Technology

dimanche 13 novembre 2022

LG C2 OLED TV review: you can’t go wrong

It’s far from the brightest TV out there, but as the sweet spot in LG’s lineup, the C2 combines stunning picture quality with an exhaustive list of features and terrific gaming prowess.

LG’s C2 OLED is a truly impressive 4K TV that provides impeccable picture quality and best-in-class gaming performance. Even though the higher-tier and more expensive G2 is LG’s flagship and offers a brighter display, the C2 is easier on your wallet and still delivers a viewing experience that can wow anyone sitting in your living room.

I reviewed the 65-inch C2, which costs $2,499 but is routinely on sale for much less. Thanks to those frequent discounts, the C-series has established itself as the sweet spot of LG’s lineup, and this feature-packed TV showcases everything the company has learned after years of manufacturing OLED sets. You can count on an engrossing image with unmatched blacks, striking contrast, and a surprising level of depth. There’s been a lot of buzz this year about the arrival of QD-OLED TVs, and while they do offer some noticeable picture benefits, the first sets from Samsung and Sony are pricier than the C2 — and neither can match LG’s comprehensive gaming chops.

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But one of the main improvements that LG has made to the C2 will be obvious long before you power it on. The most notable thing about this TV’s design is just how remarkably light it is. By switching to composite fiber materials, LG has reduced the heft in a big way. The 65-inch model I’ve been testing weighs 40.8 pounds with the stand or 36.6 pounds without. Stack that up against last year’s version, which came in at 71.9 pounds with the stand attached or 52.9 pounds without, and the difference is substantial. You’ll still want a helping hand when unboxing and setting up one of the larger-sized C2s, but that’s really only because of the screen’s width; the weight is entirely manageable now. The pedestal stand is also now lighter, narrower, and appreciably taller; my Sonos soundbar partially obstructed the screen with my old CX, but that’s not a problem thanks to this stand’s extra clearance.

A TV’s weight is the sort of thing you might never think about again after putting it on a media stand or mounting it, but the reduced heft should make for less strain on your wall in the latter scenario. Above all else, it’s just impressive engineering and a welcome change after years of weighty OLEDs that also happened to be very fragile. That combination often proved stressful, but the C2 felt much easier to unbox and maneuver by comparison. It comes in sizes ranging from 42 inches ($1,399) all the way up to a gargantuan 83-inch model ($5,499). Again, all of them are regularly on sale for significantly less. No matter how big or small you go, the TVs share the same features, and all have four HDMI ports.

A photo of the LG C2 OLED TV displaying a screensaver of the Earth. — *You’re not going to be paying any attention to the C2’s thin bezels.*

Elsewhere, the C2 takes after its sleek predecessors in overall design, but there are still noticeable upgrades. LG has managed to shave down the bezels to the point that they’re nearly imperceptible when the TV is powered on, keeping you fully immersed in whatever’s on the screen — be that a movie, game, or those gorgeous Apple TV screensavers that can often steal my attention for minutes at a time. The glossy glass panel can be prone to distracting reflections depending on the time of day or where the TV is positioned in a room; I missed the anti-glare coating of the TCL 6-Series and other TVs at times. But when the viewing conditions are right, LG’s chosen materials only enhance the richness and punch of the TV’s image.

A photo of LG’s C2 with a painting on the screen. — *The C2 has impeccable contrast and a surprising amount of depth to its image.*

As for the HDMI ports, all four are capable of 120Hz 4K gaming and the whole array of HDMI 2.1 features. It’s nice not having to be so precious about which device gets plugged into what port. Obviously, you’ll want to ensure your soundbar is running through the eARC HDMI port, but the rest provide ample flexibility. LG has been doing this for years, and while some TV makers are finally catching up and going full-bandwidth on every HDMI port, others like Hisense and TCL still limit some of the most important features (like 120Hz) to two ports instead of the whole lot.

Switch on the C2 using LG’s Magic Motion remote — yes, you can still use it like a Wii wand controller with motion controls if you want — and you’re greeted by the latest version of webOS. The company’s TV software switched to a full “homescreen” experience a couple years ago that’s more akin to Samsung’s Tizen and Vizio’s Smartcast OS. I preferred the less busy lower-third “blades” interface of older LGs, but I can’t fault the company for getting with the times. Navigating around webOS on the C2 is smooth and responsive, whether you’re browsing apps on the homescreen, using features like AirPlay 2, or toggling on smart lights through the Home Dashboard.

A photo of the remote control for LG’s C2 OLED TV. — *The remote hasn’t changed much; you can use the buttons or point it at the TV for an on-screen cursor. Backlit buttons would be nice.*

Unfortunately, webOS has grown very busy, bloated, and random in its current state. Are there a lot of features? Sure. The C2 supports Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and LG’s own voice assistant, as just one example. AirPlay 2 and HomeKit are also in there. But LG is trying to do too much, and it all feels messy. The top of the homescreen has seen some iteration and experimentation over the last few months, none of which has resulted in much progress. Initially, it was a hodgepodge of weather, tips for using the TV’s features, and ads.

Now there’s just a giant “webOS” logo in the top banner taking up a ton of room. Beneath that are trending recommendations mixed with blatant ads. Next is the App List — the section you’ll likely use most often — and then the Home Dashboard, which combines HDMI inputs and smart home device controls in the same row. After that, it’s row after row of forgettable cruft, and the overall experience feels thrown together and convoluted. Why is an entire row on the homescreen dedicated to the built-in web browser that I’ll never open? If I have no interest in LG’s sports alert carousel, there’s no way to hide or remove it; the best I can do is move it further down the screen. Even in the Apps List row, which is customizable, many of LG’s apps can’t be removed. And then there are repetitive rows of suggested content, some of them only featuring three or four items. There’s little rhyme or reason, and I’d love to see LG rein some of this in and give webOS greater focus and purpose in its next lineup of TVs. But I’m not optimistic.

A photo of ads on the LG C2 OLED TV. — *Life would be better without so many homescreen ads, LG.*

A photo of the different homescreen sections on LG’s C2 OLED TV. — *None of these sections can be hidden or deleted. You can only rearrange them.*

Thankfully, the TV’s actual settings menus remain similar to past years and are straightforward enough to find what you’re looking for. By default, LG enables energy-saving features that can dim the screen and keep the C2 from looking its very best, so you’ll want to turn those off as you explore the different picture modes and other settings. And if the haphazard layout or ads of webOS’ homescreen get on your nerves, you can always hook up a streaming player from Apple, Roku, Amazon, or Google and largely ignore the TV’s software beyond the basic menus.

But let me tell you: you’ll instantly forget any quibbles with the C2’s homescreen or default settings once you start watching a movie or TV. Simply put, this is the best picture quality you can get for the price. With HDR peaking at slightly over 800 nits, the C2 is perceptibly brighter than last year’s C1 (and certainly the CX I owned previously), even if it’s no match for Mini LED TVs like the TCL 6-Series and recent Hisense sets like the blindingly bright U8H. If your living room catches a ton of sunlight, it might make sense to go with those alternatives — or one of the QD-OLEDs I mentioned earlier, since their improved color brightness can make the whole image seem more radiant. LG’s flagship G2 also ups the total brightness beyond what the C2 is capable of with the help of an integrated heatsink.

A photo of the LG C2 OLED TV’s settings screen on the energy saving menu. — *You’ll want to turn off some of LG’s default settings to get the best picture quality.*

So it’s not going to win out in every scenario, but the C2 never left me wanting for more. It makes good on the dazzling contrast and inky blacks that OLEDs have long been known for. Colors are vibrant without going overboard, and HDR highlights pop with support for Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10, and HGiG. Watching Top Gun: Maverick on this thing is a special experience.

But there’s more to it than that. I’ve been genuinely impressed by how much depth and dimensionality the C2’s picture provides. I think this comes down to the way LG’s Alpha 9 Gen 5 chip separates the foreground subject from the background and optimizes the image processing of both. In the past, I’ve dismissed this sort of thing as a marketing gimmick, but I’m sold on it here. It’s not 3D by any stretch; the effect is subtle but adds just that little bit extra to the C2’s video fidelity. The quick response time of OLED panels can produce judder when watching movies and other 24fps content. If you’re sensitive to that kind of thing, LG’s Cinematic Movement toggle does a good job of smoothing things out without leaning too hard into the soap opera effect.

I don’t know many people who splurge on an OLED TV only to rely on its built-in speakers, but if you find yourself without a soundbar or surround system for a while, the C2’s audio output is better than tolerable. The company uses some AI tricks to maintain good balance at moderate volume levels, but don’t expect much in the way of bass. These speakers are fine as a stopgap, but you’ll want to pair the C2 with a better sound system to bring its audio experience up to par with its visual one.

A photo of LG’s C2 OLED TV playing Grand Theft Auto V with the gaming shortcuts bar displayed on the screen. — *The C2 is perhaps the best gaming TV on the market in 2022.*

When you hop over to a gaming console, LG automatically recognizes the hardware. Pressing the settings button on the remote brings up a gaming dashboard that displays the current frame rate, lets you dial in granular black level adjustments, or choose from picture presets based on the genre of the game you’re playing. The C2 exhibits wonderfully low input lag across all of its HDMI ports, and LG stands alone in supporting Dolby Vision gaming in addition to every incarnation of VRR you could want, including AMD FreeSync Premium, Nvidia G-Sync, and the open standard version. This TV is a perfect match for the PS5 and Xbox Series X and can get the most from this generation of consoles. Again, other TVs can go brighter, but the gaming experience isn’t always as consistent. Samsung has had some firmware growing pains with its S95B QD-OLED this year that have at times negatively affected brightness and gaming / VRR performance.

LG’s C2 is a phenomenal TV, and as we enter the holiday season, it’s already being discounted into very tempting territory at many retailers. But you can also still find big savings on last year’s C1, and there’s not a ton separating the two. The C2 gets slightly brighter and offers smoother day-to-day performance, but many of its best attributes can be found in last year’s model. LG is facing impressive competition from Samsung and Sony in the OLED TV space, but it’s still the heavyweight in this market with years of expertise. The C2 is all of that distilled into a beautiful, versatile, and shockingly light rectangle. You can get a very good TV for hundreds less, but few are as uncompromising.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge

Medibank: how hackers got your private health data

After hackers infiltrated Medibank’s systems last week, sensitive health data from their customers, including information about abortions and reproductive healthcare, was posted on the dark web. The Australian federal police say they have identified the hackers, who they believe are primarily based in Russia, and will work with Interpol to try and bring them to justice.

On this episode of Full Story, Josh Taylor tells Laura Murphy-Oates how the hack was pulled off, and what Medibank and Australian authorities are doing about the attack

Elon Musk scraps Twitter’s work from home policy

The announcement comes as three top security officials leave the company and employees are asked to ‘self-certify’ compliance

Elon Musk has scrapped Twitter’s work from home policy and ordered its staff back to the office, days after firing 3,700 employees.

The social media platform’s new owner told staff in an email, seen by the Guardian, that its “road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed”.

samedi 12 novembre 2022

UK government criticised for failing to protect children from online harm

Organisations representing young people express concern amid fears that manifesto pledges on internet safety are under threat

The government is facing mounting criticism from children’s organisations over its failure to protect young people from harmful material online, amid fears that key legislation promised in the Tory party’s 2019 election manifesto to strengthen internet safety could be under threat.

The Observer understands from sources close to the discussions that hugely controversial and sensitive changes to the online safety bill were to have been announced to parliament this week by the culture secretary, Michelle Donelan, after ministers across government had been consulted in recent days.

vendredi 11 novembre 2022

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX now worthless, says key investor

Firm valued at $25bn in 2021 suffered bank run-style crisis as investors rushed to withdraw money

The founder of the world’s second largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, has apologised for his company’s near-collapse this week, saying he “fucked up” in his calculations and in his communications during the crisis.

Sam Bankman-Fried, a billionaire and major donor to the US Democratic party who has lobbied Washington for tighter regulation of the crypto market, was speaking following a run on his Bahamas-headquartered FTX exchange.

What does a £100,000 ‘invisibility cloak’ look like? Funny you should ask …

Three years’ research and a lot of very expensive materials have gone into Steve and Nick Tidball’s thermal camouflage jacket. Can its wearer really blend into the background?

Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak arrived in a parcel for Christmas, with a note from Dumbledore: “Use it well.” Ron Weasley’s reaction was, as you might expect, to be insanely jealous. Who, after all, hasn’t dreamed of having the power of passing through the world without being seen?

Well, there might just be some good news for Ron and the rest of us. A pair of twins have created something very like an invisibility cloak. No, not the Weasley twins, but real-life brothers Steve and Nick Tidball. They call it the thermal camouflage jacket, and I’ve come to see it and Steve, in the offices of the brothers’ futuristic clothing company, hidden away behind a Travelodge in King’s Cross, London.

How are these fake Roblox and Ohio governor Twitter accounts still up?

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Over the past few days, Twitter has seemingly been doing everything in its power to stop a wave of verified accounts impersonating brands and public figures — including pausing the Twitter Blue signups that allow them to pop up in the first place, and bringing the “Official” grey check marks that were previously announced and then canned by Elon Musk.

And yet some high-profile impersonators have stuck around on the platform for hours or even days, flouting Musk’s rules by not having “parody” in their username. The tweets are getting more and more popular, increasing the danger for Twitter’s brand in the eyes of advertisers.

Let’s look at some of the accounts that are still up, at time of writing:

A tweet from @Roblox_US announces the addition of sex to the game popular with young adults. It’s been up since around 9AM ET on Thursday morning. An account pretending to be Coke (which is currently still active and verified) had a now-deleted post saying “If this gets 1000 retweets we will put cocaine back in Coca-Cola.” It got those retweets.

*A screenshot taken at 8:08PM ET on November 11th.*

An account parodying Ohio Governor Mike Dewine has also managed to escape a ban, despite its ten-hour old tweet with over 2,000 retweets announcing the governor’s plan for “eradicating the people of Columbus.”

To be clear, Twitter is cracking down on some of the accounts. While this article was being written, an account impersonating Senator Chuck Grassley was suspended, though it took almost a full day while one of its tweets garnered tens of thousands of likes. It was a similar situation with a fake Donald Trump account, which had multiple tweets with tens of thousands of likes and one with over 10,000 retweets, and didn’t mark itself as a parody anywhere.

Screenshot of a verified account, @GrassleychuckE, tweeting “been dead 4 years. iowa gop been doin a weekend at bernie’s w me. u kno” — *This tweet made it nearly 24 hours.*

Still, it’s bad for Twitter that these tweets stayed up for so long, especially the ones from fake brands. As of right now, the company relies on advertising as its main source of revenue. And advertisers have shown that they’re not huge fans of a platform that lets people convincingly impersonate them. There have been several very brand-unsafe viral tweets — perhaps one of the most infamous was someone impersonating pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, announcing that insulin was free.

The company’s official account later issued an apology that people were fooled by the faker. Both Eli Lilly and Lockheed Martin, which had an imposter of its own, have seen dramatic drops to their stock prices on Friday, though it’s impossible to say for sure if the tweets were even partially responsible for that.

Even Elon Musk’s companies haven’t been immune:

Tweet from @SpaceXOfficiall reading: “It is with a heavy heart that we announced that we will be ceasing all missions. We plan to funnel $240 million in outstanding government subsidies to groups dedicated to sustainable agriculture and ending World Hunger. We cannot look to other plants to solve our problems here.” It has over 4,000 retweets and 20,000 likes. — *The account behind this tweet has since been suspended, but it took a surprisingly long time for that to happen.*

On Thursday, Musk responded to someone talking about fake posts from Nintendo and President Joe Biden with two laughing emojis, as shown in this incredible compilation of impersonators (most of whom have since been banned, per Twitter’s policy). I doubt he’s laughing much today, though; Omnicom, one of the world’s biggest ad firms with clients like Apple, PepsiCo, and McDonalds, issued a memo advising its clients to hold off on advertising with Twitter for a bit.

Musk has since said that Twitter will be “adding a “Parody” subscript to clarify,” but it’s unclear whether accounts will have to mark themselves as parodies, or if Twitter itself will make that determination.

Disney is preparing to cut jobs, according to leaked memo from CEO

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Disney CEO Bob Chapek is predicting “some staff reductions” once the company reviews its spending, according to a leaked memo published by CNBC. The company will also reportedly freeze most hiring, only bringing on new employees for “the most critical, business-driving positions.”

If Disney does end up carrying out a round of layoffs, it’ll be far from the only one among the companies pushing streaming services. Dozens of workers have lost their jobs at Warner Bros. Television and HBO Max this year. Netflix has also laid off hundreds of employees this year while reporting slower subscriber growth but noted during the last earnings call that its business remains profitable, unlike its premium streaming competitors, which include Disney.

Chapek has predicted that the services will become profitable by the end of 2024.

So far, there aren’t any details about how many workers may be affected, as Disney will start by forming a “cost structure taskforce” to go through its finances. However, the prospect of layoffs loomed after its earnings call on Tuesday when CFO Christine McCarthy said Disney was “actively evaluating our cost base currently, and we’re looking for meaningful efficiencies.”

The company is tightening its belt in other ways, too, with Chapek’s memo telling employees to conduct business meetings virtually when they can to cut down on travel expenses.

Disney added millions of subscribers to its streaming services like Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, and Hulu last quarter. However, even after raising prices and prompting many people to choose a pricier bundle of entertainment services, it's still losing money on its direct-to-consumer business as it spends millions to create content that will keep the subscribers coming in. Last quarter, it lost around $1.5 billion on its streaming efforts — those slick Andor sets and costumes don’t come cheap.

Outside of entertainment, the tech world has seen some brutal cuts: Meta and Twitter have laid off thousands in the last week alone, while Amazon instituted a corporate hiring freeze, Over the last few months, Snap, Microsoft, and several crypto firms have also reduced their ranks.

You, too, can have a rad name like ‘Rainnfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson’

Rainn Wilson standing in front of Tribeca Festival logos. — NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 15: Rainn Wilson attends “Jerry & Marge Go Large” premiere during the 2022 Tribeca Festival. | Photo by Dominik Bindl/WireImage

Actor Rainn Wilson (you might know him as Dwight from The Office) had a grand scheme to bring his hilarious brand of climate advocacy to Twitter this week. That plan, however, was quickly thwarted — another victim of the name-changing drama that has flourished on the platform recently.

Wilson took to Twitter on Wednesday to announce he was changing his name on social media to “Rainnfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson.” “As a cheap little stunt to help save planet Earth I’ve changed my name on Twitter, Instagram, and even on my fancy writing paper,” Wilson said in a video. He points to a memo pad with scrawled changes to his printed name, so that it reads “Acid Rainn Kills Trees Wilson.”

Some 35 minutes later, Wilson tweeted, “P.S. THEY WON’T LET ME CHANGE MY NAME BECAUSE, ELON!”

Join me @ @ArcticBasecamp in bringing attention to the melting issue. We need world leaders to take action at COP 27!
The Arctic is melting at Millions of Liters per second, yet this problem can’t seem to make a name for itself, so we’ll make a name for it.
Go to link in bio ⬆️ pic.twitter.com/TgEG84fOmQ
— RainnWilson (@rainnwilson) November 9, 2022

Twitter also blocked me from changing my screen name to “Justine Dying from Heat Calma.” Best of luck to anyone trying to add your new name to the free-for-all on Twitter since Elon Musk gave users the power to verify themselves for $7.99 a month. After Jesus Christ and Donald Trump parodies popped up verified on Twitter, Musk has reportedly paused naming and verification privileges.

Luckily, there are alternatives. On Instagram, Wilson’s display name does read “Rainnfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson” in all caps. I might just go old-school and print myself a nametag instead.

A name tag that says “HELLO my ArcticRisk name is: Justine Dying From Heat Calma”

The wacky monikers come from a fun name generator at arcticrisk.org/name-generator. I typed in my cat’s name on the website, and he now goes by “Collapsing Economies Calma.” The tool was developed by Arctic Basecamp, which puts up a tent each year at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos to call attention to the ways climate change is transforming the Arctic. Wilson’s name change coincides with a United Nations climate conference taking place this month in Egypt.

The Arctic has warmed at a rate almost four times faster than the rest of the world. Those changes have even been linked to more extreme weather in the US, like the deadly cold snap in Texas in 2021. All around the world, climate change is driving more extreme weather — from severe droughts to more intense heat waves.

“Our mission at Arctic Basecamp is to raise awareness of the Global Risks of Arctic weather change. It’s not just bad news for the Arctic, but for us, too. So that’s why I changed my name and you should too,” Wilson says in his video.

Wilson also makes a compelling case for some other celebrities, including “Cardi the Arctic B melting” and “Samuel Earth’s getting hot as L. Jackson.”

Hot damn, the Surface Pro 9’s battery is easier to replace

A screen capture from iFixit’s Surface Pro 9 teardown video shows a blue surface with its screen removed and a set of hands motioning the battery module away from the chassis after having removed the screws. — *The battery in the Surface Pro 9 is now held by screws instead of adhesives, making it a cinch to swap.* | Image: iFixit

Microsoft’s Surface Pro 9 has a new and attractive design on the outside, but a new iFixit teardown shows that its insides are more inviting, too. The newest of the company’s 2-in-1s now has a screwed-in battery module as opposed to an adhered one. Between that and other components having become more modular over the years, repairability is actually achievable.

In the past, the most daunting part of previous Surface tablet repairs was just getting it open: the glass had little flex for prying and would easily crack when attempting to open it after it was heated. Now, as demonstrated in the iFixit video, we can see that the glass edges are a lot more forgiving against the force needed to lift it, making the adhesives easier to tear and remove the screen. iFixit is giving it a preliminary repairability score of seven out of 10.

Microsoft’s hardware repairability was at an all-time low in 2017 with the release of the Surface Laptop. It was called a “glue-filled monster” by iFixit, which couldn't take it apart without permanently damaging it — giving it a repairability score of zero. “This laptop is not meant to be opened or repaired; you can’t get inside without inflicting a lot of damage,” said iFixit at the time. It was a disastrous score for a company supposedly focused on sustainability.

But in 2019, Microsoft addressed repairability with the Arm-based Surface Pro X. That model introduced more modular components and ports than ever before and even had a removable SSD that could be accessed from behind the kickstand. Now, according to Ralf Groene, head of Windows and devices research and design, Microsoft is more firmly committed to making sure the laptops it sells can be repaired if something breaks. “The tradeoff was repairability for perfection and design,” Groene told The Verge last month. “We worked super hard to make it repairable later. I don’t know if I’d make that tradeoff again.”

And the last few years of Surface devices seem to back Groene up. These days, Surface laptops are a lot more repairable. Microsoft even teamed up with iFixit last year to design tools for repair technicians to use to fix Surface devices. The company also works with Best Buy to facilitate repairs, though it’s not determined if the big-box house of Geek Squad will start performing repairs on-site.

Which brings us back to the latest Surface Pro 9. For years, Microsoft and many of its competitors, including the far less repair-friendly Apple, have glued batteries directly into the chassis because it could produce a thinner and lighter laptop. But people don’t always want the thinnest and lightest laptop possible. Sometimes it’s okay to sacrifice a little thinness if it means you can replace the laptop’s battery without repeat use of a heat gun.

“Every opportunity that comes with repairability creates a challenge that you have to solve, like how can you be able to swap something out without really ruining the design,” Robin Seiler, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Windows and devices, told The Verge. Given Microsoft’s Surface contributed to a major renaissance in laptop design years ago, maybe the company’s embrace of repairable design will spark a new renaissance in the industry. Wouldn’t it be nice to just swap out your battery when it dies?

Additional reporting by Tom Warren

FTX assets frozen by Bahamas regulator as crypto exchange fights for survival

Founder Sam Bankman-Fried races to find funds to fill multibillion-dollar hole in exchange

The Bahamas securities regulator has frozen the assets of the Bahamas subsidiary of FTX, as the world’s second largest cryptocurrency exchange struggles for survival.

The Securities Commission of the Bahamas said on Thursday it had frozen the assets of FTX Digital Markets and related parties, as well appointing a liquidator for the unit.

jeudi 10 novembre 2022

Twitter reactivated the ‘Official’ gray check for accounts that are actually verified

A screenshot showing Twitter’s Verified checkmark and the new “Official” label. — *But is it officially official this time, or will it get axed again in a few hours? Vote now!* | Image: Twitter

Okay, so Twitter broke its own verification system by making the blue check — previously a signal that the account had provided information about its owner’s identity — available for purchase. Yesterday, which is approximately a month ago in Elon Musk time, a solution rolled out: gray checks that indicated that the account was official. By the end of the day, those checks had been rolled back.

Got all that? Great. After a great deal of impersonation, hoaxing, and other brand-unsafe behavior from the newly-purchased blue checks, the gray “official” checks are back.

Brands such as Coca-Cola, Twitter, Wired, and Ars Technica have the new-old gray checks (but not @Verge, which is, we promise, our real one, unlike this impostor account). This morning, Musk, Twitter’s new owner, said that there are too many “corrupt legacy Blue ‘verification’ checkmarks.”

Those “corrupt” checks were, of course, unpaid — unlike the ones that have been causing mayhem by imitating brands such as Nintendo, Eli Lilly, and Tesla. A blue check costs $7.99, as part of Twitter Blue, and Musk said it will be the “great leveler” when he got rid of the gray checks yesterday. Twitter product lead Esther Crawford (who is now sporting a Twitter Blue-purchased Verified stamp on her account) said earlier this week that the gray checks would return, with a focus on “government and commercial entities to begin with” instead of individuals.

Screenshot of a Nintendo tweet with both the blue verification check mark, and the grey “official” check and badge. — *A Nintendo imposter went viral on Wednesday.*

It’s also returning to media outlets like the New York Times, Ars Technica, and Wired.

Elon Musk details his plan to turn Twitter into a bank

A penny for your tweets. | Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge

Elon Musk seems intent on turning Twitter into a bank, complete with what he describes as a “high-yield money market account,” debit cards, checks, and loans. He described his plans during a last-minute meeting with staff today, and you can read a full transcript of that here.

Musk broached the topic of payments during his introduction, saying that “I think there’s this transformative opportunity in payments,” adding that the goal is “enabling people on Twitter to able to send money anywhere in the world instantly and in real-time. We just want to make it as useful as possible.” He said that the feature, along with “video content and compensating content creators” and improving search, is a “high priority.”

What will TaaPS (Twitter as a Payment Service) look like? Imagine if every verified Twitter user gets a balance, which they can use to send money to “anywhere in the system.” In theory, that could mean something like tipping other users or paying for paywalled video content, a feature that’s reportedly been floated at the company.

Twitter will set up a “high-yield money market account so that having a Twitter balance is the highest-yield thing that you can do,” according to Musk. Instead of traditional banks’ “complex and expensive” system of credit cards, savings and checking accounts, CDs, and the like, Musk says you’ll have “one balance on Twitter that can simply go positive or a negative.” He said this will let Twitter pay more in interest for positive accounts and charge less interest for accounts in the red.

For places that don’t accept Twitter payments, Musk says you’ll get a debit card tied to your balance and even traditional checks if you want them. “If you address all things that you want from a finance standpoint, then we will be the people’s financial institution,” he added. When an employee commented that it sounded like Musk wants to build a bank and asked if it would offer loans, the CEO responded: “well, if you want to provide a comprehensive service to people, then you can’t be missing key elements.”

In his speech, he makes the whole thing sound easy. “Payments really are just the exchange of information,” he said “from an information standpoint, [there’s] not a huge difference between, say, just sending a direct message and sending a payment.” He does admit, though, that there are legal hurdles to clear, and the company is looking to get a money transmitter license in Washington, according to a report from Platformer. The report also says that Esther Crawford, who has been in charge of rolling out the new Blue service, has been named CEO of Twitter Payments.

It’s worth pointing out that there’s a massive difference between storing user info and money. If your account gets hacked and your DMs are leaked, it could be a pretty bad day for you. If your bank gets hacked, you could wind up not being able to make rent.

Musk is no stranger to high-stakes enterprises — he also heads companies that sell cars and launch rockets, both of which can be deadly if done wrong. But Tesla and SpaceX have a lot of things Twitter doesn’t have right now. Namely, executives and employees in charge of safety. Musk just laid off almost half the company, which affected core engineering teams, and there have already been some cracks starting to show that may be a result of that. Also, I might not want to navigate the legal and ethical red tape of starting a bank if my chief privacy officer, chief information security officer, and chief compliance officer had all just resigned.

While it’s hard to imagine the average Twitter user actually wants to use the platform as a bank, the idea isn’t completely out of the blue. Musk has said before that he wants to turn Twitter into “X, the everything app,” similar to China’s WeChat. (“Everything” does, in fact, include banking services.) Musk also has a history with banking, as he helped found PayPal, a fact one employee referenced when asking about the company “embarking on a payments journey almost from scratch.”

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has also built a successful payments company called Block, which is behind the Square payment platform and Cash App.

The $50 TinyTV 2 will let you channel surf on a one-inch screen

A GIF featuring Tiny Circuits’ TinyTV 2 — GIF: Tiny Circuits

What is this, a television for ants? Basically yes! The TinyTV 2, a Kickstarter project from the company that brought us an even smaller Game Boy, is one of the smallest and cutest video players I’ve ever seen. While it doesn’t have a set of rabbit ears to harness the airwaves, the one-inch 216x135-pixel television is authentic in practically every other way — dials to adjust “channel” and volume, a working speaker and power button, even an infrared receiver for a tiny optional remote control (via Technabob).

There’s a two-hour lithium-ion battery so you can take it on the go and a USB-C port for charging and data. It’s all powered by a Raspberry Pi RP2040 computer. And — get this — it emulates the experience of “changing channels” by remembering your timestamp in each of the video files you preload on its included 8GB micro SD card, so it can seem like you’re surfing live television.

And because that’s clearly not small enough, the company’s offering a TinyTV Mini as well, which shrinks down the idea into a volume of just one cubic inch. It’s got a 0.6-inch OLED screen (instead of IPS) at just 64 x 64 pixels and a single hour of battery life.

Both are currently available to back at Kickstarter for $50 each, and both come with an app that’ll shrink your favorite video files down to the appropriate resolutions.

Tested’s Norman Chan has a great video showing off the original Tiny TV alongside both of the new versions, and you can see how much clearer the TinyTV 2 looks and sounds.

Assuming the Kickstarter campaign doesn’t run into any wrinkles — the Thumby seems to have gone well, shipping over 10,000 units and now freely on sale — this could be an easier way to live the tiny TV dream than rolling your own mini Simpsons CRT. I just funded it myself; I think it’ll be a great home for anime music videos.

Here are a couple more pictures of the TinyTV Mini:

Tiny Circuits’ earlier Game Boy-for-ants inspired another project we recently featured on The Verge, by the way: these working Lego computer bricks with actual computers and screens within.

Amazon’s next-generation Prime Air delivery drone can fly further and through ‘light’ rain

A rendered version of the MK30 drone. | Image: Amazon

Amazon is building a better drone that should help chart a course for the company’s Prime Air delivery service after the project was reportedly hampered by multiple malfunctions, crashes, and even fires. The new MK30 drone will go into service in 2024 and is designed to be quieter, go further, and handle the elements better, like high temperatures and light rain.

The new drone has the same function and goal as its predecessor designs: fly vertically hundreds of feet into the air, autonomously maneuver and land, and deliver packages up to five pounds. The MK30 will be lighter and smaller than the current hexagonal MK27-2 drone, and it will be put through “rigorous evaluation by national aerospace authorities like the Federal Aviation Administration to prove its safety and reliability,” as written in a press release.

*Amazon testing drone components in a wind tunnel.*

Amazon isn’t giving up on its decade-long efforts to widely launch its Prime Air drone delivery service; the company announced in July that its next test site will be College Station, Texas, where it’s partnering with the city and Texas A&M University doing test flights with its current drone prototype, the MK27-2.

Still, the company faces many hurdles, including approval from the FAA, and is still a long way away from its 2013 goal of operating a 30-minute delivery service straight over your roof.

This comes at a time Amazon’s devices unit is facing billions of dollars in operating losses, and the company is looking to find areas to cut costs, which may include slowing the development of new features for its popular Alexa AI assistant. The company is now evaluating how to optimize costs, and we don’t yet know if Prime Air can get more hang time.

Exodus continues at Twitter as Elon Musk hints at possible bankruptcy

Departures of top figures handling safety, security, privacy and compliance come amid warnings from Federal Trade Commission

As Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter entered its third week, and following mass layoffs, the billionaire laid bare a delicate financial future for the social media platform, amid an exodus of top privacy and security executives.

Yoel Roth, the head of safety and integrity who had been deputized to publicly address concerns advertisers and users had about the platform, is reportedly the latest to leave the company.

The best Black Friday deals you can already get at Best Buy

LG’s A2 OLED in a marketing image showcasing a colorful chromatic pattern. — LG

November is well underway, and we’re getting closer to the big rush of Black Friday deals. Best Buy was one of the first retailers to debut holiday deals at the end of October, giving shoppers an extended window to shop some great deals. It came out swinging with several good deals, though sadly, most of them came to an end — at least, a temporary one. It’ll add more price cuts once actual Black Friday comes around on the day after Thanksgiving in the US. Barring some items selling out, many of the deals you’ll find below should last through Black Friday.

A few important things to note from Best Buy’s frequently asked questions page: it isn’t offering rain checks on Black Friday deals that sell out, though its great price-matching policy will remain in effect on items until Thursday, November 17th, and won’t be in effect through Cyber Monday, which is November 28th. For items purchased between now and the end of the year, you have until January 14th to return them for a refund, which is great. And finally, you can request a price match on an item you purchased at any point within that return window if you notice Best Buy lowers its list price.

The best early Black Friday deals at Best Buy

LG’s 48-inch A2 OLED TV might be the perfect way to dip your toe into the wonderfully vibrant world of OLED displays. At Best Buy, you can get this model for $569.99 ($730 off the normal price). You’ll get a fantastic picture with the A2, though it’s not the ideal OLED for most gamers. Unlike the pricier C2, the A2 lacks LG’s brighter Evo-branded panel, and its refresh rate is capped at 60Hz.
If you want a 48-inch OLED that does have a faster refresh rate, Sony’s Bravia A9S is $799.99 ($200 off), though this deal isn’t guaranteed to last.
For those who want a slightly bigger budget-focused TV that doesn’t leave stellar picture quality behind, check out TCL’s 55-inch 6-Series. It may not have the per-pixel control that makes an OLED such a treat to gaze upon, but its Mini LED backlights allow for surprisingly rich brightness and contrast for its $599.99 price. Plus, it has Google TV built in, so it’s like using a Google Chromecast without having to buy additional hardware. Read our review.

This 27-inch HP Omen gaming monitor that has a 1440p IPS display with a fast 165Hz refresh rate is just $249.99 (was $399.99). It has some subtle lighting around its back, and its DisplayPort and HDMI video inputs are positioned at an angle that should make it easier to plug in your gear. In terms of variable refresh rate support, this one has AMD FreeSync and is Nvidia G-Sync-compatible. If you don’t mind not having G-Sync compatibility, this bigger 31.5-inch HP QHD monitor with a 165Hz refresh rate is even cheaper at $229.99 (was $389.99).
Best Buy has the lavender color scheme of Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 wireless earbuds for $89.99, down from $120. My colleague Chris Welch said in his review that these are so good that more people should just get this model instead of paying more for the Galaxy Buds Pro. Read our review.

So long as you don’t mind getting a last-generation product, the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and an 11th-Gen Intel Core i7 processor costs $899.99, and it comes with a black Type Cover. This bundle normally costs $1,349.99. There might be a slight performance difference between this and the newer Surface Pro 9 we just reviewed, but the Surface Pro 8 has plenty of redeeming features, including a 120Hz refresh rate screen. Here’s our review of the Surface Pro 8.

mercredi 9 novembre 2022

Biden says Elon Musk’s connections to other countries 'worthy of being looked at'

President had been asked if he thought the new Twitter boss was a threat to US national security

Joe Biden thinks Twitter boss Elon Musk’s relationships with other countries is “worthy of being looked at”.

Biden was asked at a news conference on Wednesday whether he thought Musk was a threat to national security and if his acquisition of Twitter with help from a Saudi Arabian conglomerate should be investigated by the US government.

Reuters contributed to this report

L.A. Drops Criminal Charges Against Election Software Executive

L.A. Drops Criminal Charges Against Election Software Executive Eugene Yu was accused of illegally sending data about poll workers to China, in a case that became fodder for election deniers.

Mario flipped off Twitter for nearly two hours with the blessing of Musk’s ‘verification’

A picture of Nintendo character Mario holding up his middle finger — Image: “nIntendoofus” on Twitter

Twitter verification used to mean “Twitter has checked you are who you say you are.” As of this morning, the only thing it means is that you’re coughing up eight dollars to join the club because Elon Musk decided that anyone can buy a “verified” check mark without any verification at all.

In the hours since, some hilarity has ensued.

Can't imagine why all the advertisers are pulling out of Twitter lmao pic.twitter.com/pg55WXkxhS
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 9, 2022

*“LeBron James” says he’s officially requesting a trade away from the Lakers.*

This is why Elon Musk’s plan doesn’t work” writes Fake Trump — *“Donald Trump” points out why Elon Musk’s verification system is flawed.*

*Neon Prime is a phrase Valve trademarked, but it’s probably not for a return of its disc-throwing game Ricochet.*

Jesus Christ, an existing parody account on Twitter, was also able to get verified:

Our sister site SB Nation is following what’s happening to Sports Twitter right now: Aroldis Chapman, Connor McDavid, and others are being impersonated as well. Snopes even felt the need to run an article about how the Raiders’ Josh McDaniels wasn’t actually fired.

A brand new parody Twitter account that paid for verification and chose the display name of ESPN's Adam Schefter tweeted Josh McDaniels was fired. The credible-looking tweet received nearly 10,000 engagements. Twitter suspended the account after two hours. https://t.co/diegQfkpA1
— Jordan Liles (@jordanliles) November 9, 2022

Twitter is already taking action on some of these accounts: fake Nintendo, fake Trump, fake Valve, and fake LeBron have had their accounts suspended, for example. (Mario was up for roughly two hours, Valve for even longer.) Others are still around. The company says it is “aggressively going after impersonation and deception.” But it seems like it’ll be a game of whack-a-mole.

We’re not currently putting an “Official” label on accounts but we are aggressively going after impersonation and deception.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 9, 2022

While Musk has claimed that this new system will deter spammers, it’s now crystal clear how it can empower fake news — though users can still check to see why an account was verified if they click or tap on the badge instead of blindly retweeting.

Well now you can tell if someone earned a check mark or bought it. Not Twitter calling folks out pic.twitter.com/T82GA6hKmF
— iamBrandon The Game Awards (@iamBrandonTV) November 9, 2022

Twitter also briefly attempted a two-tier check mark system this morning, but Musk “killed it” after just a few hours.

After Election, Cautious Optimism That Few False Narratives Took Hold

After Election, Cautious Optimism That Few False Narratives Took Hold Researchers who study disinformation said most efforts to stoke doubt about results had failed to spread widely.

Using vibrations to control a swarm of tiny robots

Using vibrations to control a swarm of tiny robots Vibrating tiny robots could revolutionize research.

Medibank hacker says ransom demand was US$10m as purported abortion health records posted

Post on blog linked to Russian ransomware group says it offered ‘discount’ ransom to health insurer of US$9.7m, or $1 for each customer’s data

The hacker behind the cyber-attack on Medibank set a US$10m price on not releasing the data, they claimed, alongside a new leak of apparently hacked records that purports to contain abortion health information.

In the early hours of Thursday on a dark web blog linked to the REvil Russian ransomware group, the attacker posted that they initially sought US$10m from Medibank, then reduced the price.

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mardi 8 novembre 2022

Networks Urge Caution on a Chaotic Midterm Night

Networks Urge Caution on a Chaotic Midterm Night “Wait for more votes,” warned CNN’s John King, as wary anchors tried to avoid any predictions that might go awry.

Elon Musk offloads another $3.9 billion in Tesla shares

Elon Musk on a blue background — Wow! More stock sales | Laura Normand / The Verge

Elon Musk has sold another $3.4 billion in Tesla shares, according to a series of forms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. Musk has offloaded almost $20 billion in Tesla shares this year, mostly to finance his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

Musk sold $8.4 billion in shares in April and another $6.9 billion in August. After his sales in April, he tweeted, “No further TSLA sales planned after today.” Then after the sales in August, he again said that he was done selling, and that those shares were offloaded in case he had to buy Twitter — at the time, he was embroiled in a lawsuit for attempting to back out of the deal.

Twitter has been struggling. Some major advertisers have paused spending on Twitter because of the change in control. A top ad exec, Sarah Personette, quit the day after Musk took over. Musk met with some advertisers himself, and the result was so bad that some execs shifted spending away from Twitter during the meeting, Vox Media’s Kara Swisher reported. Some of Musk’s comments and actions around moderation on Twitter have made advertisers particularly skittish. Twitter isn’t profitable and relies on advertising for the vast majority of its revenue. It will also have to pay roughly $1 billion a year in interest on the debt Musk took out in order to buy it.

One way Musk can make sure his loans are paid, regardless of Twitter’s advertising business, is to pay them himself. William Cohan at Puck has suggested that Musk paying the interest himself is a likely outcome. But to do that, Musk needs cash, and to get cash, he has to sell Tesla shares.

Twitter to offer ‘official’ label for select verified accounts

Company executive says governments, companies, media outlets and public figures will receive label, which is not for sale

Twitter will introduce an “official” label for select verified accounts when it launches its new $8 Twitter Blue service, Esther Crawford, the company’s early stage products executive, said on Tuesday.

“Accounts that will receive [the label] include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures,” Crawford tweeted.

Apple is apparently working on a new ‘streamlined’ accessibility mode for iOS

The iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max — *Your homescreen could look different with the new mode.* | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Apple is working on a brand new “Custom Accessibility Mode” for iOS, according to evidence found by 9to5Mac in the second iOS 16.2 developer beta. The company apparently says this mode offers a “customizable, streamlined way to use your iPhone and iPad,” which seems to mean you’ll be able to adjust some settings to make your iOS devices easier to use.

With the new mode, “users will be able to set things like UI and larger text, apps available on the Home Screen, allowed contacts, and access to hardware buttons for when Custom Accessibility Mode is enabled,” 9to5Mac reports. In screenshots shared by the outlet, you can see how the mode enables things like much larger app icons, a big back button, and a simpler UI in the Messages app.

Screenshots of Apple’s in-development Custom Accessibility Mode. — *With Custom Accessibility Mode, you might be able to drastically change iOS to make it easier to use.*

If it’s released, Custom Accessibility Mode would add to iOS’s already impressive suite of useful accessibility features, but unfortunately, we don’t know when the mode will actually be available. 9to5Mac says it found Custom Accessibility Mode “under the hood” of the second iOS 16.2 beta and that it’s not something people on the beta update can actually use right now, which could point to the feature arriving much later in the future. Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Twitter’s solution for ruining verification is another check mark

Twitter is rolling out another type of check mark to help distinguish accounts that users actually need to know are real. Although you can pay $7.99 per month for a blue check mark with the new version of Twitter Blue, select accounts for governments, companies, or public figures will get a gray “Official” check mark, according to a thread from Twitter’s Esther Crawford, who is heading up the new Twitter Blue initiative.

“A lot of folks have asked about how you’ll be able to distinguish between @TwitterBlue subscribers with blue checkmarks and accounts that are verified as official, which is why we’re introducing the ‘Official’ label to select accounts when we launch,” Crawford says.

Not all previously verified accounts will get the “Official” label and the label is not available for purchase. Accounts that will receive it include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures.
— Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) November 8, 2022

“Accounts that will receive it include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures,” according to Crawford. Being previously verified doesn’t automatically mean you’ll get the new “Official” label, and you can’t buy the new label, meaning Twitter will be the one making the call on who gets to have it. (Perhaps people will be able to request to be verified, because that idea definitely didn’t cause any problems for Twitter in the past.)

Crawford shared a screenshot of the label on the profile page for the @Twitter account, but it’s not actually on the account yet, which isn’t too surprising given that Twitter Blue is reportedly launching on November 9th. And it’s unclear if the label will only be visible if you click through to a profile; hopefully there will be some way to easily see it while scrolling your timeline, where it will be a lot more useful.

Since Musk announced that the $8 per month Twitter Blue would include verification, there have been concerns that the blue check marks (which, technically, are white) would no longer be useful for their main job: preventing impersonation. Musk himself has since been the victim of this and announced that anyone impersonating an official without clearly identifying themselves as a parody would be permanently banned.

However, that tactic is reactive instead of proactive; if someone is set on spreading misinformation, they’d potentially have the opportunity to do so before moderators could step in. The company seems to understand this at some level, given the new check mark and its recent decision to delay the new verification system’s rollout until after the US midterm elections, which are being held on Tuesday.

Mark Zuckerberg confirms layoffs to begin at Meta – report

Parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram is among others in the tech industry to suffer a severe slowdown

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed to executives that the company will begin laying off employees on Wednesday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Zuckerberg addressed hundreds of executives at the company on Tuesday morning, foreshadowing large cuts. He mentioned recruiting and business teams as groups that would see layoffs, according to the WSJ, adding an internal announcement of the company’s layoff plans is expected around 6am eastern time on Wednesday.

lundi 7 novembre 2022

Nanoleaf is now for squares

A computer monitor on a desk in a living room. The monitor is framed by colored LED light bars on one side. — *Nanoleaf’s new Lines Squared were released this week.* | Image: Nanoleaf

Nanoleaf’s flexible smart LED light bars have a new angle. The $99.99 Nanoleaf Lines Squared is a new take on the Nanoleaf Lines, adding the option of a 90-degree angle to the backlit modular smart lighting product.

Using new square mounting connectors, Nanoleaf Lines Squared can create linear or squared designs, so you can make your lighting designs go around door frames, windows, or any other square-shaped space you want to light up. You can also now create square designs, and mix and match those with the original Lines’ angles. Lines Squared are available to pre-order starting this week at go.nanoleaf.me.

The original Nanoleaf Lines use 60-degree connectors that give you six angles; the new connectors give you four. The connectors can be combined and are backward-compatible with existing Lines products.

*Nanoleaf Lines Squared work with the Nanoleaf app, Apple Home, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa.*

The Lines Squared LED light bars appear to be the same product as the original Lines, just packaged with the new squared connectors. They come in a four-pack, compared to the Lines that come with nine. You can buy expansion packs with three extra Lines for $69.99.

The Nanoleaf Lines work over Wi-Fi with the Nanoleaf app, where you can set schedules for automated lighting and design or use pre-set lighting scenes. A built-in Rhythm Music visualizer lets you sync the lights with music, and a desktop Screen Mirror app allows you to connect the lighting to your PC for more immersive gaming or movie watching.

*Nanoleaf’s Lines can be used as home decor. They offer white light as well as full-color options.*

The new Lines Squared work with Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Samsung SmartThings and are a Thread border router. This means it can connect other compatible Thread products — such as Nanoleaf’s Essentials lighting line (both old and new) — to your Thread network and to the internet. Thread is a local, IP-based mesh protocol that claims to be faster and more reliable than other smart home wireless protocols.

Thread is also an underlying protocol for the new smart home standard Matter. Lines are not Matter compatible at present, but as a Thread border router, they can “route” Thread-enabled Matter devices over a Thread network.

US justice department seizes bitcoins worth more than $3bn stolen a decade ago

A search of James Zhong’s Georgia home uncovered 50,000 bitcoins found on a circuit board in the bottom of a popcorn tin

The United States is seeking the forfeiture of more than $1bn in bitcoin stolen from the Silk Road online marketplace, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Monday.

In the second largest seizure in US Department of Justice history, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents obtained the 50,000 bitcoins during a November 2021 search of the defendant James Zhong’s home in Gainesville, Georgia.

Greece to Ban Sale of Spyware After Government Is Accused of Surveillance

Greece to Ban Sale of Spyware After Government Is Accused of Surveillance Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the ban after a news report claimed that he had directed the use of spyware against prominent politicians and journalists, which he denied.

Amazon says it has ‘hundreds’ of Rivian electric vans making deliveries in the US

Rivian Electric Delivery Van for Amazon — The deadline to deliver 100,000 electric vans has been pushed to 2030.

Amazon’s fleet of Rivian-made electric delivery vans is growing. Since first rolling out earlier this year, the retail giant’s new zero-tailpipe emission vehicles have made more than 5 million deliveries in the US, with its fleet-size exceeding 1,000 EDVs (electric delivery vans).

That’s still only a fraction of the company’s overall transportation fleet, which is comprised 30,000 Amazon-branded delivery vehicles and 20,000 branded trailers. But the electric-portion is growing, with Rivian eventually expecting to deliver 100,000 vans to the company.

Starting in July, the EDVs first rolled out in Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Nashville, San Diego, and Seattle. Since then, they’ve been put into service in a bunch of new cities, including Austin, Boston, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Madison, Newark, New York, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Portland, Provo, and Salt Lake City.

The vans have been making their way into Amazon’s service, as Rivian’s manufacturing pace slowly accelerates. The EV company said it made 7,363 R1T pickup trucks, R1S SUVs, and EDVs during the three-month period that ended on September 30 — though it didn’t say how much of each. Rivian also said it delivered 6,584 vehicles during the same span. (The company is expected to report its third quarter earnings later this week.)

Of course, supply chain woes and inflation, as well as other hurdles, have conspired to stymie Amazon and Rivian’s goals of an electrified delivery fleet. When then-CEO Jeff Bezos announced a deal with the EV startup in 2019 to buy 100,000 vans, he said they should be on the road by 2024. Now, Amazon projects to hit 100,000 vans on the road by 2030.

“We’re always excited for the holiday season, but making deliveries to customers across the country with our new zero-emission vehicles for the first time makes this year unique,” said Udit Madan, vice president of Amazon Transportation. “We’ve already delivered over 5 million packages with our vehicles produced by Rivian, and this is still just the beginning—that figure will grow exponentially as we continue to make progress toward our 100,000-vehicle goal.”

Twitter launches $8 blue tick subscription service

Twitter Blue offers status marks formerly used to validate VIP accounts, with more features ‘coming soon’

Twitter has launched a subscription service allowing users to buy blue-tick verification for a monthly fee of $7.99 (£7) in a significant change under its new owner, Elon Musk.

The system was designed to help users identify authentic and influential users on the platform, including government figures, sports stars, entertainment figures, journalists, brands and organisations.

Devialet brings its sci-fi design aesthetics to a $790 portable speaker

The Devialet Mania speaker. — *The speaker maintains the sci-fi aesthetic that Devialet is known for.* | Image: Devialet

Devialet, the French audio company best known for its lineup of eye-catching audio gear that looks like Daft Punk helmets, is getting into the portable smart speaker business. Today, it’s announcing the Devialet Mania, a battery-powered speaker that retains the company’s signature sci-fi stylings but in a compact form factor that it says offers 10 hours of battery life at “moderate volumes.”

The Mania includes four full-range drivers and two sub-woofers, which Devialet says offer 360-degree sound. But perhaps more interesting is how the speaker adjusts its sound profile based on measurements of your listening space it takes from its four microphones. Place the speaker up near a wall, for example, and Devialet claims the speaker’s two rear drivers will adjust their sound to “reinforce” the front two drivers.

Devialet Mania speaker on charging stand. — *The speaker with its optional $100 charging stand.*

Side of Devialet Mania speaker — *There’s also a USB-C port for charging.*

In terms of connectivity, the speaker supports both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth streaming. Protocols include AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect, and there’s built-in Alexa for voice commands. It’s got an IPX4 rating for dust and water resistance, which should mean it’ll survive a light splash of water, but Devialet makes no claims about it being protected from solid particles like dust or sand. There’s a USB-C port for charging or a docking station available separately.

The Devialet Mania is going on sale from today starting at an eye-watering $790. But if it sounds anywhere near as good as the company’s recently released soundbar, then that could go some way toward justifying this hefty premium over other similarly portable smart speakers. For comparison, Sonos’ portable Roam speaker offers a choice of Alexa or Google Assistant and retails for $179.

dimanche 6 novembre 2022

Apple reportedly wants to swap the ‘Hey Siri’ trigger phrase for just ‘Siri’

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple’s looking to change Siri’s trigger phrase from “Hey Siri,” to just “Siri,” according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. This means you would just need to say “Siri” followed by a command to activate the smart assistant.

As noted by Gurman, Apple’s been working on this feature for the past several months and is expected to roll it out next year or in 2024. But Apple will have to put in a “significant amount of AI training and underlying engineering work,” to get the feature to function properly, as the smart assistant will need to understand the single wake word in multiple accents and dialects. The current, two-word trigger phrase, “Hey Siri,” increases the chance of Siri picking up on it.

Switching to a single wake word could help Siri keep up with Amazon’s Alexa, as it already lets users activate the smart assistant using just “Alexa” instead of “Hey Alexa.” It would also put Siri one step ahead of Google Assistant, which requires the “Ok Google” or “Hey Google” phrases to activate it (although you don’t have to repeat the wake word when saying back-to-back commands). Even Microsoft made the shift from “Hey Cortana” to “Cortana” on smart speakers before shutting down the voice assistant last year.

The shorter trigger phrase isn’t the only change expected to come to Siri. According to Gurman, Apple could further integrate Siri into third-party apps and services, while also making some improvements to its ability to understand and process users’ requests. Apple recently made some small tweaks to the voice assistant, adding a new voice recorded by a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and introducing a new Siri activation sound.