Technology

samedi 3 juin 2023

If Apple wants its headset to win, it needs to reinvent the app

Illustration by Hugo Herrera for The Verge

If Apple’s mixed reality headset is going to succeed, it’s going to be because of the apps. On Monday, Apple will take the stage at its 2023 Worldwide Developers Conference to talk about FaceTime and Apple Books and all the other cool built-in stuff you’ll be able to do with its ski goggles strapped to your face. But if it can’t get third-party developers on board, and those developers don’t figure out how to build life-changingly great stuff for those goggles, the Reality Pro (or whatever it’s called) doesn’t stand a chance.

Apple knows this better than anyone, of course. The iPhone took off when apps like Instagram and Uber showed what you could do with a camera and a GPS in your pocket. The iPad became a creative tool because creative people kept building cool stuff to do on such a huge touchscreen. And developers at places like Nike and Strava did more to make the case for the Apple Watch than Apple’s Walkie Talkie app and weird heartbeat-sending thing ever did. Apple’s product strategy for 15 years has been to make the coolest gadget it can, show it to developers, and ask them what they think.

To make the headset really work, though, Apple’s going to need more than just apps. Because a good headset is more than just a big screen; it’s a new way of interacting with a gadget and with apps. That means that 15 years after the launch of the App Store, when Apple turned the iPhone into the app machine it is now, it’s going to have to reboot the whole idea of what an app is and how it works. And it won’t be easy.

An ocean of icons

By and large, every app is a universe unto itself. The whole structure of the app ecosystem is such that the first step of every process is to open an app. There’s no command line equivalent through which you can execute tasks across the whole system; even things like search work far better in apps than across all of iOS.

Apple has been trying to change this for years. Every year, almost without fail, Apple has a Big New Idea About Apps. At WWDC, in addition to all the changes to Reminders and new locations for URL bars in Safari, Apple nearly always tries to change the way you interact with apps and they interact with each other. Want proof? Here’s an incomplete list of the Big New Ideas About Apps Apple has shown off at WWDC since the iPhone launched:

2008 (iPhone OS 2.0): The App Store
2009 (iPhone OS 3.0): In-app purchases, push notifications
2010 (iOS 4): Multitasking
2011 (iOS 5): The notification center
2012 (iOS 6): Siri, the share sheet
2013 (iOS 7): Lock screen notifications, Spotlight search
2014 (iOS 8): Continuity, Handoff, widgets
2015 (iOS 9): 3D Touch, Proactive Intelligence
2016 (iOS 10): iMessage App Store
2018 (iOS 12): Shortcuts
2020 (iOS 14): App Clips, homescreen widgets
2021 (iOS 15): Focus modes
2022 (iOS 16): Lock screen widgets, Live Activities, Dynamic Island

If you squint a little, you can see the larger vision here. Apple imagines an app ecosystem in which data flows freely between devices: you take a picture here, edit it there, share it over there, save it in that place, all with a few drags and drops. It wants to make apps work between and across your devices. You should be able to access your apps and the data inside them from just about anywhere on your device. In Apple’s wildest dreams, apps aren’t each their own universe; they’re like stars in a solar system, each one part of a larger coherent thing.

A few of Apple’s own apps are good examples of how this could work. Wallet pulls all your tickets and boarding passes from other apps into one place, no matter where they came from. Home aggregates your many devices across many ecosystems and lets you run your whole smart home in one place. Files provides a file storage system that is theoretically available to any app anywhere. Live Photos and Live Text are system-level features, not apps you have to open just to accomplish a single task.

But when it comes to the rest of the App Store, what have we actually gotten out of all those big ideas? Shortcuts are hugely useful but far too complicated for most users; Siri is mostly just annoying; App Clips and iMessage apps never really took off; I have yet to see an app that makes actual use of the Dynamic Island; 3D Touch is already long gone. In 15 years, for all intents and purposes, apps have only really fundamentally changed in one way: thanks to push notifications and widgets, they can now send you information without needing you to open the app.

A photo of an iPhone 14 Pro showing a music player in the Dynamic Island. — *The Dynamic Island hasn’t yet turned into a staple of great apps.*

To some extent, it’s just business. Many developers prefer to keep users inside their app as long as possible to juice ad impressions and increase engagement. And Apple certainly has little incentive to blow up the app model as long as it keeps taking a hefty cut of everyone’s subscription fees. “I think they’ve tried to approach stuff like, ‘Hey, here’s a new platform. We’re not just going to put a grid of apps on it. What’s the next level of that?’” says Ryan Jones, a developer of the popular Flighty app. “And so far the magnetic pull of apps has pulled them back towards a grid of apps.”

Maybe that’s why, when I asked a bunch of developers what they’re looking for at this year’s WWDC, their answers were so straightforward. “Most of my wishlist things are more pragmatic and practical,” said Greg Pierce, who builds apps like Drafts and Tally through his company, Agile Tortoise. He said he tries not to even make a wishlist anymore — better to just wait and see.

Pierce and a few others said they’re most hoping to see improvements in SwiftUI, Apple’s cross-platform development system. “Actually writing cross platform code with it is painful,” Pierce said. “You end up having to branch a lot of logic to work one way on one platform and one on the other, stuff that could be improved.” Marcos Tanaka, who builds apps like Play and MusicHarbor, echoed the sentiment. “It is a fantastic framework that has genuinely improved my experience developing for Apple platforms,” he said. “Still, sometimes I stumble upon some bugs and limitations that get in the way, so SwiftUI improvements are always welcome.”

The iPhone in particular is such a mature platform that it’s almost risky to try new things. There are so many users, with so much history and muscle memory, that developers might be foolish to try and break paradigms. Even the platform itself makes it hard to move forward. “You’re deploying an app that has to be backward-compatible several OS versions,” Pierce said, “so you can’t take advantage of those new features.”

Greater than its parts

So far, the rumors and reporting we’ve heard about WWDC 2023 sound like more iterative improvements, particularly for the iPhone. The Biggest New Idea About Apps might be interactive widgets — what if you could use an app without opening an app? — but in general, it sounds like a year of improvements rather than radical changes.

The Verge’s Adi Robertson wearing a Meta Quest Pro headset while sitting in a chair. — *Headsets break the whole app model — they shouldn’t just be app machines, and they shouldn’t have homescreens.*

Except a headset demands radical change. Apple has made clear that it doesn’t want to build a full-on metaverse, but it also shouldn’t just turn the platform into a bunch of siloed apps. An all-encompassing device like this just won’t work if you’re constantly switching between apps every time you need new information. Apple has reportedly spent years on supporting hand tracking, facial expression recognition, iris scanning, and other biometric and real-world tools. You’re telling me we’re going to get something called the “Reality Dial,” but I’m still stuck with a dock full of app icons? That just doesn’t feel right.

The interaction model of the future can’t be pinching the air in front of you to mimic tapping on a touchscreen. I’m definitely not interested in having to download, log in, set up, and figure out a new app every time I want to try something new. Apps are going to need to be more modular, showing you just the parts you need as you walk down the street or start a new FaceTime call. They’ll have to be faster and simpler because nobody wants to tweak settings on their face. App developers have spent decades building software for rectangles of various shapes and sizes. But in a world filled with headsets, there are no more rectangles.

Changing the way developers see their apps will be tricky. But with the AI onslaught coming fast and a headset forcing users to use a new device in wholly new ways, this is the moment for Apple to come up with a better, more integrated, more natural way to access and interact with information on their devices. To borrow a Steve Jobs-ism: if you see a homescreen, they blew it.

vendredi 2 juin 2023

Tesla claims every new Model 3 now qualifies for $7,500 EV tax credit in US

a very shiny red sedan with lots of curves — Photo: James Bareham / The Verge

The starting price of a Tesla Model 3 — after federal tax credits — may once again be below the fabled $35,000 mark. Tesla’s website now claims every new Model 3 is eligible for the full $7,500 federal tax credit in the United States, after those credits were previously cut in half on April 18th for the entry-level Standard Range and Long Range RWD models.

*Tesla’s shopping pages now display this badge.*

Here in California, a short distance from Tesla’s Fremont factory, I would pay $41,630 before tax — but only $32,130 after federal and state incentives, assuming Tesla is correct that its cars now qualify for the full federal credit. It could cost less under $30,000 depending on your state’s incentives.

*I’m not counting the company’s “Estimated 6-year gas savings,” because no one will put them back into my wallet.*

I say “assuming Tesla is correct,” because as TechCrunch points out, the IRS has not confirmed the news. The agency’s website, last updated June 1st, still shows a $3,750 credit, not $7,500, for the RWD models.

The reason some cars stopped qualifying is because their batteries didn’t meet sourcing requirements, which specify that 40 percent of their minerals must be “extracted or processed in the United States or a U.S. free-trade agreement partner” and 50 percent of their components must be “manufactured or assembled in North America.”

Those percentages go up each year — by 2027, 80 percent of battery minerals and components must meet those requirements for vehicles to be eligible for the credit.

*Income limits of $150,000 for individuals, $300,000 for married couples filing jointly.*

Not every car or family will qualify for the $7,500 tax credit, too: you’ll need to be under a certain income, and you can’t tack too many accessories onto a Tesla or it’ll hit a price cap.

GPD’s G1 is the impressively small dock that could jumpstart eGPUs in the handheld era

The GPD G1, next to a pocketable laptop. | Image: GPD

GPD is crowdfunding a new compact external GPU docking station that can both boost the gaming capabilities of some laptops and handheld gaming PCs, and also help anchor them to a desk for mobile workers (via Liliputing).

The company is calling it the G1, and it includes an AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT chip with HDMI 2.1 plus two DisplayPort 1.4 video outputs, a USB 4 / Thunderbolt 4 connector to dock and charge, and something called Oculink (more on that in a bit).

GPD says it’s the “world’s smallest mobile graphics card expansion dock”, at just over an inch thick (29.8mm), around nine inches long (225mm) and four and a third (111mm) deep — all with an integrated power supply.

GPD isn’t quite the household name, but the Shenzhen, China-based company has been making a bit of a name for itself amongst PC gamers enamored by the recent handheld gaming boom. Currently, this market is held strongly by Valve’s Steam Deck, and there’s strong interest in Asus’ upcoming ROG Ally, but GPD’s been plugging away for years.

Those in the know are paying attention to other PC gaming handhelds like the Ayaneo 2S and GPD’s Win Max 2, and both companies will sell versions of them that feature an Oculink connector. The Steam Deck isn't designed to support external graphics, so GPD is hoping the G1 graphics dock can be a big differentiator for its own devices — though it says you can use Thunderbolt 3, 4, or USB-4 if you don’t mind having less bandwidth.

The concept of a combined docking station and external graphics card (or eGPU) isn’t new. Alienware helped pioneer the idea with its “Amplifier” external chassis that housed both a high-profile desktop graphics card and USB hub to simply your setup, and eGPU.io is home to a buyer’s guide of the devices that followed. Most recently, Asus has pumped out painfully expensive but compact ROG XG graphics docks with Nvidia RTX 3080 and 3090s that go for up to $2,000.

*GPD shares what cards you’d potentially need to take full advantage of the G1 dock on laptops or desktops.*

Both the Alienware Amplifier and the ROG XGs have something in common: they eschew standardization by using different proprietary connectors that only work with their own matching laptops. Meanwhile, Framework is creating a new rear-slot ecosystem that supports add-in GPUs. So is GPD looking to adopt a real standard in comparison? Well, kind of!

The G1 is unusual in that it uses Oculink, which is a connector for PCI-Express that you would more typically see in enterprise server racks. If your laptop has an extra internal M.2 port, it can be outfitted to use this connector and hook up the G1 — potentially giving you reliable and better GPU performance (GPD claims up to 63Gbps bandwidth) compared to the more widely-supported USB4 and Thunderbolt-based (up to 40Gbps) eGPUs. Weak desktop computers could also get in on the action with an Oculink adapter card.

*The G1’s got vents and a fan to keep that GPU cool.*

One problem with Oculink, besides not being available in most laptops or handhelds, is that it doesn’t carry the power and data you need to fully dock and charge a PC. So you’d likely not just plug in Oculink but also a USB-C connector to give your laptop or handheld up to 60W of power, and access the three USB-A ports and SD card reader.

Of course, the G1’s GPU and dock will need its own power, but luckily it doesn’t have a massive power adapter like some other eGPU solutions. Instead, the G1 integrates a 240W GaN power supply inside its own chassis.

GPD quotes impressive performance from its RX 7600M, claiming the mobile chip can beat a desktop RTX 3070 GPU in most games. GPD says it tested the 7600M paired with the same Ryzen 7 7840U you’d find in the newest gaming handhelds, versus the 3070 paired with a desktop Ryzen 5600X. That’s basically the same desktop my editor Sean Hollister runs, and he was wowed to see it.

If true, it could make for a remarkably powerful desktop you could fit into a tiny messenger bag — with one gaming handheld, one eGPU the size of a gaming handheld, and three cables (Oculink, USB-C, and AC), plus your mouse and keyboard.

The G1 is on Indiegogo, but the campaign has not yet begun as of this writing. GPD is seeking $20,000HKD to fund the project, but will get the money even if the goal isn’t met. Still, considering GPD has successfully funded almost every product it’s shipped in this manner, we expect the G1 to see the light of day. Mum’s the word on what the G1 will cost though.

Meta will test blocking news for some Canadians ahead of new law

Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta will test blocking news content for some users in Canada in response to the country’s Online News Act, the company has announced. The test is expected to impact between one and five percent of the company’s users across Facebook and Instagram, according to ABC News, with affected users being unable to see or share news content on the platforms. Both Canadian and international news outlets will be impacted.

The tests come ahead of a permanent block if the Online News Act passes. The legislation, also known as Bill C-18, is designed to force platforms like Meta and Google to negotiate with Canadian news publishers to pay them for content, but Meta has said it would rather block news content in the country entirely rather than be compelled to pay for it.

“We’ve taken the difficult decision that if this flawed legislation is passed, we will have to end the availability of news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada,” Meta’s president of global affairs Nick Clegg said in a statement last month. Google, another platform likely to be impacted by the legislation, announced similar news blocking tests in February, and has said it may remove links to news articles in Canadian search results if the bill passes, Reuters previously reported.

Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez told Reuters that Meta’s tests were unacceptable. “When a big tech company... tells us, ‘If you don’t do this or that, then I’m pulling the plug’ — that’s a threat. I’ve never done anything because I was afraid of a threat,” Rodriguez said.

“All we’re asking Facebook to do is negotiate fair deals with news outlets when they profit from their work,” Rodriguez said in comments reported by Reuters in March. “This is part of a disappointing trend this week that tech giants would rather pull news than pay their fair share.”

Meta’s tests come a little over two years after it blocked news content entirely in Australia in response to a similar piece of legislation. But the block was criticized for its chaotic implementation, with an overly broad approach that impacted some government organizations and nonprofits, and which whistleblowers later claimed was effectively a heavy-handed negotiating tactic. Meta later reversed the block after the legislation was amended. The law went on to pass later that month.

The company previously knows as Facebook has publicly claimed that its approach in Canada will be different from the one it took in Australia, CBC News previously reported. “It’s absolutely our intention to not make the same errors in Canada that we made in Australia,” Rachel Curran, head of public policy for Meta Canada, told Canada’s House of Commons heritage committee last month.

“Some of the things that were mistakenly scoped in Australia, we’re working very hard to make sure we do not do that this time,” Curran said, noting that Meta is working to exempt pages from government bodies, emergency services, and community organizations from any potential block.

Hard Fork: AI Extinction Risk and Nvidia’s Trillion-Dollar Valuation

Hard Fork: AI Extinction Risk and Nvidia’s Trillion-Dollar Valuation “It’s like if you were told that there’s going to be a world-conquering dictator and it’s Mr. Bean.”

jeudi 1 juin 2023

Read the emails: Valve helped Nintendo kick the Dolphin Emulator off Steam

Did you hear the one about how Nintendo blocked the Dolphin Emulator from making its way to Steam, purportedly with a DMCA takedown? That’s not the whole story.

According to copies of communication that the Dolphin Team provided to The Verge, Valve helped Nintendo kick Dolphin out — first by bringing the Wii and GameCube emulator to Nintendo’s attention in the first place, and second by unilaterally deciding to pull the plug without giving Dolphin an out.

Valve doesn’t dispute this. “Given Nintendo’s history of taking action against some emulators, we brought this to their attention proactively after the Dolphin team announced it was coming soon to Steam,” Valve spokesperson Kaci Aitchison Boyle tells The Verge.

That feels weird to me — but the emails also show Valve may have had very good reason to nip Dolphin in the bud.

Here’s the entire email that Valve received from Nintendo’s lawyers on May 26th, so you can follow along:

A full email from Jenner & Block, lawyers for Nintendo, laying out how Valve has an “obligation” to remove Dolphin from its Steam store. — *“Thank you for bringing the announced offering of the Dolphin emulator on Valve’s Steam store to Nintendo’s attention,” Nintendo’s lawyer says.*

First, bottom of the first paragraph: “Thank you for bringing the announced offering of the Dolphin emulator on Valve’s Steam store to Nintendo’s attention,” Nintendo’s lawyer says. In a series of Mastodon posts on May 27th, former Dolphin Foundation treasurer Pierre Bourdon suggested that Valve poked the bear, and this — plus Valve’s comment to The Verge — confirms it.

But second, the email confirms this is nothing like a typical “DMCA takedown request” — and that may be why Valve didn’t give Dolphin a chance to combat it.

Nintendo’s lawyer writes (bolding mine):

Wii and Nintendo GameCube game files, or ROMs, are encrypted using proprietary cryptographic keys. The Dolphin emulator operates by incorporating these cryptographic keys without Nintendo’s authorization and decrypting the ROMs at or immediately before runtime. Thus, use of the Dolphin emulator unlawfully “circumvent[s] a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under” the Copyright Act. 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1).

Distribution of the emulator, whether by the Dolphin developers or other third-party platforms, constitutes unlawful “traffic[king] in a[] technology . . . that . . . is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure . . . .” 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(2)(A).

Why am I bolding 1201? I’m not a lawyer, but I spoke to three of them while researching a similar story last year, and they drove home for me that DMCA Section 512 — the one that lets platforms avoid liability for what their users post by swiftly taking things down — is totally different than DMCA Section 1201.

1201(a)(2) says that companies cannot host copyright circumvention technology:

No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof, that—

(A) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title;

(B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title; or

(C) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert with that person with that person’s knowledge for use in circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.

So it doesn’t matter whether Nintendo properly formatted a DMCA takedown notice, or whether Valve gave Dolphin a chance to speak for itself (narrator: it did not). Nintendo is threatening Valve with a lawsuit, not Dolphin, and Valve can’t sidestep simply by saying “Dolphin filed a counter-notice, go sue them first.” That’s how Section 512 is supposed to work, but not Section 1201.

(Even if it were Section 512, Dolphin doesn’t necessarily have the “right” to a counter-notice — Steam is Valve’s store and it can take down whatever it likes.)

Due to the IP complaint, we have removed Dolphin Emulator from STEAM unless and until both parties notify us that the dispute is resolved. — *This is all the Dolphin Team got from Valve. How likely do you think it is that Nintendo will tell Valve that “the dispute is resolved”?*

Now, would Nintendo actually prevail if it sued Valve for distributing a Nintendo Wii and GameCube emulator? That’s impossible to say, but the Dolphin Team confirmed to The Verge that the emulator does ship with a common cryptographic key. Ars Technica’s Kyle Orland spoke to several lawyers who thinks Nintendo might have a decent case because of that, and because it might mean relying on very different precedent than past emulator legal battles.

Nintendo seems to be attempting to brand Dolphin an “illegal emulator,” by the way. Nintendo spokesperson Eddie Garcia provided this statement to The Verge:

Nintendo is committed to protecting the hard work and creativity of video game engineers and developers. This emulator illegally circumvents Nintendo’s protection measures and runs illegal copies of games. Using illegal emulators or illegal copies of games harms development and ultimately stifles innovation. Nintendo respects the intellectual property rights of other companies, and in turn expects others to do the same.

“Valve may simply not be interested in picking that fight with Nintendo on behalf of the Dolphin team,” video game industry attorney Mark Methenitis told Ars. Perhaps Valve was also making up for that time it accidentally plugged a Switch emulator in a Steam Deck ad.

We don’t have to speculate too much about what Valve thinks, though, because Valve provided this full statement to The Verge:

We operate Steam as an open platform, but that relies on creators shipping only things they have the legal right to distribute. Sometimes third parties raise legal objections to things on Steam, but Valve isn’t well positioned to judge those disputes – the parties have to go to court, or negotiate between themselves. An accusation of copyright infringement, for example, can be handled under the DMCA process, but other disputes (like trademark infringement or a breach of contract claim between a developer and a publisher) don’t have a statutory dispute resolution process, so in these cases we generally will cease distributing the material until the parties tell Valve that they have resolved their dispute.

We don’t want to ship an application we know could be taken down, because that can be disruptive to Steam users. Given Nintendo’s history of taking action against some emulators, we brought this to their attention proactively after the Dolphin team announced it was coming soon to Steam.

Based on the letter we received, Nintendo and the Dolphin team have a clear legal dispute between them, and Valve can’t sit in judgment.

On May 26th, Valve told the Dolphin Team that it had removed its emulator from Steam “unless or until both parties notify us that the dispute is resolved.” Since there’s little chance Nintendo will ever proactively support emulation, and Valve has decided not to defend Dolphin, that’s likely as far as this story will go.

Here are the best AirPods deals you can get right now

Apple’s second-gen AirPods Pro buds in front of the charging case against a dark background. — *Apple’s second-gen AirPods Pro are currently $50 off, matching their all-time low.*

If you know where to look, there are often some great discounts available on Apple’s ever-popular AirPods. Since Apple launched the third-gen AirPods toward the end of 2021, we’ve seen the starting price of the second-gen, entry-level model slowly dip to around $100. And now that you can buy the second-gen AirPods Pro at most retailers, we’re seeing even better discounts on the last-gen Pro and other models.

Below, we’ve curated the best deals currently available on each model, including the entry-level AirPods, the AirPods Pro, the third-gen AirPods, and the AirPods Max.

The best AirPods (second-gen) deals

In 2021, Apple lowered the list price of the second-gen AirPods — now the entry-level model — from $159 to $129. It now only sells the model with a wired charging case, however, which charges via a standard Lightning cable. Despite their age, we found that the easy-to-use, second-gen AirPods still offer great wireless performance and reliable battery life, making them a great pick if you can live without a wireless charging case.

We’ve seen Apple’s most affordable pair of earbuds drop to as low as $79.99, but right now they’re only on sale for around $99 ($30 off) at Amazon, Walmart, and Verizon. Alternatively, if you prefer the model with the wireless charging case, it’s available at Adorama for $139.99 ($20 off).

Read our AirPods (second-gen) review.

The best AirPods (third-gen) deals

With support for the company’s MagSafe technology and an asking price of $179, Apple’s third-gen AirPods are often considered the middle child in Apple’s current AirPods lineup. The shorter stems make for a more subtle design, too, while improved sound and features like sweat and water resistance, support for spatial audio with dynamic head tracking, and improved battery life render them a nice improvement over the last-gen model.

In September, Apple quietly introduced a new, slightly cheaper option for the third-gen AirPods that comes with a Lightning-only charging case. They currently retail for about $10 less than the option with a MagSafe charging case at places like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart, which is why we recommend that you buy the MagSafe-compatible model given the subtle price difference between the two configurations. The latter is available at B&H Photo for $179, or at Sam’s Club and Costco for around $170 if you’re a member of either wholesaler.

Read our AirPods (third-gen) review.

The best AirPods Pro deals

In case you missed it, Apple announced the second-gen AirPods Pro during its “Far Out” event in September, a pair of earbuds that feature a similar build to the first-gen model but offer better noise cancellation. They also sport swipe-based controls, come with Apple’s new H2 chip, and feature an extra-small pair of swappable silicone ear tips for smaller ears.

They typically retail for $249, but right now they’re on sale at Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and Verizon for $199.99 ($50 off), which nearly matches their all-time low. If you live close to a Micro Center, you can also pick them up there for a mere $189.99 ($60 off).

Read our AirPods Pro (second-gen) review.

The first-gen AirPods Pro are also still available for purchase, and sometimes much cheaper than the second-gen model. They have better sound quality than the non-premium models listed above, as well as active noise cancellation. They also come with swappable silicone tips — albeit three, not four — and support Apple’s spatial audio feature, which adds an immersive surround sound effect to select content.

At the end of 2021, Apple launched a new configuration of the first-gen AirPods Pro with a wireless charging case that supports Apple’s MagSafe technology, just like the third-gen AirPods. They used to retail for $249, but they’re available right now for $169.99 at Walmart. That doesn’t quite match their all-time low of $129.99 or their typical sale price of around $159, however, which is why we suggest buying the second-gen AirPods Pro while they’re on sale or waiting for the first-gen model to drop further in price.

Read our original AirPods Pro review.

The best AirPods Max deals

The AirPods Max aren’t the iconic in-ears that have become synonymous with the AirPods name. They’re large and luxurious, comprised of aluminum, steel, and mesh fabric that remains comfortable during extended listening sessions. They also sport excellent noise cancellation, Apple’s spatial audio feature, and expansive, balanced sound, even if they lag behind some of their peers when it comes to bass response. They’re not the best noise-canceling headphones for most people — blame the $550 sticker price — but it’s hard to find a pair of Bluetooth headphones that sound better and feature more intuitive controls.

Although Woot and other retailers have discounted the AirPods Max to as low as $409 in the past, prices have since increased across the board. Right now, for instance, the Max are only receiving a modest discount at Amazon, Walmart, and Costco (for members only), where you can pick them in select colors for $479.99 ($69 off). If you live near a Micro Center, you can also buy them for $469.99 ($80 off) in a range of colors.

Read our AirPods Max review.

Meta is dropping the price of the Quest 2 back to $299.99

The Verge’s Adi Robertson wearing a Quest 2. — *The Quest 2, originally released in 2020.* | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Starting June 4th, the 128GB version of the Quest 2 will cost $299.99 while the 256GB version will cost $349.99, Meta announced today. That’s a $100 price cut for the entry-level version and a $80 price cut for the step-up model. As well as cutting the price of the headset, Meta also says it’s working on a software update that will improve both CPU and GPU performance on the Quest 2, as well as the more recent Quest Pro.

News of the price cut comes roughly a year after Meta increased the price of both storage variants of the headset by $100, almost two years after its original release in 2020. It later cut the price of the 256GB version of the Quest 2 to $429.99. News of the price cut came on the same day that Meta announced the Quest 2’s successor, the Quest 3, which it plans to release this fall for $499.99. It’s also due to hold a gaming showcase later today, where it’s promising “new game announcements, gameplay first-looks, updates to existing games, and more.”

Meta says it plans to continue selling the Quest 2 (as well as the more professionally focused Quest Pro) alongside the Quest 3 when it launches later in the year. “Quest 2 remains our most affordable entry point to VR and Pro is optimized for work use cases, with face and eye tracking for more authentic self-expression in meetings,” its press release reads.

With a forthcoming software update, Meta says it will increase the CPU performance of the Quest 2 and Quest Pro by up to 26 percent. The update will also increase the GPU performance of the Quest 2 by 19 percent and the Quest Pro by 11 percent. Developers will have to configure their apps to make the most of the changes, but once they do, Meta claims users will benefit from “smoother gameplay, a more responsive UI, and richer content on both headsets.”

Dynamic Resolution Scaling is also coming to both pieces of hardware “so games and apps can take advantage of increased pixel density without dropping frames” when the GPU is underutilized.

Today’s announcement doesn’t mention when exactly this update will roll out, but the new pricing will take effect from June 4th, the day before Apple is expected to unveil its debut headset at WWDC at an anticipated price of $3,000.

Meta announces its Quest 3 VR headset, which will cost $499.99

Meta has officially announced its Quest 3 VR headset in a post on Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram.

The headset is coming this fall with a 128GB version available for $499.99 plus “an additional storage option for those who want more space” at an unspecified price. Compared to its predecessor, the Quest 2, the Quest 3’s design is 40 percent lighter, while a new Snapdragon chip inside has twice the graphics performance.

Image showing the Quest 3 at the bottom facing upwards, with its internal parts floating in layers from the case, to several sets of sensors and the outer front shell at the top. — *Quest 3 exploded view*

It’s also compatible with the Quest 2’s games, which is good since the old headset is sticking around but at a lower price. Meta said that starting June 4th, the Quest 2 will drop its price by $100 to $299.99 for the 128GB version, while the 256GB version is getting an $80 price cut from $429.99 to $349.99. If you’re interested in the Quest 3 instead, you can sign up here for more information.

In addition, an upcoming software update for the Quest 2 and Meta’s more expensive Quest Pro will increase their CPU and GPU performance and enable Dynamic Resolution Scaling.

This is coming just days before Apple is expected to announce its long-rumored mixed reality headset and hours ahead of a showcase for games on Meta’s VR platform that begins later today at 1PM ET. Meta said it would have a AAA adventure title to show there and promised additional details to come during the annual Meta Connect event scheduled for September 27th.

Close up image of handheld controls for the Meta Quest 3, with thumstick, two buttons on the top and one trigger button. — *Quest 3 Touch Pro controllers*

We already had a pretty good idea of how the Quest 3 would shake out after Mark Gurman of Bloomberg detailed his hands-on experience with the then-unannounced device earlier this week, reporting on the lighter and more comfortable design that adds new sensors and redesigned controllers.

The video clearly shows off the three new sensor areas across the front of the device that do the most to differentiate it from earlier versions, as well as the head strap. Gurman described that the pill-shaped zones hold four cameras split evenly between the left and right sides — two of which are full-color cameras and two standard — and a single depth sensor in the middle that could improve the headset’s AR performance.

We also see the new Touch Plus controllers with TruTouch haptics “for experiences you can feel,” without the old rings they used to have for positional tracking. This announcement didn’t go into detail on the sensor setup, but the depth sensor should work with the controllers, and Meta confirmed hand tracking will be supported out of the box this time around.

Developing...

Google Wallet is getting custom cards and state IDs this month

Two mobile phones displaying the new state ID and custom card features for Google Wallet. — *Maryland is the first state to support the feature, with Arizona, Colorado, and Georgia to follow “in the coming months.”* | Image: Google

Google Wallet users will soon be able to add their state ID or driver’s licenses to Google Wallet. Announced today, anyone with a Maryland ID or driver’s license can now save their ID card to the Google Wallet app on any phone running Android 8.0 or later that has device lock enabled. Google has been testing digital state ID cards for Wallet since December last year, and Maryland also happened to be one of the first states to bring the feature to Apple’s Wallet app for iPhones. The new support for Google Wallet will also be available to residents in Arizona, Colorado, and Georgia “in the coming months,” with additional states expected to follow.

“Google is working with many states and international partners on mobile devices,” said Dong Min Kim, director of product management at Google Wallet, to The Verge. “Mobile driver’s license will be a phased rollout, and expand to other states over time. We intend to partner with all states interested in offering mobile driver’s licenses, based on state readiness and other integration logistics.”

A GIF demonstrating how to add a custom card to Google Wallet. — *You can soon quickly add customized membership cards and travel passes to Google Wallet so long as they have a barcode or QR code.*

This update also introduces the ability to create a digital version of any card or pass that displays a barcode or QR code — such as a gym membership or library card — simply by taking a photograph of it. Google Wallet already supports a range of different passes and loyalty memberships, but these typically rely on third-party operators adding their own support for the feature. Following this new update, Wallet users will be able to save things like transit QR tickets, parking passes, and even e-commerce return QR codes that wouldn’t ordinarily have a digital “card” equivalent.

Sticking with the transit theme, Google is also making it easier to complete travel check-in processes on your phone prior to arriving at the airport or train station — provided you’re a Google Messages user anyway. Those who use Google Messages with RCS enabled will be able to receive tickets and boarding passes directly on the Messages app, from which they can be saved to Google Wallet. Vietnam Airlines and Renfe, Spain’s leading train operator, will be the first two travel companies to support the feature. Google hasn’t mentioned a release date for either of these new Wallet features, only noting that they’re both “coming soon.”

A gif demonstrating how to add a travel pass to Google Wallet using RCS. — *Google Wallet users can soon add boarding passes to the app directly from Google Messages.*

Google is also working with health insurance company Humana to develop a digital version of the provider’s health insurance card that will allow Humana members to access their insurance information directly from the Wallet app. UK residents will also be able to save their National Insurance number (a British equivalent of social security numbers) to their Wallet from the HMRC app. These cards and passes have some additional security compared to things like travel tickets and require users to verify their identity using methods like fingerprint scans or PINs every time they’re added, viewed, or used. Health insurance cards and passes that similarly contain sensitive information will be labeled as a “Private Pass” within Google Wallet.

Finally, users in Germany can now save a Deutschlandticket — a monthly subscription ticket that can be used across all local public transportation — to their Google Wallet. Google has also teased that it will start introducing corporate badges in Google Wallet later this year, allowing employees to securely access their workplace without a physical staff pass.

No Man’s Sky just launched on Mac with cross-play support

A screenshot of the video game No Man’s Sky. — Image: Hello Games

No Man’s Sky is touching down on Macs starting today. Hello Games announced that the space adventure is available for Mac users on Steam now (it’ll be free if you already own the PC version), while the game will be coming to the Mac App Store “shortly.” The studio says the game will be “available on any Mac with Apple silicon” and will also be playable on “Intel-based Macs with a Core i5 processor.” The port will support both cross-save with PC and cross-play with players on PC, VR, and console (Switch not included).

Here’s how Hello describes the new version:

Expect fast loading times using the Mac internal SSD. Consistent performance across the full range of Macs is possible as we are one of the first titles to support MetalFX Upscaling (Temporal and Spatial). Metal 3 support allows No Man’s Sky to achieve console quality graphics whilst maintaining battery life on laptops and lower end devices.

If you’re keeping track, No Man’s Sky — which first launched in 2016 and has steadily grown and improved over the ensuing years — is now available on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, PlayStation 4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch, and it also supports VR platforms, including the recently launched PSVR 2.

The Mac port was first announced at WWDC in 2022, and given that Apple is rumored to announce a VR headset at WWDC this year, it seems not all that unlikely that No Man’s Sky could eventually support the device. “We’ve worked closely with Apple to produce a version that feels at home on Mac,” Hello Games said in a press release. “This paves our way for an exciting future on Apple hardware.”

Nothing Phone 2: a roundup of every tease about the upcoming phone

The Nothing Phone 1. — *The rear of 2022’s Nothing Phone 1.* | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Our constantly updated list of all the teases Nothing has released about its second phone.

Rather than waiting until a full launch event, Nothing likes to slowly release information about its devices spec-by-spec over time. It’s an approach that generates a lot of headlines, but it can be hard to keep track of all the official information that’s been made public.

As its name suggests, the Phone 2 is Nothing’s second smartphone and is set to launch a year after the company revealed its predecessor. The Phone 1 was notable for its flashing “gliph” interface, where light strips on the rear of the phone would light up to alert you to notifications and other device details.

Here’s our roundup of all the announcements Nothing has made about the Phone 2. We plan to update this page regularly with new details as they emerge in the run up to its official launch in July.

mercredi 31 mai 2023

The Best Space and Astronomy Photos From May

The Best Space and Astronomy Photos From May Scenes of the cosmos released this month by astronomers, spacecraft and photographers.

Garmin’s Epix 2 and Fenix 7 lineups go ‘Pro’

Close up of the Fenix 7 Pro worn on a wrist as someone puts their hand in a jacket pocket — *The Garmin Fenix 7 Pro starts at $799.99.* | Image: Garmin

Garmin’s joining the Pro bandwagon. On Wednesday, it’s launching the Epix 2 Pro and Fenix 7 Pro, which both come with a boatload of new mapping and training features, hands-free flashlights, and sensors. The Fenix 7 Pro series starts at $799.99, while the Epix 2 Pro will start at $899.99.

There’s good news if you wanted an Epix 2 last year but were bummed that it only came in one size. Garmin doesn’t believe that less is more, so you can also now pick between three sizes of Epix 2 models: 42mm, 47mm, and 51mm. Both Pro lineups also offer a more durable Sapphire Edition.

The vast majority of what’s new will be shared across both the Epix 2 Pro and Fenix 7 Pro lineups. For example, all models will now feature a built-in hands-free LED flashlight. The flashlight was introduced last year but was limited to the 51mm Fenix 7X. The flashlight has variable intensities, a red safety light, and a strobe mode for nighttime training.

Both lineups will also get a new heart rate sensor. Garmin says the new sensor will offer improved tracking for a wider variety of activities. Regarding training features, all the Epix 2 Pro and Fenix 7 Pro models will get a new Endurance Score and Hill Score. The former tells you how easily you can maintain sustained efforts using Vo2 Max and your long / short-term training loads across multiple training activities. The latter also uses your training history and Vo2 Max to gauge your running strength on steep climbs and long ascents.

For mapping, the Pro lineups also get weather map overlays, the Up Ahead feature, and relief shading for topographical maps. The weather map overlays will make it easier for outdoor enthusiasts to view upcoming conditions, while the relief shading is meant to make maps more readable at a glance. Meanwhile, the Up Ahead feature highlights certain points of interest — aid stations, for example — right from the wrist.

picture of Epix 2 Pro’s flashlight feature — *The flashlight feature is coming to both the Epix 2 Pro and Fenix 7 Pro lineups.*

Users also have the option to shell out for Garmin’s Outdoor Maps Plus subscription to get satellite imagery, public land maps, and enhanced topographical maps on the wrist. The subscription costs an additional $49.99 yearly and has been around for a while on Garmin’s other navigational devices and a handful of other smartwatches. Garmin still, however, does not gatekeep any health or training data behind a paywall.

As with the non-Pro versions of the Epix 2 and Fenix 7, the main difference between these watches lies in the display. The Epix 2 Pro has an OLED display, while the Fenix 7 Pro has a memory-in-pixel (MIP) display that supports solar charging. The Epix 2 also has a new red shift mode that changes the display colors to red for easier nighttime viewing — which sounds familiar to what Apple did with one of the Ultra’s watchfaces. That said, the Fenix 7 Pro models will have a spiffier MIP display than the “regular” Fenix 7 lineup. According to Garmin, the pixels, backlight, and solar panel have been redesigned to improve brightness and power efficiency in a number of lighting conditions.

Battery life is also slightly different. The Epix 2 Pro is rated up to 31 days, while the Fenix 7 Pro can get up to 38 days. You should take those estimates with a pinch of salt, however. Battery life is heavily dependent on the size of the watch, your GPS settings, whether you use the always-on display for the Epix 2 Pro, and what mode you’re in. For example, if you didn’t care about using the Fenix 7 Pro as a smartwatch, Garmin says you could theoretically eke out 139 days out of the 51mm 7X Pro. We’ll be putting both through their paces to see what you can actually expect with more real-world testing conditions.

Windows 11 gets some useful widgets for CPU, memory, and GPU monitoring

The Windows Widgets feature is finally getting some useful additions to let you monitor CPU, memory, and GPU usage. Neowin has spotted that Microsoft’s new release of a Dev Home app includes several new widgets for Windows 11.

You can use the new widgets to monitor processor utilization and speed, memory usage, GPU temperatures and usage, and Wi-Fi or Ethernet speeds. They’re certainly a lot more useful than the usual widgets or the news feeds full of junk stories from MSN. Microsoft did announce at Build earlier this month that you’ll be able to disable the Microsoft News feed in the widgets board later this year, thankfully.

You can get similar information from the Game Bar, the Windows Task Manager, or apps like HWiNFO64, but it’s neat to be able to bring up the widgets with the Windows key + W shortcut.

The widgets do seem to be a little buggy right now, which is probably why the Dev Home app that enables them is still in preview. I noticed my widgets panel freeze up after first installing them, and both the CPU and GPU utilization didn’t track properly until I rebooted. They’ve been running fine ever since, though.

If you’re interested in trying out these new widgets on Windows 11 then you’ll need to head to the Microsoft Store and install the Dev Home Preview app. The widgets will then be available in the Windows Widgets section (Winkey + W) and you can add them using the + button at the top.

Anti-harassment service Block Party leaves Twitter amid API changes

Recent changes to Twitter’s API access have “made it impossible for Block Party’s Twitter product to continue in its current form.” | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Block Party, an anti-harassment service designed to combat abusive content on Twitter, is the latest third-party app to leave the platform in light of Twitter locking most of its API access behind a paywall. Announced in a blog post last night, Block Party’s anti-harassment tools for Twitter are being placed on an immediate, indefinite hiatus, with the developers claiming that changes to Twitter’s API pricing (which starts from $100 per month) have “made it impossible for Block Party’s Twitter product to continue in its current form.”

Block Party’s services allowed users to automate a great deal of their Twitter moderation, with filtering and block list features that automatically block accounts that like or retweet posts you don’t want to associate with. The company said that everything from its Twitter service — including both free and premium account features — will stop working today, May 31st, and that users will be able to access a read-only archive of their Lockout Folder and block lists until June 30th.

i started block party because it felt unfair & terrible that we were just supposed to accept harassment as the price of being online. the last four years we've shown that another way is possible & absolutely worth pursuing: empowering users to have control over their experience. https://t.co/ECRqi6oKSi
— Tracy Chou (@triketora) May 31, 2023

“We’re heartbroken that we won’t be able to help protect you from harassers and spammers on the platform, at least for now,” said Block Party in the blog post. In an FAQ addressing the hiatus, the company added “We tried very hard to stay on the platform, and still hope to return in the future. We’re so sorry for any impact this disruption may have on your safety or experience on Twitter.”

Block Party notes that while its flagship Twitter product is on hiatus, the company is still developing additional services like its new Privacy Party browser extension. Privacy Party can be used to reduce harassment, cyberstalking, impersonation, and fraud across social media accounts, and is available in alpha today for existing Block Party users.

Block Party and many other third-party Twitter applications relied upon the social media platforms’ free API access, which was limited to 1,500 tweets and effectively replaced by a paid basic tier earlier this year. The new basic tier allows accounts to post 3,000 tweets for $100 a month (which may not be sufficient for many non-profit third-party services) while some enterprise-level plans reportedly cost as much as $42,000 per month.

Earlier this month Twitter had to reverse course and make exceptions for weather, emergency, and transportation services that were forced to leave the platform due to the high cost of the new API tiers.

Google quietly ends support for decade-old Chromecast

*The original Chromecast plugged into an HDMI port.* | Image: The Verge

Google has ended support for the original Chromecast, around a decade after the $35 streaming stick launched in 2013. A message announcing the end of support has appeared on several Google support pages. “Support for Chromecast (1st gen) has ended,” the notice brought to our attention by 9to5Google reads. “These devices no longer receive software or security updates, and Google does not provide technical support for them. Users may notice a degradation in performance.”

The end of support appears to have arrived at the end of April, when a support page listing firmware versions for each Chromecast model was last updated. It doesn’t sound like remaining first-generation Chromecasts will stop working immediately, but their functionality is likely to slowly break over time as the ecosystem around them is updated and moves on.

The original Chromecast was a tiny, and surprisingly popular, key-sized device designed to plug into an HDMI port on your TV and let you stream video content from your phone, tablet, or laptop to the big screen. Priced at just $35, it was an affordable workaround for getting video streaming apps onto your TV in an era where many people were yet to make the jump to smart TVs.

Google would go on to release several more Chromecasts over the years including a 4K model in 2016. But the most recent model, the 2020 Chromecast with Google TV added its own remote to the equation. The streaming stick had an interface of its own rather than simply relying on being fed content by your smartphone, signaling a big shift for the Chromecast lineup.

Although support for the first-generation Chromecast is officially over, Google hasn’t exactly been updating the device regularly. 9to5Google reports that its most recent update was released last November, which was itself the first update released for the device in over three years.

The AI Boom Inside Silicon Valley Start-Up Accelerators

The AI Boom Inside Silicon Valley Start-Up Accelerators In Silicon Valley’s hacker houses, the latest crop of young entrepreneurs is partying, innovating — and hoping not to get crushed by the big guys.

mardi 30 mai 2023

Motorola’s third Moto G Stylus 5G might be the charm

Rendering of Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G in cosmic black showing front and rear. — *The Moto G Stylus 5G (2023) comes with a few upgrades, including a more powerful processor.* | Image: Motorola

Motorola hasn’t had a lot of success with midrange devices lately, but it’s trying again with the Moto G Stylus 5G — 2023 edition. It’ll sell for $399 unlocked for a variant with a healthy 6GB of RAM and 256GB of storage (carriers will sell a variant with 128GB of storage and either 4 or 6GB of RAM) and comes with a 6.6-inch screen, updated rear camera system, and Qualcomm’s new midrange Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset for 20 percent faster performance than last year’s model. Oh, and a stylus, of course.

The 2023 G Stylus 5G has a slightly smaller screen than last year’s edition — a 6.6-inch display versus 6.8 inches — though it’s still a 1080p LCD with a top refresh rate of 120Hz. The drop in screen size is actually a good thing: 1080p really isn’t enough resolution for a huge screen, and the bezels on this year’s device are a little smaller. I think it’s a net positive, even if you’re a fan of massive screens.

Moto G Stylus 5G in rose champagne showing back panel and stylus. — *The rose champagne color shown here is one of two options, and it’s the obvious winner.*

There’s a new 50-megapixel main camera sensor with larger pixels than the previous generation (good), though it loses the optical image stabilization present in the 2022 version (not so good). But on the bright side, Motorola has done away with useless low-res macro and depth sensors and done the sensible thing here: combined them into one in the ultrawide camera. The 8-megapixel ultrawide doubles as a macro camera and also does the job of depth-sensing to help with portrait mode shots. Bravo, Moto.

In other good news, the Moto G Stylus 5G is one of the last midrange phones to offer a headphone jack, and it now comes with stereo speakers for when you’re listening unplugged. Motorola says that the stylus actions are now “simpler and more natural,” but actual stylus features seem similar to last year. There’s also a MicroSD slot, a huge 5,000mAh battery, 20W fast-ish wired charging, and NFC. Motorola says the G Stylus 5G will get one OS version upgrade and three years of security support — same as last year and a far cry from the five years of security updates you’ll get on Samsung’s midrange Galaxy A54 5G.

All in all, it’s a promising update — and we could use another good option in the midrange class to give Samsung and Google a run for their money. The 2023 Moto G Stylus 5G goes on sale June 2nd at Cricket Wireless first, with availability at AT&T and T-Mobile later on. It’ll be sold unlocked from Motorola, Amazon, and Best Buy starting on June 16th.

Niantic has a new experience for Quest headsets that features an ‘AI-enabled’ owl

An image of the “Wol,” Niantic’s experience. A virtual owl flies through a portal that leads into a redwood forest, which is displayed on a brick wall. — Image: Niantic

Niantic, known for augmented reality mobile games like Pokémon Go and Peridot, revealed a new mixed reality experience on Tuesday. Titled “Wol,” it can be played on Quest headsets and features an “AI-enabled” talking owl discussing the redwood forest.

I packed a lot into that sentence, so let’s break it down. While you can check out this experience on your phone, it differs from Niantic’s AR mobile games because you can also try it using the passthrough video feature on VR headsets like Meta’s Quest 2 and Quest Pro. To use it, you visit a URL — MeetWol.com — meaning you don’t need an app to try it. In the experience itself, a large portal into a virtual redwood forest will appear in front of you, and then Wol will fly over and start talking to you about what you can see.

Wol’s AI is powered by Inworld, which Inworld itself describes as a “developer platform for AI characters,” and although you can talk to Wol and its AI underpinnings will help to create a reply, it seems as if Wol will have some fairly strict conversational bounds. “Wol keeps within the context of the redwood forest,” Tom Emrich, director of product management for the 8th Wall platform at Niantic, says in an interview with The Verge. “While you’re able to ask Wol anything, Wol will always keep you within the context of the story.”

I chatted with Wol for about 15 minutes on my Quest 2, and it was a smoother experience than I expected. Our conversation started after Wol flew onto a virtual tree next to my desk and asked my name and where I was from. I told it the correct answer — “Jay, from Portland” — and we were off, chatting about things like Wol’s favorite aspects of forest life, its youth, and its best friend (a bat, apparently). The strangest part was that Wol kept calling me “Jay from Portland” instead of just Jay, but that wasn’t too bad in the scheme of things; Wol generally answered my questions in a natural way with a minor delay, and it was very kind. I think a young child would have a lot of fun with this.

The Wol experience isn’t intended to be the next Pokémon Go-level phenomenon; Emrich says that the optimal amount of time within it is five minutes, and Niantic has no plans to update it. Instead, Wol was created more as a way to demonstrate Niantic’s 8th Wall technology that lets developers make web-based AR apps. (Niantic acquired 8th Wall in 2022.)

It might also be a preview of the types of apps you’ll see built with Niantic’s technology down the line, which could be especially interesting with headsets like Meta’s Quest 3 and Apple’s rumored mixed reality headset expected in the future. But that all being said, Wol is just a tech demo; we’ll have to wait and see if other developers create full-fledged mixed reality experiences that take off in a meaningful way.

Would Large Language Models Be Better If They Weren’t So Large?

Would Large Language Models Be Better If They Weren’t So Large? Teaching fewer words to large language models might help them sound more human.

Apple’s original cloud photo sync service shuts down this summer

Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge

I have two pieces of news for you this morning. The first is that My Photo Stream, the free cloud-based photo syncing feature Apple launched in 2011, is still up and running in 2023. That’s despite it being effectively superseded by iCloud Photo Library roughly eight years ago. Now that you’re up to date, the second piece of news is that My Photo Stream is shutting down in a couple of months’ time on July 26th, according to an Apple Support page spotted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

The end of My Photo Stream won’t come as too much of a surprise. Although it was free, it came with a long list of restrictions on the amount of photos you could upload, and these were only saved on Apple’s servers for 30 days. Photos saved in the cloud then had to be manually saved locally if you wanted to keep them on a secondary device and, perhaps worst of all, 9to5Mac notes that high-quality photos weren’t synced in their original resolution.

iCloud’s free storage may be relatively limited at just 5GB, but at least it acts like a modern cloud storage service with photos and videos stored in their full resolution.

Apple’s support page notes that new photo uploads to My Photo Stream will come to an end on June 26th, and that the feature will disappear entirely a month later. “The photos in My Photo Stream are already stored on at least one of your devices,” Apple’s page notes, “So as long as you have the device with your originals, you won’t lose any photos as part of this process.”

If you’d like to take this as an opportunity to explore an alternative for transferring your photos between devices, we’ve got a guide to a variety of photo storage services right here.