Meta tests Vision Pro-like freeform virtual screen placement for Quest headsets
Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge
Meta is testing a feature for its Quest headsets that allows you to place windows freely, similar to the Apple Vision Pro. Multitasking with multiple windows has been part of Meta Horizon OS (formerly Meta Quest OS) for a few years now, but currently, it only supports three virtual windows docked in a side-by-side layout.
It brings the Quest 3, in particular, a step closer to Apple’s spatial computing when used in mixed reality mode, but from the video, it doesn’t seem to work quite the same way. You can freely move up to three windows from 2D apps — such as the browser or OS windows like your library and settings — around your space and keep another three docked.
Other demos suggest that the windows will only remember their placement within a limited distance and return to their default positions should you switch orientation or reset the view. We haven’t tested it yet ourselves to know the full limitations here, but it looks promising.
The update also allows you to switch between curved and flat windows, as well as a dimmer that lowers the brightness of virtual environments while using 2D apps. (The latter doesn’t yet work for passthrough mode.)
The Apple Vision Pro allows you to move windows around whichever space you’re in and keep them locked in place even while you move around and after you take the headset off. That way, you can have a window sitting next to your refrigerator and another positioned alongside the TV in your living room, and then walk to and from the windows as if they’re actual objects.
I’ve seen more ads lately that highlight the Quest 3’s productivity potential instead of just the gaming-centric ones. While Meta’s headset might not handle that with the same pizzazz as the Vision Pro just yet, considering it costs $3,000 less, it really doesn’t have to.
Samsung just announced a date for its next Unpacked
In case you were wondering, yes, there will be lots of AI. | Image: Samsung
Samsung’s next Unpacked summer launch event will take place on July 10th in Paris, France, the company announced on Tuesday. The animation accompanying the invitation hints at foldables, and the invite itself removes all doubt: “Prepare to discover the power of Galaxy AI, now infused into the latest Galaxy Z series and the entire Galaxy ecosystem.” But we’re also on the lookout for something of a different shape: the Galaxy Ring.
Rumors indicate that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 will be fairly minor upgrades, with the Z Flip 6 getting a slightly bigger battery and the Z Fold 6 looking a little boxier. Not the most exciting stuff, but that’s been the story with the past few generations of Samsung’s folding phones.
Instead, the more exciting announcement might not be a phone at all — rumors point to an official launch for the Galaxy Ring, first announced at the other Unpacked earlier this year. We got a little hands-on time with a prototype version at Mobile World Congress not long after that, and a few rumored details have trickled out here and there. We’ve yet to hear official pricing or confirmation of the health sensors it will carry, but that might be changing soon enough.
One thing we will surely hear about? Galaxy AI, of course. Samsung’s first Unpacked this year was all about it. Since then, it’s been the theme of every developer conference — first at I/O, then Microsoft Build and WWDC. ‘Tis the season.
Unpacked will be streamed live on Samsung.com starting at 9AM ET on Wednesday, July 10th. You can “reserve” a device and get a $50 credit when you preorder one through Samsung.
Now, OpenAI says it will “need one more month to reach our bar to launch” an alpha version of the new voice mode to a small group of ChatGPT Plus subscribers, with plans to allow access for all Plus customers in the fall. One specific area that OpenAI says it’s improving is the ability to “detect and refuse certain content.”
As for the new video and screen sharing capabilities that we saw during the event, OpenAI writes that it will “keep you posted” on a timeline. OpenAI had said it would deliver the new capabilities in “the coming weeks.” Now, the company writes that “Exact timelines depend on meeting our high safety and reliability bar.”
The assistant features bearing a troublesome resemblance to Johansson’s virtual character in the movie Her were part of OpenAI’s demo, showing how the GPT-4o-powered bot could observe the world around the user and respond to it in real time. It could also maintain a conversation far more naturally and tolerate interruptions with what CEO Sam Altman called “human-level response times and expressiveness.”
Image: OpenAI
The desktop app, however, launched today for users on macOS. With the Mac app installed, pressing Option and Space together can open ChatGPT from anywhere, allowing it to chat about whatever’s on your screen at the time. A Windows app is set to arrive later this year.
EcoFlow’s new solar generator is a portable powerhouse
You can even charge your EV in a pinch. | Image: EcoFlow
EcoFlow just released its new Delta Pro 3 portable solar generator that can scale to power your entire home during a blackout, a van or RV’s electrical system, or a party at the beach. It can even add a few extra miles to your EV in a pinch.
The Delta Pro 3 improves upon the very capable Delta Pro I reviewed in 2022 with even more storage capacity, more powerful inputs and outputs, reduced noise, and a wider wheelbase that should make moving this 115 pound (52Kg) battery a little bit easier.
As a home backup solution, a single Delta Pro 3 (DP3) battery can scale from 4kWh of LFP capacity to 12kWh when stacking two 4kWh expansion batteries. Notably, it can power both 120V and 240V appliances with up to 4000W of output (8000W peak). That’s enough to power just about any appliance in the house, including induction ovens, cooling and heating systems, well pumps, and refrigerators.
You can also link the DP3 units together for even more power and capacity. Three maxed-out DP3 units connected to an EcoFlow Smart Home Panel 2 can provide a whopping 12kW of output and 48kWh of storage. That’s enough capacity to power the average US home for about a day and half, or much longer if you’re only powering critical devices.
It can also replace noisy (but much less expensive) diesel generators by plugging directly into your home’s circuit via an inlet box or manual transfer switch. The DP3 has an IP65 rating, so it should be protected when caught in the rain.
Image: EcoFlow
Off-grid power.
The DP3 battery can be charged in several different ways, including 1000W and 1600W solar inputs, an AC wall charger at either 1800W (120V) or 3000W (240V), a Level 2 EV charger (with adapter) at 4000W, or EcoFlow’s own Dual Fuel Generator. It can also be charged in a van, pickup, or RV when paired with EcoFlow’s Alternator Charger (800W) or very slowly from a 12V cigarette socket. It also supports multi-charging by combining a few inputs together for up to 7000W of fast charging.
Outside the home, the Delta Pro 3 can also be used to power RVs and vans. It has a TT-30R outlet, which provides 120V / 30A to power a vehicle’s entire electrical system, including heavy loads like an air conditioner and microwave. The DP3 also has a 12V / 30A Anderson port to power a rig’s low-voltage DC devices like lights, USB sockets, and portable fridge. That makes this all-in-one solution an attractive alternative to complicated multi-component van build-outs.
Image: EcoFlow
Boondock for longer without a noisy generator.
Importantly, the DP3 is very quiet, which is critical for use in small living spaces. EcoFlow claims it operates at less than 30dB when operating under 2000W thanks to improved thermal management brought over from its even higher capacity Delta Pro Ultra series. That means it should be whisper quiet when keeping your fridge, MaxxFan, and lights powered alongside your Starlink internet system.
The Delta Pro 3 is priced at $3,699 per unit, which is discounted to $3,199 today through July 23rd. The price jumps to $6,298 (or $5,498 through July 23rd) when combining a DP3 with one expansion battery. It’ll be available in Europe and the UK later in September.
Gmail’s Gemini AI sidebar and email summaries are rolling out now
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Gmail is getting more AI features that could make it easier to stay on top of your email.
On the web, Google is beginning to roll out a new Gemini side panel that can do things like summarize email threads and draft new emails. The tool will offer “proactive prompts” but you can also ask “freeform questions,” Google writes in a blog post, and it’s “built to leverage Google’s most capable models,” such as Gemini 1.5 Pro. In the Gmail mobile apps, Google will also give you the ability to have Gemini summarize threads.
These improvements could be useful, but they’ll only be available to paid Gemini users: you’ll need to be a Google Workspace customer with a Gemini Business or Enterprise add-on, a Gemini Education or Education Premium add-on, or a Google One AI Premium subscriber. I’d also caution against fully relying on these tools for work; given that AI sometimes hallucinates things, make sure you’re double-checking an important email Gemini helps with before you send it.
Google is also rolling out Gemini features to the side panel in Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive. Google promised last month at I/O that these features were on the way. And there are still some announced AI features to come for Gmail, including “Contextual Smart Reply.”
How Netflix’s Corporate Culture Has Changed The company’s latest internal memo about its corporate culture is more about how it expects employees to behave than what it wants to become.
Japan and South Korea Are Fighting Over an App at a Tense Time SoftBank and Naver helped bridge geopolitical relations with a joint venture to own the operator of the messaging app Line, but now the partnership is fraying.
The new and improved Windows PCs are finally here
Image: The Verge
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 43, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been reading about memexes and telepathy and John Lennon’s wristwatch, watching Presumed Innocent and Ren Faire, testing Genspark for AI search stuff, redoing my homescreen with Dumbify, and experimenting with overnight oats in an attempt to make mornings less chaotic. (Turns out, peanut butter makes pretty much everything 20 percent better.)
I also have for you a new tech podcast, a couple of handy new gadgets, a new calendar app, the game that will take over your weekend, and much more. Let’s get into it.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What great apps / books / podcasts / shows / games / recipes / whatever else have you discovered and loved recently? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, tell them to subscribe here.)
The Drop
The Asus VivoBook S 15. Copilot Plus PCs cometh. It’s been a weird rollout, what with all the Recall complications, but we’re starting to get a sense of just what this new era of Qualcomm-powered Windows devices can do. So far, I’m pretty optimistic, but I’m still waiting to see how the new Surfaces pan out.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree. The overall vibe of this huge new DLC is basically “it’s Elden Ring, only somehow even more so.” Given how deep and big this game already was, and how many hours we’ve all spent in it already, that’s pretty much all you can ask for.
Pissing out Cancer. If all the Dropout Presents stand-up specials are as much fun as this one from Hank Green, we’re about to have a heck of a run of new comedy. Green here is funny and goofy as ever and extremely Hank Green-y. It’s an hour you won’t regret.
The Xreal Beam Pro. Such a fun and different idea about how smart glasses should work: instead of trying to bake everything into the glasses themselves, Xreal is pulling all the smarts and software into a separate fairly cheap smartphone-style device. I’m excited to test this one out.
Backfired: The Vaping Wars. The Juul story might forever be one of the strangest things to ever happen in Silicon Valley. This podcast goes deep on that story, along with the confusing societal debate about vaping, the government’s scramble to keep up, and where things go from here.
Arc for iPad. Still my favorite browser, finally available on almost all my devices. (Android when, Arc people!?!) The app isn’t exactly iPad-optimized — it’s missing some keyboard shortcuts and is really just a blown-up version of the iPhone app — but it syncs and works well and I will absolutely take it.
Amie for Windows. Big week for cross-platform apps! Amie is one of my favorite calendar / to-do apps and has gotten a lot more polished over the last few months. If you’re the all-in-one productivity type and appreciate some delightful design, give this one a whirl.
The Logitech Keys-to-Go 2. I’ve had the original Keys-To-Go in my bag for a few years as a super light and handy way to get some stuff done with my phone or iPad. This looks like a huge upgrade: still light, still small, but with a more proper set of keys. $80 is a lot, but I suspect I’ll end up buying one.
A Sense of Rebellion. An amazingly well-produced and deeply reported podcast on some decades-old ideas about AI and how we might use and live with technology. The story here, about hippies and capitalists and the government and big business, is kind of the story of technology all wrapped up in 10 episodes. Loving this so far.
Clipbud. Clipboard history is helpful and good, but having a place with all the text you type a lot – your shipping address, stock email responses, important links, all of that — is a life-changer. The built-in text replacement and personal dictionary features (on iOS and Android, respectively) do a lot of that, and apps like Snippety are mega-powerful, but this new one is pretty delightful to use.
Screen share
I think Nick Quah has introduced me to more great podcasts than any other person on earth. Whether in the early days of Hot Pod or in his 1.5x Speed newsletter over at Vulture (The Verge’s sister site here at Vox Media), he seems to have listened to all the shows all the time. Just this week, actually, he wrote a fun story about how chat podcasts have taken over and named some of the biggest names in New Radio.
I asked Nick to share his homescreen because a) I was curious what podcast app he used and b) I was hoping he might recommend a new show or two. I got my wish on both counts! Here’s Nick’s homescreen, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:
The phone: Recently upgraded from my trusty ol’ iPhone 12 to an iPhone 15. Seems to be doing fine so far; I’m no longer stressed about losing juice on long flights.
The wallpaper: My sweet, sweet baby boy Siobhan (aka Shooby).
The apps: Calendar, Photos, Clock, Weather, Google Maps, To Do, Google Calendar, Gmail, Spotify, TikTok, Instagram, Steam, Delta, Strava, Discord, Slack, Stocks, LastPass, Messages, Phone, Firefox, Pocket Casts.
Yeah, well, as you can see, I’m pretty vanilla for the most part. All the immediately accessible apps are stuff I hit up with some frequency on any given day. Google Maps for navigation (and snooping). To Do to get my brain in order. TikTok and Instagram for something to do in the bathroom. I’ve been gaming a lot more these days, so I’m constantly trawling Steam for deals. Strava, ‘cuz I’ve somehow become a big runner. I’ve also been hitting up Delta quite a bit, working through a backlog of old JRPGs. And of course, Pocket Casts, which is my go-to for podcast listening.
I also asked Nick to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he sent back:
I’m a big rewatcher / replayer of things, and for whatever reason, the summertime is usually when I pick up my annual revisits. Right now, I’m working my way through Halt and Catch Fire for the sixth time. Gosh, that show is so lovely. It’s the 10-year anniversary, you know?
Like the rest of the universe at this point in time, seemingly, I’m digging Chappell Roan. “Red Wine Supernova,” very good.
Catching up on episodes of My Perfect Console, Simon Parkin’s great “Desert Island Discs, but for Video Games” interview show that’s really doubling as a fun historical record for the medium.
Crowdsourced
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Emailinstaller@theverge.comor message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more recommendations than fit here, check out the replies tothis post on Threads.
“This little camera. I’ve been going over ways in my mind to justify it because it’s so cute but also the photos are surprisingly decent.” – Daulton
“Check out Ditto. It is a Nostr server that exposes Mastodon API to its clients. So the promise is that you would be able to use your very nice Mastodon app (Ivory, Ice Cubes) and add Nostr connection right into it. It would be like an additional server in the same app where your main Mastodon account is.” – Adnan
“I’ve been slowly getting back into following Pokemón trading cards and have been hooked watching TheBulbaStore on YouTube. It’s super interesting seeing a vendor’s point of view and the prices some cards go for now!” – Peter
“The Hawthorne & Horowitz mysteries by Anthony Horowitz. He recently released the fifth in the series, Close to Death. They all have tortured puns as titles (in this case, “close” being a British word for enclosed area). On top of that, the books are metafiction in which Horowitz himself is the main character, talking about how he is writing the series of murder mysteries that you are reading. Yet, they are some of the best contemporary murder mysteries I’ve read and do a wonderful job paying homage to Agatha Christie, all while playing with the genre.” – Kendrick
“I’m playing and watching chess! Chess is cool now! Lots of great ways to play, but Chess.com is probably the best for beginners. And there’s great YouTube content out there on chess from Eric Rosen, Irina Krush, Levy Rozman, and Hikaru Nakamura. Getting good so I can teach my three-year-old niece to be a master someday.” – Ryan
“I am really enjoying “Jet Lag: The Game” on YouTube. Imagine The Amazing Race, but actually good and not scripted. The hosts are likable and the game has some decent complexity behind it. They are about to wrap up their Australia season, and it has been a nail-biter.” – Dev
“I’m currently reading Hell Divers II: Ghosts by Nicholas Sansbury Smith. Postapocalyptic sci-fi about halo jumpers who dive into radioactive wastelands to scavenge supplies from mutant monsters, and yes, it is as good as it sounds.” – Jesse
“I’ve been obsessed with my new Klydoclock, a digital take on the classic analog clock. It features changing, artist-curated faces and can even tick and chime on the hour if you want it to. Best of all: it has no other functions and isn’t attached to an app or your phone. Minimalism and elegance at its finest.” – Jonathan
“I really believe that a home server or NAS is useful and easily accessible for more people than currently have one. More people should have their own Plex server, Pi-hole, self-hosted cloud storage, Minecraftserver, or self-hosted VPN. An old PC is all you need if you want to keep it simple. And if you don’t mind learning how to work with Linux, you could even use an old Android phone or cheap Raspberry Pi clone.” – Voltaire
Signing off
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I absolutely cannot get enough of watching / listening to / reading about how people who are great at their thing do their thing. (The musician Kygo has a series of making-of videos that is always the first example I think of in this genre.) One of my favorite recent ones is this video, with Zane Lowe interviewing Finneas and Billie Eilish about the making of Eilish’s latest album. They talk about process, fear, microphones, editing, and so much more. I will almost certainly never make an album, or shoot a movie, or make it in the NBA, but listening to people talk about how they do it never gets old.
How Pet Care Became a Big Business People have grown more attached to their pets — and more willing to spend money on them — turning animal medicine into a high-tech industry worth billions.
What the Arrival of A.I. Phones and Computers Means for Our Data Apple, Microsoft and Google need more access to our data as they promote new phones and personal computers that are powered by artificial intelligence. Should we trust them?
How Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Failed Children on Safety The C.E.O. and his team drove Meta’s efforts to capture young users and misled the public about the risks, lawsuits by state attorneys general say.
AT&T is still on the hook for offering landline service in California
Image: The Verge
AT&T can’t pull the plug on landline service for customers across California. In a ruling on Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) rejected AT&T’s request to release it from its obligations as a Carrier of Last Resort (COLR), as reported earlier by Ars Technica and CBS News.
AT&T has had a COLR designation in California since 1996, which ensures everyone in the state has access to affordable and reliable telephone service. Some people in California — especially those who live in remote areas — have come to rely on their landline service, as it allows them to make emergency calls even when the power is out or cellular service isn’t available.
Earlier this year, AT&T asked CPUC to be released from its duties as a designated carrier, citing the wide availability of mobile service and VoIP. In its request, AT&T argues the “economic justification” for COLR no longer exists because alternative voice services with “reasonable rates” and “based on superior technologies” are available throughout the state. The company adds that it “bears substantial cost to maintain and operate” the copper landline network, while competitors don’t have to. AT&T says it would continue providing landline service in areas where there is no alternative available.
However, CPUC rejected AT&T’s request. The agency says “AT&T failed to demonstrate the availability of replacement providers willing and able to serve as COLR.” The decision also cites public commenters who brought up the “unreliability” of mobile service and VoIP. AT&T is now pushing for new rules that would change the way California designates a COLR.
“No customer will be left without voice and 911 services,” Marc Blakeman, president of AT&T California, says in an emailed statement to The Verge. “We are fully committed to keeping our customers connected while we work with state leaders on policies that create a thoughtful transition that brings modern communications to all Californians.”
260 McNuggets? McDonald’s Ends A.I. Drive-Through Tests Amid Errors Ordering mistakes frustrated customers during nearly three years of tests. But competitors like White Castle and Wendy’s say their A.I. ordering systems have been highly accurate.
Microsoft makes Copilot less useful on new Copilot Plus PCs
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft launched its range of Copilot Plus PCs earlier this week, and they all come equipped with the new dedicated Copilot key on the keyboard. It’s the first big change to Windows keyboards in 30 years, but all the key does now is launch a Progressive Web App (PWA) version of Copilot.
The web app doesn’t even integrate into Windows anymore like the previous Copilot experience did since last year, so you can’t use Copilot to control Windows 11 settings or have it docked as a sidebar anymore. It’s literally just a PWA. Microsoft has even removed the keyboard shortcut to Copilot on these new Copilot Plus PCs, so WINKEY + C does nothing.
I was hoping Microsoft would evolve the Copilot key into something that could be used much like the Windows key, in combination with other keys to launch shortcuts to apps or even AI-powered features in Windows. That would make it far more useful than just launching a PWA.
Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge
The Copilot PWA doesn’t integrate with Windows settings.
Microsoft hasn’t explained why it’s changed Copilot from a more integrated experience in Windows to just a web app that can no longer control Windows settings. “We’re also evolving the Copilot experience on Windows as an app that will be pinned to the taskbar,” says the Windows Insider team in a recent blog post. “This enables users to get the benefits of a traditional app experience, including the ability to resize, move, and snap the window – feedback we’ve heard from users throughout the preview of Copilot in Windows.”
Microsoft says it will be able to “more agilely develop and optimize” the Copilot experience as a result of these changes, so maybe we’ll see some future changes that make this regression in functionality make sense. Until then, the new Copilot key will replace the menu key (application key) on keyboards on new Copilot Plus PCs, and Microsoft has also pinned the Copilot app to the taskbar so you don’t even need to use the dedicated key anyway.
Starlink Mini brings space internet to backpackers
Starlink’s new Mini dish next to an Earth puppy. | Image: Michael Nicolls via X
SpaceX’s Starlink internet-from-space service is already available for boats, planes, vanlifers, Amazonian villages, and rural homes in over 75 countries — now it’s coming to backpackers.
The new compact DC-powered Starlink Mini is about the size of a thick laptop and integrates the Wi-Fi router right inside the dish. And despite using less power than other Starlink terminals, it can still deliver speeds over 100Mbps.
“This product will change the world,” claimed SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on X, saying it took less than five minutes to setup.
I just set it up right now and am writing this post through space.
Took less than 5 mins. Easily carried in a backpack.
Notably, the Mini kit consumes an average of just 20-40W compared to the 33-62W we measured just two years ago with a Standard Actuated dish and separate AC-powered Wi-Fi router. That means you can power the Mini dish for two to three hours from something like an Anker Prime 27,650mAh (99.54Wh) power bank, or a little over an hour with smaller 10,000mAh (40Wh) portable batteries you probably already have laying about. It requires a USB-C PD power source with a minimum rating of 100W (20V/5A).
The Mini dish measures 11.75 x 10.2 x 1.45 inches (259 x 259 x 38.5mm) and weighs just 2.43 pounds (1.1kg), or 3.37 pounds (1.53kg) with the 49.2 foot (15m) DC power cable and kickstand. It has an IP67 rating meaning it’s protected from dust and rain, including short periods of water immersion.
In the US, Starlink Mini is an add-on to Residential plans. The Mini kit costs $599 which is $100 more than the standard dish, and will cost an extra $30 per month to add the Mini Roam service to existing $120 Residential plans. That gives Starlink Mini users up to 50GB of mobile data each month, with the option to purchase more for $1 per GB, according to early-access invitations sent to some exiting US Starlink customers.
BREAKING: SpaceX has officially started selling Starlink Mini.
Early Starlink customers are being invited to purchase the Starlink Mini Kit for $599 and bundle the Mini Roam service with their existing Residential service plan for an additional $30/month (The kit price will drop… pic.twitter.com/anYVaxahGO
While Starlink Mini is new to the US, a Starlink support page says it’s already available in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panama where it can be purchased with Mini Service or Mobile - Regional Service plans. In those countries, there’s no data or speed caps to use Mini, and in-motion and ocean use is not allowed. SpaceX says it’ll expand to more markets over time.
“Our goal is to reduce the price of Starlink, especially for those around the world where connectivity has been unaffordable or completely unavailable,” reads the Starlink support page. “In regions with high usage, like the US, where Starlink Mini places additional demand on the satellite network, we are offering a limited number of the Starlink Mini Kits to start at a higher price point.”
Inside the players and politics of the modern AI industry
Image: The Verge
We’ve got a special episode of Decoder today — I was traveling last week, so Verge deputy editor Alex Heath and our new senior AI reporter Kylie Robison are filling in for me, with a very different kind of episode about AI.
We talk a lot about AI in a broad sense on Decoder — it comes up in basically every single interview I do these days — and then we also dive deep into very specific problems that AI is causing with things like copyright law, misinformation, and other various policy challenges.
But we don’t spend a ton of time on the day-to-day happenings of the AI industry itself. And that’s for good reason: it’s been moving so rapidly and changing so often that it’s nearly impossible for the average person to keep up. Making sense of all the different players, who’s building what, and what people in the industry honestly think about where it’s all going — it’s a lot.
So, we thought it would be a good idea to take a beat and have Alex and Kylie break down the modern AI boom as it exists today: the companies you need to know, the most important news of the last few months, and what it’s actually like to be fully immersed in this industry every single day.
You’ll hear Alex and Kylie talk about OpenAI, the gravitational pull it’s had on the entire tech sector, and how Google is trying to challenge that — to mixed results. But they also got into the relationship between the overzealous hype driving AI funding and product development and the very real paranoia in the Bay Area around what you’ll hear Kylie refer to as p(doom), shorthand for the probability percentage that AI might actually kill us all.
They also break down all the most important AI companies, how likely it is some smaller AI startup unseats ChatGPT, the open vs. closed source debate, and — as Alex puts it — the “Wall Street-ification” of AI.
Oh, and look out for a mention of an effective accelerationist rave where Grimes DJ’d for the CTO of OpenAI. Those are all real words, all in the same sentence together.
Lenovo squeezed eight speakers into its chonky new tablet
“Four matrix tweeters and four force-balanced woofers” on the Lenovo Tab Plus deliver 26W of sound. | Image: Lenovo
Tablets aren’t known for their room-shaking bass, but Lenovo’s new 11.5-inch Tab Plus is going all in. It features 26W of sound produced by four tweeters and four woofers split across each side of the tablet (when used in landscape mode). To fully take advantage of the Tab Plus’ sound capabilities, Lenovo has included the option to wirelessly connect other devices to the tablet and use it as a Bluetooth speaker.
Powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 octa-core processor paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage that’s expandable with a microSD card, the Tab Plus definitely isn’t a powerhouse productivity tool. Lenovo is positioning it as a media consumption device first and foremost, which is further reflected in a front and rear camera that both only muster 8MP. The tablet ships with Android 14, and Lenovo is promising two years of OS upgrades and four years of security patches.
Image: Lenovo
Lenovo has decided we should expect more from how our tablets sound.
The Tab Plus’ 11.5-inch 90Hz 2K LCD display is far from best in class, but Lenovo claims its 8,600mAh battery will keep it streaming for up to 12 hours (it doesn’t specify whether that’s streaming audio or video), while 45W fast charging means a dead battery can be fully revived in 90 minutes.
An integrated pop-out kickstand on the back makes it easier to use the tablet as a Bluetooth speaker, but for those preferring to listen privately, a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack is still included that supports 24-bit 96kHz high-res audio with Dolby Atmos tuning.
One big tradeoff of those four integrated woofers is a very noticeable bulge on the back of the new Tab Plus that pushes the thickness of the 7.77mm tablet to a chonky 13.58mm. Remember, Apple has managed to slim the new 13-inch iPad Pro down to just 5.1mm, aside from its camera bump.
Although Lenovo hasn’t specified where the new 11.5-inch Tab Plus is available starting today aside from “select global markets,” its $289.99 price tag could make it a tempting solution for those tired of lugging around a tablet and a separate wireless speaker to bolster its sound.
Anthropic has a fast new AI model — and a clever new way to interact with chatbots
GPT-4o, Gemini 1.5, and now Claude 3.5 Sonnet. | Image: Anthropic
The AI arms race continues apace: Anthropic is launching its newest model, called Claude 3.5 Sonnet, which it says can equal or better OpenAI’s GPT-4o or Google’s Gemini across a wide variety of tasks. The new model is already available to Claude users on the web and on iOS, and Anthropic is making it available to developers as well.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet will ultimately be the middle model in the lineup — Anthropic uses the name Haiku for its smallest model, Sonnet for the mainstream middle option, and Opus for its highest-end model. (The names are weird, but every AI company seems to be naming things in their own special weird ways, so we’ll let it slide.) But the company says 3.5 Sonnet outperforms 3 Opus, and its benchmarks show it does so by a pretty wide margin. The new model is also apparently twice as fast as the previous one, which might be an even bigger deal.
AI model benchmarks should always be taken with a grain of salt; there are a lot of them, it’s easy to pick and choose the ones that make you look good, and the models and products are changing so fast that nobody seems to have a lead for very long. That said, Claude 3.5 Sonnet does look impressive: it outscored GPT-4o, Gemini 1.5 Pro, and Meta’s Llama 3 400B in seven of nine overall benchmarks and four out of five vision benchmarks. Again, don’t read too much into that, but it does seem that Anthropic has built a legitimate competitor in this space.
Image: Anthropic
Claude 3.5’s benchmark scores do look impressive — but these things change so fast.
What does all that actually amount to? Anthropic says Claude 3.5 Sonnet will be far better at writing and translating code, handling multistep workflows, interpreting charts and graphs, and transcribing text from images. This new and improved Claude is also apparently better at understanding humor and can write in a much more human way.
Along with the new model, Anthropic is also introducing a new feature called Artifacts. With Artifacts, you’ll be able to see and interact with the results of your Claude requests: if you ask the model to design something for you, it can now show you what it looks like and let you edit it right in the app. If Claude writes you an email, you can edit the email in the Claude app instead of having to copy it to a text editor. It’s a small feature, but a clever one — these AI tools need to become more than simple chatbots, and features like Artifacts just give the app more to do.
Image: Anthropic
The new Artifacts feature is a hint at what a post-chatbot Claude might look like.
Artifacts actually seems to be a signal of the long-term vision for Claude. Anthropic has long said it is mostly focused on businesses (even as it hires consumer tech folks like Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger) and said in its press release announcing Claude 3.5 Sonnet that it plans to turn Claude into a tool for companies to “securely centralize their knowledge, documents, and ongoing work in one shared space.” That sounds more like Notion or Slack than ChatGPT, with Anthropic’s models at the center of the whole system.
For now, though, the model is the big news. And the pace of improvement here is wild to watch: Anthropic launched Claude 3 Opus in March, proudly saying it was as good as GPT-4 and Gemini 1.0, before OpenAI and Google released better versions of their models. Now, Anthropic has made its next move, and it surely won’t be long before its competition does so, too. Claude doesn’t get talked about as much as Gemini or ChatGPT, but it’s very much in the race.
Snap agrees to pay $15 million to settle gender discrimination lawsuit
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit from the California Civil Rights Department. The lawsuit stemmed from a three-year investigation that found that Snap allegedly failed to “ensure that women were paid or promoted equally.”
The allegations span Snap’s period of rapid growth from 2015 to 2022, when the California-based company increased its headcount from 250 to more than 5,000. During this time, California’s civil rights agency claims Snap paid women less and offered them fewer promotions when compared to male employees.
Additionally, the lawsuit claims that women at the company “were routinely subjected to unwelcome sexual advances and other harassing conduct so severe or pervasive that it created a hostile work environment.” When women complained about their work environment, they allegedly faced retaliation in the form of denied promotions, negative performance reviews, and termination.
“We care deeply about our commitment to maintain a fair and inclusive environment at Snap, and do not believe we have any ongoing systemic pay equity, discrimination, harassment, or retaliation issues against women,” Snap spokesperson Ashley Adams says in a statement to The Verge. Adams adds that while Snap “disagreed” with the California civil rights agency’s claims, the company “took into consideration the cost and impact of lengthy litigation” and determined “it is in the best interest of the company to resolve these claims and focus on the future.”
Under the proposed settlement, Snap is to retain an independent consultant to evaluate and make recommendations about Snap’s compensation and promotion policies. It will also need to contract a third-party monitor to audit the company’s sexual harassment, retaliation, and discrimination compliance. Of the $15 million Snap agreed to pay, $14.5 million will go toward compensating women who worked at the company between 2014 and 2024.
Snap’s work culture has been criticized in the past. In 2018, a former software engineer claimed the company created a “sexist” and “toxic” work environment. The company opened an internal investigation into racism and sexism in 2020, and it released its first diversity report in response to growing scrutiny about its work culture that same year.
An AI video tool just launched, and it’s already copying Disney’s IP
Last week, AI startup Luma posted a series of videos created using its new video-generating tool Dream Machine, which the company describes as a “highly scalable and efficient transformer model trained directly on videos.”
The only problem? At about 57 seconds in, the Dream Machine-generated trailer for Monster Camp — an animated story about furry creatures journeying to a sleepaway camp — features a slightly AI-smudged but still recognizable Mike Wazowski from Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. Many people noticed that multiple characters and its overall aesthetic look borrowed from the franchise, and the questions quickly started pouring in.
Was it fed a prompt asking for animation in a Pixar style? Is it trained on material that includes the Disney studio’s work? That general lack of transparency is one of the biggest concerns about these kinds of models, as Dream Machine joins OpenAI’s Sora, Google’s VideoPoet, and Veo as one of the many text-to-video AI tools shown off in recent months.
Luma hyped its Dream Machine model as the future of filmmaking, featuring “high quality, realistic shots” created simply by typing prompts into a box. Watching videos showing cars racing down a dissolving highway or an awkwardly narrated sci-fi short, you can sort of see why bullish fans of this tech were quick to call it a novel innovation.
Currently, Luma is encouraging people to sign up and play with Dream Machine for free, but the company also has “Pro” and other tiers that charge users fees for more features. We reached out to Luma for comment about where it sources the footage Dream Machine is trained on but did not hear back by time of publishing.
Disney hasn’t publicly commented on what Luma seems to be up to, and it’s possible that the company hasn’t even noticed. But at a time when people have been pushing for more transparency about the datasets powering AI tools like the ones Luma is building, things like Monster Camp make it hard not to look at the generative AI ecosystem as prone to plagiarism.
Correction, June 18th:This story initially misstated when the AI videos were first posted. It was last week, not over the weekend.
Amazon Union Workers Join Forces With the Teamsters An affiliation agreement between the Amazon Labor Union and the 1.3 million-member Teamsters signals an escalation in challenging the online retailer.
Here are the best iPad deals right now
You can save as much as $200 on a last-gen iPad Air, which is still an incredible tablet at this price. | Image: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
While the best iPad deals usually land during major sale events like Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day, many of the best iPad deals from the holiday season have persisted well into 2024. The discounts come and go like changing winds, but you can still take advantage of sales on many models today, particularly on the more affordable iPads. What’s more, Apple recently released a new iPad Pro and iPad Air, and they’re already causing prices on older models to drop even further.
It’s difficult to know where exactly you can find the most notable iPad deals unless you’re scouring the major retailers on a daily basis. But that’s often what our deal hunters at The Verge are doing each and every day, so let us help you out. Below, we’ve listed the best deals you can get on each iPad model that is currently available, from the cheapo ninth-gen iPad of 2021 to the latest models equipped with Apple’s powerful M2 and M4 chips.
Announced alongside the iPhone 13, the 2021 iPad is Apple’s aging entry-level tablet, one that’s still great at carrying out everyday tasks despite having recently been discontinued. The ninth-gen model originally started at $329 with Wi-Fi and 64GB of storage, which arguably makes the newer 10th-Yeagen model the better deal if you don’t need a home button or a headphone jack, as it now starts at $349.
If you’re still interested in buying the last-gen model, however, you can pick up the base Wi-Fi configuration at Best Buy and Walmart starting at $249 ($80 off), which is just $20 shy of its lowest price to date. As for the 256GB model that normally retails for $479, Amazon is selling it for $379 ($100 off), which matches its second-best price to date. You can also pick it up at Best Buy for the same price if you’re a member of My Best Buy Plus or My Best Buy Total; non-members, meanwhile, can grab it for $399.99 ($80 off).
The last-gen iPad uses an A13 Bionic processor and a 12MP wide-angle camera with Center Stage, a feature designed to keep you framed up and centered while on video calls. The tablet also carries over a number of features from its predecessor, such as the 10.2-inch display, a Touch ID fingerprint sensor built into the home button, and a Smart Connector for connecting a Smart Keyboard.
Although the newer 10th-gen iPad came out in late 2022, it’s still an excellent tablet — one we consider to be the best value for most people. The latest iPad modernizes the design with a switch to USB-C, uniform bezels with no home button, a side power button with a fingerprint sensor, and a larger display, but it eliminates the 3.5mm headphone jack.
In the past, you could often buy Apple’s latest entry-level iPad for $349 ($100 off) — which is now the MSRP. Right now, however, the base model with 64GB of storage is on sale in select colors at Amazon and B&H Photo for $329 ($20 off); .
The sixth-gen iPad Mini has a larger screen than its predecessor, along with an A15 Bionic processor, support for USB-C, and options for 5G. It has forfeited its 3.5mm headphone jack and dedicated home button in the process, but overall, it’s a solid device that brings a fully refreshed design to Apple’s small tablet form factor.
The changes and refinements to the newest iPad Mini come at a heftier price, however, and the 64GB Wi-Fi model now starts at $499. Electing for 256GB of storage brings the price up to $649, while the 5G cellular models are $649 for 64GB and $799 for 256GB. These are some big numbers for a small iPad, and the larger iPad Air might be worth considering if you prefer your dollar to go further with more screen real estate. But if you want the latest and greatest from Apple in a smaller format, this is where the action is.
As of right now, Amazon and Best Buy are selling the latest iPad Mini in its 64GB base configuration starting at $399.99 ($100 off). If you need additional storage, the 256GB model is also on sale at Amazon and). As for the unlocked cellular model, it’s currently available at Best Buy for $549.99 ($100 off), which nearly matches its all-time low of $529.99.
The fifth-gen iPad Air used to retail for $599, but right now, the 64GB / Wi-Fi configuration is on sale in select colors at Walmart and Best Buy starting at $399 ($200 off), likely as a result of the 2024 model’s recent arrival. The lightweight slate was once our top iPad recommendation for most people thanks to its speedy M1 processor, slick modern design, and midrange price. For those who crave more storage, the 256GB variant is also available for $549.99 at Best Buy, which is $200 off compared to its previous starting price and likely the new standard going forward.
The 2022 iteration of Apple’s lightweight tablet is similar in terms of its capabilities when measured against the previous-gen model but still offers a handful of iterative upgrades. The most pronounced improvement is the M1 processor,
Apple just recently launched the 2024 iPad Air, which features several small upgrades. The newer model doesn’t feature any groundbreaking changes compared to the 2022 release, but notably, there is now a 13-inch configuration in addition to a base 11-inch model. Apple also added Wi-Fi 6E radios and upgraded the chipset to M2, which enables the hover feature when using Apple’s latest styluses. You can use the newer iPad Air with the Apple Pencil Pro and both previous-gen Magic Keyboards, too. The 11-inch iPad Air starts at $599, while the comparable 13-inch model starts at $799.
Deals for the 2024 iPad Air started to appear before the latest model even hit store shelves. Right now, you can pick up the 11-inch Wi-Fi model in select colors at Amazon with 128GB of storage starting at $569 ($30 off) . The 13-inch iPad Air, meanwhile, is available in select colors at Amazon in its base 128GB configuration starting at $754 ($45 off)
Compared to the latest iPad Air, the 2024 iPad Pro is a far more impressive upgrade. The 11- and 13-inch models start at $999 and $1,299, respectively, and they are the first Apple devices to feature the company’s latest M4 chip, which brings moderate performance gains and dedicated hardware for on-device processing. The new Pro models can claim other firsts, too, such as being the first iPad models with OLED displays and and lightest Pros yet, which is true for both sizes. They also feature repositioned front-facing cameras that sit along the horizontal edge, which prevent you from looking as though you’re staring off into space on a video call.
Nikon’s new $2,500 Z6 III has the world’s first partially stacked CMOS sensor
Nikon’s new $2,500 Z6 III has the world’s first partially stacked CMOS sensor. | Image: Becca Farsace / The Verge
At the beginning of a recent photo walk with a Nikon representative, I was told it was only a matter of time before I became a “birder.” Because eventually, every photographer runs out of things to take photos of and is left with only one subject to master: birds. Which, because of advancements in camera technology, have become a much easier target.
The Nikon Z6 III has an articulating back screen that is typical of hybrid photo / video cameras.
It was on this same photo walk that I got a few hours with the new $2,500 Nikon Z6 III. And the big news in this camera is its 24.5-megapixel partially stacked CMOS sensor. This is the first camera ever to employ this technology. Instead of the circuit parts and pixel area both stretching the full corner-to-corner dimensions of the image sensor and sitting on top of each other, as in the more expensive Nikon Z9 or Nikon Z8, or not being stacked at all, as in the previous Nikon Z6 II, the Z6 III’s circuit parts are stacked as bars on the top and bottom of the pixel area.
It results in higher continuous shooting rates, faster autofocus, higher video frame rates, and less rolling shutter effect than the previous Z6 II, with its BSI CMOS sensor in e-shutter mode. But it also means that the Z6 III is not as speedy as the more premium Z8 or Z9 with their fully stacked sensors. In simple terms, partially stacking the sensor allows Nikon to keep this camera’s price below that of the Z8 and Z9, while also improving its performance over the previous generation.
The other important updates are the Z6 III’s incredibly bright electronic viewfinder that can reach a peak brightness of 4,000 nits and the camera's ability to film 6K RAW video at up to 60fps and 4K RAW at up to 120fps. Nikon is also promising Z8-level build quality, which means the camera is dust and moisture sealed and rated for operation down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit / −10 degrees Celsius. Simply put, Nikon builds very resilient cameras that don’t skimp on specs — and also cameras that can turn any photographer into a birder.
The handgrip on the Nikon Z6 III is deep enough for long-term comfort.
I chose the Staten Island Ferry for my photo walk with the Z6 III because of its endless opportunities for people-watching and incredible views of lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Match that with the boat’s iconic orange color, and you are guaranteed at least a few great shots. What I had never paid much attention to before were all the birds using the boat’s slipstream to move across the harbor.
While the Z6 III does not have a dedicated bird focus mode, Nikon claims that its autofocus is 20 percent faster than the Z6 II and has an extended range down to -10EV, meaning it is more sensitive, even in low-light conditions. On the back of the ferry, it had absolutely no trouble locking onto birds. Within minutes of taking off from Lower Manhattan, I was whipping the Z6 III from left to right, attempting to capture seagulls. Eventually, I smartened up and framed One World Trade Center and waited for a bird to cross my frame. As soon as a bird entered, the camera locked right onto the moving object, which was a seagull. Within minutes, I had shot well over 100 photos.
Photos taken with the Nikon Z6 III and Nikon Nikkor Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR lens.
Of course, there then came the moment when I thought, “What the hell am I going to do with all these photos of birds?” This is why I would like to thank you all for clicking through the above slideshow and giving my newfound passion for bird photography a reason to exist.
Much like the Z8 and Z9, Nikon increasingly makes cameras that are so responsive and intuitive that you no longer have to spend as much time thinking about problems such as focus, handshake, or shutter speed. You can quickly point the camera in any direction and it will capture something in focus.
That being said, there is only so much I could test in my few hours with this camera. I didn’t have a low-light environment to test the ISO ranges or low-light autofocus, I didn’t have multiple subjects to test skin tone representation on, and I didn’t have ND filters in order to get a proper video exposure for testing 6K RAW. So while I had a lot of fun — and am now a certified “birder” — there is certainly a lot more testing that needs to be done on this new partially stacked sensor technology. But in my short time with it, I can confidently say that in no way did it feel like a step back. The Z6 III will be available starting today for $2,500.
Nikon’s new $2,500 Z6 III has the world’s first partially stacked CMOS sensor
Nikon’s new $2,500 Z6 III has the world’s first partially stacked CMOS sensor. | Becca Farsace / The Verge
At the beginning of a recent photo walk with a Nikon representative, I was told it was only a matter of time before I became a “birder”. Because eventually every photographer runs out of things to take photos of and is left with only one subject to master: birds. Which, because of advancements in sensor technology, have become a much easier target.
The Nikon Z6 III has an articulating back screen that is typical of hybrid photo / video cameras.
It was on this same photo walk that I got a few hours with the new $2,500 Nikon Z6 III. And the big news in this camera is its 24.5-megapixel partially stacked CMOS sensor. This is the first camera, ever, to employ this technology. Instead of the circuit parts and pixel area both stretching the full corner-to-corner dimensions of the image sensor and sitting on top of each other, as in the more expensive Nikon Z9 or Nikon Z8, or not being stacked at all, as in the previous Nikon Z6 II, the Z6 III’s circuit parts are stacked as bars on the top and bottom of the pixel area.
It results in higher continuous shooting rates, faster autofocus, higher video frame rates, and less rolling shutter effect than the previous Z6 II, with its BSI CMOS sensor in e-shutter mode. But it also means that the Z6 III is not as speedy as the more premium Z8 or Z9 with their fully stacked sensors. In simple terms, partially stacking the sensor allows Nikon to keep this camera’s price below that of the Z8 and Z9 while also much improving the performance of it over the previous generation.
The other important updates are the Z6 III’s incredibly bright electronic view finder that can reach a peak brightness of 4,000 nits and the cameras ability to film 6K RAW video at up to 60fps and 4K RAW up to 120fps. Nikon is also promising Z8 level build quality, which means the camera is dust and moisture sealed and rated for operation down to 14°F/−10°C. Simply put, Nikon builds very resilient cameras that don’t skimp on specs. And also cameras that can turn any photographer into a birder.
The handgrip on the Nikon Z6 III is deep enough for long-term comfort.
I chose the Staten Island Ferry for my photo walk with the Z6 III because of its endless opportunities for people watching and incredible views of lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Match that with the boat’s iconic orange color and you are guaranteed at least a few great shots. What I had never paid much attention to before were all of the birds using the boat’s slipstream to move across the harbor.
While the Z6 III does not have a dedicated bird focus mode, Nikon claims that its autofocus is 20% faster than the Z6 II and has an extended range down to -10EV, meaning it is more sensitive even in lowlight conditions. And while on the back of the ferry, it had absolutely no trouble locking onto birds. Within minutes of taking off from Lower Manhattan I was whipping the Z6 III from left to right attempting to capture seagulls. Eventually I smartened up and framed One World Trade Center and waited for a bird to cross my frame. And as soon as a bird would enter the camera locked right the moving object that was a seagull. Within minutes I had shot well over 100 photos.
Photos taken with the Nikon Z6 III + Nikon NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR Lens
There of course then came the moment I thought “what the hell am I going to do with all these photos of birds”. Which is why I would like to thank you all for clicking through the above slideshow and giving my new found passion for bird photography a reason to exist.
Much like the Z8 and Z9, Nikon increasingly makes cameras that are so responsive and intuitive that you no longer have to spend as much time thinking about problems such as focus, hand shake, or shutter speed. You can quickly point the camera in any direction and it will capture something in focus.
That being said, there is only so much I could test in my few hours with this camera. I didn’t have a low light environment to test the ISO ranges or low light autofocus, I didn’t have multiple subjects to test skin tone representation on, and I didn’t have ND filters in order to get a proper video exposure for testing 6K RAW. So while I had a lot of fun, and am now a certified “birder” there is certainly a lot more testing that needs to be done on this new partially stacked sensor technology. But in my short time with it, I can confidently say that in no way did it feel like a step back. The Z6 III will be available starting today for $2,500.
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