Author: News Room
Grammarly’s “expert review” feature offers to give users writing advice “inspired by” subject matter experts, including recently-deceased professors, as Wired reported on Wednesday. When I tried the feature out myself, I found some experts that came as a surprise for a different reason — one of them was my boss.The AI-generated feedback included comments that appeared to be from The Verge’s editor-in-chief, Nilay Patel, as well as editor-at-large David Pierce and senior editors Sean Hollister and Tom Warren, none of whom gave Grammarly permission to include them in the “expert reviews.”The feature, which launched in August, claims to help you…
If you want more storage space, Amazon and Walmart are also both selling the 11-inch model with 256GB and Wi-Fi for $649 ($50 off). The larger 13-inch variant, meanwhile, can be found at the same retailers, including Amazon and Walmart, in its base configuration with Wi-Fi and 128GB of storage starting at $749 ($50 off).Admittedly, the new iPad Airs aren’t drastically different from their predecessors, but they do stand out due to their performance gains. They now run on Apple’s M4 chip, which Apple says makes them up to 30 percent faster (and over twice as fast as the M1…
This week Barcelona was taken over by the tech industry as Mobile World Congress descended on the Spanish city. The world’s biggest mobile show, MWC featured product launches from Xiaomi and Honor, colossal booths from Samsung and Motorola, and appearances from major carriers including T-Mobile and AT&T. You know who was missing? Trump Mobile.After the Trump-themed network missed its chance to appear at CES, the US’s biggest tech trade show, I thought it might be saving itself for an MWC appearance. After all, while CES spans everything from smart homes to super cars, MWC has always had a tighter focus…
Until now, most mobile phone companies have worked to ensure their phones won’t start fires. (Occasional Samsung devices excepted, of course.) But this week at Mobile World Congress, we found a company that dared to go in a different direction. Oukitel’s WP63 rugged smartphone includes a built-in fire starter, and this is what it looks like:But before all that, we share a rare moment of unfiltered gadget joy. Nilay just had “the single most incredible experience I’ve ever had watching a movie in my house, in my entire life,” thanks to the Kaleidescape 8TB solid-state server. Scenes of rain or…
Unihertz’s booth at MWC was a little out of the way, but those who did find it all seemed to want to pick up the Titan Elite 2. Sure, the cosmic orange color attracted attention, and the QWERTY keyboard reminded one showgoer of his old BlackBerry. But once I picked it up, I could see why it was so popular. It’s slim, light, and pocketable, and the physical keys just beg to be pressed. I felt unencumbered, which I can’t say about the phone I’m currently using. I didn’t want to put it down, and based on the steady stream…
The next-generation Xbox console will play both Xbox and PC games, and its codename is “Project Helix,” according to Asha Sharma, who took over as Microsoft’s gaming CEO last month.“Great start to the morning with Team Xbox, where we talked about our commitment to the return of Xbox including Project Helix, the code name for our next generation console,” Sharma wrote on X. “Project Helix will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games. Looking forward to chatting about this more with partners and studios at my first GDC next week!”Microsoft has already indicated that the next Xbox…
A package of child safety bills is headed to the House floor following an hours-long session that left Democrats and Republicans divided. On Thursday, lawmakers on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce voted to advance the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act; Sammy’s Law; and the App Store Accountability Act, which would require app stores to introduce age-gating.Several Democrats opposed the law, arguing it would prevent states from strengthening online protections for young users. KOSA has been introduced in several forms over the past few years, but has repeatedly failed to pass.Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said the KIDS…
The Kallsup’s replaceable battery is good for up to nine hours of playtime at 50 percent volume, and it’s rechargeable using a USB-C port. It won’t be nearly as loud as a towering party speaker, but up to 100 Kallsup speakers can be wirelessly connected and synced to fill a larger space with music. However, while Ikea announced white, pink, and lime green color options at CES, on its US online store the Kallsup is currently only available in the white and green options. Read the full article here
This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week.I still remember the first time I tried the kids edutainment system Osmo back in 2014: I was sitting in front of an iPad, placed vertically on a white iPad stand, that showed me pieces of a tangram puzzle, its squares and triangles arranged to make a shape.In front of the iPad were matching wood puzzle pieces strewn across the table. I went to work to re-create the shape in question with those wood pieces. When…
If you’re having issues shopping on Amazon or loading your playlists on Amazon Music, you’re not alone. Downdetector is showing a sizable spike in people reporting issues with checkout, search, and logging in. The problem seems to be affecting both the site and the mobile apps.Several Verge staffers have experienced issues themselves. Clicking through to many products produces a “sorry, something went wrong” error, and even pages that do load are not showing pricing. Users have reported being repeatedly logged out of their accounts when trying to check out or load their cart. Even the parts of Amazon.com that are…
Although the feeder is designed for hummingbirds, when paired with its companion app, it can identify a wide range of species using AI and alert you when they arrive. Using a motion-activated 2K camera, it can capture 5-megapixel stills, slow-motion clips, and HDR video, which it can then automatically save. The camera can capture a bird’s finer details, while its wider field of view helps capture multiple birds in a single frame. Plus, it’s designed to handle low-light conditions well, so you can still get a view whether it’s dawn or dusk.The app also includes a few fun extras. You…
Meta’s AI-powered smart glasses could be sending sensitive footage to human reviewers in Nairobi, Kenya, according to an investigation by the Swedish outlets Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten. The report, which was published last week, claims Meta contractors in Kenya have seen videos captured with the smart glasses that show “bathroom visits, sex and other intimate moments.”So far, at least one proposed class action lawsuit accusing Meta of violating false advertising and privacy laws has emerged in response to Svenska Dagbladet’s reporting, citing the company’s claim that its smart glasses are designed for privacy:By affirmatively claiming that the Glasses were designed…