Author: News Room

Since roughly the turn of the millennium, Google Search has been the bedrock of the web. People loved Google’s trustworthy “10 blue links” search experience and its unspoken promise: The website you click is the website you get.Now, Google is beginning to replace news headlines in its search results with ones that are AI-generated. After doing something similar in its Google Discover news feed, it’s starting to mess with headlines in the traditional “10 blue links,” too. We’ve found multiple examples where Google replaced headlines we wrote with ones we did not, sometimes changing their meaning in the process.For example,…

There’s a big, and increasing, disconnect in culture right now when it comes to artificial intelligence. Companies of all shapes and sizes are hunting for places to deploy AI and can’t stop talking about how this new technology will change everything. But when you ask people about AI, the consistent response is: no thanks. Study after study shows people are worried about the effects of AI and simply don’t find the technology worth all the downsides.On this episode of The Vergecast, David and Nilay try to understand the AI gap. No matter what you’ve heard, it’s not the water worries…

In 2021, the virtual world was the future of the internet. The pandemic had sequestered everyone indoors, heightening the appeal of digital communities. Facebook rebranded to Meta — a sign of the tech giant’s investment in and commitment to the metaverse as the future of the internet. Despite losing billions in VR, Meta released an upgraded version of the Quest 2 headset and began focusing on launching a higher-end Quest Pro. At the end of the year, it announced its plan to plunk down a rumored $400 million to buy the independent VR gaming studio Within, maker of a popular…

OpenAI is working on a desktop “superapp” that merges its ChatGPT app, the Codex AI coding app, and its AI-powered Atlas browser into one app, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company is making the change as part of an effort to simplify its various product efforts, according to a memo cited by the WSJ from Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications. Fragmentation “has been slowing us down and making it harder to hit the quality bar we want,” Simo said.“Companies go through phases of exploration and phases of refocus; both are critical,” Simo said on X in a post…

When somebody is using their phone and you’re physically with them, they’re at the dinner table with you, and yet when you talk to them, they hear nothing, because they’ve transported themselves through the glowing rectangle into a digital space. And it doesn’t have to be three dimensional, maybe they’re scrolling media, maybe that they’re in a text world, but like they have transported themselves. So we’ve always had this internally, at least me and Mark, this very expansive construct of the metaverse as this digital, physical construct. Read the full article here

Enable developer mode in system settings: Activating this is simple. This prevents accidental triggers or “one-tap” bypasses often used in high-pressure scams.Confirm you aren’t being coached: There is a quick check to make sure that no one is talking you into turning off your security. While power users know how to vet apps, scammers often pressure victims into disabling protections.Restart your phone and reauthenticate: This cuts off any remote access or active phone calls a scammer might be using to watch what you’re doing.Come back after the protective waiting period and verify: There is a one-time, one-day wait and then…

Sony’s WF-1000XM6 are the best noise-canceling wireless earbuds you can buy, but they’ve been hard to recommend over the last-gen model because of the price. While the older version is often on sale for $248, the update costs $329 — and has never before been marked down. That’s why this deal is worth paying attention to: right now, Sony’s WF-1000XM6 are on sale for about $298 ($31 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and directly from Sony, marking their first discount.Sony’s WF-1000XM lineup has long been among our favorite wireless earbuds, and the latest model simply builds upon what already works…

I admit, this is an innovation I did not see coming: Silicon Valley has invented the philosophical zombie from the classic thought experiment “lol how crazy would it be if there were a philosophical zombie.”Until recently, the philosophical zombie was a concept closely associated with Australian philosopher David Chalmers, who defines it as “someone or something physically identical to me (or to any other conscious being), but lacking conscious experiences altogether.” Chalmers’ zombie twin is identical to him functionally and psychologically — except that he feels nothing. This is different from a Hollywood zombie, which has “little capacity for introspection…

Over a decade after Apple first partnered with Hermès for a special Apple Watch collaboration, the French luxury goods maker has released a new collection of leather-wrapped charging accessories for Apple’s mobile devices. The most expensive option is a multi-device wireless charger in a case made from the brand’s signature gold-colored calfskin leather that will set you back $5,150. For comparison, a 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,699.At the other end of the collection’s pricing spectrum – which is still far from cheap – is the $1,250 Hermès Paddock Solo charger featuring a wireless charging puck wrapped in the same…

For almost two hours last week, Meta employees had unauthorized access to company and user data thanks to an AI agent that gave an employee inaccurate technical advice, as previously reported by The Information. Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton said in a statement to The Verge that “no user data was mishandled” during the incident.A Meta engineer was using an internal AI agent, which Clayton described as “similar in nature to OpenClaw within a secure development environment,” to analyze a technical question another employee posted on an internal company forum. But the agent also independently publicly replied to the question after…

Some prediction market exchanges are now attempting to strike deals with individual reporters. Rick Ellis, an independent entertainment journalist who runs AllYourScreens.com and writes a newsletter on Substack about TV and streaming, told The Verge he received an offer this week.The deal involved producing two stories a week based on data from prediction markets — in Ellis’ case, that could be things like who might win this season of Survivor or which couples will end up together at the conclusion of Love Is Blind. Ellis said the proposed payment was in the “mid to upper hundreds [of dollars] per post,”…

Companies like Bushman already sell omnidirectional camera lights for 360-degree shoots, but they start at over $300, which is more than half the price of popular 360-degree cameras from companies like DJI and Insta360. Harlowe, a company known for lighting accessories that cater to influencers and amateurs, has released a $95 alternative called the Omni 360 that evenly illuminates with a diffused soft glow in all directions.The Omni 360’s 2W of light output can be boosted to up to 4W as needed, but neither mode is quite bright enough to fully illuminate a dark environment. It’s best suited for providing…