Threads for web, AI for bookmarks, and the best new car tech

Threads for web, AI for bookmarks, and the best new car tech

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 3, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. Thanks to everyone who sent stuff in this week — we’re starting to get the hang of how this all works, and I really hope it’s fun and useful! I know I’ve already downloaded a terrifying number of new apps thanks to y’all.

Only one housekeeping thing today: Installer now has an RSS feed! You can add this link to any RSS reader, and it should work (let me know if you run into issues). Also, Installer’s new homepage has every edition ever — all two of them so far. We’re still working on some cool new ways you can subscribe and contribute to Installer, but hopefully, we’ve got all the basics covered now.

This week, I’ve been watching season 3 of Only Murders in the Building, poring over those huge New Yorker profiles of David Zaslav and Elon Musk, testing the new Google NotebookLM note-taking app, horrifying myself by training a Voicify.AI model with my singing voice, redesigning all my homescreens with these Ruffsnap icons, and rediscovering The Earliest Show on YouTube for about the 868th time.

Oh, and before I forget: I just got five invites to the all-in-one messaging app Beeper, which I love, so the first five people to click the link can have at it. This week, I also have a new organizing app to tell you about, an infuriating but fascinating new doc you should watch, a better way to plan parties, and the new desk of your battlestation dreams. Let’s go.

(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to know more about? What awesome tricks do you know that everyone else should? What app should everyone be using? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)

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The Drop

• Fabric. I’ve been keeping an eye on this AI bookmarking / highlighting / stuff-saving app for a while, and this week was its big public debut. (The website says there’s still a waitlist, but I was able to log right in.) I’m digging taking notes on a webpage — right on the page — and having them all indexed and easily retrievable later.
• Telemarketers. It’s not exactly shocking that a sketchy call center might have some sketchy stuff going on, but this Max miniseries is still pretty eye-opening about how it all works. Plus, there’s a good story in here about why Congress can’t figure out what to do about these scams. The third and final episode of the series is on Sunday night, so you’ve got time to catch up.
• Threads for web. It took a few days, but I think the Threads web app is actually available for everybody, finally. I only had to try it like 150 times. The app’s not exactly full-featured, but at least you can post from a computer now!
• “New Car Technology We Really Love,” with Doug DeMuro and Alanis King. If you ever listen to The Vergecast, you know we have… feelings about car infotainment systems. This is a really fun, really helpful breeze through those and a lot of other in-car tech, from cool Lexus mirrors to Kia’s truly genius blind spot camera. Still hate most of the UIs, though.
• Ahsoka. I confess I am deeply tired of mediocre Star Wars stuff, to the point where I didn’t even bother with Obi-Wan Kenobi or The Book of Boba Fett. Ahsoka doesn’t seem to break the formula entirely, but by all accounts is mysterious and exciting and fun. I’m gonna give it a shot this weekend.
• 404 Media. A bunch of former Motherboard reporters started their own thing, and it’s an instant subscribe if you like wild stories about hackers, surveillance, AI, and what it means to be a person online in 2023.
• Partiful for iOS. It remains a mystery to me how Partiful turned “a page for planning a party” into, like, a super-rad lifestyle product, but here we are! Now, the app’s out on iOS, and honestly, I’m in favor of anything that means fewer plans via email and Facebook pages.
• The Corsair Platform:6 desk. This desk is like if you took the entirety of r/battlestations, fed it into an image-generating AI, and then asked it to design you the most gamer-y, streamer-y desk on the planet. And I kind of mean that as a compliment! No idea what this thing is going to cost, but I do love a good pegboard.
• Backflip. This is a weird, mesmerizing mini-documentary about a man teaching his avatar to do the backflip he’s too nervous to do in real life. It’s funny, and I learned a lot! I also really like the idea that “machine learning” is just “practice.” There’s no magic to the process — just a lot of failing and tweaking and trying again.

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Pro tips

Way back when, Clear was my favorite to-do list app for the iPhone. Maybe my favorite app, period. It had such a fun design, used gestures in really clever ways, and made making and checking off lists fun. Clear eventually sort of petered out, but now, it’s making a comeback — the app is in beta testing for iOS users now, and I’ve been using it and digging it for a while. And it’s actually about way more than to-do lists this time.

If you want in the beta, by the way, here’s a Clear TestFlight link. Tell ’em I sent ya.

Anyway, I asked Phill Ryu, one of the brains behind Clear (and other apps like Heads Up!), to give us some tips both on how to use Clear and how to make better lists in general. Here’s what he sent back:

• Get out of your head and into lists. Would you believe me if I promised listing can be meaningfully life-changing, especially when you have a cozy daily listing ritual? Once you get things organized and into lists, your mind is free to let them go for now and focus on what matters. Once you experience this, you might start listing a lot more. And for me at least, once I made a daily listing habit, it’s like life’s difficulty was taken down a half notch.
• Plan the next day’s list the night before. If you’re keeping a daily to-do list, I recommend making a “Tomorrow” list. (And a “Next Day,” if you’re ambitious.) I find it really satisfying and almost therapeutic to plan my next day ahead of time. Plus, it’s an effective way to quiet those loose threads in your head before bed.
• Keep an “Inspired” list instead of a “Soon” list. Throw stuff in there that you think you’ll feel inspired to do later on. And if things stick around there too long, swipe left to delete! (True story, the original Clear introduced iPhones to the modern “swipe left to delete” interaction before iOS itself, inspired by Tweetie’s pull to refresh.)
• Archive ruthlessly. One issue with prolific listing is the way plans can accumulate, become stale, and eventually become a kind of nightmare closet you don’t want to open over time. Maybe that’s not the best analogy because I guess Clear’s new archive feature is, in a way, a kind of virtual closet. But it’s out of sight and out of mind and always there when you need an older list again. So it’s a great way to keep your current lists very focused on what matters to you now.
• Treat yourself. There’s a crucial part of the loop of making a list of plans and checking them off that Clear pays special attention to: the dopamine you’ve earned when you get something done — that surge of satisfaction as you check off a tougher task with an extra flourish because you earned it. So we reward our listers with very satisfying sounds, haptics and animations, and even a chance to unlock some fun cosmetic or theme for the app by checking something off or achievements to unlock along the way.

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Screen share

Mishaal Rahman is one of my absolute favorite people to follow around the internet. Nobody does a better job of unearthing cool new features of Android, explaining how the platform works, and turning even teeny-tiny point updates into actual information that helps you use your phone better.

I figured there can’t be many people who have thought about their phone setup more than Mishaal, so I hit him up and asked him to share his homescreen with us. He’s the first person in Installer history to have a two-screenshot homescreen! Big day. Here it is, folded and then unfolded, plus some info on which apps he uses and why:

The phone: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5

The widget(s): When unfolded, I have four widgets placed in a widget stack at the top of the homescreen. I swipe left or right to change widgets. (Samsung’s launcher also contextually changes the widget shown here, though you can only see one of the four widgets in this screenshot anyway.) The widgets are: Weather, Battery (of the phone and connected accessories), App Timers (gotta limit my Reddit / Twitter [X] usage!), and YouTube Music. And of course, at the bottom is a Google Search widget with shortcuts for Assistant / Lens.

When folded, my homescreen doesn’t show any apps but, rather, a widget stack up top with two instead of four widgets (this time, only Weather and Alarms), a Direct Dial widget to quickly call my family members, and a dedicated Google Maps widget. The reason being that the Z Fold 5’s cover screen is so narrow that I prefer to use it only for quick actions or glanceable information.

The apps: (When unfolded) I organize nearly every app I install into pertinent folders. It’s a pain to set up, but it helps me keep track of what apps I actually use and also find them more quickly.

The apps I find most useful on mobile include Elisi (a digital bullet journal), Feedly, and Rview (a Gerrit client app to view / track contributions to the Android Open Source Project and Chromium Gerrits). I’m also terminally online, so of course, I also use Reddit and Twitter / X a bunch as well as... Lemmy, Hacker News (via the Materialistic app), Mastodon, Threads. I also swap between a bunch of different messaging apps like Google Chat (mainly family), Discord, Element (for Matrix), Signal, Slack, Telegram, WeChat, and WhatsApp. Please send help.

The wallpaper: It’s the default live wallpaper on the Z Fold 5. I stuck with it because it reacts to me folding / unfolding the device. I’m personally hoping Google’s AI wallpaper (whenever that’s out) generator can save me from my boring wallpaper choices.

As always, I also asked Mishaal to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he picked:

• Season 1 and 2 of Vinland Saga, an anime that dramatizes the life of Thorfinn Karlsefni. I found its treatment of violence / pacifism, the tragedy of war / slavery, and religion to be very compelling and am looking forward to continuing the story through its original manga!
• Speaking of manga, I’ve been really, really enjoying Dungeon Meshi and am sad that it’s about to be finished! The premise sounds (and is) very silly: a group of dungeon explorers sustain themselves by eating the monsters they find as they go deeper. It might seem at first glance that the entire series is centered around this gag and it’s used only for jokes, but the series takes a more serious turn while still (somehow) remaining true to its premise. Plus, the characters are very fun!
• I haven’t had a lot of time to sit down and play through a full game since I beat The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but when I’m scrolling through Reddit and YouTube out of boredom, I’ll often watch TOTK-related content because of how varied and interesting it is! I’m a big fan of /r/HyruleEngineering, which showcases the insane feats of (in-game) engineering that the game engine allows for. I’ve seen no-hit runs, runeless runs, lockout bingo races, and of course, speedruns of the game. I guess I just really love this game!

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Crowdsourced

Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email installer@theverge.com with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week.

“I think I’m kind of a weather app guy, so I wanted to suggest my favorite weather app, Flux. 1) It looks gorgeous, and the animations are nice. 2) There are a lot of useful settings. For example, you can add, remove, and reorder all the info cards, and it lets you choose from about 10 weather data sources. 3) The widgets are extremely customizable: you can change the icons, colors, text size, and even what to do when you click the widget!” – FaviFake

“One of my favorite installs lately has been Petey, a ChatGPT companion for Apple Watch. It’s thoughtfully designed, easy to use, and surprisingly useful — being able to submit a query that pops into your head without having to go grab your phone or open a laptop is awesome.” – Nick

“Memorigi: the best to-do list app I’ve ever used. The interface is both beautiful and highly functional, it leans on gestures which make it quick and easy to move through the app. The free version is really full-featured, but I paid for the upgrade simply to support the developers because it’s become a crucial part of my daily workflow. – Jacob

“The best iOS (and other Apple devices) app anyone can download for the kitchen is Crouton. It’s an app from a single dev team (support small developers). You can organize recipes into folders and tag groups, add recipe ingredients to a connected Groceries list in Reminders, scale your recipe servings up or down (and it saves that recipe’s scaling even if the app is closed), set multiple native timers (we truly live in an age of wonders), and share your recipes in a household or once as a PDF / text / Crouton recipe.” – JB

“I’d like to recommend Raindrop. I use multiple browsers on both my phone and laptop, I use Raindrop to manage bookmarks across these devices. It has folders and tags for organization. It’s also cross-platform.” – Chethan

“You mentioned that Keen knife, and while it does look appealing, I can’t imagine ever parting with my $10 Screwpop keychain utility knife. Magnetic, no-tool blade swap, bottle opener, and it’s keychain-able. These days, my keychain has two house keys, a mustache comb, and the Screwpop knife. You also forgot to mention one of my favorite selling points for “utility knife as a pocket knife,” which is cheap, disposable blades. Security checkpoint > dispose of blade > keep spares in the car.” – Andrew

“I’ve been using this awesome little web app (this is the future!) developed by this one dude Prijan, and I love it. It’s called Kinopio (pronounced like Pinocchio but with a k). I love using this web app to take notes, make mood boards, or jot stuff down. Using it is just fun and playful and exploratory. I can’t believe people like Milanote better than this bad boy.” – Garrett

“My recommendation: TidyCal. Been loving using this. It’s like a simpler, more affordable Calendly. Pay $29 one time and get access forever. No more monthly fees. Really enjoying it.” – Dave

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Signing off

A few days ago, for no particular reason, my TikTok feed became overrun by the TV show Taskmaster. It’s totally possible that I’m the last person on earth to know about Taskmaster — in which a very funny host gives a bunch of very funny people a series of very funny tasks to accomplish, and it’s all very funny — but I’ve been watching it nonstop all week. There are full seasons of the show on YouTube, but I especially love the Taskmaster TikTok page that is just an endless stream of the show’s funniest moments. I’ve never subscribed or followed so fast.

See you next week!

A.I. Brings the Robot Wingman to Aerial Combat

A.I. Brings the Robot Wingman to Aerial Combat An Air Force program shows how the Pentagon is starting to embrace the potential of a rapidly emerging technology, with far-reaching implications for war-fighting tactics, military culture and the defense industry.

SpaceX’s delayed Falcon 9 has launched four astronauts into orbit

SpaceX’s delayed Falcon 9 has launched four astronauts into orbit

The Falcon-9 launches NASA’s Crew-7 mission into space. | Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge

SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center this morning at 3:27AM ET, NASA announced today. The rocket pushed four astronauts on NASA’s Crew-7 mission into orbit before a scheduled Sunday morning dock with the International Space Station (ISS).

The mission brings astronauts from four countries to the ISS — Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, the European Space Agency’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furakawa, and Konstantin Borisov, a Russian cosmonaut. When the Dragon spacecraft — named Endurance — autonomously docks with the ISS, it will bring the station’s crew number up to 11 for a few days until board the capsule and return to Earth in a few days.

“Aboard station,” says NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, “the crew will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations to prepare for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, all while benefitting humanity on Earth.”

The launch was previously scheduled for Friday but NASA announced Friday it was pushed back so mission managers could confirm environmental control and life support systems were properly functioning. The mission was already delayed multiple times, including on two occasions to make way for a separate mission to send up the massive Jupiter 3 communications satellite.

Judge dismisses Republican lawsuit against Google over Gmail’s spam filtering

Judge dismisses Republican lawsuit against Google over Gmail’s spam filtering

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A federal judge in California’s eastern district has dismissed the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) lawsuit against Google over the company’s alleged “discriminatory” spam filtering, according to The Washington Post.

The suit complained Google intentionally sent RNC political emails to Gmail users’ spam folders, and the RNC sought restitution for “donations it allegedly lost as a result” of those lost emails. The RNC cited a North Carolina State University study that found Gmail was more likely to mark emails from Republican campaigns as spam. One of the study’s authors spoke to the Post in May last year, saying its findings had been misrepresented. Muhammad Shahzad noted that it only tested default email settings — in tests on accounts where users indicated their preferences by marking some messages as spam, “the biases in Gmail almost disappeared.”

While US District Court Judge Daniel Calabretta described the RNC’s suit as a “close case,” he dismissed the Committee’s claims, writing that it had “failed to plausibly allege its claims” that Google’s filtering was done in bad faith. Google claimed that many of the filtered emails were likely picked up by its spam algorithms because of user complaints and pointed to problems with the RNC’s domain authentication and frequent emails as other culprits.

The judge also said Republican emails could be considered “objectionable” content based on the definition in the CAN-SPAM Act and said that Google designating them spam is protected by section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The decision left Republicans with partial “leave to amend to establish a lack of good faith” on Google’s part.

Last year, Google built a backdoor for political emailers that the RNC reportedly didn’t bother using. The company said in January it would shutter its backdoor program in January as it requested dismissal of the RNC lawsuit. Earlier that month, the Federal Elections Commission rejected Republicans’ complaint to it about Google’s email filtering practices.

Linus Sebastian addresses error handling and ethics in a new video

Linus Sebastian addresses error handling and ethics in a new video

Linus Sebastian discusses changes coming to Linus Tech Tips. | Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge

Linus Media Group (LMG) founder Linus Sebastian explained LMG’s HR policies and how it will improve accuracy and ethics in a video posted to YouTube last night.

Following a 10-day pause to evaluate its processes, Sebastian said the company held meetings with team members to “dig through every misstep” and identify “communication and ... teamwork challenges” that resulted in accusations of LMG’s quality issues. He added that the company will no longer insist on uploading videos daily and will slow down to verify its content is accurate.

Sebastian did not directly address sexual harassment allegations recently levied by a former employee, Madison Reeve. Sebastian detailed changes to its HR structure over the year, including hiring outside consultants to review its policies in 2018, later contracting with an independent firm to handle HR issues, and eventually adding an in-house HR department. In a statement at the beginning of its production pause, Sebastian told us, “Our HR team will be conducting a more thorough assessment of the allegations, and when we are ready, we will release a more complete statement.”

Sebastian said Linus Tech Tips (LTT) now has “a clear rubric,” which he posted on the LTT forums, “that defines error severity and prescribes the appropriate fix,” which could range from pinned comments to full reshoots or even total cancellation of a project if necessary. LMG will, he said, use a newly formed error-checking community group, currently consisting of “fewer than 10 extremely knowledgeable” Linus Tech Tips community members, to verify the accuracy of the company’s videos.

Other changes are intended to improve business transparency, including publicly publishing the media group’s sponsorship guidelines and improving item tracking for products LMG has been sent for testing. He says the company now has a system for tracking the status of products provided to LMG to avoid future confusion regarding “items that start out as we don’t need it back and then turn into a loan later on.”

Later in the video, Sebastian talked about the company’s benefits, highlighting team outings, holiday parties, and internal giveaways. He discussed the company’s HR policies and department structure, saying the company will double its mental health counseling contribution later this year in response to recent online harassment experienced by LMG employees.

We’ve reached out to Linus Media Group for additional comment but did not receive a response by press time.

The last-gen Blink Outdoor security camera is half off today

The last-gen Blink Outdoor security camera is half off today

It may not feature person detection like the new model, but the third-gen Blink Outdoor is still a good security camera.for the price. | Image: Amazon

As we enter the last week of August, it’s time to prepare for a jam-packed fall gadget season. Many companies, including Apple, will likely release new gadgets. Shopping events like Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days and Black Friday are set to take place, and of course, we can’t forget the holidays. Altogether, it amounts to a very busy season, particularly for the mail carriers who’ll be delivering all your purchases – and for the porch pirates, who’ll try to steal all of them.

If you want to keep your packages secure, the third-gen Blink Outdoor security camera with the Sync Module 2 included is on sale starting at $49.99 ($50 off) from Amazon and Best Buy. The last-gen budget-friendly camera will help you keep tabs on your goods even when it’s dark, thanks to support for night vision. Like the newer Blink 4, which was just announced yesterday, it also offers 1080p video and lasts a long time despite the fact it runs on two AA batteries. The camera admittedly lacks person detection like its successor and its field of view isn’t as wide, but comes with the essentials like motion detection support. So long as you don’t mind paying extra to store clips and photos, this is a good camera to buy at this price.

We’ve been seeing a ton of good deals drop on headphones this past month, and this week was no exception. Despite being released just last month, Beats Studio Pro are already $100 off at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy, selling for just $249.99 instead.

Compared to their predecessor, the Studio 3, the latest headphones from the Apple-owned Beats sound better with new features like support for lossless audio over USB-C. They also feature improved noise cancellation along with a good transparency mode for when you need to let noise in. They can’t quite drown out noise or as effectively as some of their rivals, like, Sony’s WH-1000XM5, but they’re a good pair of over-ear headphones with support for iOS and Android features like Fast Pair.

If you’re looking for a portable speaker instead of a new pair of headphones, right now the Bose Soundlink Flex is on sale in all colors for $129 ($20 off) at Bose through September 4th. You can also buy it for the same price at Amazon. While the speaker dropped to as low as $105 during Prime Day, this is still one of the best prices we’ve seen.

Despite its slim size, the portable Bluetooth speaker offers a rich, clear sound with a surprising amount of bass, which is why it is one of our favorites. The Bose SoundLink Flex also offers IP67 weather resistance so you can party by the pool – and all day, too, thanks to a 12-hour battery life. Plus, the speaker comes with voice control support and a built-in mic, so you can make and receive calls via Google Assistant or Apple Siri.

Don’t you just love it when a good deal gets even better? Earlier this week, we mentioned Dell was throwing in a $75 gift card when you buy the Xbox Series X at full price. Now Dell’s sweetening the deal even more by taking $25 off the console. That means not only will you get a $75 gift card you can use to apply towards games such as Star Wars Jedi: Survivor or controllers like Microsoft’s Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2, but you’ll be also able to buy the Xbox Series X for $474.99.

The Xbox Series X is larger, faster, and more powerful than the less expensive Xbox Series S with support for 4K gaming. It also offers more storage along with a disc drive for playing both digital and physical games.

Read our Xbox Series X review.

A few more goodies before we bid you farewell

• As a part of its back-to-school sale, Zagg is discounting a range of accessories including the Mophie 3-in-1 15W MagSafe Travel Charger, which drops to $119.99 ($30 off) at checkout. If you travel a lot, this is the best MagSafe charger you can buy. It’s small and foldable for easy storage, but it’s also capable of quickly topping up your phone, Apple Watch, and AirPods simultaneously.
• The Amazfit GTR 4 is amongst our favorite Android smartwatches, and right now is on sale for $169.99 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. The Amazfit GTR 4 is a platform-agnostic wearable that comes with all the standard health and fitness features, as well as support for Amazon Alexa and 14 days of battery life. Read our review.
• The Black Diamond Spot 400 is on sale for about $37 ($13 off) at REI and Backcountry. Along with 400 lumens of brightness, the headlamp features an IPX8 water and dust resistance rating as well as proximity and red light modes.
• Just in case you prefer wireless earbuds over headphones, right now the Beats Studio Buds Plus is on sale in multiple colors for $129.95 ($40 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. The lineup offers a unique transparent style that makes the buds stand out from the rest, in addition to good sound, noise cancellation, and long battery life. Read our review.

What’s the Matter with the smart home?

What’s the Matter with the smart home?

But has it? | Photo by Fabian Sommer / Picture Alliance via Getty Images

A year ago at Berlin’s IFA tech trade show (think European CES), Verge reporter Jon Porter witnessed a Google Nest Hub control an Apple HomeKit smart plug. This “lightbulb moment for the smart home” was the first public demonstration of Matter. The new smart home standard is designed to fix the biggest issue facing tech in our homes: interoperability, and witnessing two fierce competitors in the space working together was exciting. Twelve months later, on the eve of IFA 2023, we’re still waiting for that lightbulb to turn on across the industry.

The smart home remains fragmented. Despite being developed by the biggest names in the industry — Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, and more — Matter has yet to deliver on its main promise. You still can’t just buy a smart light bulb, screw it in, and have it work with every other smart light you have (no matter who made it) and with any ecosystem you want.

The industry needs to provide a more compelling reason for people to bring smart tech into their homes — beyond “it’s cool”

Today, if you want the full benefits of home automation, you still need to pick a smart home platform and largely stay within its walled gardens unless you want to tinker with more hardcore DIY options involving Raspberry Pis.

But trade shows like IFA, which kicks off this week, are about tomorrow. And I’m hoping the future that’s on display at this year’s show is more connected and less fragmented than what we’ve seen from the smart home so far.

That’s not to say I’m not excited for a new generation of smart home tech, which, from the list of companies holding press conferences at the show, could include all manner of security cameras, video doorbells, smart speakers, robot vacuum cleaners, and smart lighting products.

South Korean tech giants Samsung and LG will be in attendance, with the latter having already preannounced plenty of its IFA showing. We’re expecting news from robot vacuum giants Ecovacs and Roborock, and smaller smart home players such as Eve, Nanoleaf, SwitchBot, Aqara, Aeotec, and Yeelight are all on the show floor. Honor also plans to hold a keynote focused around its Honor Magic V2 foldable phone, which recently launched in China.

No doubt, there are cool smart home announcements on the way. But what’s more important is the long and boring task of getting them to seamlessly work together to create a home that’s actually smart, not just a collection of disparate gadgets that solve specific problems. A video doorbell showing me who is at my front door no matter where I am is useful. But what if my doorbell was smart enough to recognize that person and either tell the smart lock to let them in or the security system to call the police?

Take Philips Hue’s rumored new security system, likely to launch this week. By adding cameras and new sensors to its line of smart lighting — presumably flashing all your lights to alert you to danger — the company is leveraging its ecosystem to make it more functional. Saving electricity by having your lights turn on and off automatically is one thing, but if that same ecosystem can also protect your home, then it becomes a far easier sell.

Or what about SwitchBot’s new robot vacuum and mop, which will not only refill itself with water directly from your water lines but can take that water to a humidifier to fill it up, removing another boring chore from your To-do list? The company also tells me it has plans to use the robot’s battery as a roaming charger for different household products.

If this works, it could make for a device that you can delegate chores to entirely, rather than needing to supervise, and it’s not hard to imagine a future where this charging functionality could even take over chores relating to other gadgets like charging smartphones or wireless air purifiers.

Speaking of smart air, Ecovacs’ will show off its Airbot T2 at IFA next week. A robot air purifier that roams around your house in search of stale air, it may look like a Dalek, but it’s a glimpse at a “Rosie” future. Add some suction power and a pair of robot arms, and you’ve got the multifunctional household robot that helped the Jetson family manage daily life 40 years from now.

Image: Ecovacs

Ecovacs’ latest air purifier can roam around your home sniffing for bad air.

I’m not suggesting any of these innovations we expect to see at IFA are at the level of smart home nirvana, but they are pointing toward the type of symbiosis we need. And it’s a need that’s been put into sharp relief by the current energy crisis.

Just as the Nest Learning Thermostat kicked off the most recent home automation moment in 2011 with its promise of saving energy and money, so are energy bills a wake-up call for how we live in our homes in 2023. Technology has the potential to be part of the solution, but the biggest benefits will be felt when all these sensor-equipped devices can work in tandem.

For us to feel comfortable allowing access to those things, we need privacy and security. All of this is why Matter (forgive me) matters. It’s a reset for the smart home. The smart home standard introduces a secure, basic communication layer that allows for interoperability and local control. It moves us away from proprietary protocols, dubious security standards, and cloud dependency to the point where — if appropriately implemented — we can feel comfortable allowing technology intimate access to our homes.

Matter still has a long way to go, partly because some companies are still holding back, waiting to see what’s really in it for them (Philips Hue still hasn’t pulled the trigger despite early enthusiasm), partly because the technology still hasn’t caught up to the dream, and mainly because the regular consumer is yet to be convinced that the whole thing is worth their time and expense. The industry needs to provide a more compelling reason for people to bring smart tech into their homes — beyond “it’s cool.”

The smart home needs to be essential, and today it’s not. Robots and folding phones will never not be cool, but a part of me is hoping for an IFA that’s more focused on the boring essentials.

Fortnite’s island gets a luxury makeover thanks to a vampire

Fortnite’s island gets a luxury makeover thanks to a vampire

Image: Epic Games

Out with the Wilds, in with the Last Resort. Fortnite’s latest season kicks off today — bringing the battle royale game up to Chapter 4: Season 4 — and, as teased yesterday, this new drop comes with a heist theme. But not just any heist: this time around, the island has been given a handful of luxurious locations thanks to a new character.

Here’s the basic rundown of the changes and new lore (yes, Fortnite has lore):

Vampire Kado Thorne has made the Island his home in Fortnite Battle Royale Chapter 4 Season 4, draining the Island’s wealth and treasures to fund some pretty fancy real estate: Sanguine Suites, Relentless Retreat, and Eclipsed Estate. Heist goods from Thorne’s properties to take back what belongs to the Island — and more importantly — to thwart Thorne’s ultimate plan. The fate of the Island is at stake, and thievery’s the last resort. So are you in?

The result, as per usual, is a slightly updated map that looks like this:

Image: Epic Games

The heist theme also comes with a number of associated gameplay changes. You can sneak into any of the new locations to loot powerful items, and there is new gear — including the Rocket Ram, which lets you shoot out of the building once you have the goods — to go along with this. There are even heist bags, which are like chests that only contain gear for heists. My favorite addition? A briefcase that turns into a turret when thrown on the ground. There are also towers now dotted across the island, which you can use to learn about future storm movements.

And for those who purchase this season’s battle pass, there are a number of new characters to unlock. They include: Ahsoka from Star Wars, TikTok star Khaby Lame, an extremely ripped fish named Fish Thicc, and the new vampire. Here’s the full cast:

Image: Epic Games

This isn’t the first time Fortnite has played around with a heist theme, but it seems like the most involved so far, not to mention a big stylistic change from the jungle theme of last season, which was also notable for collaborations with Futurama, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Nike.

How to turn your photos into stickers in iOS 17

How to turn your photos into stickers in iOS 17

Turning your cat photos into shareable stickers is a cinch in iOS 17. | Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Last year, iOS 16 gave us the ability to cut subjects out of our photos. It was fun! But it wasn’t totally clear what you should do with them. That changes in iOS 17, which is still in public beta at the moment. You can download it now or wait until the full release this fall, but in either case, you’ll find one excellent way to use your photo cutouts: turn them into stickers.

I know. I was skeptical, too. But you have to trust me on this: stickers in iOS 17 are well worth your time, particularly in iMessage. You’re going to thrill and impress all of your friends when you turn a grumpy picture of your cat into a tapback reaction, and everyone will want to know how you did it. You can tell ‘em we told you, or just keep it to yourself and take all the credit like some kind of Apple Genius Bar genius. No judgment.

Here’s how to do it. (I followed these steps on an iPhone 13 Mini running the iOS 17 developer beta.)

• Start by opening the Photos app and finding the picture you want to turn into a sticker.
• Long-press the subject until a glowing border appears around it, and tap the Add sticker option.
• A drawer will appear with your current stickers, and the photo cutout will be added.
• You can add an effect now or revisit it to do that later.

Long-press a person, pet, or object to cut it out from the background of your photo.

Add a white border to your sticker or save it as is.

You can retrieve your stickers anytime using Apple’s iOS keyboard. Just tap the smiley icon where you access emoji and scroll all the way to the left of the Frequently Used panel. There, you’ll find any stickers you’ve used recently, as well as a shortcut to access all of your stickers. Just tap the sticker you want to use — but be aware that, outside of iMessage, they’ll just appear as PNG images. The best way to use them is in the walled garden of Apple’s messaging app:

• Open an iMessage chat.
• Tap the plus icon to the left of the text box and select Stickers.
• Tapping a sticker will just add it to your iMessage text. For something even better, you can long-press the sticker you want to use to drag and drop it onto your conversation. You can also stick it to a particular message if you want to use it like a tapback reaction for comic effect.

A couple of pro tips:

• Adding an effect to your sticker sounds cheesy, but it’s actually great. Either tap Add Effect when you’re initially making your sticker or long-press it (and let go) whenever you’re accessing your stickers to see the effect options. Outline adds a white border for a more obvious sticker-like appearance. If you choose the Puffy or Shiny options, it’ll use your phone’s gyroscope to change the reflection like you’re actually moving it under a light source. Try it, it’s great.
• You can turn live photo subjects into moving stickers. Follow the same process as with a regular photo, but on the Add Effect sticker page, make sure the Live option is enabled to animate it. Use it as you would any other sticker.

Before Gran Turismo Inspired a Movie, It Drove Jann Mardenborough to Greatness

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Meta is pulling the plug on Messenger Lite on Android

Meta is pulling the plug on Messenger Lite on Android

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Meta’s Messenger Lite app for Android is being shut down in September, as reported by 9to5Google. The app launched as a more, well, lightweight way to talk to people on the company’s Messenger platform (former Verge staffer Vlad Savov was a fan), but you won’t be able to use it after September 18th.

When you open the app, you’ll apparently see a prompt that pushes you toward the main Messenger app, 9to5Google says. The app also isn’t available to download on Google Play if you haven’t downloaded it before.

Meta confirmed the closure in a statement to TechCrunch. “Starting August 21, people using the Messenger Lite app for Android will be directed to Messenger or FB Lite to send and receive messages on Messenger,” a Meta spokesperson said.

The announcement of Meta’s Messenger Lite shutdown arrives on the heels of another big Messenger change for Android. Earlier this month, Meta announced that you’ll no longer be able to use Messenger as your default SMS app on Android after September 28th.

Google Home app finally begins adding support for older Nest Cams

Google Home app finally begins adding support for older Nest Cams

Illustration: The Verge

Google is finally starting to add support for older Nest Cams to the Google Home app, starting with the first-generation Nest Cam Indoor from 2015, according to a post from Google on Thursday.

The support is available in the public preview of the Google Home app, and you can find instructions on how to participate in that program on Google’s website. But it might be awhile until you can actually use your Nest Cam Indoor with the app. “Once you’re in the preview, you’ll see a prompt in the Public Preview version of the Home app when you’re able to transfer your camera (it may take a couple of weeks as we slowly add more Nest Cam Indoor users each week) and it will guide you through the process,” Google says in its post about the update. “All eligible Nest Cam Indoor users will also receive an email once access has been rolled out to all users.”

Google launched an overhauled version of the Home app at Google I/O in May. At the time, Anish Kattukaran, director of product at Google Home, reiterated the company’s plans to add support for legacy Nest Cameras to the app. However, Kattukaran said that the move would begin with the first-gen Nest Cam Indoor in July, so the company is a bit behind it’s own deadline. The first-gen Nest Cam outdoor is set to get Home app support next.

If you don’t like the experience of using your Nest Cam Indoor with the Home app, you can transfer the camera back to the Nest app. The Nest app is going to hang around, at least for now; in its post on Thursday, the company said that “there is no change to the Nest app today” and that “you can continue to use the app as you do now.”

Google is expanding its ads transparency center to comply with EU rules

Google is expanding its ads transparency center to comply with EU rules

Illustration: The Verge

Google is making some changes to ads transparency and its data that’s available for researchers to comply with Europe’s Digital Services Act, according to a blog post published Thursday.

Regarding ads transparency, the company says that it will be “expanding” its Ads Transparency Center to “meet specific DSA provisions and providing additional information on targeting for ads served in the European Union,” Google’s Laurie Richardson and Jennifer Flannery O’Connor write in the post. The center, which Google launched earlier this year, is a searchable repository that lets you find out more about the ads you see on Google’s platforms.

For researchers, the two execs say that Google is “expanding data access for researchers” who might be “looking to understand more about how Google Search, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Play and Shopping work in practice, and conducting research related to understanding systemic content risks in the EU.”

The company is also expanding transparency in a few other areas, including another Transparency Center to learn about the company’s policies, including more information about content moderation in its transparency reports, and sharing risk assessments “related to our largest online platforms and our search engine in line with DSA requirements.”

Google is one of many big tech companies that has made changes recently to comply with the DSA, which makes tech companies more accountable for the content on their platforms. Instagram announced that it would be adding a chronological feed for Reels and Stories, for example — but only in Europe. And TikTok users in Europe will be able to opt-out of the personalized algorithms for its For You and Live feeds.

Alphabet’s Wing partners with Walmart for drone deliveries in Dallas

Alphabet’s Wing partners with Walmart for drone deliveries in Dallas

Image: Walmart

Wing, the drone delivery service owned by Alphabet, is teaming up with Walmart to offer deliveries in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. In an announcement on Thursday, Walmart says the partnership will allow the retailer to deliver to an additional 60,000 homes.

In the coming weeks, Wing will start delivering out of a Walmart Supercenter in Frisco, Texas, before expanding to a second nearby store by the end of this year. The company will make deliveries to homes within six miles of the stores, with deliveries arriving “in under 30 minutes.” Even though Wing says the drones are “highly automated,” operators will still keep an eye on them from a remote location.

Walmart and Wing set to expand drone delivery together in Dallas metro #DeliveredbyWing #DroneDelivery #supplychain #deliverydrone #uas #uav #logistics #robotics #drone #drones #engineering #automation #aerodynamics #delivery #lastmiledelivery pic.twitter.com/koLFm3BJor

— Wing (@Wing) August 24, 2023

Walmart has been experimenting with drone delivery for quite some time now. In addition to Wing, the company has partnered with DroneUp, Zipline, and Flytrex to offer drone deliveries to millions of households in the US. Walmart currently offers drone deliveries in 36 stores across seven states and has completed 10,000 successful deliveries — far outpacing the deliveries made by Amazon’s drone program.

As for what products are eligible for delivery through Wing, the drone company says it’s working with Walmart “to offer everything from full lunches to quick afternoon snacks or over-the-counter medicines.” That apparently even includes a carton of eggs, as Wing says the tether its drones use is gentle enough to transport “delicate items.”

The partnership is a pretty big deal for Wing, which recently revealed its new logistics systems that allow drones to initiate pick-ups and deliveries without having to return to an originating base. Last year, it kicked off its drone delivery service in Dallas to deliver items from Walgreens, Blue Bell Creameries, and other stores. It also partnered with DoorDash to deliver food orders in Australia.

Once the service launches, Wing will offer deliveries from Walmart six days per week (excluding Wednesdays) from 10:30AM to 6:30PM. If you’re in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, you can download Wing’s mobile app to see if your home is eligible.

Microsoft investigating Windows 11 BSOD ‘unsupported processor’ update errors

Microsoft investigating Windows 11 BSOD ‘unsupported processor’ update errors

Microsoft says it’s investigating reports of a Blue Screen of Death with an “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” error message that’s been cropping up on some Windows 11 PCs after installing an update released earlier this week. The latest KB5029351 update includes the usual monthly fixes, but it appears to be causing issues when used with some MSI motherboards.

“We are presently investigating to determine if this is an issue caused by Microsoft. We will provide an update when more information is available,” reads a support note on Microsoft’s Windows health center.

I’ve personally experienced this issue on a Windows 11 gaming PC, which is running an Intel Core i9-13900KS on an MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi motherboard. A number of Reddit users have reported the same BSOD after installing the update, all running Intel systems on MSI motherboards with the latest BIOS updates applied.

Image: Microsoft

The Blue Screen of Death error.

Thankfully, after experiencing the BSOD Windows 11 is able to recover and roll back the patch. Microsoft now appears to have pulled the KB5029351 update from affected systems, but it’s still available for everyone else. The update went through Microsoft’s usual Windows Insider testing, into the Release Preview ring, and then to retail copies of Windows 11 before issues were reported.

It’s not immediately clear what’s causing the problem, but it may well be linked to MSI’s recent BIOS updates in preparation for Intel’s upcoming 14th Gen desktop CPUs, codenamed Raptor Lake-S Refresh. MSI issued a round of BIOS updates recently for Z690 and Z790 motherboards that “support next-gen CPUs,” according to the patch notes. Reddit users are all on the most recent MSI BIOS update, and at least one reports that downgrading the BIOS update allowed the KB5029351 update to install.

We’ve reached out to MSI to comment on the BIOS updates and we’ll update this post with any response.

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India’s Chandrayaan-3 probe successfully lands on the lunar south pole

India’s Chandrayaan-3 probe successfully lands on the lunar south pole

India is now the first nation to successfully achieve a soft landing near the Moon’s southern pole. | Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP via Getty Images

India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission has made space travel history today by successfully achieving a soft landing near the south pole of Earth’s Moon, just days after Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft crashed while trying to land in the same region. India is now the fourth nation to achieve a soft Moon landing and the first to have successfully touched down on the lunar south pole — a little-explored area of the Moon that’s believed to contain water ice.

Three other nations — the US, China, and the former Soviet Union — have all previously achieved a soft landing near the Moon’s equator, a safer region with (comparatively) amiable temperatures and terrain and reliable sunlight to recharge solar-powered instruments. During a live stream of the lander’s touchdown, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the successful outcome of this mission sets the country up for future human spaceflight.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
'India ,
I reached my destination
and you too!'
: Chandrayaan-3

Chandrayaan-3 has successfully
soft-landed on the moon !.

Congratulations, India !#Chandrayaan_3#Ch3

— ISRO (@isro) August 23, 2023

By contrast, much of the Moon’s southern pole is littered with deep craters and basins that are permanently shrouded in darkness. According to NASA, these areas haven’t seen sunlight in billions of years and can experience temperatures as low as negative 334 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 203 degrees Celsius). The extreme conditions in these “cold traps” make remote observation from Earth difficult and present problems for operating sensitive equipment in the region.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft took 22 days to enter the Moon’s orbit on August 5th, following its launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on July 14th. On August 17th, the Vikram lander carrying Pragyan — a lunar ground rover — successfully separated from its propulsion module in preparation for today’s soft landing.

Image: NASA

This image from NASA shows the definite distribution of surface ice at the Moon’s south pole (left) and north pole (right).

The mission marks India’s second attempt at a lunar landing after the Chandrayaan-2 lander crashed into the Moon’s surface back in 2019. The next stage of the Chandrayaan-3 mission will involve deploying Pragyan to survey the local environment for one lunar day (around 14 Earth days) and carry out a variety of scientific experiments. These include using X-ray spectrometry to identify the elemental composition of the Moon’s surface.

Corsair’s first standing desk is designed for gaming, streaming, and more

Corsair’s first standing desk is designed for gaming, streaming, and more

Just look at all the stuff you can mount on this desk. | Image: Corsair

Corsair’s Platform:6 is a modular standing desk that’s being targeted at everyone from remote workers to content creators and, naturally, PC gamers. It’ll be available to purchase in the fourth quarter of this year, but Corsair’s website isn’t currently listing any prices for the desk or its many, many accessories.

With the Platform:6 due to be offered in multiple configurations that are customizable via an online configurator, it’s a little tricky to work out what’s included as standard, and what’s available as a modular upgrade. But Corsair’s press release suggests that the desk comes with dual monitor arms, a cable management tray, and an in-desk storage cubby with built-in USB Type-A and Type-C charging ports. Most interesting is a modular rail system that’s built into the desk and which is designed to let you mount additional desk accessories and avoid having them clutter up your work surface.

Image: Corsair

Image: Corsair

Image: Corsair

Pegboards can be attached to hang your various accessories off.

Beyond that, there are a plethora of seemingly optional extras. The “Creator Edition” of the desk is equipped with motorized height adjustment that can remember height presets of your choosing. There are also 30 x 70cm side extensions to make the six foot-wide desk even wider, as well as optional hanging pegboards for your headphones, game controllers, and whatever else you can fit on them. Corsair also advertises that it’ll offer adapters for Elgato’s range of Multi-Mount accessories to attach cameras, lights, and microphones.

It’s a set of features that appears tailor made to the needs of streamers in particular, whose desks are often seen overflowing with streaming and gaming gear. The Platform:6 seems to go beyond what’s offered by a lot of existing gaming-branded desks, whose features typically include cable management, height adjustment, and maybe a built-in monitor arm.

My big question, as one of the multiple Verge staff members to have bought a Fully standing desk over the years, is whether Corsair is going to release the Platform:6’s rail system as a standalone accessory. I have no plans to buy a new desk anytime soon, but the thought of mounting all my desk detritus to a simple crossbar is very appealing. How about it Corsair?

Samsung’s 57-inch ‘Dual UHD’ gaming monitor gets a price and release date

Samsung’s 57-inch ‘Dual UHD’ gaming monitor gets a price and release date

It’s a lot of screen, whichever way you cut it. | Image: Samsung

Samsung’s 57-inch Odyssey Neo G9, its massive gaming monitor that’s like having two 32-inch 4K displays sat next to each other, will be available in the US in October for $2,499.99, the company has announced. If you’re in the UK the monitor is available to preorder from today for £2,199.99.

If the Odyssey Neo G9 sounds familiar, then that might be for a couple of reasons. Samsung first teased the monitor last November before officially announcing it at CES in January 2023, albeit without a price or firm release date. But the Odyssey Neo G9 name might also sound familiar because Samsung released a 49-inch model under the same name in 2021 that only offered the combined resolution of two 1440p displays.

Image: Samsung

The monitor is equipped with a host of multi-tasking tools.

Image: Samsung

It’s technically a gaming monitor, which means it offers gaming monitor aesthetics.

In 2023, Samsung is now offering 57 inches of curved Mini LED display with a refresh rate of 240Hz, a peak brightness of 1000 nits (VESA DisplayHDR 1000 certified, 420 nits typical), and a total resolution of 7,680 x 2,160. That translates to a wildly ultra-wide 32:9 aspect ratio. Our experience with previous monitors this wide is that the extra horizontal resolution ends up being more useful for multi-tasking rather than ultra-wide gaming. My colleague Sean Hollister explored the issue in-depth when he reviewed a previous Odyssey G9 monitor, but the short version is that most 3D games start to become seriously warped on monitors this wide, even when they support the resolution in the first place.

For multitasking, Samsung has equipped the 57-inch Odyssey Neo G9 with picture-in-picture and picture-by-picture display modes, allowing you to display content from multiple inputs simultaneously. The monitor is equipped with one DisplayPort 2.1 port, as well as three HDMI 2.1 ports. There’s also a USB hub included for good measure, though Samsung’s press release doesn’t offer details on exactly how many ports that gets you. The monitor supports AMD’s FreeSync Premium Pro variable refresh rate tech.

As well as the 57-inch Odyssey Neo G9, Samsung has also announced a release window for the 2023 version of its 55-inch Odyssey Ark, which will be available in the US in October. Samsung says the 55-inch display can show up to four inputs on the screen at once (three HDMI and a DisplayPort), and also sports a built-in KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switch. There’s no sign of a price just yet.

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Defcon 2023: los hackers encuentran fallos de la IA

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Hyperkin’s new Xbox controller has drift-free sticks in a PlayStation-style layout

Hyperkin’s new Xbox controller has drift-free sticks in a PlayStation-style layout

A licensed Xbox controller with a bit of a PlayStation vibe. | Image: Hyperkin

Third-party controller makers are continuing to pick up the slack from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo when it comes to making more durable, drift-proof controllers. Hyperkin is announcing the Competition, an Xbox-licensed wired controller for Xbox Series X / S and PC with a PlayStation-like symmetrical stick layout that you don’t commonly find on Xbox gamepads. But, more importantly, it uses both Hall effect sensors for its sticks and impact triggers to minimize long-term wear and tear.

The Competition was once quietly teased way back in the Before Time at E3 2019, but after a long enough delay, Hyperkin revised it to include the upgraded sensors. However, even after all that time, the launch date and price are still not finalized. It’s tentatively set for release in the first quarter of 2024 with an estimated MSRP of $49.99, but Terence Calacsan, Public Relations Manager for Hyperkin, tells The Verge, “This is subject to change.”

Image: Hyperkin

Besides blue, it will also come in white.

Image: Hyperkin

And black.

Hall effect sensors use magnets to detect movement, meaning there’s no internal friction or impact between surfaces when you’re turning an analog stick or pressing a trigger. Potentiometer-based modules, like the ones used in all first-party gamepads, from Nintendo Joy-Cons to Sony’s DualSense Edge and Microsoft’s Xbox Elite Series 2, can all fall victim to drift over time.

Hyperkin’s Competition may sound a bit similar to GameSir’s recent G7 SE, which was the first Xbox-licensed gamepad to use the superior stick technology, but the Competition aims to separate itself with its unique (for Xbox) stick positioning. We’ll have to see if it competes on price as well. Though if more and more gamepad makers go Hall effect, it will hopefully convince the console makers to eventually follow suit — even if it takes a whole new console generation.