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The Verge

Elgato’s Wave Link 2.0 promises clear vocals in any environment

Elgato is releasing a new version of its audio stream control software Wave Link that includes new AI-powered voice enhancements for your mic. It also has a new OS-level management system to redirect audio streams to certain apps, split audio to yourself and your audience, add audio effects, and quickly mute channels.

The latest version 2.0 update is available to download now and works with Elgato hardware, including the company’s Mic and Stream Deck control ecosystem.

Elgato and audio machine learning company AIcoustics are including Voice Focus in the Wave Link program, which can remove noise and fix acoustic problems so you can have professional-sounding audio regardless of your room situation.

It also supports audio effects, and you can include custom plugins to get your desired sound. However, you do need an Elgato microphone or a Stream Deck Plus to use Wave Link and its low-latency audio mixing magic.

Wave Link 2.0 now works more like SteelSeries GG, taking over the entire Windows audio process. It allows you complete control to route audio where you want it to go or group apps into one input channel so certain audio always stays together. Wave Link can create custom Stream Deck control buttons with “add to Stream Deck” that lets you quickly change the volume for each audio stream you manage. It can even show a volume slider that can span multiple buttons, so you know the current volume levels at a glance. It also works in conjunction with Stream Deck foot pads and the dials of the Stream Deck Plus.

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The Verge

Google expects to spend $75 billion this year on the AI race

Google parent company Alphabet expects to invest “approximately $75 billion” in capital expenditures in 2025, according to a statement from CEO Sundar Pichai in Alphabet’s Q4 2024 earnings release.

Capital expenditures have become a hot topic as of late as big tech companies race to build infrastructure to support their growing AI ambitions, and today’s announcement from Alphabet is clearly meant to keep the company in that conversation. Alphabet spent $32.3 billion on capital expenditures in 2023, so $75 billion in 2025 would be a big jump. And while Google’s press release today doesn’t specifically say that the upcoming capital expenditures are all for AI, given the amount of money flowing into AI infrastructure across the industry, it seems likely that a good amount of the expense will go toward benefitting Google’s AI work.

AI continues to benefit Google’s business as well. Overall revenues are up 12 percent year-over-year to $96.5 billion. Google Cloud revenues are up 10 percent to $12.0 billion, which Google says is “led by growth in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) across core GCP products, AI Infrastructure, and Generative AI Solutions.”

On today’s investor call, Pichai said that the company has “very good ideas for native ad concepts” in its Gemini AI assistant. He also teased that Google plans to put new Search experiences “in front of users through the course of 2025.”

During its fourth quarter, the company made some big news about its AI products, including revealing Gemini 2.0, an AI agent called Project Mariner that can complete tasks in a Chrome browser, and its Deep Research tool that can research things on the web for you. It also demoed a new Android XR mixed reality OS.

Alphabet-owned Waymo had a pretty good 2024 overall, though today’s earnings report shows that “Other Bets,” which includes Waymo, had lower revenue and higher losses year-over-year.

In Q4, the Department of Justice also proposed that Google potentially divest itself of Chrome as a remedy for Judge Amit Mehta’s August ruling that the company is a monopolist in the search and advertising markets. The final outcome of those remedies could have a big impact on Google / Alphabet’s future.

Update, February 4th: Added details from Alphabet’s investor call.

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The Verge

Google has ‘very good ideas’ for native ads in Gemini

Google’s Gemini AI assistant doesn’t have ads today, but the company has “very good ideas” for ways they could show up down the road, CEO Sundar Pichai said on Alphabet’s investor call this afternoon. Right now, you can access Gemini for free or pay for a subscription to use advanced features, but it sounds like ads could be part of the product at some point.

On the call, a Wells Fargo analyst asked Pichai how people should think about the “future monetization opportunity of Gemini” and if the company sees a potential “ad component.” Here’s my transcription of Pichai’s answer, which I’ve lightly edited for clarity:

On the monetization side, for now, we have focused on a free tier and subscriptions. But as you’ve seen [with] Google over time, we always want to lead with the user experience and we do have very good ideas for native ad concepts. But you will see us lead with the user experience.

I do think we’re always committed to making the products work and reach billions of users at scale. And advertising has been a great aspect of that strategy. Just like you’ve seen with YouTube, we’ll give people options over time. But for this year, I think you’ll see us be focused on the subscription direction.

Based on that last sentence, it doesn’t seem like you’ll have to worry about ads in Gemini at least through this year. But Google’s overall business is built on ads, and it seems like we should expect them to come to Gemini at some point. They’re already in AI Overviews, after all.

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

As part of its earnings, Google also announced that it plans to spend $75 billion this year on capital expenditures to help it keep up in the AI race.

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The Verge

Apple Invites is at its best for people already in Apple’s world

Naturally, there’s an AI element in the Apple Intelligence-created backgrounds.

Apple launched a new app today, called Apple Invites, which lets you create, share, and manage invitations for events. With it, you can generate a quick digital invitation that, when shared with your friends, lets them gather all the info about the event, RSVP, and add it to their calendar. That includes your Android friends, who can access invites using a web-based version of the app on the iCloud site.

It’s a mostly straightforward, easy-to-use app that offers a better way to invite friends to things than trying to cram all the details into a text message or make sure everyone checks their Facebook events. Creating an event using the plus button at the top of the Apple Invites app will let you type in a name and add time, date, and location details. You can also add an Apple-made background, pick a photo from your library, or, if you have a phone with Apple Intelligence support, whip up an AI-generated one using Apple’s Image Playground feature.

You can invite people by picking from your contacts, manually entering phone numbers or email addresses, or copying a link to your event and sending it from outside the app. The app also lets you choose whether each person is allowed to invite others, and you can send notes to invitees after the event is created.

The event’s info is shown with widgets, including one showing the weather forecast for that day and an Apple Maps box that you can tap to get directions. You can also create a photo album for people to peruse or add a music playlist, too, using Apple Music. All of that works mostly seamlessly on an iPhone, apart from some buggy behavior I encountered, like invitations that wouldn’t load and trouble getting the photo album in an invite to actually populate with pictures after I picked them.

The experience has some hiccups for those not fully in the Apple ecosystem, which isn’t surprising. For starters, where an iPhone user can go straight to the invitation using your link (assuming they’re already signed into iCloud), Android users have to enter their email address and then a verification code to get in. They’ll also need to sign up for an Apple account to look at a photo album if you add one, and Android user or not, your friends need an Apple Music subscription to hear your playlist (otherwise, they’ll only get a preview of it).

None of that will keep Android users from seeing key details about your event or RSVPing to it, but it’ll be obvious that they aren’t getting the whole experience. Event invite app Partiful offers largely the same experience — maybe a little too samey, as the app’s developers insinuated today — while remaining a “platform-agnostic product,” Partiful cofounder and CEO Shreya Murthy said in a statement emailed to The Verge.

Copycat accusations and bugs aside, Apple Invites seems like a promising start, particularly if you’re in the Apple ecosystem and want to keep friends in the loop without using Facebook events, third-party apps, texts, or emails. But it’s also an app with a social purpose that Apple claims in its announcement “brings people together for life’s special moments.” That sounds pleasant but feels less so once you get the mediocre Android version of the experience.

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The Verge

Here’s OpenAI’s new logo

An image showing OpenAI’s new typeface

OpenAI’s wordmark uses the company’s updated typeface, OpenAI sans.

OpenAI just gave itself a full rebrand, complete with a new typeface, logo, and color palette, as explained to Wallpaper in an interview about the process behind the changes. You’ll have to look closely to spot the difference between the redrawn logo and its old one, but a side-by-side comparison shows the updated “blossom” with a slightly larger space in the center and cleaner lines.

Though the original logo was designed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Ilya Sutskever, an in-house design team led by Veit Moeller and Shannon Jager took the reins this time around, intending to create a “more organic and more human” identity, Wallpaper reports.

OpenAI’s old logo (left) vs. its new one (right). Image: OpenAI

As part of the rebrand, OpenAI showed off a new typeface — called OpenAI sans — that it says “blends geometric precision and functionality with a rounded, approachable character.” It now uses this typeface in the OpenAI wordmark, which features an “O” with a perfectly round exterior and an imperfect interior “to counter any robotic precision and make things feel more human,” Moeller said, according to Wallpaper.

When asked whether OpenAI used the company’s AI-powered tools like ChatGPT to create the designs, Moeller told Wallpaper that the team only used it to help calculate different type weights.

“We collaborate with leading experts in photography, typography, motion, and spatial design while integrating AI tools like DALL·E, ChatGPT, and Sora as thought partners,” OpenAI’s designers told Wallpaper. ‘This dual approach — where human intuition meets AI’s generative potential— allows us to craft a brand that is not just innovative, but profoundly human.”

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The Verge

Turmoil at OpenAI: what’s next for the creator of ChatGPT?

The world’s hottest AI company went through three CEOs in under a week and ended up with the same one it had at the start — so what happened, and what’s next?

On November 17th, 2023, OpenAI’s nonprofit board abruptly announced that co-founder and CEO Sam Altman was out. The shake-up came just shy of one year after the launch of ChatGPT, which quickly became one of the fastest-growing apps in history and initiated an industry-wide race to build generative AI.

Over a period of just a few days, the CEO job shuffled between CTO Mira Murati and former Twitch boss Emmett Shear. Meanwhile, hundreds of OpenAI employees said they would leave for jobs at Microsoft, OpenAI’s lead investor, unless the board reinstated Altman. In the end, Altman returned, along with co-founder Greg Brockman and a revamped board of directors.

On March 8th, after an independent investigation into his sudden firing, OpenAI reinstated Altman as a member of the board, along with three other additions.

That same month, OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming that the company’s pursuit of profit has led it to abandon its founding nonprofit mission to develop artificial general intelligence technology (AGI) that will benefit humanity.

All of the news and updates about OpenAI continue below.

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The Verge

Age of Empires is the latest Microsoft franchise coming to PS5

Microsoft is bringing its storied real-time strategy series Age of Empires to the PlayStation 5, starting with Age of Mythology: Retold and its Immortal Pillars expansion pack, both launching on March 4th. Microsoft is continuing to evolve the Xbox platform with cloud gaming that works on almost any device, and bringing more of its biggest franchises to competitors’ systems.

Microsoft will also launch Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on the PS5 later this Spring. The games will include content parity across platforms plus cross-play support. The company previously dropped big news that Forza Horizon 5 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are also headed to PS5 this Spring, and the jaw-dropping Doom: The Dark Ages announced last month will make its way to the PS5 this Summer. The Age of Empires franchise is another heavy hitter for Microsoft to share beyond the PC; the company says the games brought in 10 million players last year, growing to 60 million players worldwide.

Preorders for Age of Mythology: Retold are open, and those who order now on PS5 will get two exclusive Blessings for the Arena of the Gods mode. You can also get the Premium Edition for 5-day early access starting February 27th, and it includes access to the Immortal Pillars expansion “and much more.”

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The Verge

You can grab a year of Peacock Premium for just $30

You can stream movies like The Wild Robot, Conclave, Oppenheimer, and more on Peacock.

If you’d like to catch up on Oscar-nominated films like The Wild Robot ahead of the awards show next month, you might want to check out Peacock’s latest promotion.

Through February 18th, new and lapsed subscribers can get one year of ad-supported Peacock Premium for $29.99 if you sign up now. That’s over half off its typical price of $79.99, and a $50 discount overall. It’s easy to get the deal: if you already have a free Peacock account, you’ll just need to apply the code WINTERSAVINGS. If you don’t already have an account, simply click onGET OFFER on the Peacock home page and set one up. Current Peacock Premium and Premium Plus subscribers are not eligible for this deal, unfortunately.

Along with The Wild Robot, Peacock’s library includes current and past Oscar nominees like Conclave, 2023’s Oppenheimer, and (soon) Wicked. Peacock also grants access to hundreds of other great films and shows ranging from Twisters, Yellowstone, and Teacup to live sports and next-day programming from NBC. Just be sure to mark your calendars, as the annual Premium plan will automatically renew for $79.99 once the promotion period’s over.

Other deals and discounts of note

  • You can purchase the Blink Video Doorbell with a Sync Module 2 for $34.99 ($35 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. The battery-powered video doorbell is our top pick if you’re on a budget. It’s a basic 1080p doorbell that gets the job done, offering essentials like motion detection, night vision, two-way audio, and a long two-year battery life. The included Sync Module 2 in this deal also allows for free local storage and on-demand live views.
  • Dune fans can buy Lego’s Ornithopter for about $150 at ($15 off) Amazon and Target, which is one of the best prices we’ve seen on the set. Based on the Ornithopter design used by House Atreides, the set comes with 1,369 Lego pieces so you can assemble the winged flying machine complete with retractable wings, landing gear, and a cockpit. The set also includes Minifigs of various characters, including Paul Atreides, Chani, Baron Harkonnen, and more.
  • The Sonos Ace headphones are matching their all-time low price of $349 ($100 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Sonos’ online storefront. Sonos’ first pair of wireless headphones sound great and offer superb noise cancellation as well as a natural-sounding transparency mode. The stylish headphones also support TV Audio Swap, so you can pair them with soundbars like the Sonos Arc, Sonos Beam, and Sonos Ray. Read our review.

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The Verge

I plugged an Nvidia RTX 5090 into a gaming handheld

A mini laptop handheld gaming PC sits atop a big graphics card plugged into it with a cable.

The RTX 5090, in a Minisforum DEG1, plugged into a GPD Win Max 2.

Two weeks ago, I showed you how the world’s fastest graphics card works in a small form factor PC. To my surprise, Nvidia’s RTX 5090 Founders Edition delivered the vast majority of its performance even in a 12.7-liter desktop with a five-year-old CPU.

It made me wonder: what if I plugged this card into a handheld gaming PC instead? So I did, and let me tell you: it’s a wonder to behold. It’s enough to make me believe in a rich future where handhelds get more powerful when you dock them at home.

I started with the same $1,999 RTX 5090 FE and 1000-watt power supply from my desktop test, dropping them both onto a $99 Minisforum DEG1. It’s an open-air external GPU that can connect to the Oculink port that’s now shipping in a handful of portable gaming PCs, so long as you bring your own desktop GPU and power supply.

I plugged that Oculink cable into a $1,000 GPD Win Max 2 handheld. And then, with just an AMD Ryzen 8840U mobile CPU and four lanes of PCIe 4.0 bandwidth, rather than the 16 lanes of PCIe 5.0 that Nvidia’s GPU technically supports, my new Franken-desktop spit fire anyhow. I’m talking over 100 frames per second in Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K resolution and Ultra …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The Verge

AppleCare Plus is getting more expensive

Apple raised the cost of its monthly AppleCare subscription prices for iPhones by 50 cents, MacRumors reports. The 50 cent price hike applies to both standard AppleCare Plus and AppleCare Plus with Theft and Loss monthly plans for Apple’s current iPhone lineup. So, for example, the standard AppleCare Plus for the iPhone 16 will cost $10.49 per month instead of $9.99.

Apple will also no longer let US customers pay for two years of AppleCare Plus for iPhones as a one-time upfront fee in its physical stores or from the AppleCare menu, according to Bloomberg. Instead, customers will have to subscribe for a monthly plan or an annual plan. Theft and Loss coverage will also be included by default in these recurring plans, increasing the price even more.

However, Apple still offers the fixed two-year plans from its online store. You can also get AppleCare Plus without Theft and Loss online as well.

Apple has increasingly been increasingly focused on its services and subscriptions business in the past few years. In its last quarter, Apple reported that its services revenue reached an all-time high.

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The Verge

Threads now lets you share your custom feeds

Threads will now let you share the custom feeds you’ve created, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Tuesday. This means other users can pin your custom feed to their homepage, giving them access to the same stream of curated content.

Threads first rolled out custom feeds in November, which you can use to track your favorite topics or accounts on the platform. This new sharing feature is now rolling out, so it may be a little while before you see it on your Threads app.

To share your custom feed, you first have to make it public:

  • Tap and hold your feed (which should be on the top menu)
  • Select Edit feeds from the drop-down menu
  • Toggle on Public.

Once you make your feed public, other users will be able to see it from a new “feeds” tab on your profile.

  • From the same Edit feeds menu, tap View feed.
  • Select the quote icon to post a preview of your custom feed.
  • You can also select the Share feed button to send it as a link.

The ability to share feeds isn’t the only change coming to Threads. Last month, Meta announced that Threads is officially getting ads.

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After a bruising year, Sonos readies its next big thing: a streaming box

After the most tumultuous nine months in Sonos’ history, the brand is trying to find its footing again. Even as work continues to rehabilitate the company’s beleaguered mobile app, Sonos is planning to take a big swing in a new product category: it’s getting into video for the first time. In the coming months, Sonos will release a streaming player that sources tell me could cost between $200 and $400 — a truly staggering price for its category.

I’ve seen images of the upcoming product, which is deep into development, and it’s about as nondescript as streaming hardware gets. Viewed from the top, the device is a flattened black square and slightly thicker than a deck of trading cards.

But the Android TV-powered streamer, codenamed Pinewood, is designed to be more than just another competitor to the Apple TV 4K, Nvidia Shield, or Roku Ultra. Don’t get me wrong: streaming is a huge focus for the product. Sources familiar with Pinewood tell me it has a “beautiful” interface, despite the software being developed in partnership with a digital ads firm.

Sonos plans to combine content from numerous platforms including Netflix, Max, and Disney Plus under a single, unifi …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The Verge

Nomad’s new USB-C cable can charge your iPhone and Apple Watch at the same time

Nomad’s USB-C charging cable connected to an iPhone while an Apple Watch also charges next to it.

Nomad’s new $100 USB-C cable includes an inline wireless charging pad for the Apple Watch and AirPods. | Image: Nomad

Nomad has announced a new USB-C cable designed to charge multiple devices simultaneously. Instead of copying Anker’s homework and releasing a charging cable with dual USB-C connectors on one end, Nomad’s new Universal Cable for Apple Watch features an inline charging puck for Apple’s smartwatch on one end. It seems ideal for travelers wanting to minimize the number of cables they’re packing, but it could be just as useful for tidying up a cluttered desk.

The Universal Cable for Apple Watch is available now through Nomad’s online store for $100, and is only offered in a single 1.5-meter length. That’s definitely expensive when even Apple only charges $29 for its Apple Watch charger.

Nomad says its USB-C cable is wrapped in a durable “double-braided Kevlar outer weave” and features “reinforced, electroplated metal connectors,” but it’s the cable’s functionality, not its build quality, that might justify its price tag.

Nomad says you’ll need to plug its universal USB-C cable into an adapter that outputs at least 20W of power in order to charge multiple devices. The cable is rated for up to 100W of power delivery if you’re using an adapter that can deliver that much juice, but it prioritizes power to the wireless charging puck. So if you’re also charging any of the Apple Watch models (fast charging the Series 7-10, Ultra, and Ultra 2 is supported) or the AirPods Pro 2 and the AirPods 4 (ANC), power delivery to the USB-C connector will top out at up to 92W.

Data transfer rates aren’t quite as impressive. Nomad says it maxes out at USB 2.0 speeds “to allow for longer cable length.”

The Universal Cable for Apple Watch isn’t limited to only charging devices from an adapter plugged into a wall outlet. You can charge your Apple Watch from an iPhone with one end of the USB-C cable plugged into the smartphone, and even charge your AirPods at the same time by plugging them into the other end of the cable.

But if you were to plug the other end of the cable into a device that can deliver more power, like a MacBook or an iPad, the iPhone will instead start drawing power and charging, as demonstrated by Nomad’s CEO Noah Dentzel in a video.

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Cruise announces layoffs as GM acquires defunct robotaxi company

Defunct robotaxi company Cruise has begun to lay off employees today, sources tell The Verge. The layoffs come two months after General Motors said it would no longer fund Cruise, and would instead shift its spending toward advanced driver assist and personally owned autonomous vehicles.

Cruise held an all-hands meeting today, in which it announced that GM had acquired full control of the company. A spokesperson for Cruise said 40 percent of the workforce will be laid off.

“We are grateful for their passion and contributions to help us reach this stage, and our focus is on supporting them into their next chapter with severance packages and career support,” Cruise spokesperson Sara Autio said in a statement. “While not an easy decision, we are focused on combining efforts with General Motors to accelerate autonomy at scale on personal autonomous vehicles.”

“Our focus is on supporting them into their next chapter with severance packages and career support.”

Cruise employees have spent the last few months in limbo, as senior leadership weighed plans on how to move forward. Last week, TechCrunch reported that Cruise began extending retention offers to some employees, most of whom are engineers. Those employees are expected to take jobs at GM, working on the automaker’s driver assist product, Super Cruise. The company’s board was expected to meet in early February to announce the status of the remaining workers, who are reported to number in the thousands.

GM CEO Mary Barra pulled the plug on Cruise in early December, arguing that a shared autonomous mobility service was never really in its “core business.” Cruise was too expensive and had too many regulatory hurdles to overcome to make it a viable revenue stream. Instead, GM would pivot to “privately owned” driverless cars.

“By combining the specialized technology and talent at Cruise with our team developing Super Cruise, we’ll have the ability to accelerate our work on both assisted-driving and autonomous driving,” Dave Richardson, senior vice president of software and services engineering at GM, said in a statement. “We look forward to teaming with Cruise to accelerate our work together.”

Just last week, Barra told investors that GM expects to save $1 billion annually by shutting down the service. “GM has proposed a restructuring plan that will refocus our autonomous driving strategy on personal vehicles,” Barra said.

Cruise has also begun to notify its customers about the shutdown of its robotaxi service. “We unfortunately will not be relaunching our ridehail service,” the message reads, according to a screenshot posted on X.

Cruise sent a note to riders this morning about its robotaxi service shutting down permanently

“While Cruise robotaxis may no longer roam cities, we couldn't have done it without you” pic.twitter.com/EorP2kgrPh

— Meghan Bobrowsky (@MeghanBobrowsky) February 4, 2025

With additional reporting by Kylie Robison

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The Verge

Fox plans to launch a streaming service by the end of 2025

An image showing the Fox logo

Fox is getting ready to launch a standalone streaming service by the end of 2025. During an earnings call on Tuesday, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the streaming service would offer a “holistic” streaming package featuring sports and news from the network’s existing brands, according to a transcript.

Murdoch positioned the streaming service as a way to reach people who don’t subscribe to cable, adding that it’s not meant to replace the traditional cable bundle. “We’re huge supporters of the traditional cable bundle, and we will always be,” Murdoch said.“But having said that, we do want to reach consumers wherever they are, and there’s a large population that are now outside of the traditional cable bundle — either cord cutters or cord nevers.”

Murdoch said that Fox’s subscriber expectations will be “modest” and it will “price the service accordingly.” Fox already owns the free ad-supported streaming service Tubi, which will air the Super Bowl for the first time this weekend. The company also partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney’s ESPN on the now-scrapped sports streaming service Venu.

Similar to its former partners, a standalone streaming service will give Fox a dedicated place to air its live sports games. Warner Bros. Discovery already offers live sports on Max, while ESPN plans on launching a dedicated streaming service later this year. Other companies, including CNN, CNBC, DirecTV, and Xfinity, are betting on the increasingly crowded streaming space as well.

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The Nintendo Switch closes in on a major milestone

The Switch is on track to complete a major milestone for Nintendo this year. As of the end of 2024, the Nintendo Switch has sold over 150 million units in the eight years since its release. That’s an impressive number, and yet…that’s still not enough to make it the company’s best selling piece of hardware – a distinction that belongs to the humble Nintendo DS – but it’s getting close.

The company released its earnings report earlier this week and the numbers don’t look great. Though hardware sales are down a whopping 30 percentage points compared to 2023, Nintendo has, predictably, taken an optimistic stance. After all, this console is eight years old with the Switch 2 tantalizingly close to launch. And in light of all that, it still sold almost 10 million units. But that impressive 150 million unit total is still a bit short of the massive 154 million units the Nintendo DS sold in its 12-year lifetime. Bolstered by recent games like The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and with new games like Metroid Prime 4 and Pokémon Legends: Z-A on the horizon, it’s likely that the Switch will finally overtake the DS this year, making it Nintendo’s best selling console ever.

After that, there’s one more boss for the console to beat before it can be called the best-selling console of all time – the 160 million units of the PlayStation 2.

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Verizon bundles Google AI into its wireless plans for an extra $10

Verizon is adding a new option to bundle Google One AI Premium into its wireless myPlan and myHome internet plans, the company announced today. The add-on will be available for an extra $10 per month, or about half of the $19.99 Google charges for the subscription on its own, starting on February 6th.

Google One AI Premium comes with access to Gemini Advanced, which adds Gemini features to Google apps like Gmail or Docs. It also lets you try Google’s experimental AI models and the company’s Deep Research tool.

The subscription also includes discounts on Google’s online store, unlimited saves when you use the Magic Editor feature in Google Photos, longer Google Meet calls, and a more robust set of Google Calendar capabilities.

The new add-on joins Verizon’s streaming service add-ons like the Disney Bundle, Netflix and Max with ads, and YouTube Premium, which each also cost $10 a month. Verizon says subscribers can sign up for the add-on using the My Verizon app or from its website when it’s available later this week.

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The Verge

The best Android phones

Collage of Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy 25 Ultra phones.

The Android ecosystem is all about choice. While iPhone owners have a smaller pool of new devices to pick from when it’s time to upgrade, there’s a wider range of choices on Android. Some Android phones even fold in half! Imagine.

On the flip side, all that choice can make for some hard decisions. Here’s where I’d like to help; I’ve tested a whole boatload of recent Android phones, and I think there are some real winners in the current batch. It’s all a matter of what you’re looking for, what you’re comfortable spending, and what your definition of a “reasonably sized phone” is. (I have my own, personally.)

As you sift through the options, you’ll almost certainly come across tech’s favorite buzzphrase of the year: AI. Generally speaking, AI has yet to really impress me on a phone. The Pixel 9 series has some potentially useful features, like a new Screenshots app that uses AI to tag relevant info in metadata, and Galaxy devices can translate a phone call for you in real time. These things are nothing to sneeze at! But none of it feels like the platform shift that the big tech companies keep promising. Best not to put too much stock in any company’s AI claims just yet.

Longevity

A great Android phone will go the distance. I look for signs that the hardware and software will keep up for many years to come, including a strong IP rating for dust and water resistance (IP68 is preferred), durable glass panels on the front and back, and a sturdy aluminum frame rather than plastic. Samsung and Google flagships now offer seven years of OS and security updates, which as awesome. As a bare minimum three years of Android OS version upgrades is preferred, along with a total of four or five years of security updates.

A great screen

The best Android phones have plenty of resolution to cover their large display area, which means 1440p, ideally. A fast refresh rate of at least 120Hz is preferred — animations and scrolling look super smooth at that rate — and even better if it’s variable down to 1Hz to save on battery life.

Quality cameras

Any phone can take a decent photo in good lighting, but the best phone cameras can handle low light and high-contrast scenes well, too. I look for optical (most common) or sensor-shift (rare) image stabilization, which helps compensate for hand shake and enable slower shutter speeds in low light to gather more light. A telephoto lens is great to have too, though high-res sensors are starting to offer better lossless crop modes that mimic short zoom lenses well.

Wireless charging

Most phones on this list offer wireless charging, though not all do. Lack of wireless charging isn’t a complete deal-breaker, but it’s becoming an essential feature for a lot of people since it’s convenient for charging many different kinds of devices.

If you live in the US, I have some bad news about the Android market, though. For complicated reasons having to do with “capitalism” and “geopolitics,” we don’t get nearly as many of the options as you’ll find in Asia and Europe — brands like Huawei, Xiaomi, Honor, and Oppo just aren’t available here. I’ve limited this guide to the devices I’ve personally tested in depth; thus, it is a fairly US-centric set of recommendations.

With that in mind, it’s also worth acknowledging that most people in the US get their phones “for free” from their wireless carrier. If you can manage it, buying a phone unlocked will give you the most flexibility and freedom if you end up wanting to change carriers in the near future. Phone manufacturers also offer financing and trade-in deals to make payment more manageable. But if you’re happy with your carrier and the free phone on offer is the one you really want, by all means, take the free phone. Just make sure you understand the terms, especially if you need to change plans to cash in on the deal.

However you go about it, you have some fantastic options for your next Android phone.

The best Android phone overall

_Screen: 6.3-inch 1080p 120Hz OLED / Processor: Tensor G4 / Cameras: 50-megapixel f/1.7 main with OIS, 48-megapixel ultrawide, 10.5-megapixel selfie / Battery: 4,700mAh / Charging: 27W wired, 15W wireless (with Pixel Stand 2) / Weather resistance: IP68

Google’s hardware is better than ever, and the whole Pixel 9 lineup feels just as polished as anything you’d get from Samsung or Apple. But at $799, the basic Pixel 9 is in a particularly appealing position, and if you don’t need a telephoto camera or the biggest screen, then this is the Android phone to get.

The Pixel 9 comes with some significant quality-of-life improvements like a faster fingerprint scanner for unlocking the phone. The camera is as reliable as ever, and if you’re into AI photo editing tricks, boy does this phone have ‘em. There’s a new Screenshots app that acts as a place to store all of the information that would otherwise be lost at sea in your camera roll, and it uses AI to parse information out and make it searchable. Kinda handy.

Google Pixel 9 on a pink and green background.

Even without AI, this is an excellent phone. It’s also designed to go the distance, with seven years of promised OS updates, which very likely means you’ll outgrow the phone before Google stops supporting it. Its potential for long-term value and the quality of the hardware make it an easy recommendation for anyone who just wants a nice Android phone that works.

Read my Google Pixel 9 review.

The best maximalist phone

_Screen: 6.9-inch 1440p 120Hz OLED / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite / Cameras: 200-megapixel main with OIS, 50-megapixel 5x telephoto with OIS, 10-megapixel 3x telephoto with OIS, 50-megapixel ultrawide, 12-megapixel selfie / Battery: 5,000mAh / Charging: 45W wired, 15W wireless (Qi2 Ready) / Weather resistance: IP68

There’s still no phone quite like the Ultra. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is Samsung’s latest answer to the question, “What if your phone had all of the features?” It’s equipped with two telephoto cameras, a built-in stylus, and a big, bright screen. Good luck finding that combination in another phone. Related: this is one of the most expensive slab-style phones you can buy.

The newest edition of the Ultra comes with rounded corners and flat edges, making it more comfortable in your hand. But if you’re looking for significant year-over-year improvements to the Ultra formula outside of that, well, you won’t find much. Samsung’s focus has been on software features, which is to say AI features. But AI on Galaxy phones remains a mixed bag — it’s certainly not the paradigm shift Samsung wants us to think the S25 series represents.

All of that puts the Ultra in a place of slightly less distinction than previous versions. The biggest updates are software features available to the rest of the S25 series. The Ultra looks and feels more like other Galaxy phones this time around, too. More than ever, it’s hard to understand what Samsung means when it calls this phone “Ultra.” Still, it’s your best choice for a feature-packed Android phone — even if it’s not quite as ultra as it once was.

Read my Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review.

The best phone if you hate waiting for your phone to charge

_Screen: 6.82-inch 1440p 120Hz LTPO OLED / Processor: Snapdragon 8 Elite / Cameras: 50-megapixel f/1.6 main with OIS, 50-megapixel 3x telephoto with OIS, 50-megapixel f/2.0 ultrawide, 32-megapixel selfie / Battery: 6,000mAh / Charging: 80W wired, 50W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IP68 and IP69

There are plenty of good reasons to consider the OnePlus 13. It has a big, beautiful screen, and costs a hundred bucks less than the Galaxy S25 Plus. Its dust and water resistance is so strong you could practically use the phone in a hurricane without consequences. And its camera system is much improved year over year, particularly when it comes to low-light portraiture. But there’s one standout reason to consider the 13: impatience.

The OnePlus 13 offers enough battery stamina to get through two days of moderate use on a single charge — and that’s with plenty of power-draining features enabled, including the always-on display. If you’re thriftier with your charge, it could even go beyond that. Forgot to charge overnight? No big deal; you can probably just charge it up on night two. Charging is also relatively fast, and in the US, the phone comes with an 80W wired charger in the box. So even if you do need a midday top-off, you’ll be able to get hours of charge in a matter of minutes. No other flagship phone offers that kind of charging (or not charging) flexibility.

Read my OnePlus 13 review.

The best foldable phone

_Screen: 8.0-inch 2076p 120Hz OLED inner screen, 6.3-inch 1080p 120Hz OLED cover screen / Processor: Tensor G4 / Cameras: 48-megapixel f/1.7 main with OIS, 10.8-megapixel 5x telephoto with OIS, 10.5-megapixel ultrawide, 10-megapixel selfie (cover screen), 10-megapixel inner selfie camera / Battery: 4,650mAh / Charging: 21W wired, 7.5W wireless / Weather resistance: IPX8

Does anyone truly need a folding phone? Probably not. But using one is awfully nice, and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is the nicest book-style foldable I’ve used to date. It’s pricey, it’s still bulkier than a slab-style phone, and its cameras aren’t quite as nice as the other Pixel 9 Pro phones. But it’s a joy to use, both as a regular phone with the cover screen and when you unfold the big inner screen.

The 9 Pro Fold is Google’s second folding phone, following up the passport-shaped Pixel Fold with a format that feels much more familiar. The outer screen measures 6.3 inches on the diagonal, but more importantly, the ratio is the same as Google’s slab phones. By comparison, Samsung’s Z Fold 6 uses a taller, narrower format that feels cramped. Having used them both, I much prefer the 9 Pro Fold’s approach.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold in porcelain.

That said, the 9 Pro Fold isn’t without compromises. The camera system isn’t quite as good as what you get in the other 9 Pro phones. The outer screen isn’t as sharp or bright as the Pixel 9 Pro’s, either. And it’s not as durable as its slab-style counterparts — there’s no dust resistance, and you can’t get it repaired just anywhere. For $1,800, that’s an awful lot to swallow. For the adventurous early adopter, though, the 9 Pro Fold will be very rewarding.

Read my Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold review.

The best phone that puts on a light show

_Screen: 6.7-inch 1080p 120Hz OLED / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 / Cameras: 50-megapixel F/1.9 main with OIS, 50-megapixel ultrawide, 32-megapixel selfie / Battery: 4,700mAh / Charging: 45W wired, 15W wireless / Weather resistance: IP54

The Nothing Phone 2 doesn’t offer the very best value proposition in its upper-midrange category. But if it’s style you’re after and something a little flashy (well, a lot flashy), then the Phone 2 is an easy pick.

It offers a good 6.7-inch screen, great daily performance and battery life, and a capable camera system. But that’s the usual stuff — what’s unusual about the Phone 2 is its set of LED light strips on the back panel. They illuminate in combinations called “glyphs,” and you can set them to alert you to certain notifications. It’s neat but ultimately isn’t as helpful as the system’s customizable always-on display.

Nothing Phone 2 on a table showing home screen.

On the downside, the Phone 2 is only splash-resistant rather than fully resistant to water submersion like virtually all other phones over $500. It’s also not fully supported on Verizon’s network, which takes it out of contention for a lot of the US population.

If neither of the above is a deal-breaker, and the Phone 2’s styling appeals to you, then it’s an excellent choice. One thing’s for sure — it definitely stands out from the crowd.

Read my Nothing Phone 2 review.

Other Android phones worth considering

There are many more great Android devices that weren’t covered here, and a few are worth calling out that didn’t quite make the cut for a recommendation.

  • First off, there’s the Galaxy Z Flip 6, Samsung’s excellent clamshell-style foldable. It’s not as much fun to use as the 2024 Motorola Razr Plus — which facilitates using apps on the cover screen more easily — but Motorola’s track record for software updates isn’t great, so the Z Flip 6 is a safer bet for a flip phone. Read our review.
  • The OnePlus Open is also another good book-style foldable option. It’s thin and light, and the software includes some thoughtful approaches to multitasking — a crucial part of the folding phone experience. But it won’t be supported with software updates for as long as the Pixel 9 Pro Fold or the Galaxy Z Fold 6. Read our review.
  • Last but not least, there’s the Google Pixel 8A. If you really want to maximize the return on your investment, it’s hard to beat Google’s latest midrange phone. It covers all the basics for $499 while offering seven years of software support. Read our review.

Update, February 4th: Updated to replace the Galaxy S24 Ultra with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and the OnePlus 12 with the OnePlus 13.

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The Verge

This 4K projector’s periscope arm lets you install it almost anywhere

The white version of the Fujifilm ZUH6000 projector against a red background.

Fujifilm’s new ZUH6000 projector features a rotating articulated lens providing more flexibility on where you can install it. | Image: Fujifilm

Fujifilm has announced a new ultra-short throw projector with its lens attached to an articulated arm that can pivot and rotate. Unlike most UST projectors that require moving the entire unit to reposition where an image is being projected, the FP-ZUH6000 can switch between projecting on walls, ceilings, and even floors while remaining mounted in one location, and it can be permanently installed in all kinds of places.

The company hasn’t announced when the FP-ZUH6000 will be available or pricing details, but it’s being introduced at the Integrated Systems Europe 2025 trade show that starts today in Barcelona, Spain. A similar projector released by Fujifilm a few years ago with a much lower 1920×1200 resolution came with a steep $14,000 price tag. The FP-ZUH6000 is the first time Fujifilm is offering a projector with this unique lens configuration, 6,000 lumens of brightness (there’s no mention if that’s ANSI or ISO measurements), and a 3840×2160 resolution, so it will potentially be priced even higher.

Two images demonstrating how the projector’s lens arm can be rotated.

Similar to a submarine’s optical periscope (or the zoom lens on your smartphone’s camera), the FP-ZUH6000 uses a pair of prisms to direct light into an arm that can pivot up to 90 degrees, and then through a lens that can rotate 360 degrees. Most projectors only allow an image to be repositioned by a few inches using software adjustments that often reduce the resolution of the projection. With the FP-ZUH6000, the projection can be aimed in nearly any direction, while an additional lens shift function allows the image to be further adjusted vertically or horizontally without touching the lens. That design introduces a lot of flexibility when it comes to where the projector itself can be permanently installed.

Since the lens can extend beyond the projector’s body, the FP-ZUH6000 can even be installed out of sight above a hanging ceiling with just the lens portion left visible. The projector’s design (and price tag) will probably make it more appealing to museums and other places where installations require projectors to be mounted out of reach of the public. But it could also be a useful addition to a home theater allowing the projector to be mostly hidden without the need for a dedicated projection room.

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The Verge

Infinity Nikki taught me a painful lesson

Screenshot from Infinity Nikki featuring Nikki in green and yellow coveralls talking to her cat Momo, a white bipeda cat, in a yellow cloak.

I’ve been having a great time with Infinity Nikki. I do my dailies, grind for materials, and desperately search for an outfit that works with the single ugliest piece of clothing in the game: a red vest. But as I’ve progressed, the game has given me — a gacha newbie — an unfortunate crash-course education on how these games really work and what not to do if you want to keep your sanity and your wallet intact.

The trouble began right before the current Lunar New Year event, when I started obtaining every piece of a special outfit called Wings of Wishes. In Infinity Nikki, special outfits like Wings of Wishes are gated behind what’s called Resonance Events, which are essentially slot machines available for a limited time. When you spend currency in the game, you’re not buying outfits outright; you’re paying to “pull” the lever on that slot machine in hopes that it’ll spit out the pieces you want.

Throughout the month Wings of Wishes was available, I managed to earn eight of its nine pieces, even though I wasn’t really trying to get it. And as the event wound down, I was confident that even if I ran out of currency, I’d simply earn enough back for the final piece. But once I exhausted all the story and event quests, I learned that the game does not reward currency at a pace that can keep up with even casual, intermittent pulling. I went from earning enough to pull 10 or 20 times a week down to four or five times. It was like that paycheck meme, where, in the first week after you get paid, you’re eating steak and caviar for dinner, but by the second, you’re having ice soup. It got so dire that, by the end of the event, I started spending money hoping I’d pull the last piece, but I never did.

I was crushed, not only for obvious reasons but also because playing this game wasn’t supposed to change my spending habits. And I learned through consulting with my gacha veteran friends and the Infinity Nikki subreddit that I made the rookiest of mistakes in thinking I could outsmart a game engineered to part me from my money in ways I wouldn’t really notice or feel.

Gacha games have a poor reputation because of the way they can exploit players to extract their money. I got got because I thought I was above that, not realizing the game had already tapped into my FOMO and my wallet. Nothing, not even Wings of Wishes, was ever so desirable that it was worth focusing on. It only became a focus when I realized I needed one more piece right before the event ended. On top of that, I never noticed my spending. I wasn’t concerned because I wasn’t dropping $30–$50, but I was spending two dollars, three dollars, 99 cents, two and three times a day, because again, all I needed was one more piece.

True blue gacha veterans will tell you that if there’s something you want, be prepared to either pay for it or plan for it. Players who don’t want to spend money for outfits skip two and three events in a row, hoarding their currency, waiting for the right outfit to spend their entire warchest on all for free. On the other hand, if a player wants to pay for an outfit, they know to be prepared to spend bill money for it. Pulling is the same as working a slot machine: you’re not guaranteed to hit. But Infinity Nikki guarantees a high-value piece every 10 pulls. With the currency used for pulls going for a dollar apiece, a nine-piece outfit like Wings of Wishes will run you at least $90. That amount goes up dramatically because the guarantee is for any high-value piece, and Resonance Events often contain multiple high-value outfits that have anywhere between eight and 10 pieces.

I understand that my problems likely don’t extend to the majority of other players. From perusing the game’s subreddit, I get the feeling most people either already understand the level of preparation required to obtain coveted clothing effectively, don’t mind spending eye-watering sums, or are content to either engage with the system casually or ignore it altogether. I planned on being the latter, someone who tossed the developers a few bucks here and there to obtain the occasional outfit I fancied.

And in my naivete, I assumed that’s how gacha games worked. You could either grind out the resources you needed or spend money only when you chose to for items you wanted. Yes, I understood there were elements of random chance to compete against, but I genuinely thought that I could guarantee myself the desired outfits through a mix of casual play and light spending. I will not make that mistake again. Thankfully, the current Lunar New Year event doesn’t have any premium outfits I want. Plus, the ones being given away for free are more than cute enough to soothe my sartorial spirit.

The real tragedy of all this is that I don’t even like how Wings of Wishes looks. I only wanted it for its special ability to make Nikki’s floating animation look like she’s gliding on a magical paper crane. I have multiple substitutes for the white stockings I’m missing, so I can easily complete the look. But without that final piece, the outfit’s ability won’t trigger, and I don’t like it enough to wear it casually. So it’ll sit, incomplete and unworn, in my wardrobe, possibly forever.

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The Verge

Apple leaks event-planning ‘Invites’ feature

Apple seems to have accidentally confirmed its rumored events planning feature ahead of an official announcement. An update to its iCloud page lists “Invites” as one of the key features of its iCloud Plus subscription, even though the feature is not yet available. The branding was spotted earlier by MacRumors.

“Upgrade to iCloud+ to get more storage, plan events with Apple Invites, and have peace of mind with privacy features like iCloud Private Relay, Hide My Email, and HomeKit Secure Video,” the site reads. Apple doesn’t say much else about what Invites will do, and whether it will be a standalone app or built into an existing one like Calendar.

Last month, code spotted in an iOS 18.3 beta by 9to5Mac suggested that Apple is working on an Invites app to help users plan in-person events and manage invites. iCloud Plus is currently available starting at 99 cents per month. The Verge reached out to Apple for more information but didn’t immediately hear back.

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The Verge

Meta says this is the make or break year for the metaverse

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth is giving the metaverse a year to become a hit, according to an internal forum post reported by Business Insider. That time period will determine whether Reality Labs’ mixed reality efforts are “the work of visionaries or a legendary misadventure,” he writes.

Bosworth details his expectations early in the post:

We have the best portfolio of products we’ve ever had in market and are pushing our advantage by launching half a dozen more AI powered wearables. We need to drive sales, retention, and engagement across the board but especially in MR. And Horizon Worlds on mobile absolutely has to break out for our long term plans to have a chance.

The post comes days after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recently leaked comments in an all-hands meeting, in which he predicted an “intense year” and emphasized the need to stay in the lead with its smart glasses, which have taken the spotlight away from Reality Labs’ Quest headsets.

Bosworth says that despite 2024 being the department’s best year, Reality Labs hasn’t “actually made a dent in the world yet.” The group is smaller now in the wake of layoffs and the success of Meta’s Ray-bans and AI efforts, but Bosworth wrote that it doesn’t “need big teams to do great work” and that he thinks smaller teams have moved faster and produce better results.

He closes out the post saying the team doesn’t need “a bunch of new ideas,” but that most in the group “just need to execute on the work laid out before them to succeed.” As for what happens if Horizon Worlds doesn’t become a hit in the next year, Bosworth doesn’t get more specific than his “legendary misadventure” comment. But it seems unlikely that it’ll take off now, making his post feel more like an expiration date than anything else.

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The Verge

Accidental wildfire alerts prompt probe from Congress

House of Representative members from California want to know what led to accidental evacuation alerts that fomented confusion during devastating Los Angeles fires in January.

The Palisades and Eaton wildfires broke out in early January, killing at least 29 people and destroying more than 16,000 structures. In the midst of the chaos, some 10 million people received an erroneous emergency alert on January 9th telling them an evacuation warning was issued for their area. It was only supposed to go to people living in areas most at risk from another blaze, but was instead sent across Los Angeles County.

After the gaffe, the county said it was working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate why “echoes” of the alert kept going out to residents’ phones, making it more difficult for people to rely on officials’ warnings.

“The difference between life and death”

“Appropriately timed, targeted, and clear emergency alert messages can mean the difference between life and death. However, unclear messages sent to the wrong locations, multiple times and after the emergency has passed, can lead to alerting fatigue and erosion of public trust,” the lawmakers say in letters sent to Los Angeles County, FEMA, the FCC, and software company Genasys.

Led by Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA), the legislators are considering whether more guidance or regulations are needed to keep the same problem from happening again during other emergencies. The letters include a series of questions about how the Los Angeles warning system operates and what’s changed since the January infernos. The recipients have been asked to provide their responses by April 1st. None of them immediately provided responses to inquiries from The Verge.

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The Verge

The timeline apps are here, and they’re awesome

Tapestry is a particularly colorful way to look at all your feeds.

The folks at Iconfactory, which once made a wonderful Twitter client called Twitterrific, launched a new app on Tuesday. It’s called Tapestry, and it’s a cross between a social app and a news reader. The app can ingest feeds of all kinds: someone’s Bluesky posts, your favorite YouTube creator’s videos, a blog’s new posts, all your go-to podcasts. You add the feeds, and Tapestry shows them to you in chronological order. No recommendations, no algorithms, just what Iconfactory calls a “personal, unified timeline” of content you care about.

Tapestry has a bunch of clever ways to filter your content, too. You can pick keywords to “Muffle,” which will make their entry in Tapestry much smaller, or you can mute them and remove them from your timeline entirely. You can search across all your feeds at once, too, and create timelines within your timeline — I set one up for my podcast feeds, for instance, and now Tapestry is a passable podcast player. Tapestry syncs both your content and your place in the timeline across devices, and it gives you lots of control over how things look.

I’ve been using Tapestry in beta for a while, and I quite like the app. It’s fairly …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The Verge

California bill would make AI companies remind kids that chatbots aren’t people

An image showing a brain on a computer screen

A new bill proposed in California (SB 243) would require AI companies to periodically remind kids that a chatbot is an AI and not human. The bill, proposed by California Senator Steve Padilla, is meant to protect children from the “addictive, isolating, and influential aspects” of AI.

In addition to limiting companies from using “addictive engagement patterns,” the bill would require AI companies to provide annual reports to the State Department of Health Care Services outlining how many times it detected suicidal ideation by kids using the platform, as well as the number of times a chatbot brought up the topic. It would also make companies tell users that their chatbots might not be appropriate for some kids.

Last year, a parent filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Character.AI, alleging its custom AI chatbots are “unreasonably dangerous” after her teen, who continuously chatted with the bots, died by suicide. Another lawsuit accused the company of sending “harmful material” to teens. Character.AI later announced that it’s working on parental controls and developed a new AI model for teen users that will block “sensitive or suggestive” output.

“Our children are not lab rats for tech companies to experiment on at the cost of their mental health,” Senator Padilla said in the press release. “We need common sense protections for chatbot users to prevent developers from employing strategies that they know to be addictive and predatory.”

As states and the federal government double down on the safety of social media platforms, AI chatbots could soon become lawmakers’ next target.

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The Verge

Adobe Acrobat’s AI chatbot can now summarize contract jargon

The feature can help users to spot key information in agreements before they sign them.

Adobe is adding features to Acrobat’s AI Assistant that should help users to better understand contracts. The new “contract intelligence capabilities” allow the PDF management software’s chatbot to automatically recognize when files and scanned documents are contracts and summarize complicated language to make it easier for users to understand.

The Acrobat AI Assistant is available as a $4.99 per month add-on for Acrobat users with free or paid individual accounts. The contract intelligence update is available worldwide starting today on desktop, web, and mobile. Only English is supported for now, with more languages to follow, according to Adobe.

Adobe says the feature can surface key terms, generate citations and recommended questions for specific documents, and compare changes across up to ten different versions of a contract to check consistency and discrepancies. That should make it easier to spot things in lengthy contracts, such as important dates, specific policies, and charges that may otherwise get buried in walls of text.

Adobe says the aim is to save users time that they would otherwise spend on trying to understand the often long and complex documents, citing a recent survey that found 70 percent of consumers have signed agreements without knowing all of the terms within them. “Customers open billions of contracts in Adobe Acrobat each month and AI can be a game changer in helping simplify their experience,” said Adobe Document Cloud lead Abhigyan Modi.

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The Verge

Space is the next frontier in Fantastic Four: First Steps’ new trailer

Thankfully, the new teaser for Marvel’s Fantastic Four: First Steps doesn’t spoil all that much of the film, but it does give you a sense of just how big a problem Galactus is going to be for the MCU.

Rather than rehashing the details of how Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Sue’s brother Johnny (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) gain their powers, Fantastic Four: First Steps’ new trailer is more focused on emphasizing how famous the quartet has become after their first mission to space. They aren’t just superheroes, they’re beloved celebrities whose adventures and scientific achievements have captured the world’s imagination. But they’re also a family who seem to be trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy in spite of how extraordinary their lives have become.

Along with a few shots showcasing the team’s powerset and their swanky, retrofuturistic digs in the Baxter Building, the trailer features the briefest shots of the planet-deverourer Galactus (Ralph Ineson) making his arrival on Earth. You’d think Marvel might want to show off its new take on the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), but the studio is probably saving that until we’re closer to the film’s July 25th debut.

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The Verge

Samsung’s S25 Ultra and the end of the flagship phone

After almost exactly 18 years, you could make the argument that the tech industry has finally finished what the iPhone started. It’s not that there’s no innovation left in phones, or that there aren’t other big ideas to be had about the devices we carry around, but the specific thing the first iPhone was — a candy bar-shaped slab of glass in your pocket — might have reached its final form. Maybe there’s another reason that Samsung’s Galaxy S25 lineup looks so familiar, and why it appears this year’s other flagship devices will too. But maybe it’s just that there’s not much left to do here.

On this episode of The Vergecast, _The Verge_’s Allison Johnson tells us all about her experiences with the S25 Ultra, supposedly the most interesting and experimental device in Samsung’s lineup, and why she’s a bit underwhelmed despite the fact that the Ultra remains an excellent phone.

We also discuss the phones left to launch this year, and whether this might finally be the year a new phone shape — flipping, or folding, or maybe tri-folding? — hits the big time. We have some theories, and a lot of hope, but are mostly planning for another year of the same o …

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The Verge

Grubhub security breach compromises customer and driver data

Food delivery company Grubhub has confirmed that it suffered a security breach, with user, driver, and merchant data compromised, including hashed passwords and partial credit card details.

Grubhub says that it noticed “unusual activity” that it traced back to an account used by a third-party service provider for its customer support team. The account’s access was terminated, and the service provider removed from Grubhub’s systems.

Before the breach was detected, data was accessed relating to customers, drivers, and merchants who had used Grubhub’s customer service system, along with student users of its campus dining service. Names, email addresses, and phone numbers were accessed, along with partial credit card details including the card type and last four digits, and hashed passwords for “certain legacy systems.”

Grubhub hasn’t disclosed when the breach happened or how many accounts were accessed, but it says it has proactively rotated any passwords it believes were affected. The company says that bank account information and full payment card details weren’t accessed.

Grubhub is still finalizing a sale from Just Eat to food hall startup Wonder for $650 million. The deal was announced in November 2024, and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025.

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The Verge

‘Scared and betrayed’ — workers are reeling from chaos at federal agencies

Art depicting the faces of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

As the third week of Donald Trump’s presidency begins, workers across federal agencies are scrambling to find their footing among the chaos.

From the US Agency for International Development and the Department of Agriculture, to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Labor, federal workers are facing an onslaught of changes that threaten to upend their work and the systems that keep the country running. Sweeping orders from the White House threatened to freeze funding for basic grants and programs, before being blocked by a judge and walked back by Trump. Using a made up meme agency, unelected billionaire Elon Musk is attempting to stage a takeover reminiscent of his remaking of Twitter, now X, except this time hollowing out the US government.

“A lot of us are scared and feel betrayed,” a person who works for USAID told The Verge. “When [people] get hired, they take an oath to protect the constitution.” And with Musk actively dismantling the humanitarian agency, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday he now runs, workers at other agencies are wondering if the same could happen to their workplaces. “I think everyone is really scared about wh …

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