The AI assistants are getting better fast

The AI assistants are getting better fast

Image: David Pierce / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 38, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and you can also read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been writing about iPads and the future of Google, watching American Fiction and Bodkin, rewatching Her because of… reasons, endlessly replaying the songs of Windows95man, learning how to make better sandwiches, testing Claude for AI stuff, and listening to the new-old Childish Gambino album.

I also have for you a new AI model, literally thousands of new Lego pieces, a new way to Google, the fanciest mop you’ve ever seen in your life, more emulators for iOS, and much more.

And I have a question: What’s your favorite mini-game on the internet? I’m thinking about things like Wordle, The Wikipedia Game, Sudoku, Really Bad Chess, Name Drop, and a million others — the kinds of things you might play every morning with your coffee. I want to compile a huge list of everybody’s favorites, the sillier the better! I’d love to hear everything in your rotation. Reply to this email, email me at installer@theverge.com, or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — and tell me all your faves.

All right, lots to do this week. So much AI! Let’s go.

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

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The Drop

• GPT-4o. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about OpenAI’s event this week, with the Her-like demo of the new voice assistant. It’s really impressive, kind of weird, and both delightful and creepy? I’m so torn. But the tech is impressive, and every AI app I’ve seen is already rushing to support GPT-4o.
• ChatGPT for Mac. Desktop AI chat apps are a dime a dozen and mostly all just wrappers on a webpage. But the new ChatGPT app is a bit more: it lets you share your screen and ask questions about it, which strikes me as a very handy way to get AI help with something. “How do I fix this?” is a question I ask ChatGPT a lot.
• “Historical AI & Rewriting the Past on TikTok.” Have you seen those videos on TikTok of an AI-generated emperor or whatever, telling you a salacious story about world history? They’re fun! And messy! And frequently just lies! Love this video on how it all happened and what it all means.
• Lego Barad-dûr. Five thousand, four hundred and seventy-one pieces. Pair this with the Rivendell set Lego released last year, and you’ll spend about $1,000 and one very happy lifetime putting together a truly epic Lord of the Rings setup.
• Google’s “Web” filter. I have a lot of big-picture thoughts about what AI is doing to web search and what that means for the internet, but I also just miss when Google was a bunch of links and not a thousand videos, X posts, and shopping links. The new “Web” filter is like old Google brought back to life — not right for everything but very useful.
• “​​I Started a New Business. It Didn’t Go Well…” I’m a fan of Ali Abdaal’s (he was in Installer a while back!) and really loved this video. He shares a lot of the kinds of stories you don’t hear about building products, failure, mistakes, challenges, and what happens when you just get it wrong. Lots to learn from this one.
• Setapp Mobile. If you don’t already know about Setapp, a subscription service that gets you access to hundreds of Mac and iOS apps, you should check it out. Setapp Mobile, its new alternative app store, is EU-only for now, but it’s still a fascinating look at what’s possible when you open up the smartphone.
• The Dyson WashG1. Explaining Dyson stuff always sounds so silly — “yeah, it’s like 4x the price of all its competitors, and yeah, it’s just a cleaning thing, but dude, it’s SICK.” But… this $700 ultra-fancy mop sounds sick. I can’t help myself.
• Hello, Dot. A new game from the Pokémon Go and Peridot folks, designed just for the Meta Quest. There’s not actually a ton to the game itself, but it’s a pretty great mixed reality tech demo, and these things are just fun to play around with.
• RetroArch. The latest in an increasingly long list of great emulator apps coming to the iPhone. This one’s not the most user-friendly, but it does support a huge number of consoles and games — and it works on the Apple TV!

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Screen share

My favorite new iPhone app this week is definitely Bebop, which is a really clever thing: it’s an app for taking notes, but it’s designed specifically to be used as a quick way to write something down for people who use tools like Obsidian, which is great but heavy and not good for short capture. Bebop just pipes stuff into a folder of text files, which you can read with any other app you want. I’m already using it a dozen times a day.

Bebop was created by Jack Cheng, who you might know as the author of books like The Many Masks of Andy Zhou and the very fun newsletter Sunday Letter. I’ve been a fan of Jack’s work for a while and figured his app launch was a good time to get him in Installer.

Here’s Jack’s homescreen, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:

The phone: iPhone 14.

The wallpaper: My partner, Julia, taken at one of my favorite places: Kresge Court inside the Detroit Institute of Arts.

The apps: Photos, Gmail, Arc, Phone, Messages, Bebop, Blackmagic Camera.

Lock screen widgets: Fantastical, Weather, and Lightroom’s camera widget. I usually include a photo when I send out my Sunday newsletter, and I loathe the way newer-generation iPhones over-process everything. So I use this when I want a RAW image for later editing (and don’t have my Ricoh GR III on me).

Homescreen: A Widgetsmith photo widget that shows my workweek in index cards. I’m doing my first 12-Week Year and also experimenting with the cards for time-blocking. I plan out my week on Monday morning, then the cards stay on the table next to my desk. I refer to them when I journal, too. Both the 12-Week Year and card system I first saw in Dan Catt’s oddly therapeutic Weeknotes.

Dock: Third from the left is my own file-based notes app, Bebop! I built it after frustrations with over-bloated notes apps that deprioritized capture. Bebop’s my first iOS app, and it felt so good to be able to give it that prime dock spot.

When Apple announced Final Cut Camera, I wondered if there was something similar for DaVinci Resolve, and it turned out there was: Blackmagic Camera. I’d love to do some short video updates for my YouTube channel (which currently just has older videos of me reading from one of my children’s novels). But that’s a big project, for a future 12-week stretch. In the meantime, I’m accumulating little clips and figuring out a good workflow.

I have two other iOS screens: One for reading and audio apps (the only screen visible in Sleep Focus mode) and another for messaging and social media. Everything else is in the App Library. I use search a lot.

I also asked Jack to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he shared:

• The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film is the best book I’ve read so far this year. It has so many insights on writing and making art, and I love the interview format — especially when the two conversation partners (the other is author Michael Ondaatje) are experts in their own domains. Which is why I’m also a Decoder fan!
• Completely Arbortrary is, to me, a perfect podcast. Each hour-long episode is about a different tree, and for hosts, you have a dendrologist (Casey Clapp) paired with a musician / comedian (Alex Crowson) who stands in for the novice listener. Talk about evergreen content. (sorry)
• I’m eagerly awaiting my preorder of Robin Sloan’s new novel, Moonbound. This happens startlingly regularly: I’m at the bookstore when a cover catches my eye. I read the flap copy and first few pages and get sucked right in. Then, I flip over to the back, and there it is: a Robin Sloan blurb. Robin has such a singular taste for the interestingly weird / weirdly interesting. He’s also a serial appreciator of things, which I appreciate!
• My partner and I just finished the third season of Master of None, eminently watchable in large part thanks to Amy Williams’ gorgeous production design. The seasonal arc is an infertility storyline involving Lena Waithe and Naomi Ackie’s characters, which, because of our own fertility journey, hit a little close to home at first. But I’m happy that after two years of trying, Julia and I are expecting our first child this summer.

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Crowdsourced

Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For more recommendations than I could fit here, check out the replies to this post on Threads.

“So every once in a while, I manage to get a hard drive full to the rim and need to clean up. That’s when I fall back on a really old piece of software from the Dutch University of Eindhoven called SequoiaView. I don’t think it’s been updated since November 2002, but I still find it the best way to quickly and visually localize big files. I wonder: does anybody else have such an old piece of software that still performs its task for them?” — Jasper

“I’m very late to Balatro and been playing that (and failing — how are people already completing the game and I can’t even get past the basic stakes for some of these decks lol) and trying to finish the new Vampire Survivors DLC.” — Melody

“I just re-downloaded the original StarCraft and can’t stop watching TikTok live videos of people playing some weird Russian Roulette PC game.”

“Downloaded Delta when it officially launched and realized how much I missed playing ‘simpler’ games. Amongst a few others, I was really enjoying Pokémon Fire Red. Fast forward a few days… and the Analogue Pocket had a very timely restock. Nothing to take away from Delta — it’s amazing and massive credits to the developer. I think I just want something a bit more tactile to go all in on some OG games.” — Omesh

“Walkabout Mini Golf on the Meta Quest 3 is pretty awesome.” — Matt

“I’ve found that my screen time can sometimes rocket from using apps like Instagram and Twitter. To solve that, I found Ascent, which adds a sliding distraction screen whenever you try to open the app. You can get Premium for free by Instagramming about them, and it’s worth it because it’s so customizable!” — Leo

“One of Twitch’s / YT’s biggest creators Critical Role just launched their own direct support / streaming service, Beacon, but in contrast to the huge miss that was Watcher doing something similar last month, they aren’t paywalling any existing content. Super interesting move to skip established platforms like Patreon and DIY it. The new content on the platform is really cool for megafans!” – Zach

“Fur and Loathing. I just started listening to this podcast about the gas attack in the 2014 furry convention, and it’s really good!” — Katie

“I’m watching the second half of Clarkson’s Farm season 3. If you’ve never seen it, you’ll be surprised by just how complicated it is to grow something in a field.” — Alan

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Signing off

I’ve been sick off and on for most of the last two weeks, which has lots of downsides but one really terrific upside. It’s an infinite excuse to watch TV shows I’ve already seen 100 times! I’ve realized I have a rotation, not on purpose but somehow quite rigid: I watch The Office, then I watch Parks and Recreation, then I watch New Girl, then I watch Community. Sometimes one all the way through and then the next, sometimes a couple of episodes and then bounce around, but it’s almost always in that order. (Schitt’s Creek and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are the honorable mentions — they haven’t quite made it into the official rotation yet, but I love them both.)

Is this just a me thing? Does everyone have a few shows they just kind of instinctively bounce between when you don’t really care what you’re watching? Either way, I highly recommend my rotation. Infinite comedy, perfect for naps.

See you next week!

Sugar’s big twist was more than a gimmick

Sugar’s big twist was more than a gimmick

Image: Apple

For most of its first season, Sugar on Apple TV Plus was a fairly typical if slickly produced detective story. It starred Colin Farrell as John Sugar, a private investigator with a number of charming quirks — obsessed with old movies, unable to get drunk, beloved by dogs — who was determined to solve a missing persons case involving the granddaughter of a famous Hollywood director. Then, at the end of episode six, the show introduced a twist that threatened to change it into something very different. But now that Sugar’s finale is out, it’s clear that the twist didn’t alter what the show already was — it just added some new flavor.

Spoiler warning for the first season of Sugar, including the final episode.

Okay, let’s get it out of the way: Sugar is an alien. At the end of episode six, he revealed himself to be a blue humanoid who looks like a cross between Doctor Manhattan and Nebula from Guardians of the Galaxy. It was a startling moment, although one that makes a lot of sense in retrospect. All of those quirks could be explained by Sugar’s extraterrestrial nature. He loves movies because he used them to learn about humanity. He can’t get drunk because he has different biology. And he’s part of a secretive group of polyglots because that’s how his alien friends meet up to discuss their observations.

Turning Sugar into an alien doesn’t fundamentally change the show — it’s still a modern noir with a compelling mystery at its core. The finale drives this home, as the sci-fi aspect mostly recedes to the background, while Sugar races to rescue Olivia (Sydney Chandler) from a potentially horrific fate and return her to her grandfather (James Cromwell). The episode is concerned with the same questions that have propelled the series since it started: what really happened to Olivia, and can Sugar save her?

Image: Apple

Mostly, the sci-fi elements add to the urgency. In Sugar’s finale, the aliens are discovered and forced to leave Earth. This means that Sugar needs to solve the case before hopping on a spaceship to wherever he’s from. Every moment counts. And the show ends in a way all good detective thrillers do, with a crime that is disturbing but also isn’t quite the end of the story. Even if you guess where it’s going, there are a number of unexpected twists and turns along the way.

Ultimately, the aliens are a fun twist on a well-worn archetype. Sugar is patient, observant, and dedicated, skills that make him great at his job and that can also be linked to his extraterrestrial origins. He’s patient and observant because his real job is watching people and reporting back to his home world. He’s dedicated to finding Olivia because he experienced a tragic loss on his planet and doesn’t want it to happen again.

The finale also makes it clear that Sugar’s story isn’t over. He ends up staying on Earth, partly because he can’t get enough of humanity, but mostly because he discovers that a fellow alien — who has also stayed behind — is essentially the intergalactic Moriarty to his Sherlock. If it gets renewed, Sugar will likely shift from a detective story to a revenge tale. Hopefully, if that happens, it can maintain that careful balance between sci-fi and noir. Sure, Sugar is an alien — but that’s not the most interesting thing about him.

Sugar is streaming now on Apple TV Plus.

The MSI Claw is an embarrassment

The MSI Claw is an embarrassment

Steer clear.

No one should buy an MSI Claw. It’s not technically broken: the first 7-inch Intel Core Ultra handheld gaming PC doesn’t regularly crash or anything like that. But the Claw falls so far short of the competition that it’s effectively dead on arrival.

In almost every way, the $750 MSI Claw feels like an inferior clone of the Asus ROG Ally — except it costs more, not less! You could get a far better experience while saving hundreds of dollars if you choose a Steam Deck OLED instead.

I’ve spent weeks searching for a silver lining. In the end, I only found three tiny ways the Claw improves on the competition.

I didn’t start my MSI Claw journey by running benchmarks. My expectations were already at rock bottom, so I began with an easier test: making the Claw my daily driver for the not-particularly-intensive games I’d already been playing on other handhelds. I fired up the PC port of Studio Ghibli’s Ni No Kuni, Dave the Diver, and Fallout New Vegas — a game that’s nearly 14 years old.

Every one of them runs smoothly on a $549 Steam Deck OLED. Not one ran smoothly on the $749 MSI Claw. They would stutter or hitch, even when the system told me they were hitting 60fps or above and despite a 48–120Hz variable refresh rate screen that should have smoothed things out. The Claw would also drop frames when the Deck stayed stable and delivered fewer frames to begin with.

So, I fired up some more repeatable benchmarks. How bad could the Intel Core Ultra 155H really be compared to rivals? Here’s a peek:

In case your jaw has not yet hit the floor, let me bottom-line it for you: the less expensive Steam Deck OLED all but completely wiped the floor with the MSI Claw in power and performance.

The Claw, set to maximum power and plugged into a wall for a turbo boost, ran some games slower than my Steam Deck did on battery power alone. Can you imagine paying two hundred dollars more to play games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 45 fps instead of 60 — and only when you’re plugged into the wall?

Against Windows gaming handhelds, the Claw fared no better: the competing Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go offered anywhere from 10 percent more performance to over double the perf depending on the game and power mode.

The functional quick access menu is one of the handheld’s very few bright spots.

There was one bright spot: Returnal, one of the most intensive PC titles I tried, actually ran better on the Claw than it did on the Deck or Ally. But not well enough to be playable… and when I sat down to play an hour each of Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Cyberpunk 2077, I didn’t find them playable either. Both are playable on the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go at identical (low) settings, so the Claw has no excuse for delivering a choppy mess.

I even fired up 3DMark Time Spy and Fire Strike to see if MSI might have accidentally sent me a lemon, but no — my Claw scored slightly higher than MSI’s own internal benchmark. And yes, I ran these benchmarks on the recent Intel graphics driver that was supposed to deliver big improvements, not the one the Claw originally shipped with.

One USB-C port and micro SD slot, next to the fingerprint reader power button.

At least the Claw doesn’t seem to have worse battery life than Windows peers. MSI gave it a 53-watt-hour battery pack, slightly larger than Legion Go and notably larger than Ally, and I saw roughly the same 1.5 hours of Shadow of the Tomb Raider on a charge. I got 2 hours and 25 minutes of Fallout New Vegas and achieved a maximum runtime of 4 hours and 19 minutes in Balatro, one of the least demanding games I’ve yet played on a handheld. (My first run lasted 3.25 hours; I got an extra hour by setting the system to Super Battery mode and aggressively dimming the screen.)

But compared to the Steam Deck OLED, which can easily go twice as long in Balatro and lets Lara Croft raid tombs for over two hours, it’s not great — and I have no clue how MSI can justify saying the Claw “lasts 50 percent longer” than the average handheld in its marketing campaign.

The backs of the ROG Ally and the MSI Claw show differences and similarities.

It’s worth noting that MSI did put a decent amount of thought into the Claw’s UX. While the hardware may look like a low-rent Batman edition of Asus’ ROG Ally, cribbing the same exact button layout and most of the same curves, it can feel a tad better in the hands. I appreciate its larger grips, more substantial face buttons, and its Hall effect joysticks and triggers for longevity. Like the Ally, the Claw has some of the best speakers on a gaming handheld, here augmented with surprisingly good Nahimic virtual surround sound that delivered delightfully all-around-me echoes as I failed to delve through tombs.

I do wish MSI hadn’t adopted a stiffer yet sloppier D-pad or added so many unnecessary spikes to its vents — they’ve repeatedly kept me from finding its charge port in a dark bedroom. The Claw’s rumble feels awful, too. At least MSI lets you turn it off!

But the main thing I’d like to turn off is Windows.

The fronts of the ROG Ally and MSI Claw show almost identical curves and layouts.

It’s been almost a full year since Asus released the ROG Ally and over two years since the Steam Deck, but Microsoft has done nothing meaningful to make its operating system friendlier for a gamepad-operated screen. I could practically copy / paste my criticisms from the ROG Ally review: I ran into the same exact issues summoning virtual keyboards and playing games — things that mostly just work on a Steam Deck despite and / or because of its Linux underpinnings.

And, I ran into very similar sleep issues to the ones I saw on the Lenovo Legion Go: I simply can’t trust this portable not to wake itself up when I put it down or drop it into a bag. Only here, it’s slightly worse because the MSI Center utility has a tendency to hang when waking from sleep — sometimes disabling my gamepad controls until I reboot it.

MSI Center M, the company’s quick launch software.

While MSI Center also buries important features like remappable controls, I like that it includes launchers for every major PC game platform, comes with lots of handy Quick Access shortcuts that work right out of the box (like a switch that turns off RGB lighting), and is relatively snappy. The Deck, Ally, and Legion Go all had buggier, more sluggish interfaces at launch.

Today, though, all of them are far more full-featured, and all let you natively install updates — while the Claw still expects you to navigate to MSI’s website and download important bits manually or wait for Windows Update to deliver the goods.

The MSI Claw vs. the Steam Deck. They’re roughly the same thickness, though the Deck’s joysticks are taller and there’s more grip underneath.

The MSI Claw isn’t the worst handheld gaming PC I’ve ever touched. Years ago, I played with some that didn’t even deserve a review, handhelds so poorly thought out and narrowly marketed I didn’t feel the need to warn you. But stores like Best Buy actually carry the MSI Claw — and in the current crop of competing handhelds, it’s the worst buy of them all.

Photography by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Behold Ayaneo’s sophisticated takes on the Game Boy and Game Boy Micro

Behold Ayaneo’s sophisticated takes on the Game Boy and Game Boy Micro

Image: Ayaneo

The Analogue Pocket is the most advanced Game Boy to ever take actual carts, but Ayaneo has just unveiled a pair of emulator-centric pocket computers that could give it a run for its cash — including a modern take on the original DMG-01 Nintendo Game Boy with a 419ppi OLED screen.

Unfortunately, we’ve only got renders and a few details today — no prices or full spec sheets — but those renders look pretty neat! I find myself most interested in the Pocket Micro, whose sleek design, twin joysticks and horizontal layout look a bit more practical than the stick placement on the Pocket DMG. Not to mention a bit of a Sony Walkman vibe? Take a peek:

Below, you’ll also see the Ayaneo AG01 “Graphics Starship” eGPU dock the company already teased, as well as a Super Famicom themed retro power bank with a screen, and a new version of Ayaneo’s Mac-inspired mini-PC — now with a tilting screen and your choice of a AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS or Ryzen 9 8945HS chip, as well as 2.5Gbps Ethernet, a pair of USB4 ports, and six USB-A ports, and 65W worth of cooling.

Ayaneo says the Pocket DMG is powered by a Qualcomm G3x Gen 2 processor and has an active cooling system (read: fan) beneath its 3.92-inch, 1240x1080 OLED screen, while the aluminum-housed Pocket Micro has a 960x640 panel that allows for 4x integer scaling for GBA games, and is powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 chip.

The AG01 is a AMD Radeon RX 7600M eGPU that connects over Oculink or USB4, similar to competitors from OneXPlayer and GPD. It has twin DisplayPorts and twin HDMI ports for video output, as well as Ethernet, USB-A, and an SD card slot, and room inside for an M.2 2280 SSD with toolless entry — just twist a dial on the back.

Last but not least, the Retro Power Bank is a 45.6 watt-hour (12,000mAh) battery pack with a tiny built-in OLED display for real-time monitoring. It has 45W USB-C PD input and output, and two USB-C ports, though it looks like you might be limited to 15W per port if you use both at the same time.

It’s not clear when, where, or how much any of these will cost: Ayaneo says the Retro Power Bank will be released “soon,” and will announce details later for the rest.

Here are the best Kindle deals right now

Here are the best Kindle deals right now

The Kindle Scribe doesn’t provide the most intuitive note-taking experience you can get, but it’s getting better thanks to a series of OTA updates.

When it comes to finding a device to read ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your phone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality.

Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its ever-expanding Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons. The bulk of the devices function as simple ebook readers; however, with the Kindle Scribe, Amazon looks to be moving beyond books and into the realm of writing — something that should make future Kindles function more akin to physical paper.

Below, we’ve listed each model currently available. Sometimes, there isn’t a deal for one or any of the products, but we’ve mentioned the most recent sale price in those instances. Keep in mind that Amazon also offers 20 percent off all of its Kindles when you trade in select devices, so there are still other ways to save money when none of the models are available at a discount.

Image: Amazon

The best Kindle (2022) deals

In case you missed it, Amazon announced a new entry-level Kindle in 2022, one that was designed to replace the 2019 model. The latest Kindle — which starts at $99.99 — puts Amazon’s base e-reader more in line with the most recent Kindle Paperwhite, providing a number of quality-of-life improvements in the process. The 2022 model features longer battery life, a 300ppi screen, and charges via USB-C instead of Micro USB. It also touts 16GB of storage by default and comes in a “denim” color, which resembles the soft blue you might associate with jeans.

In the past, Amazon’s newest ad-supported Kindle has dropped to as low as $74.99 ($25 off) with three months of Kindle Unlimited included. Right now, however, you can only buy the Kindle at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target for its full retail price of $99.99, or with ads, a power adapter, and a fabric cover starting at $134.97 ($15 off). Regardless of whether you choose the standalone model or the bundle, the entry-level Kindle remains a worthwhile option if you’re looking to pick up an e-reader for less than the latest Paperwhite.

Read our Kindle (2022) review.

The best Kindle Kids (2022) deals

The latest base Kindle wasn’t the only e-reader Amazon introduced in 2022. The entry-level model arrived alongside a new Kindle Kids, which is identical to the standard model but comes with a handful of accessories and provides age-appropriate content for younger readers who prefer digital books. Like the last-gen Kindle Kids, the latest model retails for $20 more than the base model, bringing the MSRP to $119.99.

In terms of add-ons, the new Kindle Kids edition consists of four items: the device, a case, a two-year extended replacement guarantee (in the event the device breaks), and one year of Amazon Kids Plus. The latter is the biggest selling point of the device aside from the kid-friendly patterns, as it allows parents to grant their child access to games, videos, and books — including those in the Percy Jackson and Harry Potter series — at no additional cost.

In late March, we saw the Kindle Kids sell for $99.99, which is $20 shy of its all-time low and the cheapest we’ve seen it go for since Black Friday. Right now, however, there are no deals currently available, meaning you can only buy the e-reader at its full retail price of $119.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.

Image: Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is identical to the standard model but features wireless charging and a sensor to automatically adjust the backlight.

The best Kindle Paperwhite (2021) deals

Amazon’s latest Kindle Paperwhite is its 11th-gen model, which comes with USB-C support, longer battery life, and a larger 6.8-inch display. The e-reader launched more than two years ago, and it often receives steep discounts at retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, particularly around Black Friday and throughout the holiday season.

When it first launched in 2021, the latest Kindle Paperwhite arrived in two entry-level configurations: an 8GB model with ads for $139.99 and an 8GB model without ads for $159.99. These days, though, it’s hard to find either in stock, and the 16GB ad-free version ($149.99) and the ad-free version ($169.99) tend to be more widely available. There’s also a 32GB ad-free Signature Edition for $189.99, which is identical to the standard Paperwhite only it features Qi wireless charging and a sensor that will automatically adjust the backlight when needed.

Amazon also rolled out a Kindle Paperwhite Kids for $169.99, which comes bundled with a kid-friendly cover, a two-year extended replacement guarantee, and a year of Amazon Kids Plus, much like the aforementioned Kindle Kids. All 2021 models are also similar to the 2018 model in that they feature a waterproof design and Audible audiobook support.

Unfortunately, the standalone Paperwhite with 16GB of storage is only available for $149.99 (full price) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. That being said, you can save $20 when you buy two Kindle Paperwhite Kids. Alternatively, you can grab the 8GB Paperwhite as part of a package that includes a power adapter and your choice of a fabric cover for $174.97 ($20 off), a leather cover for $181.97 ($20 off), or a “cork” cover for $189.97 ($20 off).

Read our Kindle Paperwhite (2021) review.

As for the 32GB ad-free Signature Edition, it’s available at Amazon and Best Buy right now for $189.99 — its regular retail price. However, you can buy the ad-free Signature Edition with 32GB of storage, a wireless charging dock, and a leather cover on sale at Amazon for $244.97 ($20 off). You can also buy the e-reader with a cork cover and a wireless charging dock for $252.97 ($20 off) or a fabric cover and a wireless charging dock for $237.97 ($20 off).

Image: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The best Kindle Scribe deals

The ad-free Kindle Scribe is Amazon’s biggest e-reader to date — one that also represents a departure from past Kindle models. It packs a 10.2-inch display with 300 dpi, along with the same great battery life for which Kindles have become known. What separates the Scribe from other models, however, is that it comes with one of two styli, which can be used to annotate books, doodle, or jot down notes. We found the e-reader’s note-taking capabilities lacking in our testing, but Amazon has already started to improve the software via free OTA software updates, helping bring it up to speed with other E Ink competitors.

For a limited time, the Kindle Scribe is available at Amazon and Target in its 16GB base configuration with a Basic Pen and three months of Kindle Unlimited for $239.99 ($100 off), which matches its all-time low. The same model is also available at Amazon with a Premium Pen starting at $264.99 ($105 off), or bundled with a leather cover and a power adapter for $299.97 ($140 off). Meanwhile, the bundle with the Premium Pen, which offers a shortcut button and a built-in eraser, is currently on sale in the 16GB configuration with a folio cover and a power adapter starting at $324.97 ($145 off).

Read our Kindle Scribe review.

A note on the Kindle Oasis

Up until recently, Amazon also sold the 2019 Kindle Oasis. Along with a 7-inch 300ppi E Ink display, the Oasis was unique in that it offered physical, page-turning buttons. Sadly, however, the waterproof ebook reader is neither on sale nor in stock in new condition at Amazon or any other major retailer. The international version of the e-reader is currently available at Amazon for $135 (half off), though it may not be worth buying at this point. Amazon won’t ship it to US addresses, and more notably, the Oasis is no longer listed as part of Amazon’s official Kindle lineup. That suggests that Amazon may have discontinued it and that we may see a newer version at some point in the near future.

OpenAI’s Flirty New Assistant, Google Guts the Web and We Play HatGPT

OpenAI’s Flirty New Assistant, Google Guts the Web and We Play HatGPT It’s been a week of A.I. vertigo — the feeling that we’ve been dragged five years into the future and aren’t sure what to do about it.

Twitter is officially X.com now

Twitter is officially X.com now

The Verge

The social network formerly known as Twitter has officially adopted X.com for all its core systems. That means typing twitter.com in your browser will now redirect to Elon Musk’s favored domain, or should. At the time of publication, we’re seeing a mix of results depending upon browser choice and whether you’re logged in or not.

A message also now appears at the bottom of the X login page that reads, “We are letting you know that we are changing our URL, but your privacy and data protection settings remain the same.”

The domain transition has been one of the more awkward aspects of Elon Musk’s move to rebrand the company. Although many aspects of X migrated to the new branding long ago — including its official account, its mobile apps, and its “X Premium” (fka Blue) subscriptions — the platform’s URLs have remained twitter.com ever since Musk officially initiated the switch to X.

The URLs started to change way back in August of last year, when some Verge staffers were able to copy x.com links from the share sheet inside X’s iOS app. The clumsy transition has been a gift to phishing attacks, said Brian Krebs last month.

All core systems are now on https://t.co/bOUOek5Cvy pic.twitter.com/cwWu3h2vzr

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2024

Musk has a long history with the x.com URL, launching a business under the name in 1999 that eventually merged with what would become PayPal. For this modern-day version of the company, Musk envisions that it will become a WeChat-like “everything app.”

Maybe, but one thing’s for sure: it’s not Twitter anymore.

Here are the best iPad deals right now

Here are the best iPad deals right now

The new iPad Air and iPad Pro are here (and already on sale). | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

While the best iPad deals usually land during major sale events like Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day, many of the best iPad deals from the holiday season have persisted into 2024. The discounts come and go like changing winds, but you can still take advantage of sales on many models today, particularly on the more affordable iPads. What’s more, Apple recently released a new iPad Pro and iPad Air, and they’re already causing prices on older models to drop even further.

It’s difficult to know where exactly you can find the most notable iPad deals unless you’re scouring the major retailers on a daily basis. But that’s often what our deal hunters at The Verge are doing each and every day, so let us help you out. Below, we’ve listed the best deals you can get on each iPad model that is currently available, from the cheapo ninth-gen iPad of 2021 to the latest models equipped with Apple’s powerful M4 chips.

The best iPad (2021) deals

Announced alongside the iPhone 13, the 2021 iPad is Apple’s aging entry-level tablet, one that’s still great at carrying out everyday tasks despite having recently been discontinued. The ninth-gen model originally started at $329 with Wi-Fi and 64GB of storage, which arguably makes the newer 10th-gen model the better deal if you don’t need a home button or a headphone jack, as it now starts at $349.

If you’re still interested in buying the last-gen model, however, you can pick up the base Wi-Fi configuration at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy starting at $249 ($80 off), which is just $20 shy of its lowest price to date. As for the 256GB model that normally retails for $479, Amazon and Walmart are both selling it for $379 ($100 off), which matches its second-best price to date.

A last-gen model is still worth considering

The last-gen iPad uses an A13 Bionic processor and a 12MP wide-angle camera with Center Stage, a feature designed to keep you framed up and centered while on video calls. The tablet also carries over a number of features from its predecessor, such as the 10.2-inch display, a Touch ID fingerprint sensor built into the home button, and a Smart Connector for connecting a Smart Keyboard.

The best iPad (2022) deals

Although the newer 10th-gen iPad came out in late 2022, it’s still an excellent tablet — one we consider to be the best value for most people. The latest iPad modernizes the design with a switch to USB-C, uniform bezels with no home button, a side power button with a fingerprint sensor, and a larger display, but it eliminates the 3.5mm headphone jack.

In the past, you could often buy Apple’s latest entry-level iPad for $349 ($100 off) — which is now its starting price. Right now, however, the base model with 64GB of storage is on sale at Amazon for $334 ($15 off) in select colors; Amazon is also selling the step-up 256GB model with Wi-Fi for $474, which is $25 off its new starting price of $499.

The best iPad Mini (2021) deals

The sixth-gen iPad Mini has a larger screen than its predecessor, along with a top-of-the-line processor, support for USB-C, and options for 5G. It has forfeited its 3.5mm headphone jack and dedicated home button in the process, but overall, it’s a solid device that brings a fully refreshed design to Apple’s small tablet form factor.

The changes and refinements to the newest iPad Mini come at a heftier price, however, and the 64GB Wi-Fi model now starts at $499. Electing 256GB of storage brings the price up to $649, while the 5G cellular models are $649 for 64GB and $799 for 256GB. These are some big numbers for a small iPad, and the larger iPad Air might be worth considering if you prefer your dollar to go further with more screen real estate. But if you want the latest and greatest from Apple in a smaller format, this is where the action is.

As of right now, Amazon is selling the latest iPad Mini in its 64GB base configuration for $399.99 ($100 off) when you clip the on-page coupon. If you need additional storage, the 256GB model is also on sale at Amazon for $539.99 ($110 off) thanks to an on-page coupon. The cellular version goes on sale periodically for as much as $100 off as well, but as of writing, we can’t find any discounts at trusted sellers.

The best iPad Air (2022) deals

The previous-gen iPad Air usually costs $599, but right now, it’s on sale for $399.99 ($200 off) at Amazon and Walmart, likely as a result of the 2024 model’s arrival. The fifth-gen Air was once our top iPad recommendation for most people thanks to its speedy M1 processor, modern design, and midrange price. For those who crave more storage, the 256GB variant is also available for around $599 at Amazon, which is $150 off compared to its previous starting price and likely the new standard going forward.

The 2022 iteration of Apple’s lightweight tablet is similar in terms of its capabilities when measured against the previous-gen model but still offers a handful of iterative upgrades. The most pronounced improvement is the M1 processor, which offers better performance, and the front-facing 12MP camera equipped with Apple’s Center Stage feature, which helps to keep a moving subject centered when recording video or during video calls.

The best iPad Air (2024) deals

Apple just recently launched the 2024 iPad Air, which features several small upgrades. The newer model doesn’t feature any groundbreaking changes compared to the 2022 release, but notably, there is now a 13-inch configuration in addition to a base 11-inch model. Apple also added Wi-Fi 6E radios and upgraded the chipset to M2, which enables the hover feature when using Apple’s latest styli. You can use the newer iPad Air with the Apple Pencil Pro and both previous-gen Magic Keyboards, too. The 11-inch iPad Air starts at $599, while the comparable 13-inch model starts at $799.

Deals for the 2024 iPad Air started to appear before the latest model even hit store shelves. Right now, you can get the 11-inch model with Wi-Fi and 128GB of storage in select colors for $569.99 ($30 off) at Amazon. The 13-inch iPad Air, meanwhile, is down to $764 ($35 off) in its base configuration at Amazon in select colors.

The best iPad Pro (2024) deals

Compared to the latest iPad Air, the 2024 iPad Pro is a far more impressive upgrade. The 11- and 13-inch models start at $999 and $1,299, respectively, and they are the first Apple devices to feature the company’s latest M4 chip, which brings moderate performance gains and dedicated hardware for on-device AI processing. The new Pro models can claim other firsts, too, such as being the first iPad models with OLED displays and and lightest Pros yet, which is true for both sizes. They also feature repositioned front-facing cameras that sit along the horizontal edge, which prevent you from looking as though you’re staring off into space on a video call.

As for deals, the 11-inch iPad Pro with Wi-Fi / 256GB of storage is down to $949.99 ($50 off) in select colors at Amazon. The 13-inch model, meanwhile, is also on sale in its base configuration for $1,288.96 (about $12 off) at Amazon. Additionally, My Best Buy Plus and Total members can save an extra $50 on any 2024 iPad Pro. The membership starts at $49.99 annually, so it’s a great opportunity to give the service a try if you haven’t already.

Robert Dennard, IBM Inventor Whose Chip Changed Computing, Dies at 91

Robert Dennard, IBM Inventor Whose Chip Changed Computing, Dies at 91 He invented DRAM, the technology that allowed for the faster and higher-capacity memory storage that is the basis for modern computing.

Google I/O 2024: all the news from the developer conference

Google I/O 2024: all the news from the developer conference

Image: Google

It’s Google’s most AI-focused developer conference yet, presenting a faster Gemini, more capable Search, and a scam call detector.

Google has a whole lot of AI news coming out of its developer-focused I/O conference. The company’s keynote showed off key products like its flagship Gemini AI model, which now has a faster Flash version to compete with the new and faster GPT iteration, GPT-4o that OpenAI announced a day earlier.

Google is also redesigning search with AI Overviews that promise to summarize the web in response to complex queries and a new Ask Photos assistant that can dig through your archive for the answer to a question like “what’s my license plate?” However, the flaws of AI search were unintentionally highlighted when its video search demo offered some terrible advice about how to fix a problem with your camera.

Android is adding a scam detection feature that can listen into calls to pick up on potential flimflammery, while Chrome will add Gemini Nano to power AI features that can be processed locally.

On day two of the event, Google also released more details about a new beta release of Android 15 and other new details of the next big update for its mobile OS.

When it comes to other kinds of hardware, Google TVs are becoming home hubs, and new Home APIs will give app developers access to all kinds of automations. Streaming apps like Max and Peacock are coming to Android Auto, and Wear OS 5 will extend battery life for smartwatches.

Read on for all the details as Google I/O 2024 continues.

Samsung’s customizable Music Frame speaker is receiving its first discount

Samsung’s customizable Music Frame speaker is receiving its first discount

Like its Frame TVs, Samsung’s art-inspired speaker is designed to complement your home decor more naturally. | Image: Samsung

Samsung’s art-inspired Frame TV has been a runaway hit over the last several years — so much so that everyone from Amazon to Hisense has begun cribbing some of its more popular features for their latest sets. It came as no surprise, then, that Samsung announced a speaker version during CES 2024. Enter the Samsung Music Frame, which is on sale at Amazon for $374.99 ($25 off) when you clip the on-page coupon.

Samsung’s sizable, 12.9 x 12.9 picture frame is more akin to the Ikea Symfonisk frame speaker than anything else, only it’s considerably smaller and allows for a lot more customization than the popular Sonos / Ikea collab. You can insert your own photographs or artwork using the included mounting panel, for one, and Samsung will reportedly offer additional bezel options and custom-printed panels later this year. Inside, you’ll find two woofers, two tweeters, two midrange drivers, and a waveguide, which allows the mountable Frame to better disperse sound. It also packs support for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, along with Dolby Atmos music, though keep in mind that it doesn’t offer dedicated up-firing drivers like the Sonos Era 300 and some of the more premium soundbars out there.

Overall, it’s squarely aimed at the more aesthetically minded listener who wants their sound system to blend in rather than stand out. Now, if only there was something you could do about the power cable...

More deals, discounts, and ways to save

• LG’s take-anywhere StanbyMe TV is on sale for around $896.99 ($103 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo, which matches one of the lowest prices we’ve seen on the unique set. The 27-inch smart TV packs a ho-hum 1080p 60Hz IPS panel, however, the real draw is that the battery-powered touchscreen is mounted on a surprisingly elegant stand, which allows you to easily wheel the TV to whichever room you feel is best for binging X-Men ‘97. Read our review.
• If you were hoping to pick up a portable Bluetooth speaker before summer truly kicks off, UE’s two-tone Wonderboom 3 is down to around $68.59 ($31 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. I’ve long been a fan of the entry-level Wonderboom series, namely because they’re good-sounding speakers that carry an IP67 rating for water, dirt, and dust resistance. The latest model is a pretty modest upgrade, though it does offer a larger Bluetooth range and slightly better battery life (14 hours vs. 13 hours) for extended playback.
• Walmart’s Google-powered streaming box and smart speaker combo certainly looks promising, but if you’re looking to save a few bucks, you can nab a Roku Streaming Stick 4K at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart right now for an all-time low of $34 ($15 off). Roku’s HDMI stick remains one the most straightforward options out there, yet it still supports all the major 4K HDR standards, plenty of streaming apps, and AirPlay 2. Read our review.

Few Chinese Electric Cars Are Sold in U.S., but Industry Fears a Flood

Few Chinese Electric Cars Are Sold in U.S., but Industry Fears a Flood Automakers in the United States and their supporters welcomed President Biden’s tariffs, saying they would protect domestic manufacturing and jobs from cheap Chinese vehicles.

Google now offers ‘web’ search — and an AI opt-out button

Google now offers ‘web’ search — and an AI opt-out button

Illustration: The Verge

This is not a joke: Google will now let you perform a “web” search. It’s rolling out “web” searches now, and in my early tests on desktop, it’s looking like it could be an incredibly popular change to Google’s search engine.

The optional setting filters out almost all the other blocks of content that Google crams into a search results page, leaving you with links and text — and Google confirms to The Verge that it will block the company’s new AI Overviews as well.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

This is the new Web button. You know, for all your Web searches.

“Isn’t every search a web search? What is Google Search if not the web?” you might rightfully ask.

But independent websites like HouseFresh and Retro Dodo have pointed out how their businesses have gotten “buried deep beneath sponsored posts, Quora advice from 2016, best-of lists from big media sites, and no less than 64 Google Shopping product listings,” in the words of HouseFresh managing editor Gisele Navarro.

Now, with one click, a bunch of those blockers seemingly disappear.

Search for “best home arcade cabinets,” one of Retro Dodo’s bread-and-butter queries, and it’s no longer buried — it appears on page 1. (Drag our image slider to see the difference.)

HouseFresh still doesn’t get page 1 billing for “best budget air purifiers” — but it’s higher up, and you’re no longer assaulted by an eye-popping number of Google Shopping results as you scroll:

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Normal search on the left, “web” search on the right.

If you search for Wyze cameras, you’ll now get a hint about their lax security practices on page 2 instead of page 3:

Screenshots by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Again, normal on the left, “web” on the right.

I’m not sure it’s an improvement for every search, partly because Google’s modules can be useful, and partly because the company isn’t giving up on self-promotion just because you press the “web” button. Here, you can see Google still gives itself top billing for “Google AR glasses” either way, and its “Top stories” box is arguably a helpful addition:

Screenshots by Sean Hollister / The Verge

I suppose it’s convenient for Google to have zero references to the failed Google Glass on page one, though?

Which of these results helps you better learn about the Maui wildfires? I’m genuinely not sure:

Screenshots by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Regular “all” search definitely skews more recent.

And when you ask Google who wrote The Lord of the Rings, is there any reason you wouldn’t want Google’s full knowledge graph at your disposal?

Admittedly, it’s an answer that Google isn’t likely to get wrong.

As far as I can tell, the order of Google’s search results seem to be the same regardless of whether you pick “web” or “all.” It doesn’t block links to YouTube videos or Reddit posts or SEO factories... and I still saw (smaller!) sponsored ads from Amazon and Verkada and Wyze push down my search results:

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Product searches still fundamentally favor a company to the point that bad news about them gets buried.

“Web” is just a filter that removes Google’s knowledge panels and featured snippets and Shopping modules — and Google’s new AI Overviews as well, Google spokesperson Ned Adriance confirms to The Verge. “AI Overviews are a feature in Search, just like a knowledge panel or a featured snippet, so they will not appear when someone uses the web filter for a search.”

It doesn’t magically fix some of the issues facing Google’s search engine. But it is a giant opt-out button for people who’ve been aggravated by some of the company’s seemingly self-serving moves, and a way to preserve the spirit of the 10 blue links even as Google’s AI efforts try to leave them behind.

Danny Sullivan, Google’s Public Liaison for Search, says he’s been asking for something like this for years:

Since I joined Google, I’ve just been a boy standing in front of the search group asking it to love a Web filter. So happy to see it’s arrived – congrats to the hard-working team on this project that through their own efforts made it a reality! https://t.co/pA0MLxh7Zz

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) May 14, 2024

As a next step, I’d like to see Google promote the button to make it more visible. Right now, the company warns that it may not always appear in the primary carousel on desktop at all — you may need to click “More” first and then select “Web.”

Here’s hoping this all works well on mobile, too; I’m not seeing it on my phone yet.

OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is officially leaving

OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is officially leaving

Illustration: The Verge

Ilya Sutskever, the OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist who helped lead the infamous failed coup against Sam Altman and then later changed his mind, is officially leaving the company.

Both Altman and Sutskever have farewell posts on X:

Ilya and OpenAI are going to part ways. This is very sad to me; Ilya is easily one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guiding light of our field, and a dear friend. His brilliance and vision are well known; his warmth and compassion are less well known but no less…

— Sam Altman (@sama) May 14, 2024

After almost a decade, I have made the decision to leave OpenAI. The company’s trajectory has been nothing short of miraculous, and I’m confident that OpenAI will build AGI that is both safe and beneficial under the leadership of @sama, @gdb, @miramurati and now, under the…

— Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) May 14, 2024

Here’s Altman’s full post for posterity (or if you don’t have an X login to expand the whole thing):

Ilya and OpenAI are going to part ways. This is very sad to me; Ilya is easily one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guiding light of our field, and a dear friend. His brilliance and vision are well known; his warmth and compassion are less well known but no less important.

OpenAI would not be what it is without him. Although he has something personally meaningful he is going to go work on, I am forever grateful for what he did here and committed to finishing the mission we started together. I am happy that for so long I got to be close to such genuinely remarkable genius, and someone so focused on getting to the best future for humanity.

Jakub is going to be our new Chief Scientist. Jakub is also easily one of the greatest minds of our generation; I am thrilled he is taking the baton here. He has run many of our most important projects, and I am very confident he will lead us to make rapid and safe progress towards our mission of ensuring that AGI benefits everyone.

Jakub refers to Jakub Pachocki, the company’s Director of Research, according to an OpenAI press release. It says he’d been “spearheading the development of GPT-4 and OpenAI Five, and fundamental research in large-scale RL and deep learning optimization.”

“I am excited for what comes next — a project that is very personally meaningful to me about which I will share details in due time,” Sutskever said in his statement on X.

If you want to read more about all of OpenAI’s drama, here’s our StoryStream about the attempted coup.

OpenAI’s Chief Scientist, Ilya Sutskever, Is Leaving the Company

OpenAI’s Chief Scientist, Ilya Sutskever, Is Leaving the Company In November, Ilya Sutskever joined three other OpenAI board members to force out Sam Altman, the chief executive, before saying he regretted the move.

Biden Bans Chinese Bitcoin Mine Near U.S. Nuclear Missile Base

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Sony names new PlayStation leaders following Jim Ryan’s retirement

Sony names new PlayStation leaders following Jim Ryan’s retirement

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Sony is appointing co-CEOs Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino to lead its PlayStation business from June 1st. Hermen Hulst, who currently serves as PlayStation studios chief, will be appointed as CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE) studio business group. Hideaki Nishino will be appointed CEO of SIE’s platform business group, and both will report up to Sony CFO and SIE chairman Hiroki Totoki.

The unusual appointment of co-CEOs comes just months after former PlayStation boss Jim Ryan retired. Totoki had been serving as interim CEO of SIE and was working to find the successor for the SIE CEO role, but Sony has now decided it wants to split up responsibilities for leading its PlayStation business across platform and games. Both Nishino and Hulst are Sony veterans, with Nishino having served multiple roles for more than 20 years at Sony.

This is the first time Sony has appointed co-CEOs to run its PlayStation business, and it comes amid a game industry that’s reeling from layoffs over the past 18 months. Sony laid off 900 PlayStation employees earlier this year and closed its London Studio in the UK that developed PlayStation VR games. Microsoft laid off 1,900 Activision and Xbox employees earlier this year, and then shut down the Bethesda studios behind Redfall and Hi-Fi Rush last week in another round of layoffs.

Sony’s announcement of new PlayStation leaders also comes just hours before it’s due to report its latest earnings. Sony lowered its PS5 console sales forecasts last quarter, so all eyes are now on the number of PS5 units that the company managed to sell in its 2023 fiscal year ended March 31st. We might also get further hints at Sony’s ambitious PlayStation PC plans.

During an earnings call earlier this year, SIE chairman Hiroki Totoki also discussed the opportunity to grow PlayStation games on PC / multiplatform. “In the past, we wanted to popularize console... but there is a synergy to it,” said Totoki. “So if you have strong first-party content, not only with our console but also other platforms like computers, first-party can be grown with multi platforms and that can help operating profit to improve.”

TikTok is testing AI-generated search results

TikTok is testing AI-generated search results

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

TikTok is testing a more robust search results page, including using generative AI. The feature appears to be a new and is called “search highlights.”

A snippet of AI results appear at the top of some search results pages, and clicking into the section opens a new page with the full response. In quick tests, I was able to find AI results for queries about recipes or topics like “best laptops 2024.”

Screenshot: TikTok

Clicking the result takes you to a full screen page.

A page explaining the results says that the material is generated using ChatGPT, and that TikTok displays the content “when [the algorithm] finds them relevant to your search.” The feature appears to be limited so far: not all queries have AI answers.

Screenshot: TikTok

The feature is called “AI Smart Search”

There’s also a similar feature called “search highlights” that are not labeled as AI-generated. Those, too, show up at the top of search results, but it’s not clear where that information is coming from, like whether it’s summarizing videos or taken from someplace else. TikTok didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the features.

The video platform has steadily added more features to its in-app search. Last fall, TikTok began testing adding Google Search results to its in-app results page that essentially acted as a link back to Google. TikTok has also experimented with adding links to Wikipedia, IMDb, and other websites directly in the app’s search results page.

TikTok is trying to harness some of the habits its users — especially younger people — have developed on the app. Many younger users treat TikTok like a search engine, opting to look up restaurant or product recommendations in the app instead of using platforms like Google Search. And like Google, TikTok now seems to be leaning into AI results by including them above creator content.