Author: News Room

The Apple TV+ streaming service does sci-fi pretty well. For all of the ridiculous parallel universe moments of For All Mankind, I love that show. Severance is probably the most culturally relevant show of the last few years and, although I haven’t seen it, Foundation is high on my watch list too. And now, judging by the talent involved and the trailer released today for Pluribus, you’ll soon be able to add another enthralling and thoughtful sci-fi series to the Apple TV+ library. The new series is created by Vince Gilligan of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul fame. Fans…

Last week, Amazon launched a major update of its line of Alexa-enabled Echo smart speakers and displays. The redesign — led by former Microsoft design chief Ralf Groene, whom Amazon Devices & Services head Panos Panay coaxed out of retirement — included two new Echo Show smart displays. According to Panay, these new models are the first step on a road to building “products that customers love.”But there’s one big barrier to customers loving their Echo Shows: ads.The Echo Show has become a rotating billboard in my officeIn recent months, full-screen display ads with the tag “sponsored” have been appearing…

It’ll still be “a few years” until Sony releases the PS6, but the company is already spilling the beans about the guts of its next-generation games console. Today, the company is revealing a trio of new, co-developed technologies that will underpin the next-generation AMD graphics cards almost certain to power the PlayStation 6. PS5 system architect (and erstwhile Dana Carvey lookalike) Mark Cerny sat with AMD senior VP Jack Huynh to explain the Neural Arrays, Radiance Cores and Universal Compression tech the companies have developed together. There’s a lot of technical terminology within the video, but essentially the pair explain…

OpenAI’s social AI video-generating app, Sora, has reached over 1 million downloads in fewer than five days since its launch. That’s according to Sora head Bill Peebles, who said on Wednesday that Sora racked up downloads faster than ChatGPT did at launch despite being an invite-only app.The company launched its new Sora app for iOS on September 30th, giving users the ability to scroll through a feed of AI-generated videos, as well as create ones of their own using OpenAI’s new Sora 2 model. It also lets users insert the likeness of themselves or a friend into an AI video…

Netflix is expanding its gaming push from primarily solo mobile adventures to communal experiences around the television set, beginning with a host of titled geared towards party gaming around the holiday season. Currently the games available via TV sets are mostly focused around single player experiences, but that’s changing in line with the company’s priorities. The expansion of Netflix Games begins with five titles that are designed to get everyone involved, and could be a nice change to the usual broad discussion over what to watch via the streaming service on a Friday night. Netflix says gamers will be able…

After a bunch of very cryptic teasers, Apple has finally revealed a proper look at Pluribus, it’s next big sci-fi series. The show comes from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, and stars Rhea Seehorn as Carol, “the most miserable person on Earth” who “must save the world from happiness.”The brief teaser trailer shows Carol seemingly being catered to by the rest of the world’s population, who have indeed been inflicted with the scourge of happiness. It’s not clear why Carol isn’t being impacted by whatever has changed the world, but everyone seems intent on fixing it so that she can…

It’s rare that technology circles back to old-school tools, but here we are using styluses to jot down notes on tablets. Of course, today’s versions swap ink and paper for pixels. If you’re shopping for a new tablet for work or leisure, this buying guide has you covered. Tablets aren’t just oversized phones anymore. They’ve grown into versatile tools that can slot into almost any part of your life. You might use one to sketch out a design, check your bank account, catch up on a book, or even replace your laptop for occasional work. The market now covers just…

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.The glasses stole the show: When Meta held its annual Connect developer conference last month, the company’s new Ray-Ban Display glasses got a lot of attention. Without new hardware to announce, VR took a bit of a backseat. Sure, there was James Cameron, who is helping the company bring 3D movies, shows, and sports events to Quest headsets. But what about that whole metaverse thing? How’s that going? To get an update on Meta’s efforts to…

If the closest you get to going off the beaten track is trying out a new shortcut on your way to the vape shop, Garmin’s eTrex Touch portable GPS navigator is not for you.  If, however, you’ve decided to try a new vape shop that’s miles from the nearest civilisation, this little black box is exactly what you need.  While using your phone’s sat-nav would cause it to conk out long before you’d had a chance to stock up on Candy Kahuna refills, the eTrex Touch’s battery lasts up to 130 hours with the GPS turned on. Put it in…

Samsung is expected to launch its Project Moohan XR headset as soon as this month, but a leak shared by Android Headlines may give us an early look at its specs. The leak suggests that the Android-based headset will offer a 4K micro-OLED display with 4,032 pixels per inch — higher than 3,386ppi on the Apple Vision Pro.Android Headlines reports that Project Moohan could feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 processor, which supports 4.3K resolution at 90fps per eye. It’s also rumored to come with several sensors on the front and inside of the device, allowing users to control…

Elgato first launched a USB-C-powered teleprompter two years ago, and I was impressed with the $279.99 package. Now, it’s launching an even bigger version, the Prompter XL, that’s targeted at studio use, podcast rooms, and corporate AV setups for $599.99.The Prompter XL has a 15.6-inch LCD display (1920 x 1080), up from the 9-inch panel (1024 x 600) found on the original Prompter. The larger size and improved resolution make it ideal for businesses running presentations or town halls, or podcasters and presenters who have a studio space.The larger size also means the Prompter XL is compatible with DSLR and…

Amazon’s October Prime Day event has ended, delivering a death blow to some of our favorite deals and discounts from the past 48 hours. However, that’s not to say all of the deals have vanished. In fact, a surprising number have stuck around just a bit longer, offering procrastinators everywhere — or at least in the US — another opportunity to cash in on Amazon’s two-day sales event. What’s more, a few retailers are still matching Amazon’s pricing, saving you from having to sign up for a Prime account just to save a buck. In some cases, those other retailers…