for iPhones that would let subscribers get a new iPhone every year, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Gurman initially reported in 2022 that Apple was working on the service, and while it was apparently supposed to launch that year, the project was delayed due because of “software bugs and regulatory concerns,” Gurman says.

The end of the hardware subscription service follows Apple’s shutdown of Apple Pay Later just months after its full launch.

While the hardware subscription service apparently won’t see the light of day, Apple offers installment plans you can use to pay for an iPhone over time. The iPhone Upgrade Program spreads the payments of a loan for a new iPhone (and AppleCare Plus) over 24 months, and you can upgrade to a new phone after you pay the equivalent of 12 months. If you have an Apple Card, you can also pay for a new iPhone (and other Apple products) using Apple Card Monthly Installments.

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Threads will let you reshare pictures without the original post

Image: The Verge

Threads is rolling out a new feature that lets you share someone’s photos and videos without including the original post. You’ll be able to add your own text alongside the reshared media, which will include a credit to the creator, according to Instagram head Adam Mosseri.

“This is a quick, easy way to add your creative takes to trending images and clips without quote posting,” Mosseri says. Based on the example shared by Mosseri, it looks like the original poster’s username will appear in the top left corner of the photo or video, with a repost counter in the lower left.

Besides making it a little cleaner to reshare media, the feature is likely designed to help cut down on complaints about users reposting content without credit.

Mosseri doesn’t say whether creators will receive a notification when someone reuses their image or video, or if there’s a way for users to disable resharing. The Verge reached out to Meta with a request for more information but didn’t immediately hear back.

To repost an image or video on Threads, you can long-press the media (or the repost button) and select use media. From there, you can add your own text and share the post. X has a similar option, though only for videos, which includes a credit beneath the video and a link to the original post.

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Amazon’s bringing meaningful accessibility improvements to Fire TV

Image: Amazon

Amazon today announced that its Dual Audio feature for Fire TV, which lets viewers listen through a hearing aid while others in the room experience standard sound from a TV’s speakers, will be rolling out in the next several weeks. It’ll be available first on the company’s latest Fire TV Omni Mini LED. Dual Audio uses the audio streaming for hearing aids (ASHA) protocol.

In a blog post, Amazon said this marks “the first time Fire TV customers with ASHA-enabled hearing aids will be able to listen to streaming content simultaneously with others using two different audio outputs” for a more communal viewing experience. The company is also expanding ASHA support “to include all Widex Moment Behind-The-Ear (BTE) and Receiver-In-Canal (RIC) hearing aids” with compatibility across a range of devices including the Fire TV Omni Mini LED Series, Fire TV Omni QLED Series, Fire TV Cube, Fire TV 4-Series, Fire TV 2-Series, and Fire TV Omni Series.

Amazon is also taking steps to make its packaging and included start guides more accessible. New QR codes on the latest packaging “include tactile, raised UV dots to improve discoverability.”

Scanning that QR code will bring you to Amazon.com for more in-depth product information and steps for setting up a device. “That’s critical so that customers who are blind or have low vision can easily find the code by touch,” Amazon’s Maiken Moeller-Hansen wrote in a blog post. Separate from these accessibility measures, Amazon is introducing new packaging for Echo, Kindle, and Fire TV hardware that uses 30 percent more recycled fiber (“on average”) and 60 percent less ink.

How to enable Dual Audio on the Fire TV Omni Mini LED:

• Pressing and holding the Home button on your remote
• Go to Settings → Accessibility
• Turn on the Dual Audio feature to pair a compatible hearing aid to the TV to begin streaming.

How to set up a hearing aid with Fire TV:

• Go to Settings → Accessibility
• Choose the Hearing Aids section and then select Add Hearing Aids

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The best smart locks you can buy right now

Illustration: The Verge

Never get locked out again with a smart lock you can control from your phone, with your voice, or with just a touch of your finger.

Read the full story at The Verge.

This card game lets you build the ideal social network — or the most toxic

One Billion Users is currently on Kickstarter. | Image: Mike Masnick / Kickstarter

My social network was booming. I had attracted top-tier users: the coveted Trendsetter, the popularity-lured Investor. I had bested server problems and bad press. Then, somebody picked a particularly unlucky card out of the One Billion Users deck I was testing. Sixty seconds later, I had lost it all.

One Billion Users is a new card game from Techdirt and Diegetic Games, and at its best, it lends itself to moments like this. Currently in its last days on Kickstarter, intended to fund a single run of the game rather than a wide release, it’s the latest in a string of projects from the team-up — including the digital games Moderator Mayhem and Trust & Safety Tycoon as well asCIA: Collect It All, a card game built on real CIA training materials.

One Billion Usersis a lot less nerdy than any of these. It’s inspired by the relatively simple 1906 racing-themed card game Touring, better known through a popular 1950s adaptation called Mille Bornes. Only, instead of trying to drive the fastest while sandbagging competitors, you’re trying to build the biggest social network while sabotaging everyone else.

A set of blocker, community, influencer, hotfix, and event cards.

...

Read the full story at The Verge.

Here are 40 last-minute gifts you can still grab in time for the holidays

If you know someone who is looking to get in shape in the new year, the Fitbit Charge 6 is on sale for $119.95. | Image: Google / Fitbit

Believe it or not, we’re now a week away from Christmas. Don’t panic if you’ve yet to start your holiday shopping, though! While it might be too late to order some of the gifts on your holiday wish list, plenty of other great presents will arrive in time.. if you know where to look.

After doing some digging at various retailers, we’ve found a bunch of gadgets and goods you’ll still be able to tuck under the tree if you order them soon enough. They encompass a wide range of categories, too, from noise-canceling earbuds and fitness trackers to smart lights, e-readers, and smart speakers. Best of all, a bunch of them are currently on sale, so you can save some money while you’re at it.

However, keep in mind that Amazon purchases are not likely to arrive on time unless you’ve signed up for a Prime membership. Don’t worry, though, because there are plenty of other retailers — including Best Buy, Target, and Walmart — that will ship your gift in time without requiring you to sign up for a premium subscription.

Headphones, earbuds, and speakers

• If you prefer a pair of noise-canceling headphones, Sony’s WH-1000XM5 are available for about $298 ($101 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. The XM5 tune out noise remarkably well, deliver excellent sound, and are extremely comfortable to wear, which are just some of the reasons why they’re our favorite headphones on the market. Read our review.
• If you want to gift a pair of AirPods to the Apple aficionado in your life, you still have time to do so. The second-gen AirPods Pro with USB-C will arrive before the holiday when you purchase them for $189.99 ($60 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. You can also buy the cheaper AirPods 4 for $119 ($10 off) at Amazon, or at Target and Best Buy for their full retail price of $129.99. The latter earbuds lack noise cancellation, onboard volume controls, and a built-in speaker on the case, but they still offer great voice call quality and good sound. Read our second-gen AirPods Pro and AirPods 4 reviews.
• If you want to gift a portable speaker, the UE Minirollis available for $49.99 ($30 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. Ultimate Ears’ puck-like Bluetooth speaker is small enough to fit in your pocket and features a built-in strap, allowing you to easily attach it to a set of handlebars, your bag, and other objects. The speaker also offers a robust IP67 rating against dust and water, making it a particularly great option for outdoorsy types.

Smart home tech

• The Blink Video Doorbell will offer your loved ones peace of mind and arrive in time for Christmas if you pick it up at Amazon, Best Buy, or Target for $35.99 ($24 off). The 1080p video doorbell is our favorite budget-friendly option, one that nails the essentials with motion-activated recording, alerts, night vision, two-way audio, motion zones, and up to two years of battery life on a pair of AA lithium batteries.
• It’s not too late to pick up a pair of Tapo Smart Wi-Fi Light Bulbs (L535E) for $17.99 ($12 off) at Amazon and B&H Photo. The color-charging, 1,100-lumen bulbs can display more than 16 million colors and don’t require a hub; they’re also compatible with Matter, so your giftee can connect them to any major smart home platform.

Tablets and e-readers

• The latest entry-level Kindle, which will arrive in time for Christmas, is available in its ad-supported base configuration at Amazon, Best Buy, or Target for $109.99. The new 6-inch model is faster than its predecessor and offers longer battery life, but it doesn’t feature a waterproof exterior like the Paperwhite. That being said, it does boast a sharp 300ppi display, USB-C support, and a pocketable design.
• You can get the 2022 iPad with 64GB of storage and Wi-Fi in time for Christmas when you order it for $279 ($70 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. The entry-level tablet sports a large 10.9-inch display and a USB-C port for fast charging. It’s also relatively snappy thanks to the addition of Apple’s A14 Bionic chip and Wi-Fi 6 support, making it a great tablet for streaming, video chatting, and other tablet needs. Read our review.
• If you’re looking to gift a budget-friendly tablet, the latest Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet is on sale at Amazon and Best Buy with ads and 32GB of storage starting at $54.99 ($45 off). It’s no iPad, but if you just need a cheap slate for playing games, reading, streaming, browsing the web, and other basic tasks, it does the job just fine.

Gaming gifts

• The white Xbox Series X Digital Edition with 1TB of storage launched in October, but it’s already on sale and will arrive in time for Christmas when you buy it for around $398 ($52 off) at Best Buy or Walmart. The latest Series X is identical to the original model aside from the new look and expanded storage, with support for 4K gaming at up to 120Hz. Read our original Xbox Series X review.
• The second-gen Backbone Oneallows your giftee to turn their iPhone or Android phone into something akin to the Nintendo Switch, and you can buy both the Lightning model and USB-C version in multiple button layouts for $99.99 ($30 off) at Amazon. The handy mobile controller offers an improved D-pad and face buttons over the first-gen model; it also sports a 3.5mm audio jack, a comfortable design, and magnetic adapters so you can use it while your phone stays in its case, provided it’s compatible.

Health and wellness tech

• If you’re looking for a budget-friendly health and wellness gift, the Te-Rich Weighted Jump Rope is a good option that should arrive by Christmas when you order it for $20.99 at Amazon. The adjustable smart jump rope features a built-in LCD display with a timer and an accurate jump counter, and even provides a rough estimate of calories burned.
• You can still order the Oura Ring Generation 4 in time for Christmas when you pick it up for $349 at Amazon and Best Buy. The smart ring makes for an excellent sleep and recovery tracker you can use to keep tabs on basic health metrics, including light exercise. It doesn’t offer as many advanced fitness tracking features as a smartwatch, but it’s a lot more stylish and discreet. Plus, it does offer some cool perks of its own, including a new Symptom Radar feature that sends notifications when it thinks you’re getting sick.

TVs, streaming devices, and soundbars

• If you’re looking to gift a 4K streaming stick, the latest Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a good option that’s available at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target for $59.99. Along with offering support for Wi-Fi 6, Dolby Atmos / Vision, and HDR10 Plus, the streaming device offers impressive integration with Amazon Alexa for hands-free control. It also displays artwork and widgets when idle, which is a cool trick that turns your TV into an Echo Show-like display.

Other great gadgets you can still gift

• Fujifilm’s Instax Mini 12 should ship in time for you to wrap it up under the tree if you order it at Best Buy or Target for $69.99 ($10 off). We consider it to be our best instant camera for most people and a good gift for budding photogs of all ages, namely because it’s incredibly easy to use, comes in all kinds of fun colors, and produces relatively true-to-life prints.
• If you’re looking for something to gift a kid or a Star Wars fan, the Goliath Power Saber is on sale at Amazon for $35.63 ($15 off) when you clip the on-page coupon (it’s also available starting at $49 at Target and Walmart). The “power saber” isn’t an official Star Wars toy, sadly, but it’s a fun light-up blade that can automatically extend and retract; it will also collapse when you actually press it against something, making it a safe gift for kids.
• The Glocusent Bookmark Style Reading Light is a great gift for bookworms that should arrive in time for Christmas when you buy it for $15.99 ($5 off) at Amazon. The clip-on USB light is a handy accessory for those who like to read at night, as it will illuminate pages with a soft, warm glow that’s not likely to disturb their sleep.
• You can still gift Lego’s Plum Blossom set when you buy it at Amazon, Walmart, or Target for $23.95 (about $6 off). The set consists of 327 pieces, which come together to form an eye-catching floral display that looks great on a mantle or in a home office space.

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Why is every picture of the New Jersey drones so bad?

This is such a weird episode of The X-Files_._ | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Phone cameras are incredible little machines, capable of way more than their tiny lenses and sensors would lead you to believe. They can capture core memories at the beach and northern lights in the sky. But even with all of their computational smarts, they have their limits, including one that’s particularly obvious at the moment. You know all those clear, high-quality pictures you’ve seen of the drones hovering over New Jersey at night? No? Exactly.

You are probably aware by now that there are drones of mysterious origins visiting the New Jersey skies at night. And if you’ve watched or read a report on the drone situation, you’ve probably seen a grainy photo of distant lights in the sky, maybe with blurred trails from red and green navigation lights. You know the type, because they all basically look the same. But this isn’t happening in some remote part of the country, this is a seemingly nightly occurrence in one of the most densely populated parts of the country. And considering that everyone has a camera in their pocket, why is every photo of these drones so bad?

Image: Getty

This could be anything.

I had my suspicions, but I asked Sten Odenwald,...

Read the full story at The Verge.

You can now call 1-800-CHATGPT

OpenAI

For the 10th day of “ship-mas,” OpenAI rolled out a way to call ChatGPT for up to 15 minutes for free over the phone using 1-800-CHATGPT.

The feature was a project spun up just a few weeks ago, OpenAI’s chief product officer Kevin Weil said on the livestream. Users can now call ChatGPT in the US and message via WhatsApp globally at 1-800-242-8478. The 15-minute limit is per phone number per month, so really, you could spin up a few Google Voice numbers to get as much time with it as you want.

The phone number is built using OpenAI’s Realtime API, and the WhatsApp feature is powered by GPT-4o mini through an integration with the WhatsApp API.

OpenAI

OpenAI sees this feature as an important stepping stone for newcomers to AI, since the service represents a simplified version of ChatGPT compared to its web-based counterpart and offers a “low-cost way to try it out through familiar channels.” The company notes that existing users seeking more comprehensive features, higher usage limits, and personalization options should continue using their regular ChatGPT accounts through traditional channels.

Funnily enough, Google launched a similar tool in 2007 called GOOG-411, which offered free directory assistance by voice. The service was discontinued in 2010 without an official explanation from Google, but some speculate that it was shut down because the company had already achieved its underlying goal: collecting a sufficient database of voice samples to advance its speech recognition technology.

At the time, Google VP Marissa Mayer said it outright: “The speech recognition experts that we have say: If you want us to build a really robust speech model, we need a lot of phonemes, which is a syllable as spoken by a particular voice with a particular intonation. So we need a lot of people talking, saying things so that we can ultimately train off of that. ... So 1-800-GOOG-411 is about that: Getting a bunch of different speech samples so that when you call up or we’re trying to get the voice out of video, we can do it with high accuracy.”

OpenAI spokesperson Taya Christianson said the company won’t be using these calls to train large language models.

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LG’s transparent OLED TV will put a very visible $60,000 hole in your wallet

LG’s Signature OLED T, the transparent TV that was the company’s big flashy reveal at CES 2024, now has an official price: $59,999. It’s available beginning today in the United States “at select LG-authorized retailers including Best Buy, Video & Audio Center and via LG.com” the company said in a press release. You can’t just walk into your local Best Buy and get this thing, mind you; it’s a special order kind of situation. LG says the first purchase will be made later tonight at a gala at Video & Audio Center.

The OLED T lets you switch between its mind-boggling transparent mode, where you can clearly see whatever’s behind the OLED panel, and an opaque mode that eliminates distractions when enjoying content on the 77-inch screen.

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As is usually the case with Signature models, this OLED gets some completely unique software tricks that you won’t find on other LG sets. These include:

T-Objet: an Always-On-Display (AOD) mode that transforms the screen into a transparent digital canvas, ideal for showcasing artwork, videos or photos in outstanding color and clarity.

**T-Bar:**a sleek info-ticker that appears along the bottom edge of the screen, providing sports results, IoT device statuses, weather forecasts or song title information. The rest of the screen remains unused when T-Bar is active, presenting a clean, uncluttered look and a clear view of the space behind LG’s “virtually invisible” display. For added convenience,

T-Home: offers a user-friendly interface that delivers a well-organized overview of available services, as well as quick access to apps, settings and other features.

The OLED T is forever out of reach for mere peasants like myself, but even if I had $60,000 burning a hole in my pocket, I’m not sure the transparency trick would be enough for me to hand it over. The far more conventional LG G4 would do just fine. But if you lead a lavish lifestyle and have the perfect scenario dreamed up for this thing, it’s now actually available to buy.

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PlayStation announces ‘deeper collaboration’ with AMD to infuse games with AI

Sony is furthering its partnership with AMD so they can create more AI-powered technology to make games look and play better — and not just on PlayStation hardware. The two companies are establishing a “deeper collaboration” to work on “Machine Learning-based technology for graphics and gameplay,” lead architect of the PS5 and PS5 Pro Mark Cerny announced on Wednesday.

The two already partner on the PS5 and PS5 Pro’s GPUs, which are based on AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture, and the PS5 Pro uses a feature called PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) to improve image clarity and frame rates.

Sony also released a 37-minute presentation by Cerny discussing technical aspects of the PS5 Pro and some additional information about the “multi-year” project with AMD, which is codenamed “Amethyst.” The two are vague about how, when, and where the tech resulting from Project Amethyst will be used, but general it sounds like it’s something we could see on the next PlayStation and other future hardware that AMD is a part of.

“These components should be key in increasing the richness of game graphics”

The companies have two goals with Project Amethyst, according to Cerny. “The first goal is a more ideal architecture for machine learning,” Cerny said, including something that’s particularly good at dealing with the lightweight convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for game graphics.

The second goal is to develop “a set of high-quality CNNs for graphics,” Cerny said. “Both SIE and AMD will independently have the ability to draw from this collection of network architectures and training strategies, and these components should be key in increasing the richness of game graphics as well as enabling more extensive use of ray tracing and path tracing.”

Sony and AMD don’t want this technology to be exclusive to PlayStation. “Through this technology collaboration we’re looking to support broad work and machine learning across a variety of devices,” Cerny said. That means “something that can be used broadly across PC and console and cloud,” Cerny said to IGN.

The fruits of this work seem like they’re a ways out, though: “Don’t expect some massive hardware announcement immediately coming out of this,” Cerny told Digital Foundry. And since creating a console is “roughly a four year-journey,” Cerny said during the presentation, it’s possible we might not see hardware that uses tech from Project Amethyst until the PlayStation 6. (Cerny dodged a direct question from IGN about when we should expect a potential PS6.)

If you want to read more of what Cerny said about Amethyst in his presentation, here’s the transcript of that part (which starts at around 34:32 in the video):

I have some very exciting news to share. We have begun a deeper collaboration with AMD. For the project name we’re taking a hint from AMD’s red and PlayStation’s blue. The code name is Amethyst.

With Amethyst, we’ve started on another long journey and are combining our expertise with two goals in mind.

The first goal is a more ideal architecture for machine learning. Something capable of generalized processing of neural networks but particularly good at the lightweight CNNs needed for game graphics and something focused around achieving that Holy Grail of fully-fused networks.

In going after this we’re combining the lessons AMD has learned from its multi-generation RDNA road map and SIE has learned from the custom work in PS5 Pro.

But ML use in games shouldn’t and can’t be restricted to graphics libraries. We’re also working towards a democratization of machine learning something accessible that allows direct work in AI and ML by game developers both for graphics and for gameplay.

Amethyst is not about proprietary technology for PlayStation. In fact it’s the exact opposite. Through this technology collaboration we’re looking to support broad work and machine learning across a variety of devices.

The other goal is to develop, in parallel, a set of highquality CNNs for game graphics. Both SIE and AMD will independently have the ability to draw from this collection of network architectures and training strategies, and these components should be key in increasing the richness of game graphics as well as enabling more extensive use of ray tracing and path tracing.

We’re looking forward to keeping you posted throughout what we anticipate to be a multi-year collaboration.

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Homey launches a $200 smart home hub

They said smart home hubs were dead, but 2024 has seen a resurgence of these multi-protocol machines that work with every smart home radio out there. Case in point: this week, Homey announced the launch of the Homey Pro Mini.

The Mini is a cheaper and pint-sized version of the $400 Homey Pro smart home hub, offering built-in support for Ethernet, Zigbee, Thread, and Matter. It runs the same Homey OS software as the Pro but ditches a few radios and cuts the processing power to reduce the price. It’s available for pre-order today for $199 in the US and Canada, with Europe following later in 2025 and shipping slated for April 2025.

A smart home hub is the brains of your smart home, and third-party options from companies like Homey, Home Assistant, Hubtiat, and others let you set up and manage your connected devices locally in your home without relying on proprietary platforms, such as Apple Home, Google Home, or Amazon Alexa. Athom, the company behind Homey, was recently bought by LG. The Korean electronics giant plans to use Homey software to run its ThinQ smart home platform on its own recently announced smart home hub. However, LG has said Homey will continue to operate independently.

Image: Homey

The Homey Pro Mini has built-in Ethernet and uses USB-C for power

The Pro Mini runs on Homey OS, a smart home platform for controlling your connected devices, such as smart lights, locks, robot vacuums, and thermostats. Similar to Apple Home or Amazon Alexa, you use an app on your phone to set up automations and routines (called Flows in Homey) that connect your gadgets. Homey claims over 1,000 integrations with devices and services, including Ikea, Sonos, Lutron, Roomba, Nest, Philips Hue, Aqara, and Yale. However, just under 300 are “official” integrations; the rest are community-generated.

Adding a Homey hub like the Pro Mini to Homey lets you run smart home automations locally, without relying on cloud connections, as well as bring devices that use specific radios, including Thread and Zigbee, into the platform.Unlike the Pro, the Mini doesn’t include Z-Wave, BLE, or IR support, but you can link it to a Homey Bridge ($69) to add those.

The Pro Mini is also less powerful than the Pro, and Homey recommends it for running up to 20 integrations, which Homey calls Homey Apps. The company says the typical user runs 14 integrations, so 20 should be sufficient for most people. If you have a more complicated smart home setup, though, Homey recommends upgrading to the Pro.

I’ve tested Homey using the Homey Pro and found it intuitive for beginner smart home users while offering plenty of features for power users. However, some integrations are limited, and many community-created smart apps may not do exactly what you want.

Athom, which was founded in the Netherlands in 2014, released new Homey OS Dashboards, designed to make it easier to control your smart home devices, plus a new Home Energy Management System to help keep track of energy use. With these additions — plus the power of LG behind it — Homey is shaping up to be a significant player in the smart home.

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The Kids Online Safety Act’s last stand

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Shutterstock

The Kids Online Safety Act was supposed to fix (or break) the internet. Now, after nearly three years of rewrites, it’s got days left to pass.

Read the full story at The Verge.