How to get free electricity in the UK

How to get free electricity in the UK

Photo by Mike Kemp / In Pictures via Getty Images

Octopus Energy is a shining star during a time of high inflation and a cost of living crisis.

I know what you’re thinking: what is this ridiculous clickbait headline all about? Well, a couple of weekends ago, I charged my electric car, cooked lunch in my oven, and washed my clothes totally for free over a few hours. Last weekend, my electricity cost less than 8p per kWh to do the same thing. On average, I’m currently saving 40 percent on my electricity bills compared to the extortionate capped rate that most people in the UK are forced to pay right now.

So, how? Octopus Energy, and I want everyone to know about it.

I’ve obsessed over my electricity usage over the past few months thanks to a mix of the UK’s energy market prices and buying a new electric vehicle. A friend recommended Octopus Energy’s Agile contract, which provides variable pricing every 30 minutes based on wholesale rates. He had been using it all winter with big savings, as wholesale electricity prices have started to drop in the UK in recent months. In 2023, Octopus’ Agile prices have dropped far below the Energy Price Guarantee subsidy that the UK government introduced to cap the maximum consumer prices for electricity after wholesale prices surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Octopus Energy issues its 30-minute rates every day at 4PM so you can see when the best times are to use your dishwasher, washing machine, oven, or charge an electric car. Peak rates between 4PM and 7PM are typically the usual rates of 34p or even 35p per kWh, but outside of those times, it has averaged at around 20p per kWh in recent months for me personally.

Octopus Energy’s Agile tariff is also ideal for EV owners.

You can save a bundle of money if you can shift your energy usage outside the peak window. Even if you can’t, you’re still going to save because, for around 20 hours of the day, the Agile rates are far below the standard ones.

A standard rate for electricity across UK providers right now is around 34p per kWh, with a daily service charge of up to 50p. These rates and service charges vary slightly per provider, but the vast majority of people in the UK are currently paying in excess of 30p / kWh. In July, the cap in the UK will be set at 30p per kWh, a rate that falls below the current Energy Price Guarantee and sees the Ofgem regulator return with its own price caps.

But this price cap is still far beyond what I’m currently paying. Over the past 28 days, I’ve used an average of 16kWh per day at a rate of 16.9p per kWh instead of the 34p per kWh I would have paid on a standard rate. That’s a saving of nearly 50 percent compared to what most people would pay for the same amount of electricity.

So why have I and many others not heard about this until recently? Variable rate tariffs are risky. Octopus Energy markets Agile as a tariff that’s ideal for people with EVs, storage heaters, or anyone who can shift their energy usage outside of peak times. But it also warns that prices can spike up to 100p per kWh at any time, three times higher than the standard rates right now. That sounds scary, but it’s something that rarely happens. In fact, it hasn’t peaked past more than 40p per kWh at all in most places in the UK in 2023.

Image: Energy Stats UK

Average rates for Octopus Energy Agile over the past 365 days in the East Midlands.

That’s largely because wholesale prices have been dropping, creating more stable averages and moments of plunge pricing where you get hours of free electricity. You can see in the chart above that pricing has dropped to 0p per kWh or below multiple times over the past six months on Octopus Energy Agile.

Despite the discounts seen in recent months, you can also see a sustained spike for most of December, where the maximum prices shot up to 80p per kWh, a very expensive rate that customers would have seen mostly during the peak 4PM to 7PM window. If wholesale prices continue to stabilize and drop, hopefully we won’t see a repeat of this again this winter. If prices do shoot up, you can always just immediately switch back to the standard rate, which will be capped by Ofgem’s guarantee.

If prices jump, you can always switch back to a standard tariff

This volatility does make it hard to recommend such an energy tariff to everyone in the UK, which is another reason most people won’t have heard about Agile. Consumer advocate Martin Lewis, better known as the “Money Saving Expert,” has been pushing the government continually to help with electricity prices, but he’s rarely recommended people switch to variable rate tariffs. Consumers in the UK have been looking to Lewis’ recommendations throughout this energy and cost of living crisis, but he did highlight Octopus Energy’s “clever” Agile tariff in April. Now that we have six months of stable data, I think it’s time to start recommending Agile until we have decent fixed rates back on the market.

Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge

The Octopus Watch app for iOS is a great way to track daily rates.

If you’re savvy enough to track the daily prices, then you’ll benefit greatly here. I’ve personally turned into an Octopus Energy salesman with my friends and family, as the company even offers a referral program where you split £100 with a friend you recommend to the service. I use the excellent Octopus Watch iOS app for alerts on when prices plunge and to see price rates over 24-hour periods, but Octopus also publishes these in its own mobile app and website.

You will need the latest SMETS2 smart meter (some SMETS1 are supported), though, to be able to automatically send meter readings to Octopus Energy and use Agile. If you don’t have a smart meter, you can still switch over, and Octopus will arrange for a meter install. Octopus has also started marketing its Tracker tariff recently, which is similar to Agile but has more restrictions on how long it takes to exit out if prices go the wrong way.

It’s also just refreshing to use a utility company that’s environmentally friendly and has great customer service. In an increasingly inefficient and broken UK energy market, Octopus Energy is way out ahead supplying green energy with one of the best software-as-a-service products I’ve ever seen in the UK.

Eventually, I hope to automate much of this with smart home tech and outlets to limit the time I’m monitoring rates. But figured I’d share this tip right now in case it helps save you some great British pounds.

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Fortnite’s new season adds Optimus Prime and lets you ride the raptors

Fortnite’s new season adds Optimus Prime and lets you ride the raptors

Image: Epic Games

Things are getting pretty wild on the Fortnite island. Epic just launched the latest season of the battle royale game, bringing it up to Chapter 4: Season 3, and it’s called, appropriately, “Wilds.” Epic has been teasing it over the last week — including with a trailer at yesterday’s Summer Game Fest.

The big change is that the center of the map has essentially been destroyed, revealing a new jungle area to explore, complete with ruins. Here’s how the island looks now:

Image: Epic Games

To go along with this theme, there are some notable gameplay changes. Some of these include: the return of raptors, which you can now ride; the ability to grind on vines; mud that you can slide through for stealthy camouflage; new plant life to contend with (including explosive flowers); and weapons like a boomerang and jars full of hostile wasps.

There are also some Transformers elements this season — no surprise, given the premiere of Rise of the Beasts — like a weapon called a Cybertron Cannon that looks quite hefty. Elsewhere, Optimus Prime will be available if you purchase this season’s battle pass, and his animal counterpart, Optimus Primal, is coming to the item shop.

Speaking of the battle pass, here’s the full lineup of new skins — including a very laid-back version of Meowscles — as well as a look at Primal’s Fortnite makeover:

Elsewhere, there’s a big change when it comes to the language of Fortnite. As Epic explains, “pickaxes are now officially called pickaxes instead of harvesting tools.” Okay, maybe it’s not that big of a change, but it does make a lot of sense now that the game offers a Zero Build mode where resources can’t be harvested.

“Wilds” follows the “Mega” season of Fortnite, which added a cyberpunk theme and kicked off in March. It included collaborations with Coachella, Star Wars, Attack on Titan, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano, alongside some big changes to its creator economy.

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League of Legends esports players who walked out reach agreement with Riot Games

League of Legends esports players who walked out reach agreement with Riot Games

Cloud9 player Fudge at Worlds 2022. | Photo by Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

North American League of Legends esports players who walked out have reached an agreement with Riot Games.

The League Championship Series (LCS) players, represented by the LCSPA, voted last week to walk out after Riot allowed franchises to stop fielding amateur teams in the North American Challengers League (NACL) for the summer. Shortly after the walkout, Riot delayed the original June 1st start of the summer season by two weeks, but said it was also prepared to cancel the entire summer season — which would disqualify LCS players from the annual end-of-season Worlds competition — if the two sides didn’t come to an agreement.

“The LCSPA, Riot, and the LCS teams have come to an agreement to resume the 2023 LCS Summer Split on June 14th,” the LCS wrote in a statement shared on Twitter. “Concessions were made by Riot and teams to ensure a more sustainable NACL future and a more equitable voice for players in their workplace.

LCSPA, Riot, and LCS teams agree on terms to resume 2023 LCS season - talks to continue on unresolved issues pic.twitter.com/xodN7XABie

— LCS Players Association (@NALCSPA) June 9, 2023

Among other things, the parties agreed to $300,000 to be split across the 10 NACL teams, equal representation for players and teams on a committee to “determine any future changes to the practice schedule in a collaborative manner,” and a commitment for teams to “ensure” that foreign players have mandated healthcare available “by the first day they are in the US.”

The summer season (or “split”) will now start on June 14th, Riot wrote in its own announcement. Competition will happen over three days per week — Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday — instead of two days per week in the spring season.

“Delaying Summer Split was not a decision we took lightly, but ultimately the dialogue between the league, the LCSPA, and teams provided the space to realign on shared goals for the future of the LCS and NACL,” Naz Aletaha, Riot’s global head of League of Legends esports, said in a statement. “Building for the long-term sustainability and success of the LCS ecosystem is the win-condition for us all.”

Devolver Digital’s showcase featured just four games, but they look like good ones

Devolver Digital’s showcase featured just four games, but they look like good ones

Image: Devolver Digital

Devolver Digital shared details and trailers about some projects in development during its latest showcase on Thursday. However, much of the presentation revolved around a tongue-in-cheek mascot, “Volvy,” a fictionalized history of the mascot’s impact on gaming culture, and the “return” of the character as a robot (VOLV-E). It was weird, but that’s kind of Devolver’s thing for its presentations.

You can watch the whole 22-minute show right here or catch up on the four featured games below (well, in addition to everything involving Volvy):

Wizard with a Gun

Devolver showed a trailer for Wizard with a Gun, a survival game that’s themed kind of like a fantasy game mixed with a western. You’ll have to collect resources, construct buildings, and explore what looks like a large map. A demo is now available on Steam. The game is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X / S as well, and it’s set to launch sometime in 2023.

The Talos Principle II

We got a new gameplay trailer for The Talos Principle II, a sequel to the well-regarded first-person puzzler The Talos Principle. We already knew the game was on the way — it was included as part of its PlayStation Showcase in May — but this trailer provided another look at the mysterious puzzle title. It’s coming to PS5, Xbox Series X / S, and PC this year.

Baby Steps

In Baby Steps, a new game from the makers of Ape Out and Getting Over It!, you play as Nate, a washout stumbling his way up a mountain. It appears you individually manipulate Nate’s legs — a press email describes Baby Steps as a “literal walking simulator” — which should lead to some hilarious QWOP-like mishaps. (Not surprising, given Getting Over It! creator Bennett Foddy also made QWOP.) It’s coming out in 2024 for PS5 and PC.

Human Fall Flat 2

Devolver also shared a very brief trailer for Human Fall Flat 2, a sequel to third-person puzzler Human Fall Flat. “Each intricate level comes packed with new toys and devices to fiddle with as you solve a range of fiendish puzzles on your own or in teams of up to eight friends,” according to Devolver’s press email. Devolver didn’t share a release window.

It’s not just Apollo: other Reddit apps are shutting down, too

It’s not just Apollo: other Reddit apps are shutting down, too

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apollo for Reddit isn’t the only Reddit app that’s shutting down due to the company’s new API pricing: on Thursday, rif is fun for Reddit (previously Reddit is Fun), ReddPlanet, and Sync also announced that they would be shutting down on June 30th, the same day Apollo will be.

rif is fun for Reddit is shutting down “in response to Reddit Inc’s API changes and their hostile treatment of developers building on their platform,” its developer wrote in a message on r/redditisfun. The developer said Reddit has “unfortunately shown a consistent unwillingness to compromise on all points” mentioned in a previous post, including expected costs “in the ballpark” of Apollo’s expected $20 million per year, Reddit’s decision to block ads in third-party apps, and the removal of sexually explicit content in third-party apps even though that content will still be available in Reddit’s official apps.

RIF will shut down on June 30, 2023, in response to Reddit's API changes
by u/talklittle in redditisfun

“The hurdles placed on third party apps by reddit just aren’t a feasible obstacle to overcome,” the developer of ReddPlanet wrote. “With the removal of explicit content, the unreasonable pricing structure, short time period, lack of responsiveness, and unwillingness to come to a middle ground, reddit has shown that their intent is to extinguish all 3rd parties.”

“To be absolutely clear I really don’t want to close Sync,” wrote the developer of Sync. “Working on this app has been a labour of love and my life for the past decade but with how things stand I can’t see any other way.”

The shutdowns follow outrage from Reddit’s userbase and developer community over the API changes, which could be very expensive for developers. Apollo developer Christian Selig revealed his expected $20 million costs last week, and in a long post about the upcoming shutdown, he reiterated the costs and pushed back on Reddit’s claims that the app is less efficient with the API than other apps. Selig also included part of a transcript from a call with Reddit moderators where CEO Steve Huffman suggested Apollo threatened the company, which Selig says he didn’t (and backed up with a transcript of his own). On Wednesday, Reddit announced it would exempt accessibility-focused apps from the API changes following criticisms from the r/Blind subreddit.

Reddit declined to comment. The company plans to host an AMA with Huffman on Friday about “the latest API updates, including accessibility, mod bots, and third-party mod tools.” Reddit is aiming to start the AMA at 1:30PM ET / 10:30AM PT, spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt tells The Verge.

Meta is testing Reels on Quest

Meta is testing Reels on Quest

Image: Meta

Meta is testing a way for users to watch Reels on its Quest headset. In a post on Meta’s broadcast channel, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared a video of how a Reel will look when viewed in VR.

Much like when you open other apps on the system, it looks like you can browse through Reels in a window that appears against your virtual background. It’s not exactly clear whether Reels will exist within Meta’s Instagram app for the Quest or if it’ll be available for users to test. Meta didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

GIF: Meta

Either way, bringing Reels to Quest is a sign that Meta is ready to tie its apps and systems together more closely. Its announcement also comes about a week after Meta showed off its $499 Quest 3 device and just days after Apple revealed the $3,499 Vision Pro.

During a companywide meeting watched by The Verge’s Alex Heath, Zuckerberg responded to the Vision Pro by saying Apple’s vision for the device isn’t the one he wants, as Apple mainly focused on solitary activities during its presentation. “Our vision for the metaverse and presence is fundamentally social,” Zuckerburg said. “It’s about people interacting in new ways and feeling closer in new ways.”

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ChatGPT on iOS gets improved iPad support and Shortcuts integration

ChatGPT on iOS gets improved iPad support and Shortcuts integration

Image: OpenAI

OpenAI is improving ChatGPT on iPad today with a new update designed to take advantage of the entire iPad screen. The updated ChatGPT app for iOS and iPadOS also includes drag and drop, Siri support, and Shortcuts integration.

iPad support means ChatGPT will now run full-screen on Apple’s tablets, instead of as an iPhone sized app running on a bigger display. Little else has changed for the iPad version though, as you’re still presented with a chat interface and options to switch between GPT-3.5 or GPT-4. OpenAI has also added drag and drop support here, so any messages can now be dragged out of the chat interface and into other apps.

The update also lets you summon ChatGPT from Siri and use the chatbot with Apple’s Shortcuts feature. This lets you generate a ChatGPT query in Shortcuts to start a new chat and integrate that into Apple’s Shortcuts automation.

OpenAI has been gradually improving its ChatGPT app on iOS and iPadOS since launching the mobile version last month, making improvements to chat history and voice input in recent updates. The company also plans to release an app for Android in the near future. OpenAI launched a premium subscription for ChatGPT in February called ChatGPT Plus, that offers priority access and the latest GPT-4 model for $20 a month.

WhatsApp’s new Channels feature brings social media to your messaging app

WhatsApp’s new Channels feature brings social media to your messaging app

Illustration: The Verge

The newest feature in WhatsApp brings a very different kind of messaging to the world’s most popular chat app. It’s called Channels, and it’s designed specifically for one-to-many broadcasts rather than conversation. The Meta-owned company calls it “a private way to follow what matters,” and names local and sports updates among the ways you might use it.

But what is a channel, really? It’s a Twitter feed, minus all the metrics and reply guys. WhatsApp has clearly noticed all the governments, transit agencies, brands, and others looking for a new (and non-Twitter) place to share their most important updates, and sees Channels as a drop-in replacement.

Channels is also a creator tool to some extent, a place for those with an audience to “send text, photos, videos, stickers, and polls,” according to WhatsApp’s launch blog post. The company has plans to build payment and other monetization services into channels, too. You’ll be able to find channels by searching for them in WhatsApp or by browsing in a newly created directory, and see their most recent updates in the Status section of the app.

WhatsApp says privacy is a key part of the experience, which is why channel admins’ information isn’t shared and the app only stores 30 days of a channel’s history. Admins can even block screenshots and forwards, making sure that what’s in the channel stays in the channel. Channels aren’t end-to-end encrypted, though; they’re treated more like your messages with businesses, which are also not totally private. But WhatsApp does say it’s thinking about ways to encrypt some channels over time.

This is mostly a really obvious feature for WhatsApp to add. Telegram has had a similar feature, also called Channels and also meant for one-to-many broadcasts, for years. Instagram has a similar feature, too, called Broadcast Channels. And it actually makes sense to bring this kind of information into WhatsApp; getting air-quality updates and train statuses feels more natural in a messaging app than intermingled with everything else on Twitter

But if you zoom out a bit, WhatsApp is quickly turning into something other than just a messaging app. Just in the last few months, the company has made it possible to use one account on multiple phones; has been working on a private newsletter tool and a new usernames system; added polls and shopping and a bunch of other Facebook-y things to the platform; revamped its Status system; improved its group chats; and much more. Channels is just the latest way WhatsApp is trying to bring social media to messaging.

Like most WhatsApp features, Channels is starting small. The company is planning to launch channels with “leading global organizations and select organizations in Colombia and Singapore,” and the feature will only be available in those two countries at first. It’ll come to more countries, and channel creation will be available to more users, “in the coming months.”

WhatsApp is obviously still a messaging app first — billions of people use it to chat with their friends and loved ones. But as it looks to grow, make more money, and become the all-encompassing super app it wants to be, it’s trying to find ways to be much more than that.

Apple wants to turn your iPhone into a pet-tracking camera

Apple wants to turn your iPhone into a pet-tracking camera

Image: Apple

Apple has a new development framework that can be used to turn your iPhone into an autonomous pet-tracking camera. According to documentation on Apple’s website, developers can use pet-tracking features with motorized phone stands to capture and follow your pet around your house while you’re not home.

As noted by Apple, developers can achieve this using a new framework called DockKit, which can create “photo and video experiences” while an iPhone is mounted on a motorized stand. From there, devs can then use something called the Animal Body Pose API (application programming interface), which is capable of identifying and tracking animals with your phone’s camera. It’s able to identify a pet’s pose, too, including if your pet is sitting down, standing up, or begging for food.

Image: Apple

By combining DockKit with Animal Body Pose API, Apple says devs can create apps that “automatically track subjects in live video across a 360-degree field of view, take direct control of the stand to customize framing, directly control the motors, and provide your own inference model for tracking other objects.” To be clear, pet-tracking isn’t an official iOS 17 feature that’s getting shipped by Apple, but the company is giving developers the tools they need to create and launch their own iPhone-powered pet cams. Apple plans on getting into more detail about all this in an upcoming session at its Worldwide Developers Conference.

Although swiveling iPhone holders have been around for quite some time now, building the feature directly into Apple’s ecosystem means that you might not be forced to use a proprietary app in order for the mount you’re using to function properly. And it seems Apple has broader ambitions for how to use your iPhone while docked: it’s also rolling out a new docking feature called StandBy, which turns your iPhone into a smart home-like display when it’s charging and tilted sideways.

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Twitter’s window to edit tweets is now one hour, but you still have to pay for it

Twitter’s window to edit tweets is now one hour, but you still have to pay for it

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

When Twitter finally added its long-awaited edit button last fall, it limited the feature to Twitter Blue subscribers and only allowed changes on original tweets (not replies) within 30 minutes of the post, but now that’s changing.

The official Twitter Blue account now says that the tweet editing window has been doubled to one hour. The post announcing the feature was edited moments after it went live to note the change but, confusingly, didn’t add any other edits past the thirty-minute mark to demonstrate.

Blue subscribers now have up to 1 hour to edit their Tweets.

— Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) June 7, 2023

Twitter’s editing perk for Blue subscribers package arrived after Elon Musk said he would buy Twitter, but well before he actually did. Even after Elon’s revamp of Blue and the installation of new CEO Linda Yaccarino on Monday, it’s still one of the features highlighted in the subscription that also gets paying users access to a blue verified checkmark label, among other things like writing posts with up to 4,000 characters.

Twitter’s support page for Blue was updated shortly after the post went up to reflect the new one-hour time limit. After the feature went live in the US last fall, my colleague David Pierce wrote that “Twitter is being as careful as can be on this one, and seems to have landed in the right place.” So far, the availability of editing hasn’t been a source for major issues that I’ve seen, and direct access to the history of edited tweets generally makes changes easy to spot.

However, as Alex Heath wrote in his Command Line newsletter, Blue signups have been slow, and in replies to the @TwitterBlue tweet, many blue-checked tweeters complain that various parts of the package aren’t working for them. At the same time, reduced ads is a feature that has been advertised as a feature of Blue since its November relaunch and still hasn’t rolled out — according to the support page, “we are working on a feature that will reduce the number of ads you see.”

Of course, some people are still waiting for the ad revenue split Elon Musk promised in February that never seemed to arrive. Concerning that split, in a recent interview, Musk said that not only is it still in the works, but it will also be backdated to his original announcement with “some reasonable revenue share.”

That’s a complicated promise from a company named in many recent reports about not paying its rent and other promised fees. Twitter (or X, depending on who you ask) is also now worth only one-third of the price Musk paid for it last year, and reportedly ad sales for five weeks this spring were reportedly down 59 percent from the same period last year.

Microsoft has no shame: Bing spit on my ‘Chrome’ search with a fake AI answer

Microsoft has no shame: Bing spit on my ‘Chrome’ search with a fake AI answer

Illustration: The Verge

It was time to download Google Chrome on a new Windows 11 computer.

I typed “Chrome” into the Microsoft Edge search bar.

I was greeted with a full-screen Microsoft Bing AI chatbot window, which promptly told me it was searching for... Bing features.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Search query: “Chrome.” Search result: “news articles about Bing features.”

I picked my jaw up off the floor and tried again. Same result every time.

Same exact text, too. This is clearly not Microsoft’s GPT-4 powered chatbot at work — it’s a completely canned interaction. Here’s how much of my screen it took up, and what it looks like zoomed in:

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Every search result link is pushed entirely off my screen by this canned ad copy.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

This supposed AI response even has a headline: “Bing: The Search Engine That Does More Than Just Search.”

I get it to work on a different computer. Across the country, a colleague tells me he saw the exact same thing setting up his wife’s gaming laptop. Across the ocean, another colleague pulls it up on his mobile phone. It’s not universal, but it’s absolutely not a tiny experiment in a single region, either.

Maybe this doesn’t seem like a big deal to you. I’m using Microsoft’s search engine in Microsoft’s browser on Microsoft’s operating system, after all — why should Microsoft willingly link me to a competitor?

Let me put things a different way: Microsoft just gave itself a full-screen ad in search results by faking an AI interaction. This “search result” is juicing Microsoft’s own product instead of respecting its users’ intent.

Yes, Microsoft has previously plugged Edge when you search for Chrome — but not like this. Let’s compare:

Even if you don’t agree with me that Microsoft is yet again shoving its Edge where it doesn’t belong, this kind of move makes a mockery of the company’s AI ambitions.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella claims he wants Edge to genuinely compete. “Let’s build first a product that is competitive in the marketplace that’s actually serving user needs,” he told us in a February interview, when my editor-in-chief Nilay Patel asked whether the Bing AI browser integration was partially an attempt to “capture marketshare from Chrome”.

“It’s not just a search engine; it’s an answer engine,” claimed Nadella earlier in the show, “because we’ve always had answers, but with these large models, the fidelity of the answers just gets so much better.”

Would you call replacing a “Chrome” search with a juiced “news articles about Bing features” search as “better”? I know where I land on that.

But it’s important to both Microsoft and Google that their answers are seen as “better,” because they’re pushing aside the ten blue links that have dominated search for so long. We recently worried out loud whether Google’s new Search Generative Experience would prioritize ads over actual answers, but it looks like we won’t have to wait to see how brazen these companies can get. Unless there’s strong pushback, I would expect the ads to win whenever it’s profitable or convenient.

When asked for comment, a spokeperson forwarded this generic statement from Microsoft product marketing director Jason Fischel:

We often experiment with new features, UX, and behaviors to test, learn, and improve experiences for our customers. These tests are often brief and do not necessarily represent what is ultimately or broadly provided to customers.

Shortly after we published this story with that comment, third-party spokesperson Chris Donohue reached out to confirm Microsoft has pulled the plug on this particular idea. “The experience is no longer flighting,” he wrote. Sure enough, I no longer see it.

Some open questions: Did this represent what Microsoft wants to provide to customers? Would it have been an experiment if I hadn’t put Microsoft on blast? And given we personally saw this on the other side of the country and the other side of an ocean, what is the company’s definition of “broadly?” I asked Microsoft a few such questions, and I’ll update you if we receive answers.

As we keep saying every time Microsoft pulls this kind of shit, it’s a shame because Edge is actually good. I was just beginning to try Microsoft’s browser again because I found Bing fascinating. Now, Bing is the reason I’m boycotting Edge once more.

Update, 9:59 PM ET: Added that Microsoft turned off this “experience” shortly after we published this story.

Samsung’s next foldable-focused Galaxy Unpacked will take place in late July

Samsung’s next foldable-focused Galaxy Unpacked will take place in late July

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Samsung’s next Galaxy Unpacked event, where it typically reveals new smartphones and other gadgets, is scheduled for sometime in late July, the company announced on Tuesday. For the first time, it will take place in Seoul, South Korea. Like other recent summer Unpacked events, expect the 2023 iteration to focus on foldables.

“The foldable category embodies Samsung’s philosophy of delivering innovation that pushes boundaries to reshape the future of mobile experiences,” TM Roh, Samsung’s president and head of its mobile experience business, said in a statement. “Hosting Unpacked in Seoul holds great significance both as it is a city that has become an emerging epicenter of innovation and culture as well as the foldable category.”

A rumor from May said this year’s Unpacked could take place on July 26th. Moving forward, the Unpacked shows focused on foldables will be held in different cities that “closely align with the designated theme of each event,” Samsung says.

Regardless of exactly when this year’s event happens, the July timeframe means Unpacked will be a bit earlier than usual — last year, it took place in August. At that show, Samsung revealed the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4, so I’m guessing we’ll get updates to both of those smartphones this year: the Z Flip 5 is rumored to get a larger outer display, while the Z Fold 5 is reportedly much thinner while folded. Hot foldable summer indeed!

With iOS 17, Apple lets you share AirTags with friends and family

With iOS 17, Apple lets you share AirTags with friends and family

Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple’s AirTag item trackers are about to get more useful — with iOS 17, you’ll be able to share them and other Find My objects with up to five other people, the company has quietly revealed.

That means you can begin tracking communal property, not just wholly personal items. Where are the household car keys? What about the Apple TV remote we duct-taped an AirTag to because it unfortunately still does not come with a UWB locator of its own? It’s my turn to play Zelda — where’d the Switch go?

Frankly, it’s the excuse I needed to buy more than one single AirTag because the only personal property I lose is my wallet and Apple’s tracker makes a bit too much of a bulge. Other communal property, like a Find My-equipped coffee mug, might make a little more sense, too.

Image: Apple

From Apple’s press release: “Everyone in a group will be able to see an item’s location, play a sound, and use Precision Finding”

Please do note that this change might not be welcome to those worried about stalkers and domestic abusers — trackers are fundamentally dangerous tech in the wrong hands. If someone adds you to an AirTag, don’t blindly accept: they could then place that AirTag on your person or in your vehicle and theoretically stalk you that way.

iPhones are designed to alert you if an unknown AirTag is found traveling with you; previously, you could “borrow” an AirTag-equipped item by turning off its alerts or find and deactivate it via the alert. (Things have been harder on Android, but Google and Apple have begun working together.) But if you’ve agreed to accept someone’s shared AirTag, that AirTag won’t alert you.

Juli Clover at MacRumors has a few screenshots of how the new Share This AirTag feature works — at least as far as the original owner is concerned.

Siri gets a bit smarter, but Apple Home is still lagging behind

Siri gets a bit smarter, but Apple Home is still lagging behind

Apple’s Siri voice assistant will soon be capable of responding to multiple requests at once. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Despite some hints toward a possible Apple smart display with its new StandBy feature for iPhones, Apple’s WWDC was underwhelming for the smart home. But Apple did announce one noteworthy addition, Siri will soon handle “multiple commands” in succession without you having to say its name again.

This might seem like a small update, but for anyone who uses voice control in the smart home, saying, “Siri, turn off the dining room lights and lock the front door” will be a huge improvement. However, it’s also another example of how Apple is still playing catch-up in the smart home.

I believe Apple plans to rely completely on Matter for its home automation efforts going forward

Both Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant have been smart enough to understand back-to-back requests for years now, but Siri still needed to be asked nicely each time. With its newest updates, Apple has also dropped the “Hey” from “Hey Siri,” bringing it in line with the one-wake word nature of its biggest competitor, Alexa. (While “Hey Google” is still a mouthful, Google doesn’t even need its wake word in some situations).

But seriously, it’s very likely that saying city, cereal, series, and hundreds of other common Siri-adjacent words will now activate the voice assistant, which was already the worst for false wake-ups. Hopefully, Apple has worked some magic in its device’s detection capabilities to avoid this.

Image: Apple

Apple TV gets a redesigned Control Center in tvOS 17, making smart home controls easier to access.

One area where Apple is ahead of the game is with smart home control on its TV platform, and tvOS 17 has a redesigned control center that looks like it will make it slightly easier to navigate to your cameras and activate scenes using the Siri remote. There were also a couple of minor updates announced for the Apple Home app, including up to 30 days of “activity history” from devices such as door locks, garage doors, alarm systems, and contact sensors. This will be viewable in the app under Safety & Security (according to screenshots posted on Reddit) and can show when a garage door was opened or closed, a security system is activated, and when a door has been locked or unlocked. It’s a welcome feature, but again, something already found in most smart home apps.

It's also likely we’ll see a few Apple Home UI tweaks when iOS 17 actually arrives later this year. Some have already been spotted in the developer beta, such as an improved color picker for lights and a customizable Home widget. Apple also announced that PIN codes and tap-to-unlock are now available for Matter-compatible smart locks (of which there is currently one). Presumably, this opens up the ability for HomeKey locks to be added via Matter and not lose that core function. However, there aren’t currently any HomeKey-compatible locks that work with Matter.

New Home App UI
New slider, color picker… looking more into updates and changes!!! #homekit #WWDC23 pic.twitter.com/2B3JNkttEy

— Tech-Up (@thetech_up) June 5, 2023

This overall lack of activity this year highlights what I believe is Apple’s plan to rely completely on Matter for its home automation efforts going forward. The new smart home standard championed by Apple and its competitors, including Amazon, Google, and Samsung, is still barely crawling, and I don’t think we’ll see any new features from Apple Home that aren’t linked to Matter.

What’s more likely, and what I had hoped for from this year’s WWDC, is that we’ll see more of Apple’s unique features — such as adaptive lighting and HomeKit Secure Video — ported to the Matter standard for everyone to enjoy.

I don’t think we’ll see any new features from Apple Home that aren’t linked to Matter

After all, last year’s WWDC was a banner one for Apple Home because of Matter. The company announced an all-new Apple Home app, along with an entirely new architecture for its HomeKit smart home platform, and told everyone that Matter was essentially built on HomeKit. Then a new Apple HomePod followed in January of this year with a Thread radio onboard — Thread is one of the two wireless protocols Matter runs on.

For Apple Home users, Matter has the potential to bring Apple’s smart home platform up to par with the competition when it comes to compatible devices — another place Apple has lagged behind. There will be more gadgets from more manufacturers compatible with their setup.

We’re already seeing this happen. Smart lights from Govee and smart curtains from SwitchBot now work with Apple Home, and Matter should also bring new device categories into Apple Home, including much-requested ones like robot vacuums and pet feeders. But Matter’s progress has been much slower than anyone had anticipated, and it seems like that also includes Apple.

Microsoft to pay $20 million FTC settlement over improperly storing Xbox account data for kids

Microsoft to pay $20 million FTC settlement over improperly storing Xbox account data for kids

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft is set to pay the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) a $20 million settlement over charges that the company violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The company retained certain personal information of kids far longer than it should have when they made accounts, according to a press release.

Microsoft will also have to make some changes as part of a proposed order filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on behalf of the FTC. Those changes include telling parents that a separate child account comes with additional privacy protections, requiring parents to give consent for child accounts made before 2021, making systems to delete data about necessary to get parental consent for a kids’ account, and telling other publishers when it “discloses personal information from children that the user is a child,” the press release says.

This is just the latest FTC settlement with a video game company over alleged violations of COPPA. In December 2022, Fortnite developer Epic Games reached a $520 million settlement with the FTC, with $275 million of that over the COPPA violations. Earlier that month, Epic introduced for-kids accounts for Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys.

On Monday, the FTC said that until late 2021, when a user created a Microsoft account, the company asked for certain personal information before asking a parent of an under-13 player to get involved in making the account. But the FTC alleges that Microsoft retained that personal data “sometimes for years” even if the parent didn’t finish the signup process, which is something that’s prohibited by COPPA.

“Regrettably, we did not meet customer expectations and are committed to complying with the order to continue improving upon our safety measures,” Microsoft’s Dave McCarthy, CVP of Xbox Player Services, wrote in an Xbox blog post. “We believe that we can and should do more, and we’ll remain steadfast in our commitment to safety, privacy, and security for our community.”

In the post, McCarthy says that Microsoft wasn’t deleting account creation data for child accounts due to a “technical glitch,” and that the company has since fixed the glitch and deleted the data. “The data was never used, shared, or monetized,” according to McCarthy.

Apple’s Vision Pro headset uses iris scanning for logins with Optic ID

Apple’s Vision Pro headset uses iris scanning for logins with Optic ID

Apple’s Optic ID as depicted in the WWDC Keynote. | Image: Apple

Apple is introducing Optic ID, its latest biometric security authentication technology and the first from the company to be based on the details of your iris. Optic ID will be used to unlock Apple’s new Vision Pro mixed reality headset that was introduced today at the WWDC 2023 event.

According to Apple, Optic ID works by analyzing a user’s iris through LED light exposure and then comparing it with an enrolled Optic ID stored on the device’s Secure Enclave. During the WWDC keynote, Apple’s VP of technology development group, Mike Rockwell, said the system could detect iris differences even with identical twins.

Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge

Face ID was introduced in 2017 on the iPhone X.

Apple’s existing biometric authentication systems include Touch ID, a fingerprint sensor, and Face ID, which authenticates your face using projected infrared dots and a depth sensor. Both of these systems were introduced on the iPhone, but Optic ID, Apple’s third overall biometric system, is being introduced on the Vision Pro. Optic ID will be used for everything from unlocking Vision Pro to using Apple Pay in your own headspace.

As with every Apple security feature, the company is stating Optic ID “never leaves your device,” and the information is completely encrypted. We won’t get a sense of how accurate and fast Optic ID will be compared to Face ID until we get a full hands-on on the Vision Pro. One of the last widely released consumer tech devices with an eye scanner was the Samsung Galaxy S8 in 2017 — but hopefully, Apple has made some advancements since then that aren’t as easily defeated by hackers.

Zoom can now give you AI summaries of the meetings you’ve missed

Zoom can now give you AI summaries of the meetings you’ve missed

Image: Zoom

Zoom now lets users use AI to catch up on missed meetings. The feature, which Zoom first announced in March, has finally arrived as a trial for users in “select plans,” according to a post on Zoom’s website.

With Zoom IQ — the app’s AI-powered assistant — hosts can now generate summaries of meetings and send them to users through Zoom Team Chat or email, all without actually recording the meetings. It’s hard to tell how accurate (or detailed) the meeting summaries are without trying them out for ourselves, but it still seems like a much quicker way to get a recap on anything you’ve missed, as opposed to watching an entire prerecorded meeting.

In addition to AI-generated meeting summaries, Zoom is launching the ability to compose messages in Team Chat using AI. The feature leverages OpenAI’s technology to create messages “based on the context of a Team Chat thread” and also lets you customize the tone or length of a message before you send it.

Image: Zoom

All of these features build upon what Zoom’s IQ assistant already offers, such as the ability to create meeting highlights and chapters. In the near future, Zoom plans on rolling out several other AI-powered features through its partnership with OpenAI and Anthropic.

That includes the ability to write emails with AI using context from previous meetings, phone calls, and emails as well as a way to summarize threads in Zoom Team Chat “with the click of a button.” Zoom is also working on a way for you to use AI to “discreetly” obtain an in-chat summary of a meeting when you arrive late, create whiteboard drafts with text prompts, and automatically organize ideas into categories during brainstorming sessions.

According to Zoom, the company “collects data from users’ interactions with the Zoom IQ features, including inputs, messages, and AI-generated content” and could use this information to train Zoom IQ AI models (but not third-party ones) unless you choose not to share data with Zoom. Alongside Zoom, other productivity platforms, including Salesforce’s Slack and Microsoft 365, have begun incorporating AI features as well. Slack, for example, lets you reply to colleagues with ChatGPT and could soon have AI attend Huddles on your behalf, while Microsoft has rolled out an AI Copilot for its 365 apps.

For now, though, only Zoom IQ’s meeting summaries and chat compose features are available as a free trial “for a limited time” to subscribers of Zoom One (Enterprise Plus, Enterprise, Business Plus, Business, Pro) and some Zoom legacy bundles (Enterprise Named Host, Enterprise Active Host, Zoom Meetings Enterprise, Zoom Meetings Business, Zoom Meetings Pro). It’s unclear how much these features will cost after the free trial, however, but Zoom spokesperson Lacretia Taylor tells The Verge that the company will reveal pricing information “in the coming months.”

Spotify cuts 200 roles from its podcast division

Spotify cuts 200 roles from its podcast division

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge

Spotify is axing approximately 200 roles from its podcasting division as part of a “strategic realignment” of the vertical. The cuts were announced today, June 5th, in a company memo published by Sahar Elhabashi, Spotify’s VP, head of podcast business, with the figure representing around 2 percent of Spotify’s total workforce.

The company will also be combining Parcast and Gimlet — two high-profile podcasting studios acquired by Spotify in 2019 — into a single Spotify Studios operation. While 11 podcasts from these networks were already axed last year, popular productions like Stolen, The Journal, Science Vs, Heavyweight, Serial Killers, and Conspiracy Theories will continue to be produced under the newly formed Spotify Studios name, alongside additional original programming from The Ringer. “Both studios will greenlight new shows with an increased focus on always-on programming that drives strong, loyal audiences and attracts advertisers,” Elhabashi wrote.

While Spotify will continue to produce original content, Elhabashi’s memo makes it sound like Spotify is thinking far more seriously about how it can capitalize on the broader podcasting ecosystem. Elhabashi says the company plans to expand the analytics capabilities within Spotify for Podcasters to help boost audience numbers and says the company is beefing up its advertising offerings to “help more creators make meaningful money.” And even though today’s memo is announcing layoffs in the podcasting division, Elhabashi still notes that Spotify will expand its podcasting roles dedicated to creator partnerships.

“We are expanding our partnership efforts with leading podcasters from across the globe with a tailored approach optimized for each show and creator,” Elhabashi wrote. “This fundamental pivot from a more uniform proposition will allow us to support the creator community better. However, doing so requires adapting; over the past few months, our senior leadership team has worked closely with HR to determine the optimal organization for this next chapter.”

Podcasting studios Parcast and Gimlet are being combined into a new Spotify Studios operation

Today’s announcement follows a larger round of layoffs for Spotify back in January, in which the company let go of 6 percent of its then 9,800-strong workforce. Some of the employees affected by those layoffs had come to the company as part of Podsights and Chartable — two podcast measurement and analytics platforms acquired by Spotify for undisclosed sums in February 2022. Almost one-third of union members from both Parcast and Gimlet were also cut in October last year. That makes this the third time that Spotify has cut its podcasting division in the last 12 months as the vertical struggles to turn a profit, despite reporting back in April that ad revenue for podcasts had grown by 20 percent year over year.

Spotify has spent over $1 billion on landing exclusive high-profile podcasting deals like The Joe Rogan Experience

That said, Spotify isn’t blaming the cuts on a lack of interest in its podcast products. In the memo, the streaming giant claims to be the biggest podcast publisher in the US, on top of being the most-used audio podcast platform in “most corners of the world.” Spotify has certainly paid for the privilege, however, having spent over $1 billion since 2019 on tech, studios, and landing exclusive deals with the likes of Joe Rogan, Kim Kardashian, and Michelle Obama — the latter of which has already departed from the platform.

After the company reported a net loss of around $248 million for its first quarter this year, Spotify vowed that its era of big spending on podcasts is over and promised to operate more efficiently this year. It’s worth noting that while profitability remains a concern for Spotify, growth certainly isn’t — the company also reported that its platform attracts over half a billion monthly active users, a whopping 22 percent increase compared to last year. Paid subscribers also increased by 15 percent year over year, now sitting at around 210 million. The streaming giant still has a goal to hit 1 billion listeners by 2030, and its drive to procure original podcasting content, while expensive, may still prove to be a worthwhile investment.

WWDC 2023: all the news from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference

WWDC 2023: all the news from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Virtual reality, a bigger MacBook Air, updated OSes, and more are on the docket.

WWDC 2023 is going to be a big one for Apple. The company is rumored to be introducing its long-in-the-works VR headset, a super high-end model that’s meant to prove what its tech is capable of and why virtual reality might be a compelling future.

The conference is typically where Apple unveils the next versions of its many operating systems, and we’re expecting the same marathon of updates this year, too. Expect new features in macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS — plus the likely announcement of a new operating system designed for VR devices.

Alongside all of that, there’s also a chance we’ll see some new Macs, including a larger MacBook Air. There have also been rumors that Apple will make changes to open up its operating systems to comply with regulations in Europe, which could present major opportunities for developers.

This year’s conference is once again being held primarily online, but Apple is also hosting an in-person component at its Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, on opening day. The event kicks off on June 5th with a keynote presentation that’ll likely start at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. The presentation is once again being streamed online.

Google trials passwordless login across Workspace and Cloud accounts

Google trials passwordless login across Workspace and Cloud accounts

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Google has taken a significant step toward a passwordless future with the start of an open beta for passkeys on Workspace accounts. Starting today, June 5th, over 9 million organizations can allow their users to sign in to a Google Workspace or Google Cloud account using a passkey instead of their usual passwords.

Passkeys are a new form of passwordless sign-in tech developed by the FIDO Alliance, whose members include industry giants like Google, Apple, and Microsoft. Passkeys allow users to log in to websites and apps using their device’s own authentication, such as a laptop with Windows Hello, an Android phone with a fingerprint sensor, or an iPhone with Face ID, instead of traditional passwords and other sign-in systems like 2FA or SMS verification. Because passkeys are based on public key cryptographic protocols, there’s no fixed “sequence” that can be stolen or leaked in phishing attacks.

Image: Google

Google isn’t ditching passwords just yet, but Workspace and Cloud users can now use passkeys as an alternative sign-on method.

Passkey support for Workspace administrators, who have the authority to enable passkey sign-on within their organizations, will be gradually rolled out over the next few weeks. The ability to skip passwords is disabled by default and must first be enabled by administrators. Even when disabled, however, users will still be able to create and use passkeys for 2FA authentication.

It’s hoped that passkeys will eventually replace passwords entirely, but that’s going to take time. Adoption has been steady, though, with passkey support embraced by platforms like Apple and Microsoft and password managers like Dashlane and 1Password.

Today’s announcement follows passkey support being introduced to standard Google user accounts back in May. The Chrome web browser was also updated with passkey support in December, though passkeys can only be used on third-party sites and services that have rolled out their own support for the passwordless tech. That’s a relatively short list right now — 1Password is keeping track of which sites and services support passkeys if you want to stay up to date.

Major Reddit communities will go dark to protest threat to third-party apps

Major Reddit communities will go dark to protest threat to third-party apps

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Some of Reddit’s biggest communities including r/videos, r/reactiongifs, r/earthporn, and r/lifeprotips are planning to set themselves to private on June 12th over new pricing for third-party app developers to access the site’s APIs. Setting a subreddit to private, aka “going dark,” will mean that the communities taking part will be inaccessible by the wider public while the planned 48-hour protest is taking place.

As a Reddit post about the protest, that’s since been cross-posted to several participating subreddits, explains:

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren’t able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn’t something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.

A complete list of the hundreds of communities taking part (known in Reddit parlance as “subreddits”) includes dozens with over a million subscribers each.

Don't Let Reddit Kill 3rd Party Apps!
by u/Toptomcat in Save3rdPartyApps

The protest comes after the developers of several third-party Reddit apps have said the future of their services have been threatened by the company’s new pricing. The developer behind Apollo, for example, said that at its current rate of making 7 billion requests per month, it would need to pay $1.7 million for access to Reddit’s API, or $20 million a year. “I don’t see how this pricing is anything based in reality or remotely reasonable,” developer Christian Selig wrote. “I hope it goes without saying that I don’t have that kind of money or would even know how to charge it to a credit card.”

However, one of Reddit’s employees has argued that the new API charges should be affordable if third-party apps are efficient with the API calls they make. “Our pricing is $0.24 per 1000 API calls, which equates to <$1.00 per user monthly for a reasonably operated app,” they wrote. “Apollo as an app is less efficient than its peers and at times has been excessive — probably because it has been free to be so.”

But the developers behind other third-party Reddit apps have expressed similar concerns. Reddit is Fun said it would have to pay a figure “in the same ballpark” as Apollo to continue to operate and that it “does not earn anywhere remotely near this number.” The developer behind Narwhal said it will be “dead in 30 days” as a result of the charges.

The potential for third-party apps to cease operations is particularly problematic for subreddit moderators, who say they often rely on these tools to manage their communities. “In many cases these apps offer superior mod tools, customization, streamlined interfaces, and other quality of life improvements that the official app does not offer,” moderator BuckRowdy wrote in an open letter that’s since been co-signed by the moderators of numerous other subreddits. “The potential loss of these services due to the pricing change would significantly impact our ability to moderate efficiently.”

As well as the new API pricing, the open letter also raises concerns about the ability of third-party apps to show ads (a key source of revenue), and new restrictions that would prevent NSFW (not safe for work) content from being made available via the API.

Reddit has seen several protests like these throughout its history. In 2021, for example, hundreds of Reddit communities locked down to protest the site’s handling of a controversy around a former UK politician it had hired (Reddit later confirmed it had cut ties with the individual). Moderators took similar collective action the previous year in protest over Reddit’s hate speech policies.

Reddit’s planned changes to its API pricing come months after Twitter outright banned third-party clients and announced a much more restrictive pricing structure for access to its APIs. Reddit is reportedly planning to go public later this year, which could help explain the restructure fees for API access.

Check out Christian Selig’s interview with Snazzy Labs’ Quinn Nelson below for more background on the controversial changes.