The US is propping up gas while the world moves to renewable energy
Solar panels point to the sky at the Weesow-Wilmersdorf solar park on May 3rd, 2024, near Grischow, Germany. | Photo by Maja Hitij / Getty Images
The amount of electricity and greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants likely peaked in 2023, according to the annual global electricity review by energy think tank Ember. That means human civilization has likely passed a key turning point, according to Ember: countries will likely never generate as much electricity from fossil fuels again.
A record 30 percent of electricity globally came from renewable sources of energy last year thanks primarily to growth in solar and wind power. Starting this year, pollution from the power sector is likely to start dropping, with a 2 percent drop in the amount of fossil fuel-powered electricity projected for 2024 — a decline Ember expects to speed up in the long term.
“The decline of power sector emissions is now inevitable. 2023 was likely the pivot point – a major turning point in the history of energy,” Dave Jones, Ember’s insights director, said in an emailed statement. “But the pace ... depends on how fast the renewables revolution continues.”
It’s a transition that could be happening much faster if not for the US, which is already the world’s biggest gas producer, using record amounts of gas last year. Without the US, Ember finds, electricity generation from gas would have fallen globally in 2023. Global economies excluding the US managed to generate 62 terawatt hours less gas-powered electricity last year compared to the year prior. But the US ramped up its electricity generation from gas by nearly twice that amount in the same timeframe, an additional 115TWh from gas in 2023.
A big part of the problem is that the US is replacing a majority of aging power plants that run on coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, with gas-fired plants instead of carbon pollution-free alternatives. “The US is switching one fossil fuel for another,” Jones said. “After two decades of building such a heavy reliance on gas power, the US has a big journey ahead to get to a truly clean power system.”
The US gets just 23 percent of its electricity from renewable energy, according to Ember, falling below the global average of 30 percent.
“Last century’s outdated technologies can no longer compete with the exponential innovations and declining cost curves in renewable energy and storage,” Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said in an emailed statement.
Ember’s report tracks closely with other predictions from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which called a transition to clean energy “unstoppable” in October. The IEA forecast a peak in global demand for coal, gas, and oil this decade (for all energy use, not just electricity). It also projected that renewables would make up nearly 50 percent of the world’s electricity mix by 2030.
Ember is a little more optimistic after more than 130 countries pledged to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 during a United Nations climate summit in December. With that progress, renewable electricity globally would reach 60 percent by the end of the decade compared to less than 20 percent in 2000.
Google’s AI plans now include cybersecurity
Illustration: The Verge
As people try to find more uses for generative AI that are less about making a fake photo and are instead actually useful, Google plans to point AI to cybersecurity and make threat reports easier to read.
In a blog post, Google writes its new cybersecurity product, Google Threat Intelligence, will bring together the work of its Mandiant cybersecurity unit and VirusTotal threat intelligence with the Gemini AI model.
The new product uses the Gemini 1.5 Pro large language model, which Google says reduces the time needed to reverse engineer malware attacks. The company claims Gemini 1.5 Pro, released in February, took only 34 seconds to analyze the code of the WannaCry virus — the 2017 ransomware attack that hobbled hospitals, companies, and other organizations around the world — and identify a kill switch. That’s impressive but not surprising, given LLMs’ knack for reading and writing code.
But another possible use for Gemini in the threat space is summarizing threat reports into natural language inside Threat Intelligence so companies can assess how potential attacks may impact them — or, in other words, so companies don’t overreact or underreact to threats.
Google says Threat Intelligence also has a vast network of information to monitor potential threats before an attack happens. It lets users see a larger picture of the cybersecurity landscape and prioritize what to focus on. Mandiant provides human experts who monitor potentially malicious groups and consultants who work with companies to block attacks. VirusTotal’s community also regularly posts threat indicators.
The company also plans to use Mandiant’s experts to assess security vulnerabilities around AI projects. Through Google’s Secure AI Framework, Mandiant will test the defenses of AI models and help in red-teaming efforts. While AI models can help summarize threats and reverse engineer malware attacks, the models themselves can sometimes become prey to malicious actors. These threats sometimes include “data poisoning,” which adds bad code to data AI models scrape so the models can’t respond to specific prompts.
Google, of course, is not the only company melding AI with cybersecurity. Microsoft launched Copilot for Security , powered by GPT-4 and Microsoft’s cybersecurity-specific AI model, and lets cybersecurity professionals ask questions about threats. Whether either is genuinely a good use case for generative AI remains to be seen, but it’s nice to see it used for something besides pictures of a swaggy Pope.
Wayve, an A.I. Start-Up for Autonomous Driving, Raises $1 Billion The London-based developer of artificial intelligence systems for self-driving vehicles raised the funding from SoftBank, Nvidia, Microsoft and others.
Robinhood’s crypto arm receives SEC warning over alleged securities violations
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Robinhood’s cryptocurrency division could soon be in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In an 8-K filing submitted on Saturday, Robinhood revealed that it received a Wells notice from the SEC’s staff recommending the agency take action against the trading platform for alleged securities violations.
Robinhood says it received the Wells notice after cooperating with the SEC’s requests for investigative subpoenas about its crypto listings, custody of cryptocurrencies, and the platform’s operations. A Well notice is a letter from the SEC that warns a company of a potential enforcement action. The SEC’s response could include an injunction, a cease-and-desist order, disgorgement, limits on activities, and / or civil penalties.
“We firmly believe that the assets listed on our platform are not securities and we look forward to engaging with the SEC to make clear just how weak any case against Robinhood Crypto would be on both the facts and the law,” Dan Gallagher, Robinhood’s chief legal, compliance, and corporate affairs officer, said in a statement.
Robinhood says it already made the “difficult choice” to delist certain tokens — including Solana, Polygon, and Cardano — in response to the SEC’s lawsuits against other trading platforms. In the past, the SEC has argued that some cryptocurrencies are considered securities, which would require exchanges to register with the SEC. This would give the agency regulatory control over the exchanges and the registered tokens.
Robinhood could face a long legal battle if it chooses to fight the SEC’s potential enforcement action. The company’s shares have already dipped in response to the news.
US to fund digital twin research in semiconductors
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
The Biden administration wants to attract companies working on digital twins for semiconductors using funding from the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act and the creation of a chip manufacturing institute.
The CHIPS Manufacturing USA institute aims to establish regional networks to share resources with companies developing and manufacturing both physical semiconductors and digital twins.
Digital twins, virtual representations of physical chips that mimic the real version, make it easier to simulate how a chip might react to a boost in power or a different data configuration. This helps researchers test out new processors before putting them into production.
“Digital twin technology can help to spark innovation in research, development, and manufacturing of semiconductors across the country — but only if we invest in America’s understanding and ability of this new technology,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says in a press release.
Digital twin research showed it can integrate with other emerging technologies like generative AI to accelerate simulation or further studies into new semiconductor concepts.
Officials of the Biden administration says it will hold briefings with interested parties this month to talk about the funding opportunities. The government will fund the operational activities of the institute, research around digital twins, physical and digital facilities like access to cloud environments, and workforce training.
The CHIPS Act passed in 2022 to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the country, but has struggled to keep up with the capital demand. Raimondo previously said manufacturers requested more than $70 billion in grants, more than the $28 billion the government budgeted in investments.
So far, companies like Intel and Micron are set to receive funding from the US government through the CHIPS Act. Part of the Biden’s administration goal with the CHIPS Act is to encourage semiconductor companies to build new types of processors in the US, especially now that demand for high-powered chips grew thanks to the AI boom.
Tensions Rise in Silicon Valley Over Sales of Start-Up Stocks The market for shares of hot start-ups like SpaceX and Stripe is projected to reach a record $64 billion this year.
Randy Travis gets his voice back in a new Warner AI music experiment
Randy Travis in 1987. | Photo: Mark Junge / Getty Images
For the first time since a 2013 stroke left country singer Randy Travis unable to speak or sing properly, he has released a new song. He didn’t sing it, though; instead, the vocals were created with AI software and a surrogate singer.
The song, called “Where That Came From,” is every bit the kind of folksy, sentimental tune I came to love as a kid when Travis was at the height of his fame. The producers created it by training an unnamed AI model, starting with 42 of his vocal-isolated recordings. Then, under the supervision of Travis and his career-long producer Kyle Lehning, fellow country singer James DuPre laid down the vocals to be transformed into Travis’ by AI.
Besides being on YouTube, the song is on other streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify.
The result of Warner’s experiment is a gentle tune that captures Travis’ relaxed style, which rarely wavered far from its baritone foundation. It sounds like one of those singles that would’ve hung around the charts long enough for me to nervously sway to once after working up the gumption to ask a girl to dance at a middle school social. I wouldn’t say it’s a great Randy Travis song, but it’s certainly not the worst — I’d even say I like it.
Dustin Ballard, who runs the various incarnations of the There I Ruined It social media account, creates his AI voice parodies in much the same way as Travis’ team, giving birth to goofy mash-ups like AI Elvis Presley singing “Baby Got Back” or synthetic Johnny Cash singing “Barbie Girl.”
It would be easy to sound the alarm over this song or Ballard’s creations, declaring the death of human-made music as we know it. But I’d say it does quite the opposite, reinforcing what tools like an AI voice clone can do in the right hands. Whether you like the song or not, you have to admit that you can’t get something like this from casual prompting.
Cris Lacy, Co-president of Warner Music Nashville, told CBS Sunday Morning that AI voice cloning sites produce approximations of artists like Travis that don’t “sound real, because it’s not.” She called the label’s use of AI to clone Travis’ voice “AI for good.”
Right now, Warner can’t really do much about AI clones that it feels don’t fall under the heading of “AI for good.” But Tennessee’s recently-passed ELVIS Act, which goes into effect on July 1st, would allow labels to take legal action against those using software to recreate an artists’ voice without permission.
Travis’ song is a good edge-case example of AI being used to make music that actually feels legitimate. But on the other hand, it also may open a new path for Warner, which owns the rights to vast catalogs of music from famous, dead artists that are ripe for digital resurrection and, if they want to go there, potential profit. As heartwarming as this story is, it makes me wonder what lessons Warner Music Nashville — and the record industry as a whole — will take away from this song.
Tesla plans to charge some Model Y owners to unlock more range
Image: Tesla
Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted on Friday that the Standard Range rear-wheel drive Model Y the company has been building and selling “over the last several months” actually has more range than the 260 miles they were sold with. Pending “regulatory approval,” he wrote that the company will unlock another 40–60 miles of total range, depending on which battery Model Y owners have, “for $1,500 to $2,000.”
The “260 mile” range Model Y’s built over the past several months actually have more range that can be unlocked for $1500 to $2000 (gains 40 to 60 miles of range), depending on which battery cells you have.
This isn’t the first time Tesla has software-locked its cars’ range. The company revealed back in 2016 that the 70kWh battery in the Model S 70 actually had 75kWh of capacity that customers could pay more than $3,000 to access. It’s possible that the current Model S and X cars, which weigh the same as their longer-range counterparts, have also been software-limited.
The auto industry, in general, has been trending toward controlling access to cars’ existing features with pay-to-remove software locks. Polestar started selling a $1,200 over-the-air update to boost the Polestar 2’s performance in 2022. Mercedes-Benz charged the same amount, but annually, to improve the horsepower and torque of the EQE and EQS. BMW once paywalled software-locked CarPlay and, later, heated seats (the company later dropped that plan). And of course, Tesla has proven itself willing to remotely disable paid-for features when one of its cars is resold.
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks tonight — here’s how to see it
The Eta Aquarids as viewed from Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. | Photo: Thilina Kaluthotage / NurPhoto via Getty Images
If you’ve got clear skies and want an excuse to get away from town, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower is roughly at its peak and should be going strong tonight. Made up of remnants of Halley’s Comet that the Earth passes through, this annual shower is active from April 15th to May 27th and can show up at a rate of about 10–30 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society.
You can see the Aquarids starting around 2AM local time in the Northern Hemisphere, radiating from the Aquarius constellation (though you’ll want to look 40–60 degrees around Aquarius to see them). Weather permitting, conditions are pretty good for watching them since the moon is in its late waning period and won’t be reflecting much light. Try to plan your stargazing spot using a light pollution map or by checking with your local astronomical society for tips on the best places to go for unfettered viewing.
As NASA writes, Eta Aquarid is viewable as “Earthgrazers,” or “long meteors that appear to skim the surface of the Earth at the horizon.” They’re fast-moving, traveling at over 40 miles per second.
You can bring binoculars or a telescope if you want to look at the stars, too, but you can see meteors with your naked eye, and trying to look for them with binoculars limits your field of view too much to be practical. Be sure to go easy on your neck with a reclining chair or something to lay on, too; heavy is the head that watches the stars. And dress appropriately, since it’s often chillier out in the country than in the city at night.
Image: NASA / MSFC / B. Cooke
An Eta Aquarid meteor in Georgia in 2012.
Finally, be patient. It can take around 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark enough to see meteors. Once they do, assuming you’re in a dark enough place, you should be able to see not just the meteors, but plenty of stars and even satellites as they move across the sky.
Halley’s Comet comes around, inconveniently for most, only once every 76 years. The last time it showed its tail for Earth-dwellers was in 1986, when I was three years old, and it won’t be here again until 2061, when I’m 78 (if I’m even still alive). Very rude. But at least we get to see some of the junk it leaves behind.
Better Siri is coming: what Apple’s research says about its AI plans
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Apple hasn’t talked too much about AI so far — but it’s been working on stuff. A lot of stuff.
It would be easy to think that Apple is late to the game on AI. Since late 2022, when ChatGPT took the world by storm, most of Apple’s competitors have fallen over themselves to catch up. While Apple has certainly talked about AI and even released some products with AI in mind, it seemed to be dipping a toe in rather than diving in headfirst.
But over the last few months, rumors and reports have suggested that Apple has, in fact, just been biding its time, waiting to make its move. There have been reports in recent weeks that Apple is talking to both OpenAI and Google about powering some of its AI features, and the company has also been working on its own model, called Ajax.
If you look through Apple’s published AI research, a picture starts to develop of how Apple’s approach to AI might come to life. Now, obviously, making product assumptions based on research papers is a deeply inexact science — the line from research to store shelves is windy and full of potholes. But you can at least get a sense of what the company is thinking about — and how its AI features might work when Apple starts to talk about them at its annual developer conference, WWDC, in June.
Smaller, more efficient models
I suspect you and I are hoping for the same thing here: Better Siri. And it looks very much like Better Siri is coming! There’s an assumption in a lot of Apple’s research (and in a lot of the tech industry, the world, and everywhere) that large language models will immediately make virtual assistants better and smarter. For Apple, getting to Better Siri means making those models as fast as possible — and making sure they’re everywhere.
In iOS 18, Apple plans to have all its AI features running on an on-device, fully offline model, Bloomberg recently reported. It’s tough to build a good multipurpose model even when you have a network of data centers and thousands of state-of-the-art GPUs — it’s drastically harder to do it with only the guts inside your smartphone. So Apple’s having to get creative.
In a paper called “LLM in a flash: Efficient Large Language Model Inference with Limited Memory” (all these papers have really boring titles but are really interesting, I promise!), researchers devised a system for storing a model’s data, which is usually stored on your device’s RAM, on the SSD instead. “We have demonstrated the ability to run LLMs up to twice the size of available DRAM [on the SSD],” the researchers wrote, “achieving an acceleration in inference speed by 4-5x compared to traditional loading methods in CPU, and 20-25x in GPU.” By taking advantage of the most inexpensive and available storage on your device, they found, the models can run faster and more efficiently.
Apple’s researchers also created a system called EELBERT that can essentially compress an LLM into a much smaller size without making it meaningfully worse. Their compressed take on Google’s Bert model was 15 times smaller — only 1.2 megabytes — and saw only a 4 percent reduction in quality. It did come with some latency tradeoffs, though.
In general, Apple is pushing to solve a core tension in the model world: the bigger a model gets, the better and more useful it can be, but also the more unwieldy, power-hungry, and slow it can become. Like so many others, the company is trying to find the right balance between all those things while also looking for a way to have it all.
Siri, but good
A lot of what we talk about when we talk about AI products is virtual assistants — assistants that know things, that can remind us of things, that can answer questions, and get stuff done on our behalf. So it’s not exactly shocking that a lot of Apple’s AI research boils down to a single question: what if Siri was really, really, really good?
A group of Apple researchers has been working on a way to use Siri without needing to use a wake word at all; instead of listening for “Hey Siri” or “Siri,” the device might be able to simply intuit whether you’re talking to it. “This problem is significantly more challenging than voice trigger detection,” the researchers did acknowledge, “since there might not be a leading trigger phrase that marks the beginning of a voice command.” That might be why another group of researchers developed a system to more accurately detect wake words. Another paper trained a model to better understand rare words, which are often not well understood by assistants.
In both cases, the appeal of an LLM is that it can, in theory, process much more information much more quickly. In the wake-word paper, for instance, the researchers found that by not trying to discard all unnecessary sound but, instead, feeding it all to the model and letting it process what does and doesn’t matter, the wake word worked far more reliably.
Once Siri hears you, Apple’s doing a bunch of work to make sure it understands and communicates better. In one paper, it developed a system called STEER (which stands for Semantic Turn Extension-Expansion Recognition, so we’ll go with STEER) that aims to improve your back-and-forth communication with an assistant by trying to figure out when you’re asking a follow-up question and when you’re asking a new one. In another, it uses LLMs to better understand “ambiguous queries” to figure out what you mean no matter how you say it. “In uncertain circumstances,” they wrote, “intelligent conversational agents may need to take the initiative to reduce their uncertainty by asking good questions proactively, thereby solving problems more effectively.” Another paper aims to help with that, too: researchers used LLMs to make assistants less verbose and more understandable when they’re generating answers.
Image: Apple
Pretty soon, you might be able to edit your pictures just by asking for the changes.
AI in health, image editors, in your Memojis
Whenever Apple does talk publicly about AI, it tends to focus less on raw technological might and more on the day-to-day stuff AI can actually do for you. So, while there’s a lot of focus on Siri — especially as Apple looks to compete with devices like the Humane AI Pin, the Rabbit R1, and Google’s ongoing smashing of Gemini into all of Android — there are plenty of other ways Apple seems to see AI being useful.
One obvious place for Apple to focus is on health: LLMs could, in theory, help wade through the oceans of biometric data collected by your various devices and help you make sense of it all. So, Apple has been researching how to collect and collate all of your motion data, how to use gait recognition and your headphones to identify you, and how to track and understand your heart rate data. Apple also created and released “the largest multi-device multi-location sensor-based human activity dataset” available after collecting data from 50 participants with multiple on-body sensors.
Apple also seems to imagine AI as a creative tool. For one paper, researchers interviewed a bunch of animators, designers, and engineers and built a system called Keyframer that “enable[s] users to iteratively construct and refine generated designs.” Instead of typing in a prompt and getting an image, then typing another prompt to get another image, you start with a prompt but then get a toolkit to tweak and refine parts of the image to your liking. You could imagine this kind of back-and-forth artistic process showing up anywhere from the Memoji creator to some of Apple’s more professional artistic tools.
In another paper, Apple describes a tool called MGIE that lets you edit an image just by describing the edits you want to make. (“Make the sky more blue,” “make my face less weird,” “add some rocks,” that sort of thing.) “Instead of brief but ambiguous guidance, MGIE derives explicit visual-aware intention and leads to reasonable image editing,” the researchers wrote. Its initial experiments weren’t perfect, but they were impressive.
We might even get some AI in Apple Music: for a paper called “Resource-constrained Stereo Singing Voice Cancellation,” researchers explored ways to separate voices from instruments in songs — which could come in handy if Apple wants to give people tools to, say, remix songs the way you can on TikTok or Instagram.
Image: Apple
In the future, Siri might be able to understand and use your phone for you.
Over time, I’d bet this is the kind of stuff you’ll see Apple lean into, especially on iOS. Some of it Apple will build into its own apps; some it will offer to third-party developers as APIs. (The recent Journaling Suggestions feature is probably a good guide to how that might work.) Apple has always trumpeted its hardware capabilities, particularly compared to your average Android device; pairing all that horsepower with on-device, privacy-focused AI could be a big differentiator.
But if you want to see the biggest, most ambitious AI thing going at Apple, you need to know about Ferret. Ferret is a multi-modal large language model that can take instructions, focus on something specific you’ve circled or otherwise selected, and understand the world around it. It’s designed for the now-normal AI use case of asking a device about the world around you, but it might also be able to understand what’s on your screen. In the Ferret paper, researchers show that it could help you navigate apps, answer questions about App Store ratings, describe what you’re looking at, and more. This has really exciting implications for accessibility but could also completely change the way you use your phone — and your Vision Pro and / or smart glasses someday.
We’re getting way ahead of ourselves here, but you can imagine how this would work with some of the other stuff Apple is working on. A Siri that can understand what you want, paired with a device that can see and understand everything that’s happening on your display, is a phone that can literally use itself. Apple wouldn’t need deep integrations with everything; it could simply run the apps and tap the right buttons automatically.
Again, all this is just research, and for all of it to work well starting this spring would be a legitimately unheard-of technical achievement. (I mean, you’ve tried chatbots — you know they’re not great.) But I’d bet you anything we’re going to get some big AI announcements at WWDC. Apple CEO Tim Cook even teased as much in February, and basically promised it on this week’s earnings call. And two things are very clear: Apple is very much in the AI race, and it might amount to a total overhaul of the iPhone. Heck, you might even start willingly using Siri! And that would be quite the accomplishment.
The best new browser for Windows
Image: David Pierce / The Verge
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 36, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, hello, I’m thrilled you found us, the Installerverse loves you, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
I missed you all last week! I was at a friend’s bachelor party in South Carolina, playing golf and eating burgers and mostly staying offline. Thanks to everyone who reached out to say you missed the newsletter! But I’m back now, and so is Installer. We are so back. This week, I’ve been writing about AI gadgets and iPads, watching Baby Reindeer and The Fall Guy, reading A Drink Before the War, and listening to the excellent Challengersscore.
I also have for you a new browser for Windows, some new mobile audio options, a couple of fun things to watch this weekend, apps for coffee nuts, and much more. Let’s dig in.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What should everyone else be into right now? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, tell them to subscribe here.)
The Drop
Arc for Windows. Arc is still my favorite browser, and even in this first version, it’s surprisingly solid on Windows. (Though it is missing a couple of Arc’s more advanced features and some of the AI stuff.) If you try it, give it time — it’s a really big change from Chrome, but I’m still sold on it. (The iOS app also got some big and much-needed updates this week.)
Claude for iOS. I’m sure there’s a good rubric out there for which AI model is good for which purposes, but mostly I just gravitate toward whichever app is nicest? The new one from Anthropic is nice: clean, simple, faster than the web app for sure. I also really like the icon.
“‘No CGI’ is really just invisible CGI.” The fourth and final installment in a really cool series about CGI, from the great The Movie Rabbit Hole YouTube channel. I learned so much about moviemaking and the good and bad tricks filmmakers use from these videos.
Sofa 4.0. A huge update to one of my favorite movie / book / show trackers. Sofa now lets you collect and organize anything, any way you want — MacStories has a great rundown of all the stuff you can do, and I’m already using it to plan summer trips.
The Bose SoundLink Max. $399 is steep for a Bluetooth speaker, but I’m very into this one. Super-long battery life; an AUX port; a fun little handle; presumably excellent sound. I’ve been a UE Wonderboom believer for years, but I’ll be trying this one out this summer.
The Beats Solo 4. I agree with Chris Welch that it’s weird to not have ANC in these headphones. But I’m still into the look, love how light they are, and am stoked about the wired options as well.
Hacks season 3. I was late to this show about the lives and relationships of two comedians, but it’s funny and weird and extremely worth your time. Only 18 episodes to catch up on! You can do it this weekend!
The Idea of You. I’m currently biased toward Anne Hathaway because I just found out she’s also an Arsenal fan, which makes her cool and smart and great. But I keep hearing good things about this movie on Netflix about modern life and fame and the weirdness of both.
“Phone Apps for (Weird) Coffee People.” James Hoffmann is a must-subscribe for all things coffee, but I especially loved this look at all the apps for coffee drinkers. I’ve become a huge Filtru fan in particular, and my coffee process is now fussier than ever. I love it.
Screen share
Riley Testut has had a busy couple of weeks. Couple of months, really. Years, honestly. He’s the developer behind Delta, the game emulator that has taken over the App Store over the last few weeks and that might also be the signal of a new app era entirely. He’s been working on bringing his app store, AltStore PAL, to users in the EU, while also just trying to get some Pokémon playing in.
I asked Riley to share his homescreen, in part just to see if I could snoop on his Delta and ROM setups. I got my wish! Here’s Riley’s homescreen, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:
The phone: Purple iPhone 12 Mini. I absolutely LOVE this phone, and I’m dreading having to upgrade to a larger one eventually. (I would’ve gotten the 13 Mini, except it doesn’t come in purple.)
The wallpaper: A photo of a Pokémon drone show in the shape of Mew, originally taken by Joe Merrick (of Serebii fame), then slightly edited.
My co-founder / roommate Shane and I are obsessed with Pokémon Sleep (we compete to see who gets the most shinies), so that’s earned a spot front and center. My social folder contains my most heavily used apps (Ivory and Threads), and then below it is the Alamo Drafthouse app, which I use a LOT because I love going to the movies and have the annual pass ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
1Password contains literally everything important in my life, so it’s also a staple, but I only made the Delta folder recently once it was released in the App Store. It contains the app itself as well as launchers for Pokémon Emerald and Pokémon HeartGold as well as the amazing Ketchup pokédex app so I can easily look up Pokémon stats.
And because I can’t use AltStore PAL outside the EU, I have the regular AltStore widget to remind me to refresh my apps every week!
I also asked Riley to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he shared:
I bought myself a Steam Deck a few months ago and have been absolutely loving it! In fact, it’s the main way I kept myself entertained while we were stuck in Europe trying to launch AltStore PAL (god bless Dolphin emulator and Super Mario Galaxy 2).
I’m also a sucker for super nerdy science YouTube videos, and the History of the Universe channel is literally the perfect thing to put on in the background while I build some Legos or something. I also recently discovered Technology Connections’ channel, which basically scratches the same itch but for tech. I’ll also forever be a fan of Nirvanna the Band the Show, and Shane and I love their “Update Day” video so much we even used it to tease AltStore PAL’s launch.
At the same time… I’m also deeply invested in the ongoing UFO discourse. Exciting to see something that was dismissed for so long being taken seriously by Congress and others because that’s how science makes progress!
Crowdsourced
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Emailinstaller@theverge.comor message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. If you want even more good stuff, check outthe replies to this post on Threads.
“Neal Brennan’s Crazy Good is the funniest stand-up on Netflix since Ali Wong’s Baby Cobra.” – Christopher
“I’ve been obsessing over note-taking apps again because I am insane. Recently tried Tana, and it’s incredible. Feels like the most natural way for me to take notes (bullet journaling, tasks, project management) and is probably going to convince me to ditch Logseq and Obsidian and everything else.” – Rin
“Voiijer. This interesting social media app is focused on posting trips. From day hikes to overnight adventures abroad. I’ve tried it out a little bit, but it seems geared toward being a travel journal. Seems new and interesting.” – Nicholas
“3Blue1Brown. Really like this YouTube channel in general and have thoroughly enjoyed watching this playlist. He breaks down super complicated mathematical concepts into easy-to-digest, bite-size chunks using examples and excellent visualizations. This playlist feels particularly relevant for anyone who wants to dive a little deeper into the technologies and algorithms that are driving this wave of AI hype.” – Abie
“The new video from David Imel about how the ✨ emoji became the symbol for AI is about 1,000 times more interesting than I thought it would be. I don’t want to spoil anything, which is weird to say about a video like this, but honestly, the name of the video is just scratching the surface of how cool it is.” – Luke
I’ve been playing Bonk’s GameBoy games using Delta and writing about games on Backloggd, which is a fun video game-focused review site built very similarly to Letterboxd.” – Sawyer
“My latest rabbit hole is comics and graphic novels, and as someone who strips his ebooks of DRM, I’m still trying to find the Calibre of comics. I landed on YACReader and YACReader Library. It’s good enough, but I feel there’s still space for a really good app.” – Kevin
“Starting to pay more attention to healthy eating, and I remember hating MyFitnessPal. Found the app Cronometer, which is a great freemium alternative. Highly recommended!” – Jonathan
“I just wanted to share how much I’ve been loving the new AppleTV Plus series Sugar starring Colin Farrell as private detective John Sugar, that’s on a case of a missing daughter. It has a great camera, vibe, and overall, the aesthetics are amazing. The plot is even better, with subtle details all around the show. I’ve just rewatched it for the third time (there are only four episodes so far), and I noticed many clues for later development that I hadn’t noticed before. I feel like the showrunners must’ve spent ages on developing this show.” – Vojtěch
“Just got back on the Castro podcast app bandwagon. It’s under new management and they are iterating. The queue system is .” – Advay
Signing off
For the last few weeks, I’ve been reading and hearing a lot about how much people like the Boox Palma. It’s basically just an Android phone, but it has a Kindle-style E Ink screen, which means it’s awful at a lot of things but can download all your reading apps and news apps. I have a lot more testing to do with it, but so far, I love this thing. It’s kinda slow and a little wonky, but it fits in my pocket and is a perfect device for reading and taking quick notes. For years, I’ve cycled between carrying a notebook everywhere, relying on my phone for everything, trying to shove some other device into my workflow, and even occasionally being a weirdo who carries around an iPad. The Palma’s not perfect, but this form factor — Android device with an E Ink screen — might be. I’ll have a bigger piece on this thing in the next couple of weeks, but if you’re intrigued, I love it so far.
Tesla Pullback Puts Onus on Others to Build Electric Vehicle Chargers The automaker led by Elon Musk is no longer planning to take the lead in expanding the number of places to fuel electric vehicles. It’s not clear how quickly other companies will fill the gap.
As Google’s antitrust trial wraps, DOJ seeks sanctions over missing messages
Illustration: The Verge
The fate of Google’s search business is now in the hands of Judge Amit Mehta, as closing arguments concluded in the landmark trial on Friday.
The Department of Justice and plaintiff states made their last arguments Thursday on Google’s alleged anticompetitive conduct in the general search market, and on Friday focused on its allegedly illegal conduct in search advertising. Google was also under fire (separately) for failing to retain chat messages that the DOJ believes could have been relevant to the case.
The government is trying to show that Google locked up key distribution channels for the general search engine market, so that would-be rivals could not grow into significant threats. It says it did so through contracts with phone manufacturers and browser companies to be their exclusive default search engine. If the judge agrees that Google successfully foreclosed competition in that market, he can consider the government’s arguments about the search advertising market as evidence of anticompetitive conduct.
In his summary, DOJ attorney Kenneth Dintzer said that the last major tech monopoly decision, US v. Microsoft, “fits like a glove” on Google. Google’s lead litigator in the case, John Schmidtlein, disagreed. In Microsoft, he said, manufacturers were coerced into deals and customers were spoon-fed an inferior product they didn’t want. “Google has won with a superior product,” he said.
“The importance and significance of this case is not lost on me,” Mehta said as he concluded Friday’s court proceedings. “Not only for Google, but for the public.”
An adequate substitute for Google ads
If Google charges higher prices for advertising, are there suitable substitutes that advertisers would flee to? The answer to that question can say a lot about whether or not Google has the monopoly power that the DOJ alleges it has created through the contracts it has to be the default search engine on various browsers and devices. Google says there’s plenty of alternatives for advertisers; the government disagrees.
Mehta seemed sympathetic to the government’s arguments, though he acknowledged that alternatives to Google are robust ad companies in their own right. Amazon, for instance, isn’t exactly an inferior substitute to Google for ads, said Mehta. Unlike wrapping a sandwich in newspaper instead of cellophane, Mehta said, “If you move your ad money from Google to Amazon, you’re not wrapping your ad in newspaper.”
But Mehta later differentiated ad platforms like Facebook and TikTok from Google. Users searching on Google come with a strong idea of what they’re looking for, pretty much spelling it out in the query. Social media platforms often have to infer that intent from indirect signals.
In 2017, Google ran an experiment over several weeks and found it could increase prices five to 15 percent while still growing revenue. “Google is able to decide on what the margin that they are going to acquire is. And that’s why they’re running experiments to say, ‘well if we up it by 15 percent, how much are we going to lose in revenue?’” Mehta said to Schmidtlein. “That’s something that only a monopolist could do, right?” Schmidtlein disagreed, saying it’s fair to run pricing experiments to figure out if they’re charging the right price.
Mehta pointed out that there was “no evidence that Google ever looks at a competitors’ pricing” for that purpose. Schmidtlein responded it wasn’t that simple. Because ads are sold through a complicated auction, not even Google has total insight into the pricing mechanism behind it. It simply isn’t the same as a Coca-Cola rep walking through a grocery store to see Pepsi’s prices.
Sabotaging ads on Bing
The plaintiff states — the attorneys general for 38 states led by Colorado and Nebraska that brought the suit alongside the DOJ — are also arguing that Google intentionally dragged its feet when building certain features for SA360, its search engine marketing tool. SA360 helps advertisers manage ads through different platforms — not just Google, but competitors like Microsoft’s Bing.
The states say that Google lagged behind in building a SA360 feature for Bing ads when it had already implemented it for Google search ads.
“The evidence here is a little bit tricky for Google,” Mehta said, noting the significance of Google having said rather publicly at the start that it was “not going to play favorites” when it came to SA360. While Google could have chosen to exclude Microsoft from the tool at the outset, “that’s not the choice they made,” Mehta said.
The tool was not delivered for nearly five years after Microsoft asked for it. “How can that not be at least inferred to be anticompetitive?” Mehta asked.
Deleted chats
Hanging over the whole case is an issue about whether Google intentionally deleted or failed to retain documents that might have been used as evidence in this trial.
Google had a policy of having “history off” on its chats by default, leaving it to employees to determine when to turn it on for relevant conversations. DOJ’s Dintzer called the alleged destruction of documents “unequivocal and honestly breathtaking.” He added that “there’s no question” executives “intentionally had conversations with history off.”
“Google’s retention policy leaves a lot to be desired,” said the judge, adding disapprovingly that it was “surprising to me that a company would leave it to their employees to decide when to preserve documents.”
Soon after, Dintzer’s slide deck paused on a slide that simply read “This is Wrong,” as the DOJ attorney pointed out Google never apologized for the unretained documents nor promised not to do it again in the future. He said it’s imperative that the court impose sanctions that show the risk of destroying documents is not worthwhile. The DOJ is asking Mehta to make an adverse inference about Google for any element of the case where he doesn’t think plaintiffs have sufficient evidence. That would mean the judge would assume that any deleted chats would have been bad for Google and showed their anticompetitive intent behind their contracts with manufacturers and browsers. The DOJ also wants Mehta to take the destroyed chats as a signal of its anticompetitive intent.
Google attorney Colette Connor said the company’s lawyers had informed the state of Texas (one of the plaintiffs) early on about their retention policies. Dintzer said even that disclosure came months after the litigation hold and that the DOJ “clearly” would have acted had they known.
Mehta didn’t seem to buy Google’s defense. “It’s interesting to me that Google has been very deliberate — and perhaps after seeing what’s happened with Microsoft – very deliberate in advising employees in what not to say,” he said. In a training for employees, the company advised avoiding terms like “market share.” (Bloomberg Law has noted this is a common practice in large companies.)
It’s now up to Mehta to decide how those absent chats should be accounted for. He hasn’t provided a timeline for his decision, but in the meantime, Google and the DOJ will be preparing for their second antitrust face-off over advertising technology in the fall.
Microsoft needs some time to ‘refine’ updates for Copilot AI in Windows
The Verge
Microsoft’s latest Windows Insider blog posts say that when it comes to testing new Copilot features in Windows 11, “We have decided to pause the rollouts of these experiences to further refine them based on user feedback.” For people who already have the feature, “Copilot in Windows will continue to work as expected while we continue to evolve new ideas with Windows Insiders.”
We’re expecting to see new Surface laptops powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite processors that run Windows on Arm and compete with Apple’s M3-powered MacBook Air. Meanwhile, new features for Windows are expected to include an AI Explorer app that resembles the old Windows 10 Timeline feature that remembered what you were doing and allowed users to pick up tasks across different devices, and play up the idea of a “Copilot for every person.”
Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge
The animated Copilot icon at work
Copilot features Microsoft recently tested in the preview include one where the Copilot taskbar icon animated to show when the AI assistant could help. You could then hover the mouse icon over it to see your options, like getting an AI-generated summary of text.
Image: Microsoft
Copilot in its own app window
Another allowed Copilot in Windows to pop out of the sidebar and into a normal application window, which users could resize and move around. This feature started rolling out to the Canary channel in March.
New builds going out to both the Dev and Beta channels include a fix for Copilot unexpectedly auto-launching after a restart. There’s also a new shortcut in the right-click menu for tabs in File Explorer, allowing users to duplicate the current tab. But for those who keep a close eye on Task Manager, the most important note of all is that Microsoft has updated the units to correctly reflect memory speed, going from the MHz of yesteryear to a DDR-ready MT/s count.
Google bans advertisers from promoting deepfake porn services
Illustration: The Verge
Google has had a longstanding ban on sexually explicit ads — but until now, the company hasn’t banned advertisers from promoting services that people can use to make deepfake porn and other forms of generated nudes. That’s about to change.
Google currently prohibits advertisers from promoting “sexually explicit content,” which Google defines as “text, image, audio, or video of graphic sexual acts intended to arouse.” The new policy now bans the advertisement of services that help users create that type of content as well, whether by altering a person’s image or generating a new one.
The change, which will go into effect on May 30th, prohibits “promoting synthetic content that has been altered or generated to be sexually explicit or contain nudity,” such as websites and apps that instruct people on how to create deepfake porn.
“This update is to explicitly prohibit advertisements for services that offer to create deepfake pornography or synthetic nude content,” Google spokesperson Michael Aciman tells The Verge.
Aciman says any ads that violate its policies will be removed, adding that the company uses a combination of human reviews and automated systems to enforce those policies. In 2023, Google removed over 1.8 billion ads for violating its policies on sexual content, according to the company’s annual Ads Safety Report.
The change was first reported by 404 Media. As 404 notes, while Google already prohibited advertisers from promoting sexually explicit content, some apps that facilitate the creation of deepfake pornography have gotten around this by advertising themselves as non-sexual on Google ads or in the Google Play store. For example, one face swapping app didn’t advertise itself as sexually explicit on the Google Play store but did so on porn sites.
Nonconsensual deepfake pornography has become a consistent problem in recent years. Two Florida middle schoolers were arrested last December for allegedly creating AI-generated nude photos of their classmates. Just this week, a 57-year-old Pittsburgh man was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for possessing deepfake child sexual abuse material. Last year, the FBI issued an advisory about an “uptick” in extortion schemes that involved blackmailing people with AI-generated nudes. While many AI models make it difficult — if not impossible — for users to create AI-generated nudes, some services let users generate sexual content.
There may soon be legislative action on deepfake porn. Last month, the House and Senate introduced the DEFIANCE Act, which would establish a process through which victims of “digital forgery” could sue people who make or distribute nonconsensual deepfakes of them.
Why Google Employees Aren’t Reacting to US Antitrust Trial They shrugged off concerns about the company’s fate ahead of closing arguments in the Justice Department’s lawsuit this week.
Microsoft says it did a lot for responsible AI in inaugural transparency report
Illustration: The Verge
A new report from Microsoft outlines the steps the company took to release responsible AI platforms last year.
In its Responsible AI Transparency Report, which mainly covers 2023, Microsoft touts its achievements around safely deploying AI products. The annual AI transparency report is one of the commitments the company made after signing a voluntary agreement with the White House in July last year. Microsoft and other companies promised to establish responsible AI systems and commit to safety.
Microsoft says in the report that it created 30 responsible AI tools in the past year, grew its responsible AI team, and required teams making generative AI applications to measure and map risks throughout the development cycle. The company notes that it added Content Credentials to its image generation platforms, which puts a watermark on a photo, tagging it as made by an AI model.
The company says it’s given Azure AI customers access to tools that detect problematic content like hate speech, sexual content, and self-harm, as well as tools to evaluate security risks. This includes new jailbreak detection methods, which were expanded in March this year to include indirect prompt injections where the malicious instructions are part of data ingested by the AI model.
It’s also expanding its red-teaming efforts, including both in-house red teams that deliberately try to bypass safety features in its AI models as well as red-teaming applications to allow third-party testing before releasing new models.
However, its red-teaming units have their work cut out for them. The company’s AI rollouts have not been immune to controversies.
Natasha Crampton, chief responsible AI officer at Microsoft, says in an email sent to The Verge that the company understands AI is still a work in progress and so is responsible AI.
“Responsible AI has no finish line, so we’ll never consider our work under the Voluntary AI commitments done. But we have made strong progress since signing them and look forward to building on our momentum this year,” Crampton says.
Peloton announces new round of layoffs as CEO quits
Another dark day for Peloton. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Peloton’s CEO Barry McCarthy is stepping down after announcing yet another round of layoffs, this time affecting about 15 percent of its remaining workforce, or roughly 400 global team members. It’s the fifth round of layoffs to hit the pandemic darling and comes after McCarthy said on its Q1 2023 earnings call that the company was done with layoffs and that the “ship was turning.”
“Hard as the decision has been to make additional headcount cuts, Peloton simply had no other way to bring its spending in line with its revenue,” said McCarthy in his outgoing message, noting that it’s a crucial step as the company seeks to refinance its debt. The layoffs are part of a 12-month restructuring program meant to reduce annual expenses by more than $200 million.
Board members Karen Boone and Chris Bruzzo will take on the role of interim co-CEOs.
Back in 2022, Peloton shed 500 jobs in October, 800 in August, 500 in July, and around 2,800 employees in February. The company’s workforce now sits at just over 3,000 employees globally after today’s cuts. That’s a big drop from Peloton’s peak of 8,600 employees in 2021.
The move is the latest chapter in the company’s volatile history. Peloton thrived during quarantine and had invested hundreds of millions in its supply chain to address pandemic-related shipping delays. However, it failed to foresee how demand would shift once the world reopened after the covid-19 vaccines.
Google Antitrust Trial Concludes With Closing Arguments The first tech monopoly trial of the modern internet era is concluding. The judge’s ruling is likely to weigh heavily on a pipeline of similar antitrust cases.
TikTok and Universal Music Group end feud with new agreement
Taylor Swift’s label is returning to TikTok’s one billion-plus users. | Photo by DAVID GRAY/AFP via Getty Images
Universal Music Group has inked a “multi-dimensional” deal with TikTok that will see its roster of artists — which includes Taylor Swift, Drake, and Olivia Rodrigo — return to the social media platform’s one billion-plus users. UMG began pulling its music from TikTok on February 1st after the old contract expired.
Notably, the deal will address concerns that UMG and its artists have with generative AI. “TikTok and UMG will work together to ensure AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters,” reads a press release announcing the deal. “TikTok is also committed to working with UMG to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform, as well as tools to improve artist and songwriter attribution.”
“We are delighted to welcome UMG and UMPG back to TikTok,” said Ole Obermann, TikTok’s Global Head of Music Business Development. “In particular, we will work together to make sure that AI tools are developed responsibly to enable a new era of musical creativity and fan engagement while protecting human creativity.”
The deal also includes “new monetization opportunities” that stem from TikTok’s growing e-commerce capabilities. TikTok also commits to continue building tools to help artists better leverage the platform in areas like analytics and integrated ticketing.
The companies say they are “working expeditiously” to return artists to the platform.
Asus won’t say if the ROG Ally’s SD card reader will ever be truly fixed
The Asus ROG Ally. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
What is Asus hiding?
Two weeks ago, I told you how Asus has officially extended its warranty on the ROG Ally gaming handheld’s SD card reader to two full years in the United States, presumably to give you more time to get it fixed. But Asus refuses to confirm to The Verge that it’s actually identified a fix for the issue. If you ship your Ally back to Asus, there’s no guarantee the problem won’t reappear.
Early on, some ROG Ally buyers discovered the SD card readers had a tendency to fail and possibly damage your SD cards in the process. One law firm, CSK&D, even threatened to pursue a class-action lawsuit on behalf of owners, though I haven’t yet found record of an actual suit being filed, and its class-action website has since been removed.
Last July, Asus confirmed the SD card reader issue and suggested it might be due to a temperature problem, writing that “under certain thermal stress conditions the SD card reader may malfunction.” It released an update that increased the speeds of the gadget’s fans to compensate, but that doesn’t seem to have solved the problem.
Nine months later, the company’s new warranty announcement seems to confirm the worst — Asus is now even offering to reimburse you for damaged SD cards if you return them alongside a ROG Ally that needs service.
But on the r/ROGAlly subreddit, a moderator pointed out that there’s no guarantee of a fix, writing that “we still advise against using an SD card” because “devices returned from RMA as recently as this month still have the issue.” And the offer’s only good in the United States.
Anecdotally, I’m definitely seeing some alleged owners on Reddit and Discord say that Asus came through for them with fixed SD card readers, and some say Asus customer support confirmed there was some sort of fix.
But if that’s true, why wouldn’t Asus confirm that to me? When I asked whether there was a fix, and what percentage of ROG Ally systems have this issue, the company completely dodged my questions.
Here’s an email conversation I had with Asus rep Anthony Spence:
1) Has Asus actually found a hardware fix for the faulty SD card readers? If someone RMAs their Ally to Asus this way, will they get an SD card reader that no longer fails?
Our commitment is to assist all customers effectively. If any user suspects they’re encountering issues with their products, we encourage them to reach out and make use of our RMA process as needed. They can expect us to provide a suitable resolution.
2) What percentage of ROG Ally systems have this issue?
We cannot comment on this at this time.
3) Assuming there is no hardware fix yet, why has the warranty only been extended by one year?
Apologies Sean, but we cannot comment on assumptions.
4) What does Asus plan to do for customers in territories outside the US? Will we see warranty extensions and SD card reimbursement elsewhere?
Service policies vary from region to region and are subject to local laws and regulations. While I cannot provide you a blanket statement that encompasses all global operations, you can rest assured that our focus is quality and our objective is to effectively answer our users concerns, regardless of location.
After I explained to Asus that it hadn’t answered the questions, it considered that for two days — then replied that “we won’t further comment beyond what has been stated and is contained in the statement.”
TikTok seems to be dodging App Store commissions in Epic fashion
It’s unclear how many TikTok users are being prompted in-app to visit its website for cheaper TikTok Coins. | The Verge
TikTok appears to be probing App Store rules that require it to pay the “Apple tax” on in-app purchases. According to Sendit app co-founder David Tesler, some TikTok users are being directed to purchase TikTok coins — digital tokens used to tip creators during live streams — on the company’s website via an in-app link, effectively dodging the 30 percent commission Apple takes on digital purchases.
Screenshots acquired by Tesler show at least two instances where iOS users are encouraged to “recharge” their TikTok coins on TikTok.com to explicitly “avoid in-app service fees.” Tapping the “try now” link on these notifications opens an embedded web view where users can access payment options like Apple Pay, PayPal, or credit/debit cards to bypass App Store fees. A message on this page informs users that they can save “around 25 percent with a lower third-party service fee” compared to purchasing coins in the TikTok app.
TikTok might get banned from the app store next week
Why? It looks like they’re circumventing apple fee by directing users to purchase coins via external payment methods pic.twitter.com/VG8ihvsRmv
The alternative payment feature is only being shown to a select group of TikTok users, according to Tesler, noting the account that provided the screenshots had previously purchased a large amount of coins. It’s unclear how many users have been presented with these in-app web links, though the purchasing options could suggest TikTok is targeting users who typically purchase large quantities of TikTok coins. Coin options range from packs of 70 (priced at 74 cents) to custom quantities that state “large amount supported.”
Image: TikTok / The VergeThese promotional messages arent exactly subtle, even if only a handful of TikTok users may be seeing them.
TikTok’s support page makes no mention of the ability to buy TikTok coins via its website, listing just the App Store and Google Play as locations where coins can be purchased. Neither TikTok nor Apple have responded to our request for comment at this time.
It’s likely that TikTok is violating Apple App Store rules with this feature. Apple started allowing select services to include in-app website links back in 2022, though this was limited to “reader” apps like Kindle, Netflix, and Spotify, and could only be used for things like account management or creation. And as noted by TechCrunch, only apps that don’t offer in-app purchases (which TikTok certainly does) are permitted to make use of this External Link Entitlement.
These violations seem like something that Apple would swiftly (and typically, aggressively) seek to rectify, though the company doesn’t appear to have taken any action yet. Apple is currently stonewalling Spotify from implementing similar in-app weblinks in the EU despite being fined about $2 billion for its App Store practices. And TikTok’s immense user base — last reported to be over a billion monthly active global users — makes it trickier to simply evict from the App Store, with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claiming “the only way Apple removes TikTok over this is if it wants to destroy itself.”
Meta and Google Are Betting on AI Voice Assistants. Will They Take Off? Meta, Google and others are driving a renaissance for voice assistants, but people have found the technology uncool for more than a decade.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25434258/Eta_Aquarids_main.png)
Image: NASA / MSFC / B. Cooke
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25431587/CleanShot_2024_05_03_at_09.50.52.png)
Image: Apple
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25431565/CleanShot_2024_05_03_at_09.36.28.png)
Image: Apple
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25432035/Riley_Testut_Homescreen.png)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25276638/copilotwindowsfeature.gif)
Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25432629/copilot_windowed.jpg)
Image: Microsoft
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25428455/TikTok_coin_purchase.jpg)
Image: TikTok / The Verge
