The best drawing tablets to buy right now

The best drawing tablets to buy right now

Our top picks for the best drawing tablets, with or without a built-in display. | Image: The Verge

Whether you’re new to digital art or a seasoned professional designer, these are our top picks for the best drawing tablets on the market.

Drawing tablets (also known as graphics tablets or art tablets) aren’t just for digital creatives like graphic designers, artists, and photo editors. They’re useful for gamers, office workers, and teachers, too. While varied in design, each drawing tablet serves the same purpose: to replace your mouse or trackpad with a digital stylus that feels more natural to draw or edit with. Some, often called “pen tablets,” resemble a blank slab and pen that controls your on-screen cursor. Others, dubbed “display tablets,” include built-in screens, allowing users to draw directly onto the surface that they’re viewing.

Selecting the best drawing tablet comes down to personal preference and what you’ll be using it for. High-end display tablets that might be ideal for professional comic artists and animators aren’t the best choice if you’re just signing digital documents. Some users prefer to stick with Wacom — the most trusted and recognized brand of drawing tablets — because of their reputation for build quality, reliable drivers, and software. But in recent years, other brands, like Huion, XP-Pen, and Gaomon, have emerged that offer products with similar functionality (albeit with less reliable software and slightly lower build quality) at a fraction of Wacom’s lofty prices.

I have almost 15 years of near-daily experience with both pen and display drawing tablets, and I’ve been lucky enough to own, test, or review a wide range of them over the years. While I haven’t worked as a professional photo editor or illustrator, I’ve used them for everything from designing various monsters and beasties in 3D sculpting software when I worked as a makeup prosthetics artist to drawing cringe fan art of my favorite TV and video game characters in my free time.

There are several things that you need to consider before purchasing a drawing tablet in 2023 (many of which are addressed in our FAQs at the end of this guide), but thankfully, there’s plenty of variety to ensure you’ll find the best choice to serve your needs.

The best drawing tablet overall

Size: 12.9 inches / Screen resolution: 2048 x 2732, 120Hz, HDR10 / Pen pressure levels: N/A (not provided but second-gen Apple Pencil has been tested to 8,192) / Colour gamut: 100 percent P3 / Weight: 1.5 pounds

One of the most popular display drawing tablets isn’t actually a drawing tablet per se. The Apple iPad has gained a positive reputation among creative professionals thanks to apps like Clip Studio Paint for iPad and Adobe Photoshop for iPad that let it compete with full-fat desktop applications at a fraction of the weight and size of an actual desktop or laptop.

Brands like Wacom and Huion offer tablet workstations — essentially display tablets with built-in PCs — but the iPad trounces each and every one of them for convenience and price. Dedicated all-in-one tablet workstations tend to be heavy, loud, and incredibly expensive, and most other mainstream drawing tablets need to be connected to a desktop computer or laptop. While an M2-powered iPad Pro model isn’t exactly cheap, it could be cheaper than purchasing both a display tablet and a system to run it with.

Image: Dan Seifert / The Verge

It’s lightweight, portable, and pretty powerful — for convenience alone, the iPad Pro is hard to beat as an illustration tool.

Some apps, like Procreate — an intuitive illustration software that provides artists with easy-to-use tools — and its upcoming Dreams animation app, are also exclusive to the iPad. Procreate alone has made the iPad coveted by digital artists, and the company is promising that its new animation software will make similar waves across the creative industry when it’s released on November 22nd. If you’re interested in illustration and animation, it’s an exciting time to be an iPad user.

The iPad Pro handles apps for 3D sculpting and high-definition video editing like a champ, which makes it a great accessory for professionals, or a fully dedicated creative device for those just getting started. If you’re on a tighter budget, the more affordable iPad Air (fourth-gen and above) is also capable of running many of the same creative applications, though more intensive workloads would be better suited to the Pro models. That said, the iPad platform doesn’t support every application that a desktop computer system can run, such as Autodesk Maya or Maxon ZBrush, so make sure you check what software you’ll need to use before choosing this as your only drawing tablet.

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

The M2 iPad Pro features a USB-C charging port instead of Apple’s former Lightning port, which some users may find more convenient.

You’ll also have to purchase the second-generation Apple Pencil ($129) separately for the full experience. The setup loses some points here since the Apple Pencil doesn’t provide any physical reprogrammable buttons, but double-tapping the flat side of the stylus will switch between whatever tool you’re using and the erase function (at least in most creative apps). Pair that with a decent paper-like screen protector, and you may find you don’t need to buy a dedicated drawing tablet after all.

Read our full review of the iPad Pro (2022) here.

The best display drawing tablet for beginners

Size: 13.3 inches / Drawing area: 11.6 x 6.5 inches / Screen resolution: Full HD (1920 x 1080), 26ms response time / Pen pressure levels: 4,096 / Colour gamut: 72 percent NTSC / Weight: 2.2 pounds

The Wacom One is one of the company’s most affordable display tablets. The combination of its affordable price point and Wacom’s reputation means that it’s the tablet of choice for many high schools and colleges. If you or your child want to continue projects at home, it may be best to stick with a product that they’re already familiar with. It can take some time to adjust to digital illustration tools if you’ve only experienced traditional media like pencils and ink before, so keeping your tools consistent can make things a little easier.

The Wacom One doesn’t have many frills, nor does it pretend to — what it lacks in features, it makes up for with Wacom’s reliable build quality and frustration-free software. It features a textured full HD 1080p display and comes with a stylus with one customizable side switch. Wacom has also made the One compatible with a host of third-party styluses if you want additional control over things like pen thickness, grip, and button placement for a more comfortable experience.

Photo by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

The Wacom One lacks physical macro buttons, but you can set up on-screen shortcuts.

There are some similarly priced alternatives from rival brands like Huion and XP-Pen that provide more features, but there are two main reasons why the Wacom One might be a better choice.

First, additional buttons and features might be overwhelming if you’ve never used a drawing tablet before. The Wacom One removes all of that confusion — it’s a display you can draw on, and nothing more. Second, Wacom is the gold standard of reliability when it comes to software and build quality. It’s something you should really experience before buying something from a rival brand, as it’s harder to detect where the quality of these offerings has slipped without anything to compare it to. There’s a reason many professional artists are loyal to Wacom despite its comparatively higher price tags.

The best cheap display tablet for hobbyists

Size: 11.9 inches / Drawing area dimensions: 10.3 x 5.8 inches / Screen resolution: Full HD (1920 x 1080) / Pen pressure levels: 8,192 / Color gamut: 90 percent NTSC, 127 percent sRGB, 94 percent Adobe RGB / Weight: 1.9 pounds

Okay, so perhaps you are ready to start mapping some of your commonly used tools to physical buttons. In that case, the second-gen XP-Pen Artist 12 is an endearing little display tablet that serves as a step up in utility from the stripped-back Wacom One, at the expense of some cursor jitters.

The second-gen XP-Pen Artist 12 display tablet comes with the X3 Elite stylus, which provides 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity (a figure that’s effectively now the standard for drawing tablets) and 60 degrees of tilt recognition to replicate real brush strokes. There are also two programmable buttons on the side for switching between your current tool and the erase function of whatever software you’re using.

Photo by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

Should a gadget’s color be a big consideration in your purchase? Perhaps not, but it’s nice to see some pink / green tech for those who do care.

Essentially, all the stylus basics are covered here to help developing artists adjust to similar features on more expensive display tablets. They might not be the best quality tools, but they get the job done and allow you to better understand the differences between using a professional drawing tablet (which typically has a higher resolution, greater color accuracy, and customization) and something less powerful that’s designed more for sketching or fan art.

The active area is smaller than that of the Wacom One, but it’s enough space for folks looking to use it for sketching or physical note-taking. It comes in a selection of cute pastel colors (and black if you prefer to keep things professional) and provides eight programmable buttons, which is unexpected at this price. It doesn’t include a built-in stand if you’re wanting to use it at an angle, though it’s not entirely needed at this size — it’s lightweight, portable, and can be used either flat on a desk or resting on your lap to help digital art novices adjust to drawing on a screen.

This would also make a great first display tablet if you’re not interested in jumping straight into Wacom’s offerings, but it loses some marks for software. I noticed that my cursor is slightly jittery compared to some of the more expensive display tablets I’ve used, but not enough to make drawing unpleasant. I was happy to use it for all of my usual tasks, from line art on Clip Studio Paint to sculpting models in Blender, with no real issues besides knowing that pricier display tablets would typically produce smoother lines. If you’re inexperienced with using pen tablets or display tablets, then the slight jitter may not even be something you can detect, but that’s a risk you need to decide if you’re willing to take.

The best midsize display tablet

Size: 15.8 inches / Drawing area dimensions: 13.7 x 7.7 inches / Screen resolution: 2.5K (2560 x 1440), 60Hz, 14ms response time / Pen pressure levels: 8,192 / Color gamut: 145 percent sRGB / Weight: 2.6 pounds

The Huion Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K) hits the sweet spot for midsize display tablets, even with every Wacom offering taken into consideration. The 1440p resolution is ideal for its size, providing a noticeable improvement against 1080p displays at a fraction of the cost of a 4K Wacom Cintiq (which would need to be adjusted in the settings to run at 1440p). There’s also a 4K version available, but it costs considerably more, and unless you really need those additional pixels, the 2.5K offering is a better deal.

Photo by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

If your tablet comes with a stylus stand, always check to see if there are spare pen nibs or other goodies stashed inside.

There are eight programmable hotkeys and a built-in kickstand that can be deployed in two different positions. Huion used to have a reputation for buggy software, and while it hasn’t completely escaped that reputation, Huion products have drastically improved in recent years and are no longer as risky to invest in.

The Slim Pen PW550S stylus is battery-free (as most modern tablet pens are, Apple Pencil notwithstanding) and provides most of the usual perks, like 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity and two programmable buttons. You also get a nice donut-shaped stylus stand that opens to reveal a set of replacement nibs.

Photo by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

The Huion Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K) comes with a fully detachable stand to angle the tablet into a more natural drawing position.

If you’re a digital illustrator looking to upgrade from your first display tablet, then the Huion Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K) is a solid choice. Unless you step into working in a field that requires a larger workspace, more pixels, or greater color accuracy — such as photo editing or designing branded logos and graphics — it’s unlikely you’ll ever need something more powerful than this. The size allows it to be thrown into a backpack if needed, and the work area is plenty large enough for character art and web comics.

The best large-screen display drawing tablet

Size: 24.4 inches / Drawing area dimensions: 20.7 x 11.7 inches / Screen resolution: 4K (3840 x 2160), 60Hz / Pen pressure levels: 8,192 / Colour gamut: 99 percent Adobe RGB, 93 percent DCI-P3 / Weight: 13.3 pounds

There’s no shortage of drawing tablet manufacturers gunning for Wacom’s crown these days, but Xencelabs feels like it’s in the best position. The rather unimaginatively named Pen Display 24 is Xencelab’s flagship display tablet offering, and it couldn’t have made a better impression.

The screen itself isn’t quite as suited to the same color-referencing tasks as the Wacom Cintiq Pro 27, but you’re still getting a 4K resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, and coverage for up to 99 percent of Adobe RGB and 93 percent DCI-P3 color spaces. It’s even validated for Pantone SkinTone. That’s plenty good enough for even professional illustration and graphic design, and at just over half the price of Wacom’s flagship offering, it’s hard to beat.

Photo by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

Having such a sturdy case to store the Xencelabs pens in is a breath of fresh air for those of us who are constantly losing styluses.

$1,899 may seem expensive, but you’re getting your money’s worth. Xencelabs ships the tablet with a bunch of high-quality accessories, including two different pens (a slim Apple-Pencil-like stylus and a chunkier pen with three buttons) in a compact travel case as well as a programmable OLED “Quick Keys” macro pad. Having a choice between different pens is great if you like to switch things up depending on your current task — for example, I prefer to use the slimmer stylus when sketching and move to the thicker pen for coloring or 3D sculpting. The Quick Keys accessory also allows you to label each macro button to keep track of your hotkeys and set profiles for different creative apps. Plus, it’s far easier to use than Wacom’s on-screen macro keys or the Huion KD100 keydial accessory. There are also three programmable buttons built into the tablet itself if needed.

Photo by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

The Quick Keys accessory (pictured) isn’t just a great freebie; it’s also one of the best tablet macro pads on the market.

I could go on about all the things I loved about the Xencelabs Pen Display 24. The anti-glare etched glass has a nice grain to it that feels almost paper-like when drawing. It runs surprisingly quiet for a display tablet of this size, which usually have fans blasting to keep from overheating. Even without the noise, the glass surface was barely more than warm to the touch, and the free drawing glove provided by Xencelabs to prevent leaving smudges on the display was of a much higher quality than those provided by XP-Pen or Huion.

Wacom will remain my recommendation for creative professionals who are working in an industry role largely because of the company’s reputation for delivering reliable software and drivers. But if you have some flexibility and are looking for a cheaper alternative that somehow feels more premium, the Xencelabs Pen Display 24 is well worth considering.

The best display drawing tablet for creative professionals

Size: 26.9 inches / Drawing area dimensions: 23.5 x 13.2 inches / Screen resolution: 4K (3840 x 2160) 120Hz, 10ms response time / Pen pressure levels: 8,192 / Colour gamut: 98 percent DCI-P3, 99 percent Adobe RGB / Weight: 15.6 pounds

If you want the best of the best, and you’re willing to pay, then the Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 is what you’re looking for. Released last year, the Cintiq Pro 27’s large display is Pantone SkinTone validated and can cover 99 percent of Adobe RGB and 98 percent of DCI-P3 HDR. It can also be calibrated further for maximum color accuracy, bringing it closer to the performance of expensive reference monitors used by professional photo editors. It ships with the battery-free Pro Pen 3, the company’s latest stylus, which provides customizable weights and various replaceable grips and nibs to personalize your drawing experience.

Photo by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

You can attach the Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 stylus holder to several places on the tablet — shame that the pen itself is constantly falling out of it.

There are “grip” handles built into the back of the device that help with maneuvering the heavy 15.6-pound display, each with two buttons that can be reprogrammed to various shortcuts based on what software you’re using. The $500 mount is sold separately, but its weight means that a kickstand would likely be of little use anyway. If you don’t want to shell out that much, the Cintiq 27 Pro also supports standard VESA mounts so you can attach it to a desk-mounted monitor arm.

This is the most expensive drawing tablet on the market right now, and for good reason. Nothing from competing brands can match it for color accuracy or features. You should only consider this if you’re a creative professional who’s outgrown their current tablet or simply have a lot of cash to burn. It’s superseded older models from the Wacom Cintiq Pro range — the previous industry standard drawing tablet for most creative professionals — and will serve as a noticeable upgrade if you’ve been using them for some time. Just one benefit worth noting is that users report it runs much quieter than older Cintiq Pro models, which had noisy fans blasting to keep the device cool during use.

The best pen drawing tablet for beginners

Size: 12.4 inches / Drawing area dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 inches / Pen pressure levels: 8,192 / Wireless?: No / Weight: 0.9 pounds

Again, Wacom is a beloved brand across schools and colleges due to the build quality and reliability of its products, and the One by Wacom is no exception. Not to be confused with the Wacom One display tablet, the One by Wacom is a cheap and cheerful introductory drawing tablet for students and novices who can forgo fancy features while they adapt to using a digital stylus.

Photo by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

The One by Wacom is cheap and reliable — ideal for familiarizing yourself with the world of digital content creation.

It’s available in a few colors and comes with a grid of dots to help users understand how their stylus position correlates to the on-screen cursor. The stylus is slim and comfortable and comes with two programmable buttons. The dots on the tablet itself are also useful for rhythm games like Osu! that require the player to tap in precise locations. The One by Wacom isn’t exactly comfy given its lack of wrist rest and the hard plastic edge you need to lean against, but it’s cute, reliable, and gives users a taste of that Wacom quality for under $100.

Outside of content creation (and video games), the One by Wacom is also a great choice for office workers or teachers who want a reliable, convenient tool for signing PDFs, marking and circling sections of projects, or taking physical notes in meetings or lectures.

The best pen tablet for creative professionals

Size: 15.7 inches / Drawing area dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 inches / Pen pressure levels: 8,192 / Wireless?: Yes / Weight: 1.54 pounds

The Wacom Intuos range has been the darling of the graphics tablet world since it was first released back in 2000, and it’s only gotten better with age. The current version of the Intuos Pro Medium was released back in 2017, and I think the only reason it hasn’t been refreshed is because it would be a disservice to do so — it’s perfect the way it is. You get both wired and wireless connectivity, eight customizable express keys, and a touch-sensitive “loop” wheel that can be used for scrolling or cycling through color and brush options. You can even buy separate “texture” sheets to customize how rough or smooth the drawing surface is.

The difference in build quality between Wacom’s Pro-line tablets and competing midsize pen tablets is like night and day. The buttons are satisfying to press with very little “squish,” and the tablet itself doesn’t feel cheap or flimsy, despite all the black plastic. My own Wacom Intuos Pro served me well for over six years despite the numerous occasions when I dropped it, knocked it around, or put the stylus through the washing machine. And even then, the only reason I still don’t have it is because I gifted it to my younger sibling. If you need a dependable workhorse, this is the tablet you should consider.

Photo by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

The metal base of the stylus holder is made from weighty, solid metal, so you won’t accidentally send it flying across your desk.

The Wacom Intuos ships with the Wacom Pro Pen 2 stylus. That provides the usual pressure sensitivity and tilt recognition benefits, but it’s also worth noting a feature that’s starting to become a rarity for tablet pens — a physical eraser button. The “button” on the end of the stylus is actually another nib that automatically switched to the eraser tool on software like Photoshop, allowing users to simply flip the pen over and erase any mistakes as they would a traditional pencil.

There are small ($249) and large ($499) versions of this tablet available, but the medium offering will be the best fit for most. Too small, and you risk having insufficient space for your needs, and going too large can feel unnatural if you’re not used to moving your hand so far to draw across the tablet. And of course, no matter what size you opt for, you’re still getting Wacom’s gold standard of quality and software.

The best non-Wacom pen tablet

Size: 13.1 inches / Drawing area dimensions: 10.33 x 5.8 inches / Pen pressure levels: 8,192 / Wireless?: Yes, 16-hour battery life per charge / Weight: 1.5 pounds

Xencelabs is a relative newcomer to the graphics tablet market, but it’s already making massive waves. Its flagship Pen Tablet can be used both wired or wirelessly, and it gently slopes into an ergonomic palm rest to prevent your hands from aching during use. The real value comes from buying the bundle package, though — the Xencelabs Pen Tablet Bundle provides not one but two different styluses (one slim and one chunky with additional buttons) and a Quick Keys, the brand’s fancy macro pad accessory with eight programmable buttons, a physical dial, and an OLED display.

Photo by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

It really is nice to just have a choice between different styluses — and the all-white color scheme is a rare sight for drawing tablets.

The Quick Keys retails for $100 if purchased separately and doesn’t need a wired connection. It’s a great package deal suitable for all skill levels, from novice to professional. I’ve opted for the special edition here if only to highlight that you can get such a nice drawing tablet in white — a rarity that will match an all-white or Apple setup nicely (though an all-black variant of the same bundle is also available).

Regardless of which of the two stylus options I used, my cursor was smooth and registered every movement and change in pressure. The three programmable buttons on the device itself didn’t feel cheap or flimsy, and the surface was satisfying to draw on. Better yet, I didn’t experience a single issue with any of the Xencelabs software. It all just worked and worked well. It performed similarly to the Wacom Intuos Pro range if you need a comparison, only with better freebies and fewer built-in options for hotkeys and navigation.

Photo by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

The Xencelabs accessories feel every bit as premium as the tablet itself.

The Xencelabs Pen Tablet is also a solid choice for creative professionals — it doesn’t lose points for not being a Wacom product per se, but some traditionalists have a hard time moving away from the Wacom ecosystem. On the flip side, some artists who are frustrated with the high price of Wacom tablets may be looking for an alternative brand that can match it for quality and performance. Xencelabs can’t match Wacom in years of industry experience, but my own experience testing the Xencelabs Pen Tablet has assured me that the company has a decent shot of encroaching on Wacom’s long-held status as the industry standard for drawing tablets.

The best cheap pen tablet for office and gaming

Size: 12 inches / Drawing area dimensions: 7 x 4.3 inches / Pen pressure levels: 8,192 / Wireless?: No / Weight: 0.6 pounds

The XP-Pen Deco Mini 7 is a great choice for folks who just need something cheap to sign or add written notes to digital documents and projects. It’s easy to slip into a bag and can take a greater beating than a display tablet because it lacks a delicate glass screen.

Its small size means that you can reach every corner of the tablet without wasting precious time moving your hand, and it even comes with eight programmable buttons that you can allocate in-app or in-game shortcuts to. The stylus is also lightweight and battery-free and provides two more programmable buttons.

Photo by Jess Weatherbed / The Verge

No frills here — just eight programmable buttons and a silicone-wrapped stylus to improve grip.

If you’re a competitive Osu! player, then you may want to stick with Wacom for its reliable software, but for the majority of rhythm gamers, this weeny XP-Pen Deco Mini 7 will be the ideal choice. This wouldn’t be a great option for illustration, as the size is fairly restrictive, but there are plenty of offerings included on this list that are better suited for such a task. This should be your choice if you’re simply looking to replicate the accuracy of pen / paper on a computer for noncreative projects.

Bitwarden begins adding passkey support to its password manager

Bitwarden begins adding passkey support to its password manager

Bitwarden has added support for the more secure passkey login method. | Image: Bitwarden

Bitwarden, one of our top picks for free password managers, is adding support for passkeys in the latest version of its browser extensions. Passkeys can use your device’s pin, face, or fingerprint for authentication, and are a more secure and convenient alternative to traditional passwords that are also more resilient to phishing attacks.

Although the company has announced that passkey support is coming in the new 2023.10 release, the update appears to be in the process of rolling out — I’m still seeing the previous 2023.9.2 version listed on the Chrome Web Store as of this writing. But I’ve verified that it’s working on Safari with the latest version of Bitwarden’s Mac app and extension. The rollout of the feature follows support from Apple and Google’s built-in password managers, as well as competing third-party password managers like 1Password.

With its latest release, Bitwarden supports storing and logging in with passkeys using its browser extensions, and released a couple of instructional videos showing how the process works. The browser should prompt you to save a passkey as a new login method when it detects that a compatible website is trying to create a passkey, and then it’ll ask if you want to login with this passkey when you return to the same website later. You can verify a passkey login using a PIN, pattern, password, or biometrics, depending on the device you’re using, according to Bitwarden.

Although passkeys aren’t as widely supported as traditional passwords, an increasing number of websites are adding them as a login option. This community-run database should give you some idea of which websites support logging in via passkeys, and in recent months we’ve seen big players like Amazon, Google, and Nintendo making moves to support and promote their use.

Although Bitwarden now supports storing and logging in using passkeys from its browser extensions, it’s not currently possible to store passkeys in the company’s mobile app. According to Bitwarden’s FAQ, this feature is “planned for a future release.”

Closing time for Sam Bankman-Fried

Closing time for Sam Bankman-Fried

Smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em. | Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Michael M. Santiago, Bloomberg, Klmax, Whyframestudio, Yevgen Romanenko, Pixhook, Peter Dazeley, Jimkruger, Getty Images

Mistakes aren’t illegal, but fraud is — and Bankman-Fried’s lawyers never made his defense land.

Let’s be honest: The facts are bad for Sam Bankman-Fried. The prosecution, in the closing statement delivered by Nicolas Roos (pronounced “Rose”, though he won’t correct you if you get it wrong, as Judge Lewis Kaplan did for most of the trial) today, went through a lot of contemporaneous written evidence that suggested that Bankman-Fried was very, very guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy charges at FTX. Roos gave a confident, restrained argument, relying heavily on that evidence to argue Bankman-Fried had used FTX customer deposits as his own private piggy bank, funneling them through his trading firm, Alameda Research.

He also pointed to why Bankman-Fried had done it: “The defendant was greedy.”

That closing statement honestly could have ended after the first hour. The evidence that Bankman-Fried was involved — from his Google Meet with the other alleged co-conspirators, to the metadata linking him to various incriminating spreadsheets, to the funds traced to entities he controlled — would have been enough. But we got a few more hours anyway, as though Roos had rented a backhoe for his pile of evidence and was going to get as much use out of it as possible.

As Roos spoke, the jury was focused very closely on him. No one appeared to be napping. I didn’t see anyone glance at the clock; many jurors were taking notes. Though Roos was interrupted by an AV mishap when the screens used to show the jurors the evidence briefly went out in the middle row, the closing argument was smooth. Roos talked directly to the jury, glancing occasionally at his own notes.

Cohen said the prosecution was trying to make Bankman-Fried into a villain

Watching Roos, I came to understand why the defense had been jumping around in time so much. Chronological order was bad for Bankman-Fried: it showed pretty clearly that he was learning things and lying about them. The “Assets are fine” tweet, sent November 11th, was four hours after a Signal chat where Bankman-Fried acknowledged an $8 billion difference between what he owed customers and what FTX could pay.

So I was sympathetic to Mark Cohen, the lawyer for the defense, who didn’t seem like he had much to work with. But then his closing statement managed to make things worse? To begin with, he appeared to be reading directly from a document he’d created, rather than looking up at the jury. He spoke softly, almost in a monotone, as though he was hoping to lull the jurors to sleep.

Perhaps predictably, Cohen emphasized that mistakes aren’t illegal. And he sought to present Alameda and FTX as legitimate, innovative businesses. It was sort of hard to understand exactly what they were innovating or how, but never mind. It is certainly true that at its peak, FTX’s valuation was very high.

Cohen said the prosecution was trying to make Bankman-Fried into a villain. He then showed the jury a number of photos that made Bankman-Fried look, well, bad: him hanging out with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, lounging on a private jet, and at the Super Bowl with Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom. I don’t know why Cohen chose to remind us of these photos, but he did. Yes, the prosecution was painting an uncharitable picture of Bankman-Fried but there’s no need to reinforce it.

Cohen introduced matters that I think were meant to confuse the jury, but seemed to merely bore them

We learned Bankman-Fried was working very hard, 12 hours a day, which seemed low: Bankman-Fried had previously testified he worked as many as 22 hours a day. But I couldn’t tell you what exactly he was doing for all that time, as there was precious little testimony about it. Similarly, I heard a lot about a data protection policy the defense could not produce.

In Cohen’s telling, the government’s cross-examination had been unfair to Bankman-Fried — if he answered at length, Roos framed his answers as too rambling, and if he answered briefly, Roos said he sounded evasive. Look, I was there — and I know word salad and evasions when I hear them. It is kind of my business! Bankman-Fried’s answers to questions he didn’t like, even when posed by the actual judge, weren’t good. Saying he was “far from polished,” and “was himself; he was Sam” doesn’t really get the work done. It especially doesn’t get the work done when the Bankman-Fried we saw on direct examination was warmer, funnier, and very different than the one we saw on cross. That Bankman-Fried was an awful lot like the one we knew from media appearances before November 2022.

Cohen introduced matters that I think were meant to confuse the jury, but seemed to merely bore them. During a long digression about Alameda’s net asset value, for instance, I saw several jurors glance at the clock at the back of the courtroom. The same went for discussion of FTX’s risk engines.

Cohen even managed to make Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison sound more reliable, not less, by defending the tweets she sent out in the November period when FTX was failing. That is an unforced error. Undercutting Ellison’s testimony — alongside that of Gary Wang, Adam Yedidia, and Nishad Singh — was one of the rare gambits I could imagine working for Bankman-Fried’s defense. If Cohen is saying she is reliable here, why should we doubt her elsewhere?

Even the most talented defense lawyer would struggle with this case

We still have to hear the prosecution’s rebuttal to Cohen’s arguments, such as they were, before the case goes to the jury. But I think even the most talented defense lawyer would struggle with this case. The documentary evidence for the prosecution is just too overwhelming, and there’s very little evidence to back Bankman-Fried’s telling of events, which contradicts all three cooperating witnesses — and Yedidia, who hasn’t been charged with anything. Plus, the last person the jury heard speak was Bankman-Fried, and we did establish at length that he loves to lie.

The main thing the closing arguments made clear was how lopsided the case was. Bankman-Fried’s defense appears to be that he is a nice boy who would never do anything to hurt anyone on purpose. An introvert! Who doesn’t even do recreational drugs! When Cohen asked the jury to keep him in mind as they deliberated, Bankman-Fried crumpled the water bottle in his hand, making a noise. Glancing over, I saw he was looking directly at the jury, with an expression on his face that suggested he might cry.

Bankman-Fried is right to be frightened. He brought excuses. The prosecution brought receipts.

Those Promotions Promising a ‘Free’ iPhone? It Isn’t Free.

Those Promotions Promising a ‘Free’ iPhone? It Isn’t Free. The so-called iPhone giveaways marketed by Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T can make customers spend more on perks they don’t need.

Meta is investigating Quest 3 issues after controller tracking complaints

Meta is investigating Quest 3 issues after controller tracking complaints

Meta has yet to confirm the cause of the tracking issues, or provide a possible workaround. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Meta is investigating reports of tracking issues blighting its Quest 3 VR headset following user complaints that controller tracking performance is “much worse than the Quest 2” in some games. Over on the Meta community forums, user NotDream flagged issues with tracking performance on the Quest 3 controllers while playing Gorilla Tag (a VR game that requires users to run, jump, and climb by moving their arms around) claiming that they “lose tracking during medium-fast to fast hand movement” such as throwing or catching a ball.

“This is a big issue for games/activities involving fast-paced hand movement as it’s not nearly as reliable as the Quest 2 controller tracking performance,” said NotDream.

Other forum members in the same thread claim to have encountered similar tracking issues across other VR titles like Beatsaber, Supernatural, and Tennis Esports. One comment from a game developer (known as carrotstien) for Eleven Table Tennis claims the issues stem from the LED arrangement on the controller. “Oh how I wish the developers of sports games were invited to the table when discussing controller design,” said carrotstien, adding that “there are users which are simply sticking with their quest2 headsets and returning their quest3s because of the tracking issues.”

“I wish the developers of sports games were invited to the table when discussing controller design”

As reported by New World Notes, complaints have also been posted to Reddit in the last few weeks echoing similar tracking problems. The issues seem especially noticeable for competitive gamers who utilize adapters — controller attachments like batting handles that make gameplay feel more natural.

In response to NotDream’s post, Meta Quest Support said that the team is actively investigating tracking issues and is working to improve performance, especially for “competitive players” across titles like Gorilla Tag, Supernatural, IB Cricket, and Eleven Table Tennis. Some of these improvements are expected to roll out in upcoming releases. We have reached out to Meta for more information on what’s causing the tracking issues and to clarify when a fix will be released.

A new top 5 smartphone manufacturer is challenging Apple and Samsung

A new top 5 smartphone manufacturer is challenging Apple and Samsung

The Phantom V Fold, from Transsion brand Tecno. | Image: Tecno / Transsion

Transsion, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer whose brands include Tecno, Itel, and Infinix, has quietly grown to become the world’s fifth largest smartphone manufacturer, according to recent market reports from Canalys (via Android Central), IDC, and Omdia.

Despite being one of the few smartphone brands to grow in the third quarter of this year, many in Europe and North America won’t have heard of Transsion given its focus on markets in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania. Transsion has a particularly strong base in Africa, according to IDC, where it sells more phones than Samsung and Xiaomi. Although this suggests Transsion is focused on affordable smartphones, its Tecno brand recently released its first foldable device.

Image: Canalys

Canalys chart showing Transsion’s growth.

The exact quarter Transsion entered the global top five differs depending on whose reports you trust the most. IDC and Omdia have Transsion overtaking Vivo in the second quarter of this year, while Canalys thinks it happened in the third quarter. But all three of them agree that it’s now a top five player behind traditional heavyweights Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, and Oppo.

That said, Counterpoint Research’s latest report disagrees, placing Vivo in the fifth largest spot. But is also says Transsion was one of just a few brands to record year-on-year growth in Q3. Honor and Huawei also grew, with the latter benefitting from the release of the Mate 60 Pro with a processor that’s been held up as proof of advances in China’s domestic chipmaking capabilities despite US sanctions.

The reason for Transsion’s growth appears to be its focus on emerging markets, where demand has been relatively strong this year compared to more developed markets. Counterpoint notes that the Middle East and Africa was the only region to record year-on-year smartphone growth in the third quarter of this year, and says Transsion benefitted from this recovery. Meanwhile Canalys analyst Amber Liu says that Transsion (along with Xiaomi) has “swiftly capitalized on the rebound in the emerging markets with competitive products and channel engagements.”

The big question is whether Transsion will be able to hold on to this position, or whether 2023 will end up being an outlier. Counterpoint notes that 2023 is expected to be the worst year for smartphone shipments in a decade as people, mostly in developed markets, choose to replace their phones less often. If the trend continues, that could result in a big opportunity for manufacturers focused on emerging markets.

Harris to Announce Steps to Curb Risks of A.I.

Harris to Announce Steps to Curb Risks of A.I. The vice president plans to flesh out a sweeping executive order President Biden signed this week and push toward global standards at a summit in London.

Sam Bankman-Fried doesn’t recall

Sam Bankman-Fried doesn’t recall

Photo Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Bloomberg, Getty Images

Bankman-Fried gets a shot at his side of the FTX story — then promptly shreds his own credibility with the jury.

Midway through Sam Bankman-Fried’s cross examination, as prosecutor Danielle Sassoon went through a brutal line of questioning like a hot buzzsaw through a butter cow, I found myself reflecting on how smart the average person is. Maybe they don’t know calculus. Maybe they’ll never read Ulysses. Maybe they can’t code. But they definitely know how to identify bullshit when they see it.

So if you, like Bankman-Fried, have moved into the Clintonian territory of “it depends on how you define ‘trading’’” you done fucked up, son. Make whatever “sophisticated” argument you like; even the stupid will see through it.

At various points during Sam Bankman-Fried’s cross examination, I saw jurors shake their heads, frown so hard their lips disappeared, and make prolonged eye contact with each other. Personally, I now have a Pavlovian fear response to the phrase “Is it your testimony that…”

On the stand, Bankman-Fried’s demeanor suggested a spoiled child complaining he didn’t get the biggest scoop of ice cream at his birthday party. He didn’t want to answer the prosecutor’s questions, or his lawyer’s questions — he wanted to answer his own questions, which he liked better. He often replied to yes-or-no questions with nonsense.

This did reveal Bankman-Fried’s priorities: getting accounting right was ranked ninth

The day did not start as an actual disaster. In fact, Bankman-Fried’s direct testimony was the strongest he’d given so far: clear, coherent, believable. On his home territory of direct examination rather than cross-examining the prosecutors’ witnesses, defense lawyer Mark Cohen improved his ability to order a simple chronological narrative, even if he once instructed us to move forward in time from November 7th to… November 7th.

But Bankman-Fried’s recounting of events was supported by very little other evidence. Gary Wang, Caroline Ellison, and Nishad Singh all had text messages, documents, code snippets, and so on to corroborate their versions of events. Bankman-Fried’s testimony had very little of that, and what little it did have was pretty thin.

We were introduced to a document where Bankman-Fried listed his priorities, including: “getting accounting right on FTX.” Cohen and Bankman-Fried used this to show how devoted Bankman-Fried was to getting to the bottom of the general fiasco with Alameda’s money. The idea was to display in real time FTX’s revenue and expenses, where its bank accounts were, how much investor money it had, and so on. This did reveal Bankman-Fried’s priorities: getting accounting right was ranked ninth.

So for the stories Bankman-Fried wanted to tell, we had to rely on… Bankman-Fried. We moved on to Bankman-Fried’s argument about hedging, which I still do not understand except as a way for him to say he’s a smarter trader than his ex-girlfriend, the former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison. The actual evidence suggests Ellison is both a better trader and much savvier than Bankman-Fried. She modeled out a risk scenario that matched almost exactly what happened at FTX, for instance, to try to keep him from sinking $2 billion in venture investing. She is also cooperating with the government. If I have to bet on one of them, I’m going “balls long” Ellison.

Bankman-Fried’s other major task was figuring out how to explain away the infamous “FTX is fine. Assets are fine.” tweet. According to Bankman-Fried, he really believed that at the time. On November 8th, Alameda was still solvent, he said. Almost all of the other events occurred exactly as others had described them, except that Bankman-Fried sounded more heroic in this telling, if only because he was not doing any crimes this time.

Bankman-Fried claimed to have been “not involved as a general principle in day to day trading,” but this turned out to depend highly on how one defines trading

Then we got what I had been waiting for: the cross examination. And while Bankman-Fried’s direct testimony was short on contemporaneous evidence, the cross was not. Sassoon was a matador in kitten heels, baiting Bankman-Fried before driving her sword through his shoulders.

Bankman-Fried claimed to have been “not involved as a general principle in day to day trading,” but this turned out to depend highly on how one defines trading. Sassoon quickly introduced the “Vertex” Signal groupchat for discussing Alameda’s trading. In it, we saw messages where Bankman-Fried asked the group how much of two tokens, OXY and MAPS, the group had bought. He then suggested Alameda should buy $1 million to $2 million of each over the next few days. (Bankman-Fried denied that this was him giving instructions, which depends highly on how one defines giving instructions.)

We also saw Bankman-Fried giving directions on Japanese government bonds. Hedging is a form of trading, and Bankman-Fried had just testified about giving Ellison directions on hedging. Then, switching to a December 2022 recording of a Twitter space, we heard Bankman-Fried say he was “not at all involved in the trading and hadn’t been for years” at Alameda. “I was intentionally not getting involved in it” because of possible conflicts of interest. Also in an interview with the Financial Times, Bankman-Fried said he’d walled himself off from trading.

I glanced over at Barbara Fried, the defendant’s mother. She appeared to be biting her nails.

Sassoon moved on to a series of questions about whether Bankman-Fried recalled extremely specific things. Did he recall saying that FTX had reformed how crypto exchanges worked? That he had built a responsible system? That FTX was a thoughtful exchange? That FTX was providing clarity and transparency to the crypto system?

To each of those questions, Bankman-Fried replied, “No, but I might have.”

And then Sassoon played a clip from FTX’s official podcast. You are never going to guess what he said on the pod.

Every single question was followed by evidence of Bankman-Fried publicly using the precise language Sassoon had offered

There was more. Had Bankman-Fried referred to FTX as safe in numerous public statements? He couldn’t recall. Did he remember tweeting that the acceptable number of issues when it comes to a client’s money is zero? He couldn’t recall. Had he tweeted that lying to customers broke “sacred rules of conduct” everyone knows to follow? He couldn’t recall. Did he remember that he supported regulation only as long as it protected consumers? He couldn’t recall.

Every single question was followed by evidence of Bankman-Fried publicly using the precise language Sassoon had offered. Several journalists were in the courthouse — some even in the courtroom — as their articles about Bankman-Fried were read aloud. It was obvious to everyone in the courtroom what was going on. Bankman-Fried stuck to his “do not recalls” anyway.

Still, he hadn’t made any of those statements under legal oath, had he? Well… that remained true until we reached his Congressional testimony. Bankman-Fried read aloud testimony he’d submitted to Congress: that trading platforms’ obligations included maintaining sufficient liquid assets that customers could withdraw on request. That platforms should ensure appropriate bookkeeping to prevent misuse of customer assets. Ensuring appropriate management of risks. Avoiding conflicts of interest.

Sassoon immediately followed this with direct messages Bankman-Fried had sent to Kelsey Piper, in which he said this was all just public relations, and “fuck regulators.”

The fall of FTX was in a way incredibly childish: a nerd posse running away with a bunch of other people’s money in the stupidest and simplest way possible

At this point, my notes simply read “Jesus fucking Christ” in all caps.

As the day wore on, I saw the mood in the jury box darken. At least three jurors were visibly fed up with Bankman-Fried’s “don’t recall” followed by the exact statement he’d been asked about. The remarkable thing was not that Sassoon had used Bankman-Fried’s many public statements to make him sound like a liar. It was that by denying he remembered making them so consistently, Bankman-Fried made himself sound like a liar.

Once that was accomplished, Sassoon moved on to the meat of the cross. Multiple statements, from multiple interviews, featured Bankman-Fried saying that Alameda had some special privileges — which was, of course, something Bankman-Fried had also denied to customers.

Then there’s the massive loss from MobileCoin that Alameda took on while under Bankman-Fried’s official leadership. None of the other backstop liquidity providers wanted the position, Sassoon asked, because it was a “loser” — right? As Bankman-Fried hemmed and hawed, Sassoon pointed out the loss cost Alameda hundreds of millions. Had Alameda not taken it on, FTX would have booked the loss itself, she pointed out. And FTX, unlike Alameda, had to share its books with investors. Scapegoating Alameda let FTX remain pristine, which made it much easier to attract VC funds.

But Sasson didn’t leave it there. The loss occurred because someone had exploited several loopholes on FTX in order to make the trade, she noted. Did Bankman-Fried tell investors about this exploit? He did not. Did he tell customers? Nope.

Behind all the finance sheets and code bases, the fall of FTX was in a way incredibly childish: a nerd posse running away with a bunch of other people’s money in the stupidest and simplest way possible. I understand Bankman-Fried went to MIT and majored in physics and was a successful trader on Wall Street. But sitting on the stand, he resembled nothing so much as a child who’s broken a family heirloom and is insisting his invisible friend did it.

All the news from Apple’s ‘Scary Fast’ Mac event

All the news from Apple’s ‘Scary Fast’ Mac event

Dark Finder. | Image: Apple

Apple plays a pre-Halloween trick with new product announcements coming in from a surprise nighttime livestream event.

Apple is hosting a dark and spooky-themed product launch event for the evening of October 30th, 2023, the night before Halloween. The company has, uncharacteristically, scheduled the online livestream presentation for 8PM ET / 5PM PT, meaning it’s not for the morning or lunchtime crowd this time.

Like every Apple event, the invitation comes with a title and themed logo that provides a clue as to what will be announced. This event is called “Scary Fast” and features a shadowy Apple logo that morphs into an only-slightly-creepy Mac Finder icon. Apple is expected to focus on new Mac products at this event, including its next-generation M3 chips and an updated iMac.

Apple could have other surprises in store as well, including but not limited to M3 processor upgrades for the higher-end MacBook Pros. Less likely are new iPads since Apple just released a new Pencil, but who’s to say Apple can’t give us more Halloween treats?

Find out all the news right here. We’ll be live blogging the event below.

Samsung’s Galaxy S23 starts receiving Android 14 update

Samsung’s Galaxy S23 starts receiving Android 14 update

The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Samsung’s Android 14-based One UI 6 update is leaving beta on the Galaxy S23 in Europe, users in the region are reporting. Across X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and Reddit, people are seeing the update roll out in countries including the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, and Portugal. While many are updating from the beta version of One UI 6, some are receiving a larger 3GB patch to update from the stable version of One UI 5.1.

While the update appears to be limited to S23 users in European markets for now, Samsung’s approach in previous years suggests that a stable US release won’t be far behind. The company’s Android 13-based One UI 5 update started rolling out for European Galaxy S22 owners around October 24th last year, which was followed by a US release roughly a week later.

One UI 6 has been available in beta for around two and a half months, and Android Police has a nice writeup of the biggest changes to look forward to with the update. These include updated camera and weather apps and widgets, a redesigned quick settings menu, and overhauled emoji designs. Here’s a complete changelist if you want to dive deeper.

To download the update, head into your Galaxy S23’s Settings app, tap Software update, and then Download and install.

Microsoft starts blocking ‘unauthorized’ Xbox controllers and accessories

Microsoft starts blocking ‘unauthorized’ Xbox controllers and accessories

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft is starting to block “unauthorized” Xbox controllers and accessories from being used on Xbox consoles. Resetera posters spotted a warning about the block last week, with some third-party Xbox controllers now throwing up a “connected accessory is not authorized” warning when connected to an Xbox console. It’s unclear if Microsoft is trying to target cheat devices, or whether the Xbox maker is trying to push its official partner program.

An error has now started appearing for some third-party Xbox controllers, alongside a warning that notes the accessory will be blocked from further use after two weeks. “From the moment you connect an unauthorized accessory and receive error code 0x82d60002, you’ll have two weeks to use the accessory, after which time it will then be blocked from use with the console,” says Microsoft in a support note. “At that time, you’ll receive error code 0x82d60003. We encourage you to contact the store or manufacturer where you obtained the accessory to get help with returning it.”

Image: Microsoft

Controllers and accessories with the designed for Xbox logo are unaffected.

Third-party Xbox controllers that are part of the “designed for Xbox” hardware partner program are unaffected, but any that haven’t been officially authorized by Microsoft run the risk of generating this error and being blocked for use. This might also block third-party cheat devices like XIM, Cronus Zen, and ReaSnow S1 from working on an Xbox console.

These adapters are commonly used on PC to spoof controller inputs, so mouse and keyboard users can get the benefits of aim assist and reduced recoil from controller mixed with the benefits of movement from mouse and keyboard. Activision, Bungie, and Ubisoft have all been trying to block these hardware spoofing devices, with restrictions and bans in Call of Duty, Destiny 2, and Rainbow Six Siege.

Xbox console-related product Issue Update pic.twitter.com/QK0N41LmHW

— Brook Gaming (@brookgamingfans) October 20, 2023

Cronus devices have been growing in popularity on console, and Microsoft’s block will likely affect some of these unauthorized adapters. Brook Gaming, which manufactures an adapter that supports PlayStation controllers on Xbox says their device is affected by Microsoft’s block. In a post on X (Twitter), Brook Gaming warns of “functional disruptions in the near future” for a variety of its products, including a fighting board, controller adapter, and steering wheel adapter.

Most third-party Xbox controllers are wired, as Microsoft hasn’t typically licensed its Xbox Wireless protocol to other vendors. PowerA launched the first officially licensed third-party wireless controller for Xbox consoles earlier this year, and Windows Central speculates Microsoft’s latest ban could be related to the company working to expand approval for third-party wireless Xbox controllers.

We’ve reached out to Microsoft to comment on the “unauthorized” Xbox controller block and we’ll update you accordingly.

Biden releases AI executive order directing agencies to develop safety guidelines

Biden releases AI executive order directing agencies to develop safety guidelines

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

President Joe Biden signed an executive order providing rules around generative AI, ahead of any legislation coming from lawmakers.

The order has eight goals: to create new standards for AI safety and security, protect privacy, advance equity and civil rights, stand up for consumers, patients, and students, support workers, promote innovation and competition, advance US leadership in AI technologies, and ensure the responsible and effective government use of the technology.

Several government agencies are tasked with creating standards to protect against the use of AI to engineer biological materials, establish best practices around content authentication, and build advanced cybersecurity programs.

The National Institute of Standards and Safety (NIST) will be responsible for developing standards to “red team” AI models before public release, while the Department of Energy and Department of Homeland Security are directed to address the potential threat of AI to infrastructure and the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and cybersecurity risks. Developers of large AI models like OpenAI ‘s GPT and Meta’s Llama 2 are required to share safety test results.

A senior Biden administration official told reporters in a briefing that the safety guidelines apply mainly to future AI models.

“We’re not going recall publically available models that are out there,” the official said. “Existing models are still subject to the anti-discrimination rules already in place.”

To protect users’ privacy, the White House called on Congress to pass data privacy regulations. The order also seeks federal support for the development of “privacy-preserving” techniques and technologies.

Part of the order plans to prevent the use of AI to discriminate, including addressing algorithmic discrimination and ensuring fairness when utilizing the technology for sentencing, parole, and surveillance. It also orders government agencies to provide guidelines for landlords, Federal benefits programs, and contracts on how to prevent AI from exacerbating discrimination.

Agencies are directed to address job displacement and produce a report on the impact of AI on the labor market. The White House also wants to encourage more workers to work in the AI ecosystem and ordered the launch of a National AI Research Resource to provide key information to students and AI researchers and access to technical assistance for small businesses. It also directed the rapid hiring of AI professionals for the government.

The Biden administration first released an AI Bill of Rights outlining a set of principles developers of AI models should follow. These were later turned into a series of agreements between the White House and several AI players, including Meta, Google, OpenAI, Nvidia, and Adobe.

But, an executive order is not a permanent law and generally only lasts the length of Biden’s administration. Lawmakers are still discussing how to regulate AI, though some politicians said they want to pass laws around AI before the end of the year.

Industry observers said the executive order is at least a step forward in providing standards around generative AI.

Navrina Singh, founder of Credo AI and a member of the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee, said an executive order is a strong signal that the US is serious about generative AI.

“It’s the right move for right now because we can’t expect policies to be perfect at the onset while legislation is still discussed,” Singh said. “I do believe that this really shows AI is a top priority for government.”

Biden to Issue First Regulations on Artificial Intelligence Systems

Biden to Issue First Regulations on Artificial Intelligence Systems In an order to be issued on Monday, the White House will outline requirements that the most advanced A.I. products be tested to assure they cannot be used to produce weapons, among other regulations.

Android 14 will make it easier for apps to support passkeys soon

Android 14 will make it easier for apps to support passkeys soon

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Android apps are about to get better built-in passkey support. Google announced in a developer blog post last week that Credential Manager, a new Android-specific API for storing credentials like username and password combinations and passkeys, is going public on November 1st. Credential Manager, which has been in developer preview for months, houses biometric authentication of passkeys, traditional passwords, and federated identity login under one roof in Android phones.

Ultimately, the change should allow apps to offer better authentication support in Android 14. Using Credential Manager, apps can offer users easy biometric logins through passkeys. That should mean a more friction-free sign-in experience since people who use that method wouldn’t have to worry about keeping login information in their heads. Third-party password managers like 1Password can also integrate the API for a more streamlined experience when defaulting to such an alternative instead of Google Password Manager.

Google explained why it’s pushing for passkeys in Android at Google I/O this year.

Google wrote in another blog post last week that it’s deprecating several authentication APIs so that developers will only have to call on the Credential Manager for authenticating users. Hopefully, that should make it much simpler and, therefore, much more likely to be used by third-party apps, as others, like WhatsApp and Uber, have already done.

Apple is getting ready for Prime Time

Apple is getting ready for Prime Time

Image: Apple

I’m trying to remember the last time a company’s big event came for prime time TV the way Apple’s 8pm ET keynote is trying to lock down our attention tomorrow. The only company I can think of that’s done it successfully lately is Victoria’s Secret with its Fashion Show. While I suspect there’s some overlap in audience between that and an Apple Keynote, I also suspect Bella Hadid is a bigger draw than a new iMac.

But Apple is still going for it! Promising a keynote that will air on its website, YouTube, and over Apple TV while things like Monday Night Football airs on broadcast TV. The company is ready to take all the cultural cache its phones, Bluetooth headsets, and computers have earned it and convert that fanbase into a bigger audience to advertise its products.

This big prime time Apple event feels like the natural next step for the company. No one else in the tech space has had the same success as Apple at getting people to treat their announcements as big events. Nearly every single major tech company has tried. Sony had Taylor Swift at a CES keynote, and Samsung marched out a member of BTS to applause at a Galaxy Unpacked event. Google had the Slo-Mo guys. Intel had dancers and acrobats festooned in LEDs. But something about an Apple event seems to resonate more with folks.

And after the iPhone event, it feels pretty clear the company has come close to the pinnacle of what it can do with an hour-long mid-day infomercial. One of the only ways to get bigger, grab more attention, and become a more consistent part of the conversation is to go prime time (or buy a social media company and run it into the ground). Take that impeccably produced product that captures the attention of techies and a few of their closest friends and move it to a time of night where a whole lot more of those close friends can watch.

And Apple is probably doing it now, instead of with the iPhone, because the stakes are lower. Fewer people care about a Mac event than an iPhone one. My brother calls me before an iPhone event to chat about the phones. He doesn’t do that nearly as often for a Mac one. Plus, the iPhone event can dramatically affect Apple’s share price. A spec bump for the MacBook Pro, while welcome, probably won’t move the needle as dramatically.

I can’t guarantee fewer people will tune into this event than the iPhone event last month, but I expect Apple’s less concerned with breaking its viewership records (the company doesn’t make those public). Instead, I’d hazard Apple is thinking about next year’s keynotes — especially any centered around the Apple Vision Pro. Apple’s going to need every tool at its disposal to make people care about a $3,500 AR and VR headset. If there’s a chance an evening keynote nets more attention than the traditional morning keynote, then Apple’s going to want to take it when it's trying to sell people on why AR and VR are the future of computing.

So why not do a test run with a series of Mac updates that wouldn’t really benefit from the traditional keynote where hundreds of reporters and analysts fly to Cupertino to sit in a theater and watch a video before going hands-on with the products?

But it will need to be one heckuva show. Tim Cook is going to need to do more than come out an an AFC Richmond kit with a Ted Lasso mustache spirit-gummed to his upper lip. The announcements (at least the rumored ones), aren’t going to be enough. I suspect that in addition to those rumored Mac updates, we’ll also see more skits like that one from the iPhone event starring Octavia Spencer as Mother Earth.

It probably won’t be as star-studded, given SAG-AFTRA is currently on strike and bargaining with Apple, among other studios. So there probably won’t be a series of cameos from the actors of Apple’s best-known shows and films. Which means no Jennifer Anniston and Reese Witherspoon doing the Apple equivalent of an SNL digital short with Eddy Cue or Adam Scott and Patricia Arquette staring at each other from across a table for an unsettling amount of time before Craig Federighi interrupts as the newest member of the Severance program and shows off an iMac. But maybe Martin Scorsese will show off how easy it is to access his new Letterboxd account on a MacBook Pro. Or maybe half the keynote will be rendered in the video game Resident Evil Village (naturally made on a Mac).

Regardless, I’m still assuming Apple will go in a more creative direction, because besides the company wanting to test run keynotes at new times, it's also increasingly showing off its Hollywood ambitions. We heard rumors of its ambitions earlier this year when Bloomberg reported the company was looking to spend approximately one billion dollars on new film programming year. Now its films like Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon are contenders for the Oscars (it snagged its first Academy Awards last year for Coda). Earlier this week Apple TV Plus even saw its second price hike since launch (alongside a slew of other Apple services).

The company wants people associating it with entertainment. It would be wild for its very first prime time event to ignore that entire side of its business just to show off some new M3 iMacs. Apple can’t just give us a time-shifted keynote. Well, it can... but that won’t really match its ambitions.