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Illustration: The Verge Google Meet’s launching new 360-degree virtual backgrounds for video calls on mobile. While Google first announced the new feature last month , now it’s rolling out on both iOS and Android and uses your device’s gyroscope to move with you. As you can see in the embedded GIF, the 360-degree background will change depending on where your phone or tablet’s positioned. So, if you move your phone left or right, your background will adjust to show different scenery. Google says users can apply “several” new 360-degree backgrounds during video calls, including one that shows a beach and another with a temple. Image: Google While the feature does look pretty cool, I can see how these backgrounds might get distracting if... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/18/23605678/google-meet-360-degree-virtual-backgrounds-video-calls

You have only a few hours left to score up to $150 in credit on Samsung’s Galaxy S23 phones. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge If you’ve been hoping to upgrade your smartphone or laptop, you’ll soon be able to get your hands on Samsung’s Galaxy S23 , Galaxy Book3 Pro, and Galaxy Book3 Pro 360. The devices will be widely available starting tomorrow, February 17th, but you’ll need to act fast if you’re hoping to take advantage of Samsung’s ongoing preorder promos before they expire at 3AM ET / 12AM PT tonight. Where to preorder the Galaxy S23, S23 Plus, and S23 Ultra Samsung’s Galaxy S23 series consists of three phones: the standard S23, the S23 Plus, and the S23 Ultra. Samsung is currently offering free storage upgrades and up to $150 in Samsung credit when you preorder the 6.1-inch Galaxy S23 , which starts at $799.99, or the 6.3-inch Galaxy S23 Plus , which... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/16/23603276/samsung-galaxy-s23-plus-ultra-book3-p

Image: Getty Images The US Securities and Exchange Commission is suing the creator of the collapsed Terra blockchain protocol for securities fraud following last year’s meltdown that sent reverberations throughout the cryptocurrency industry. According to the SEC’s complaint , Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon “perpetuated a fraudulent scheme that led to the loss of at least $40 billion of market value.” Last September, South Korea issued a warrant for Kwon’s arrest , while Interpol reportedly issued a “red notice” for him or a call to international law enforcement agencies to “locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.” Despite Kwon insisting that he’s “ not on the run ,” the complaint notes that... Continue reading… στείρωση σκύλου Γιατί τα σκυλιά τρώνε κακά source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/16/23603360/terra-luna-securities-fraud-sec-do-kwon

Image: Crunchyroll The Nier: Automata anime is coming back. After the series was put on pause due to covid in January, new episodes of Nier: Automata Ver1.1a will air again on Crunchyroll beginning this weekend, according to a press release. Three episodes have already been released, and you can watch them on Crunchyroll now ahead of the debut of episode four on Saturday, February 18th, at 12:30PM ET. New episodes will premiere weekly. Ver1.1a is an anime adaptation of the cult-classic action RPG from enigmatic game maker Yoko Taro. It originally debuted on January 7th , but just a couple weeks later, new episodes of the show were put on hold because of “the impact of COVID-19 on production,” according to an announcement on the show’s official Twitter... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/16/23603370/nier-automata-ver-1-1-a-anime-returns-covid-postponement

Photo by Matthew Ashton - AMA / Getty Images The Major League Soccer (MLS) season kicks off on February 25th, and if you were hoping Apple and MLS’s streaming service would give you the games in 4K, I have some bad news: the streams will top out at 1080p, according to a press release from MLS ( via Engadget ). We probably shouldn’t have hoped for anything different; the Major League Baseball games on Apple TV Plus also peak at 1080p . But for the many sports fans who have been waiting for more sports games to stream at true 4K — this year’s Super Bowl, for example, was upscaled to 4K — MLS’s streaming service, MLS Season Pass, won’t be the place to see those. That said, for soccer fans, MLS Season Pass seems like it will be a pretty good deal. You’ll be able to watch every live... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/15/23601561/apple-mls-season-pass-soccer-streaming-service-1080p

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter will allow cannabis ads on the platform starting today, the company announced in a blog ( per Axios ). The company previously allowed CBD topical ads targeting some US users. The policy change means Twitter — where major ad firms have cautioned clients against buying ads following Elon Musk’s takeover — will allow more cannabis ads than other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. cheap flights On Meta-owned platforms, advertisers can promote hemp products with restrictions around geographic targeting and content, but THC and CBD products aren’t allowed. TikTok also has strict rules around drugs, even refusing to allow public service announcements from New York state after cannabis was legalized for adults. “Going forward, Twitter is... Continue reading… Airbnb αθηνα beaches in Greece source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/15/23601559/twitter-cannabis-advertising-policy-change

Image: Google Fiber Google Fiber is now offering 5 Gbps speeds in certain markets ( via Engadget ). Customers in Kansas City, West Des Moines, and the Salt Lake City metropolitan area will be the first to get the option for the speedier tier, which is rolling out now. Late last year, Google started testing limited access to Fiber’s faster 5-gig and even 8-gig packages for some customers in those same areas. The new 5 Gbps offering will cost subscribers $125 a month and includes an optional Wi-Fi 6 router, up to two mesh extenders, and professional installation that also upgrades homes to be 10Gbps-ready. Google Fiber’s 5 Gbps internet offers symmetrical upload and download speeds for those who work heavily in the cloud with large files and is a big upgrade... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/14/23600121/google-fiber-5-gbps-tier-kansas-city-salt-lake-city

Image: Zoox Zoox, the autonomous vehicle company owned by Amazon, said that its toaster-shaped driverless vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals was approved to drive on public roads with passengers in California. The company celebrated the milestone as the “first time in history a purpose-built robotaxi — without any manual controls — drove autonomously with passengers.” Zoox is one of dozens of companies currently testing AVs on public roads in the Golden State. And while it trails behind competitors like Waymo and Cruise in the race to commercialize the technology, it is making advancements by introducing a new kind of vehicle to the road — one that lacks traditional controls and could hardly be described as a “car” in the modern sense of the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/14/23599505/amazon-zoox-robotaxi-public-road-california

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Thousands of T-Mobile customers in the United States reported significant network problems on Monday night, with many unable to place calls or carry out other basic functions. Issues were reported across the country, with users from California to New York saying that service was up and down or completely unavailable for extended periods. DownDetector spiked and showed over 80,000 reports of problems . Owners of Apple’s iPhone 14 phones said their signal status showed no cellular connection whatsoever — instead defaulting to the emergency SOS satellite indicator. By late evening, the carrier seemed to be getting a handle on things, but customers weren’t pleased with the disruption. Responding to complaints on social media, T-Mobile said it... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/14/23598880/tmobile-outage-down-no-service-iphone-sos

Illustration: The Verge Google Photos appears to be broken for many users following Apple’s latest iOS 16.3.1 update. Several Verge staff members, as well as people on Twitter , report that the app crashes on launch, making it impossible to access or manage your Google photo library. While the problem isn’t universal — a few people , myself included, say they’re able to open Google Photos just fine — the crashing does still appear to be relatively widespread. Other Google apps, such as Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Maps, all seem to be working fine. It’s currently unclear what could be causing the problem and why it only affects certain people. The iOS update (which may or may not have triggered the issue) is supposedly relatively minor ; Apple’s release notes... Cheap flights Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/13/23598709/google-photos-ios-16-3-1-crash-broken

Image: Framework Google appears to be testing a feature that would let Chromebook users set custom keyboard shortcuts throughout the OS ( via Ars Technica ). While it doesn’t currently work, About Chromebooks ’ Kevin Tofel found a keyboard shortcut editor in the ChromeOS 111 beta that can be accessed by enabling flags with names like “enable-shortcut-customization-app” and “improved-keyboard-shortcuts.” The screen, which is accessible through the settings app, shows you the list of shortcuts that are available in different parts of the OS and apps, as well as the default keybindings for them. The experimental version lets you add alternative shortcuts, according to Tofel and Ars Technica, though they unfortunately don’t seem to work — you can set shortcuts,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/13/23598335/google-chromebook-chromeos-keyboard-shortcuts-customizable

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Comcast wants Xfinity subscribers to pay up for Peacock. In a post on Twitter , the Comcast-owned NBCUniversal confirmed plans to stop offering free access to Peacock Premium to Xfinity subscribers on June 26th, 2023 (via Variety ). Peacock Premium, which normally costs $4.99 per month, is an ad-supported plan that has been available to Xfinity customers at no extra cost since the service first launched in 2020. Details about the change first emerged in a post on Reddit , which an NBCUniversal representative later confirmed to Variety and The Streamable . Hello Bob! Thank you for contacting Peacock, we're happy to help. We can confirm that complimentary Peacock Premium access will be ending on June 26, 2023, and we have no additional... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/12/23596786/xfinity-subscribers-peacock-nbcuniversal-comcast

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Ford’s gearing up to announce a $3.5 billion battery plant in Marshall, Michigan, according to a report from Automotive News . In an advisory obtained by the outlet, the automaker says it will reveal the news of the factory on Monday in partnership with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), a company that creates lithium iron phosphate batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), including the Mustang Mach-E . movies7 While Ford still hasn’t confirmed these plans, Michigan reportedly offered $1 billion in incentives to attract the automaker. The factory’s expected to bring 2,500 jobs to the area. The project is part of Ford’s efforts to comply with the strict rules set by the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which lets E... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/11/23595909/ford-battery-plant-michigan-evs

Opera’s new tool summarizes webpages, and it apparently works on Verge articles! | Image: Opera Opera’s adding a ChatGPT-powered tool to its sidebar that generates brief summaries of webpages and articles. The feature, called “shorten,” is part of the company’s broader plans to integrate AI tools into its browser, similar to what Microsoft’s doing with Edge. As shown in a demo included in Opera’s blog post, you can activate the feature by selecting the “shorten” button to the right of the address bar. From there, a sidebar with ChatGPT will pop out from the left, which will then generate a neat, bulleted summary of the article or webpage you’re looking at. Opera’s announcement comes just days after Microsoft revealed the AI-powered Bing and Edge . While the company’s search engine will offer access to an AI chatbot that provides... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/11/23595784/opera-browser-chatgpt-sidebar-ai

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is running ads for companies including Nokia, The Wall Street Journal , and Mailchimp alongside tweets from Holocaust deniers, according to a report by nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters for America. Media Matters reviewed five Twitter accounts belonging to neo-Nazis, antisemites, and Holocaust deniers and found that ads for prominent companies were being slotted next to tweets from the accounts. The reach of the five Twitter accounts, which include writers, a “pseudo-academic organization,” and white nationalist YouTubers, ranges from a couple thousand followers to tens of thousand. All five of the accounts are subscribed to Twitter Blue, the subscription service that’s become one of Elon Musk’s main priorities since taking... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/10/23594756/twitter-ads-toxic-content-holocaust-deniers-media-matters-report-study

The 2020 MacBook Air, one of the best laptops you can get, is frequently on sale. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge With multiple configurations and various models to choose from, finding a deal on a Mac equipped with an M-series chip is not all that difficult. It’s sometimes a slightly different story for the MacBook Pros with beefier M1 Pro and M1 Max CPUs, but with a little luck, you can score those excellent laptops for as much as $400 off. As for the most recent batch of M2-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, they, too, get their fair share of modest savings with some regularity. And with the recent introduction of M2 Pro and M2 Max 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, it’s probably just a matter of time until you can save some money on those refreshed models, too. Here, we’ll run through the discounts that are currently available for Apple’s... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/22399419/apple-macbook-air-pro-mac-mini-imac-deals

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Kraken will end its crypto staking program in the US and pay $30 million in penalties as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission . The regulator charged the company with selling unregistered securities through its “crypto asset staking-as-a-service program.” It’s been clear for a while now that the SEC was planning to clamp down on crypto yield programs. In 2021, it got into a spat with Coinbase over the exchange’s plans to launch a lending feature in the US, and last year, it (and several states) settled with BlockFi for $100 million over the company’s interest accounts. Kraken will continue to offer staking outside the US via a separate subsidiary Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted concern about “rumors” the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/9/23593183/kraken-staking-sec-settlement-penalties-crypto-interest

Nintendo It’s been just one month shy of a year since Nintendo delayed the Advance Wars remakes , “ in light of recent world events .” Since then, the games have sat in limbo with no word on when Nintendo would actually release them. Now, with the company’s first direct of 2023, Advance Wars 1 and 2 will launch on April 21st. Calling all strategy fans! Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp comes to Nintendo Switch on 4/21! Join Andy, Max, Sami, and more in two full story campaigns, each one filled with colorful turn-based tactical action and go head-to-head in local and online play. https://t.co/da81X3BBIm pic.twitter.com/KD9QrloRpv — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 8, 2023 Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp is a remake of the first two A... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/8/23589612/advance-wars-remake-release-date-nintendo-direct

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Disney is planning to lay off 7,000 workers to cut costs across the company. CEO Bob Iger announced the news in an earnings call on Wednesday, stating that the move is “necessary to address the challenges we’re facing today.” Like many other companies across the country , Disney’s making the changes as part of its efforts to reduce costs in a “challenging economic environment.” Iger says he’s “targeting $5.5 billion of cost savings across the company” and that the layoffs will “help achieve this.” Iger didn’t say which departments the layoffs will affect. Rumors about layoffs began emerging shortly after Iger took over for outgoing Disney CEO Bob Chapek last November. Iger initially stepped down from the role in 2020 , and his takeover has... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/8/23590901/disney-layoffs-earnings-streaming-bob-iger

Nintendo To start off Nintendo’s first Direct of 2023, it gave us a release date for the gentle, wholesome alien plant collection Pikmin 4 . It’s been a long wait for Pikmin fans with the last game released in 2013 on the Wii U. A deluxe version of the game was also announced for the Switch back in 2020. Pikmin 4 was teased during the last Nintendo Direct with a short trailer. This time around wasn’t much different but at least we have a release date: July 21st. Nintendo was scant on details, but it’s Pikmin , you don’t need much. All you need is Olimar and his host of leaf-headed friends who like to follow him around. For this iteration it seems like you’ll confront an alien dog-like creature that seems too cute to be evil. Pikmin 4 releases on... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/8/23591725/pikmin-4-release-date-nintendo-direct-2023

Photo by Jacquelyn Martin-Pool/Getty Images President Joe Biden threw his support behind tougher rules regulating Silicon Valley during his Second State of the Union speech Tuesday night. The president attempted to rally bipartisan support to finally resolve a number of long-standing privacy, safety, and competition issues facing the tech industry. Over the more than hourlong address, Biden called on Congress to pass new rules protecting user data privacy and boosting competition in the tech industry. “Pass bipartisan legislation to strengthen antitrust enforcement” “Pass bipartisan legislation to strengthen antitrust enforcement and prevent big online platforms from giving their own products an unfair advantage,” Biden said. “It’s time to pass bipartisan legislation to stop Big... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/7/23590396/state-of-the-union-sotu-biden-tech-tiktok-privacy-antitrust

Illustration: The Verge Google, the company ubiquitous to online web searches, is set to reveal news on how it’ll use AI to help find what you’re looking for in a more “natural and intuitive” way . Google’s been using AI and machine learning models to achieve things like removing unwanted objects in your photos with Magic Eraser and building step-by-step directions in Google Maps’ Street View . And more experimentally, Google used AI to let you generate images from text and figure out scribbly doctors’ notes . Google just announced this week it’s working on a conversational AI system called Bard, which is powered by its internal LaMDA AI model. Now, based on its many years of researching AI , Google sounds like it’s ready to take on AI systems like DALL-E and, more... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/7/23589784/google-search-ai-event-bard-lamda-watch-live-stream-start-time

The flagship Apple Watch Series 8 is currently on sale starting at $329 ($70 off). | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge In September, Apple launched its latest batch of smartwatches, introducing the first-ever Ultra ($799) alongside the Series 8 ($399) and a new Apple Watch SE ($249). Each wearable has its own pros and cons associated with it, but the introduction of the high-end Ultra also means there are now more Apple Watch models on the market before than ever before — and a lot more deals to be had. But with all of those options, which one should you pick? Generally speaking, you want to buy the newest watch you can afford so that it continues to receive software updates from Apple. The latest update, watchOS 9 , launched on the Apple Watch Series 4 and newer models in September, though no one can say with certainty whether the Series 4 will get the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/21289209/best-apple-watch-deals

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Twitch is rolling out a new chat history feature that should make it a lot easier to catch up on what’s been going on in a streamer’s chat. When you jump into a stream, you’ll be able to see either the last 50 messages or the last hour of what’s been said in chat, depending on which option has fewer messages. That may sound like a potentially large gulf between options, but I think it serves both large and small streams well. For many larger streams, chat flies at a mile a minute, with discussions happening and changing at a rapid rate. Fifty messages is probably enough to get you up to speed ahead of chat moving on to something else. Smaller streams may have just a few dedicated chatters that may not post enough to hit that 50-message... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/6/23588341/twitch-chat-history-catch-up

The M2 chip comes in five Apple Devices | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple makes a lot of Macs with M2 chips. There’s the regular M2, which you can get in a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro — but be careful of calling that the M2 Pro for short because there’s also a processor called the M2 Pro, which you can also get in a MacBook, but you can also get that MacBook Pro with this other chip called the M2 Max. If you’re confused, you’re not alone. There are many different chips and many different Mac computers currently up for grabs. The Verge is here to help. In this video, we walk you through the M2 Macs that Apple currently sells. Chris Welch (our resident Mac Mini expert) discusses the latest Mac Mini models, senior video producer Becca Farsace talks about her experiences editing on the M2 Pro and M2 Max... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/23584863/apple-m2-pro-max-macbook-pro-air-mac-mini-video

Last year’s iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple is reportedly thinking about introducing a higher tier iPhone this year Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/6/23587373/february-6-2023-tech-news-liveblog

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek (left) and Neko Health co-founder Hjalmar Nilsonne (right). | Image: Neko Health Spotify founder Daniel Ek is getting into the healthcare industry. A post shared on LinkedIn names Ek as the co-founder of a startup, called Neko Health, which specializes in providing body scans powered by artificial intelligence (AI), as reported earlier by European news outlets Sifter and Tech.eu . “After four years of intense research and product development, we are officially launching Neko Health today,” the post reads. “The company was founded by Hjalmar Nilsonne and Daniel Ek with the vision to create a healthcare system that can help people stay healthy through preventive measures and early detection.” According to a translated version of Neko Health’s website , the Swedish company’s non-invasive full-body scanner can detect and... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/4/23585948/spotify-founder-daniel-ek-ai-body-health-scanner

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Over 40 contractors for YouTube Music are going on strike — a first at Google, according to the Alphabet Workers Union (or AWU). The action is in response to an order to return to in-person work next week, something that many of the workers say they can’t do. They’re demanding a return-to-work policy that’s “fair, flexible, and does not threaten the safety and livelihoods of workers,” according to an AWU press release. The workers are part of the YouTube Music Content Operations team via Cognizant, a subcontractor for Alphabet, Google and YouTube’s parent company. Their jobs are to “ensure music content is available and approved” for the platform, according to a prior press release from the AWU . The objections to the return to office... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/3/23585093/youtube-music-contractors-strike-google-remote-work

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Nvidia says there’s a fix for a recently discovered issue where Discord being open in the background limited the performance of some graphics cards. According to a tweet from the company , the patch will download automatically when you log into Windows, so you won’t have to go through the trouble of manually downloading a graphics driver or other software update. The issue, which affected systems with cards like the RTX 3080 and RTX 3060 Ti, was seemingly caused by a recent Discord update. It kept GPUs from reaching their maximum memory clocks, missing by around 200Mhz. That came with a slight performance penalty when playing games, which isn’t exactly ideal given that Discord is made to help you talk to friends while gaming. GeForce... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/3/23585155/nvidia-discord-slowdown-fix-rtx-update

Apex Legends Mobile is one of the games shutting down. | Image: EA Over the course of this week, the developers of several major live service titles announced that their games would be shutting down. That means that players who actively enjoyed those games — and possibly spent money on them — might have to move on to something else. The shutdowns are a reminder of the challenges facing these ambitious online titles. If they don’t quickly become massive hits, they might be closed down before they really have time to find their footing. Any new entrants have to fight an uphill battle to compete against juggernauts like Destiny 2 , Call of Duty: Warzone, and Fortnite . That means, for many of these newer games, they’re stuck in a chicken-and-egg situation: they need players to become a hit, but players may... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/3/23584877/ea-meta-live-service-game-shutdowns-apex-legends-mobile-rumbleverse-knockout-city

It’s currently unclear what the government wants removed from the site. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Wikipedia has been blocked in Pakistan over “sacrilegious” content on the site, according to a report from Bloomberg . The ban comes after the government ordered the site to remove offending content within 48 hours, and the country’s telecom authority “degraded” its services . It’s not currently clear what Wikipedia is being asked to remove, though Bloomberg reports that it’s still in talks with Pakistani officials. Wikimedia, the foundation in charge of Wikipedia, didn’t immediately respond to The Verge ’s request for comment on the matter. According to research from the OpenNet Initiative , the country blocks sites that have content it considers to be “blasphemous, anti-Islamic, or threatening to internal security.” Given the intentional... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/3/23584911/pakistan-wikipedia-block-sacrilegious-content

Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images The question of whether Tesla CEO Elon Musk committed fraud when he tweeted in August 2018 that he was thinking of taking the company private, adding “funding secured,” is now up to a jury. With Musk in attendance, the jury in the billionaire’s securities fraud trial heard closing arguments from an attorney representing a class of Tesla investors who claim they suffered big losses as a result of Musk’s tweet. They also heard from Musk’s lawyers, who claimed all he was guilty of was “poor word choice.” Their decision will determine whether Musk and Tesla are liable for possibly billions of dollars in damages or he gets to walk away unscathed. “Just because it’s a bad tweet doesn’t make it fraud,” Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney, said in his... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/3/23584871/elon-musk-securities-fraud-trial-closing-arguments-jury

Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones have an all-new design. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Get some peace and quiet with the any of our top picks for noise-canceling headphones. Sony’s still the best overall pick, but there are reasons to go elsewhere, too. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/21345733/best-noise-canceling-headphones

It’s more regulatory pressure on the deal. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is seemingly facing more regulatory opposition to its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. According to Politico , the European Union has issued a formal antitrust warning against Microsoft regarding the $68.7 billion deal. Politico didn’t share exact details about the contents of the warning, but the publication says that in a “statement of objections,” EU officials “laid out the reasons why the deal could threaten fair competition on the video game market.” In a statement to The Verge , Microsoft spokesperson David Cuddy said, “We are committed to solutions and finding a path forward for this deal. We are listening carefully to the [European Commission’s] concerns and are confident we can address them.” The EU didn’t... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/3/23584621/eu-formal-warning-microsoft-activision-blizzard-acquisition

Illustration: The Verge Google may be gearing up to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT by letting people “interact directly” with its “newest, most powerful language models as a companion to search,” according to CEO Sundar Pichai . It would be a big move for the company — as systems like ChatGPT and DALL-E have gone viral, Google — a company that’s been flexing its AI muscles for years and producing tons of research in the area — hasn’t had a public answer to those sorts of tools, some of which could threaten its core businesses. During an earnings call today, Pichai talked about how the company plans to “unlock the incredible opportunities AI enables,” saying the tech is “reach[ing] an inflection point.” He also says that it was Google’s earlier AI research that... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/2/23583608/google-chatgpt-competition-language-model-interaction-search-companion

Granular Insurance, part of Verily, part of Alphabet, which is Google. | Image: Granular I’ve heard people joke that Google only has a couple of successful businesses, primarily advertising. But it may have found another hit: insuring other companies against their workers’ potentially pricey medical care. The Information is reporting that its healthcare company, Verily, more than doubled its revenue to become the biggest Alphabet subsidiary after Google proper — and that its health insurance business, Granular, is the biggest contributor to that growth. Granular’s revenue “rose nearly sixfold through the first nine months of last year to $151 million, from $27 million a year earlier,” writes The Information. Exclusive: Google parent company Alphabet has never broken out financials of individual “other bets.” So here are... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/2/23583289/alphabet-google-verily-granular-coefficient

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. | Laura Normand / The Verge During Meta’s fourth-quarter earnings call with investors today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained why he wants to make this the “year of efficiency.” “I just think we’ve entered somewhat of a phase change for the company,” he said, noting that headcount steadily climbed for nearly two decades, making it “very hard to really crank on efficiency while you’re growing that quickly.” Now, after laying off roughly 11,000 employees and putting a pause on most hiring, he is focused on “increasing the efficiency of how we make decisions.” Practically, Zuckerberg said this means “flattening our org structure and removing some layers of middle management to make decisions faster.” As I reported in last week’s edition of my newsletter Command Line , he... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/1/23581938/mark-zuckerberg-meta-earnings-q4-efficiency-cutting-managers

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge You can get a great 1080p webcam for under $75. If you want to spend more, you can get 4K recording, AI head tracking, and even a real gimbal. Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/22652783/best-webcam-camera

Pictured: a phone that you can’t contact people with when you’re not near a cell tower. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge When Qualcomm announced its Snapdragon Satellite tech that will let Android phone makers compete with Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite, I was almost certain we’d see the feature on Samsung’s then-upcoming S23 phones. I mean, why wouldn’t we? Qualcomm said the feature would be available this year for phones using its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, and Samsung is launching the first big Android flagship of 2023 with that processor — surely, it’ll build in this potentially life-saving functionality, like analysts have been predicting for months . And then Samsung’s Unpacked event came and went, with no mention of satellite messaging at all, and CNET posted an interview with TM Roh, president and head of Samsung’s mobile experience... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/1/23581691/samsung-s23-satellite-emergency-communication-qu

The wait for a new single-player Titanfall game continues. | Image: EA EA has canceled an unannounced single-player game set in the same universe as Titanfall and Apex Legends , according to Bloomberg . The news comes on the heels of EA’s most recent earnings report on Tuesday, where it announced that it would be shutting down Apex Legends Mobile , halting development on a planned Battlefield mobile game, and delaying the release of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor by six weeks . Apex Legends, a battle royale live service shooter from Respawn Entertainment that was born out of a plan to make a new Titanfall , has become one of EA’s marquee titles. Fans of Titanfall have been hoping for a new single-player game in that series following the well-received single-player campaign in Titanfall 2 , but given Bloomberg’s report,... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/1/23581941/ea-titanfall-legends-single-player-game-apex-cancels