Judge orders Google to calculate the costs of Epic’s biggest Play Store demand
Photo illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Philip Pacheco, Bloomberg, Getty Images
Despite Epic Games’ surprise win at trial, I was skeptical that Judge James Donato would seriously consider forcing Google to let the Epic Games Store live inside its own Google Play Store, and give it access to every app inside Google Play. Those were two of the biggest demands that Epic revealed in April.
But Judge Donato is indeed considering them. He’s ordered Google to calculate the costs of complying with those demands by June 24th, one month from today:
Google will file by June 24, 2024, a proffer stating in detail the tech work required and economic costs, if any, to provide “Catalog Access” and “Library Porting” to competing app stores for a period of up to 6 years. See MDL Dkt. No. 952 at 7. The proffer may also address tech work and economic costs for the distribution of third-party app stores through the Google Play Store.
MDL Dkt. No. 952 is Epic’s 16-page list of asks, and 7 is the page that would force Google to give other app stores access to the entire Google Play catalog of apps, should Epic get its way. Take a peek:
Just below “Catalog Access and Library Porting” is the other huge ask Judge Donato seems to be considering: that Google would carry other third-party app stores within its Google Play store for six years.
According to the order, Epic will get a chance to question Google’s experts and engineers about the accuracy of their estimates, and file a rebuttal, before a final hearing on August 14th. In an evidentiary hearing yesterday, Judge Donato seemed extremely skeptical of Google’s arguments against Epic’s proposed remedies, but also suggested that some of Epic’s asks were “open-ended and too vague.”
Activision and Meta sued by families of Uvalde school shooting victims
Image: Activision
The families of the victims killed in the Uvalde, Texas school shooting are suing Meta and Call of Duty developer Activision over allegations that they promoted the use of firearms to underage boys. The lawsuit claims both companies “knowingly exposed the Shooter to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as the solution to his problems, and trained him to use it.” It’s the kind of claim we’ve seen unsuccessfully thrown at video game companies numerous times in the past.
The complaint was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday on behalf of around 45 family members. As noted in the lawsuit, the families accuse Activision and Meta of “grooming” young men and putting them on a path toward violent acts. On May 24th, 2022, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 21.
The lawsuit says that the gunman played Call of Duty “obsessively, developed skill as a marksman, and obtained rewards that become available only after a substantial time investment.” It also claims that the game features the AR-15 used in the shooting. At the same time, the lawsuit alleges that “the shooter was being courted through explicit, aggressive marketing” on Instagram that showed “hundreds of images depicting and venerating the thrill of combat.”
In addition to Activision and Meta, the families of the Uvalde victims are also suing Daniel Defense, the gun company that made the AR-15 used in the shooting. The lawsuit alleges Daniel Defense promotes its weapons to minors on Instagram through posts “glorifying” combat. Meta’s rules theoretically ban companies from selling guns on its platforms, though, and the gunman purchased the AR-15 from Daniel Defense’s website — not through Instagram.
Section 230 immunizes platforms from civil lawsuits such as these if they arise from posts made by their users, though things are a little more complicated in cases where a platform’s targeted advertising is the primary issue. Meta didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
“Companies like Instagram and Activision do more than just allow gun companies to reach consumers — they underwrite and mainstream violence to struggling adolescents,” wrote Josh Koskoff, the attorney for the Uvalde families. “Instagram should stop enabling the marketing of AR-15s to kids by gun companies; and Activision should stop training and habituating kids to kill. It’s that simple.”
In a statement provided to The Verge, Activision’s head of corporate communications Delaney Simmons writes: “Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts.”
Koskoff previously won a $73 million settlement for the families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims from gun manufacturer Remington.
The best Memorial Day deals you can already get
You can get the Sony WH-1000XM5 for under $300 right now, along with tablets, earbuds, and a slew of other discounted items. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
cThe summer solstice may be when summer officially kicks off, but for many of us, it starts as soon as temperatures begin to rise and the smell of barbecue begins wafting through the air. Memorial Day also serves as the unofficial start to the season, and the deals that are popping up right now are a great indicator that it’s right around the corner.
Below, we’ve rounded up the best Memorial Day deals you can get on an array of gadgets and gizmos. This includes wireless headphones like the Beats Solo 4, which are currently receiving their first discount, as well as inexpensive security cameras like the Blink Mini 2. You can also pick up Amazon’s latest Fire TV Cube for its best price to date, along with tablets, Garmin watches, and one of our favorite OLED TVs.
At this point, the bulk of Memorial Day sales have kicked off, but it’s possible newer offers will pop up and prices will dip even further, as we’ve already witnessed. We’ll continue to refresh the list throughout the holiday weekend, though, just to keep you updated.
Earbud and headphone deals
The new Beats Solo 4 are currently on sale starting at $149.95 ($50 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. This is the lowest price we’ve seen on the refreshed on-ear headphones, which have USB-C connectivity, a more comfortable fit, and longer battery life than the previous model. Unfortunately, they lack active noise cancellation and water resistance — two features we expect to see in this price range. Read our review.
The Apple AirPods Max have been discounted to $449.99 ($100 off) at Amazon, which is only $20 more than their all-time low. Apple’s only pair of over-ear headphones offer excellent sound quality, great comfort, and spatial audio support. While there are better headphones when it comes to noise cancellation performance, the Max are ideal if you’re looking for something that works seamlessly with all of Apple’s products. Read our review.
You can grab a pair of the LinkBuds S from Amazon, Best Buy, and Sony starting at $128 ($72 off). Sony’s closed earbuds are a comfortable, more affordable alternative to the pricier WF-1000XM4 and XM5, but unlike the original LinkBuds, which feature an open-ear design, they rely upon a transparency mode to allow ambient sound through. Read our review.
Smart home deals
Ecovacs’ Deebot T20 Omni is the brand’s more affordable, lidar-equipped vacuum/mop hybrid, one that’s down to an all-time low of $649.99 ($450 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. Similar to the X2 Omni, it can lift its spinning mop heads up to 9mm high, allowing it to clean dirt from carpets and hardwood floors and then switch to mopping in one fell swoop. It can also wash and dry its own mop with hot water and air once it returns to the base.
The battery-powered Ring Stick Up Cam Pro is on sale for $139.99 ($40 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Ring’s online storefront or in its wired configuration for $139.99 ($40 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. The outdoor-ready Cam Pro is similar to the company’s base 1080p security cameras, only it comes with radar-powered 3D motion detection sensors and a view that lets you track every step of your visitor’s approach.
The Blink Video Doorbell, aka our favorite budget video doorbell, is down to $41.99 ($18 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. You can also get it with a Sync Module 2 for $48.99 ($21 off) at Amazon and Best Buy, which is only $7 more than its all-time low. The inexpensive doorbell offers decent video quality and up to two years of battery life, though we recommend purchasing the bundle, as the module adds free local storage and on-demand live views.
The second-gen Ring Indoor Cam is available for $39.99 ($20 off) at Amazon,Best Buy, and Target, which is only $10 more than its lowest price to date. The wired 1080p camera features motion-activated recording, night vision, two-way audio, and a built-in privacy cover, allowing you to cover the camera to ensure potential snoopers can’t spy on you.
You can get a pair of Google Nest WiFi Pro mesh routers for $239.98 (about $60 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. We’ve seen a two-pack sell for $40 less, but that’s still a great price for a Wi-Fi 6E system that’s easy to use and comes with Thread / Matter support. Read our review.
Eve’s Matter-compatible smart door and window sensors are on sale at Amazon in a pack of three for $89.95 ($50 off). You can get alerts whenever one of the protected entryways is opened, and you can set up automations to have other smart home devices react whenever that happens. The Matter support makes it easy to manage the sensors no matter which smart home platform you prefer.
Tablet and laptop deals
The 13-inch M2 MacBook Air is currently down to $829 ($170 off) at Amazon in its base configuration with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. That’s a new low on the 2022 laptop, which features an improved 1080p webcam, great battery life, and plenty of power even if it’s not quite as speedy as the newer M3 model. Read our review.
The latest Amazon Fire HD 10 is currently on sale at Amazon and Best Buy with ads starting at $94.99 ($45 off) or without ads at Amazon starting at $109.99 ($45 off). The 2023 tablet is one of the only non-iPad slates we’d recommend in its relatively affordable price range, especially if you only need it for basic browsing and entertainment purposes.
Amazon is selling the latest Fire 7 Kids for $69.99 ($40 off). The 7-inch tablet is the same as the standard Fire 7 ($59.99) but comes with a colorful, rugged case and an extended two-year warranty. It also includes a year of Amazon Kids Plus, which provides on-demand access to child-friendly games, videos, books, apps, and Alexa skills. Read our review.
TV and streaming device deals
LG’s 27-inch StanbyME Go is down to $797.59 (about $200 off) at eBay when you use coupon code MEMORIALTWENTY. The 1080p smart TV lives inside a briefcase and features a built-in collapsible arm, which folds down into the cache for easy transport. It supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, too, and runs LG’s excellent webOS, which has tons of streaming apps and channels built-in. Read our review.
Amazon’s latest Fire TV Cube is matching its all-time low of $109.99 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and The Home Depot. The speedy 4K set-top streaming box doubles as an Echo speaker and has conveniences like Wi-Fi 6E and HDMI passthrough, plus support for newer visual and audio technologies like Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and HDR 10 Plus. Read our review.
The Amazon Fire TV Soundbar is on sale at Amazon for $119.99 ($20 off), which is only $20 more than it was during the holidays. The 24-inch soundbar produces impressive audio for its size and limited speaker count, and it punches above its weight with support for both DTS Virtual:X audio and Dolby Audio. It also features Bluetooth, and if you use it with a Fire TV or player, you can control both with a single remote. Read our hands-on impressions.
Hisense’s 75-inch U6HF TV is down to $649.99 ($196 off) at Amazon, which is only $20 shy of its best price to date. The sizable ULED TV is already a tremendous value before the discount and even comes with an NBA Store gift card worth up to $200. To be clear, this is the Amazon-exclusive version, which uses Fire OS as a smart TV platform, but you can also get the Google TV version at Best Buy for the same price with a $100 NBA Store gift card.
You can get Samsung’s 27-inch M80C Smart Monitor at Amazon and B&H Photo for $349.99 ($300 off), an all-time low. We liked the original M80B version released in 2022, which was a great 2-in-1 work monitor that could serve as both a PC display and a 4K smart TV. The M80C offers a similar set of features, along with Alexa compatibility, the ability to serve as a Samsung SmartThings hub, and support for a wealth of productivity apps.
The Sanus Elite is down to $249.99 ($200 off) at Best Buy, which is only $20 more than its all-time low. The fully articulating wall mount can hold TVs between 42 and 90 inches in size and up to 125 pounds. You can also extend the heavy-duty mount up to 28 inches from the wall, affording it generous room to swivel and tilt.
Gaming deals
Sony’s InZone H3 headset is on sale in open-box condition for $79 ($21 off) at Adorama — a dollar more than its all-time low. The wired gaming headset works with the PS5 and Windows PCs, offering up immersive spatial audio that’s tuned best for Sony’s Tempest 3D tech. It’s also comfortable to wear thanks to its ample padding and features a boom mic, which flips up when you want to engage the mute feature.
Samsung’s massive 49-inch Odyssey G9 gaming monitor is down to $799.99 ($500 off) at Amazon and Best Buy when you opt for the QLED version with a VA panel. The ultrawide form factor on the curved QHD-equivalent monitor has proven popular not just for gaming but also for productivity, as it offers a blistering-fast 240Hz refresh rate with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro.
A two-pack of Govee RGBICGaming Light Bars is available for $64.99 ($25 off) from Govee and Amazon (when you clip the on-page coupon). The RGB lights go on either side of your monitor, with the bulbs facing the wall to illuminate your space. You can use the included controller to adjust the brightness and cycle through a range of default colors; however, you’ll get the most out of them by using the Govee app, which lets you choose from more than 60 scenes and modes. There’s even an option that prompts the lights to respond to music and various in-game sounds.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has dropped to $27.99 ($42 off) at Best Buy for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S. That’s the best price yet on the action-adventure title, which uses the soulslike trope of forcing you to relinquish experience points upon death. It builds on its excellent predecessor, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, with more expansive environments and new Jedi abilities for you to dispatch Imperial foes. Read our review.
If you recently purchased an Xbox and plan on spending the long holiday weekend gaming, you should jump on Target’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate deal, which nets you a three-month subscription for $34.99 ($15 off). In addition to online play and party chat, a membership unlocks access to hundreds of titles that you can download and play for the life of your subscription.
Smartwatch and wearable deals
If you want an LTE-enabled smartwatch and don’t mind lagging a few generations behind, the 45mm Apple Watch Series 7 could be a solid pickup now that it’s on sale at Woot for $249.99. It’s a great option if you were going for something like the second-gen Apple Watch SE anyway, which isn’t much cheaper and lacks some of the capabilities found on the Series 7 (fast charging, SpO2 sensors, etc.). Woot’s deal also includes a one-year Apple warranty and, like any new Apple Watch, it’s eligible for AppleCare. Read our review.
Garmin’s Fenix 7S Pro, our top wearable pick for serious outdoor athletes, is on sale starting at $599.99 ($200 off) from Garmin and REI. The Fenix 7S Pro doesn’t feature the Epix Pro’s OLED display, which we found more readable, but it does share the same LED flashlight and built-in multiband GPS, along with perks like solar charging. Read our review.
Garmin’s Venu 3S,our favorite platform-agnostic fitness smartwatch, currently starts at just $399.99 ($50 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. It lacks cellular connectivity, but it’s an excellent choice if you want Garmin’s in-depth training metrics and an assortment of smart features. It offers a heart rate sensor and wheelchair mode, for instance, as well as support for contactless payments and a mic for taking calls. Read our review.
Black Diamond’s Spot 400 is available for around $37.39 ($12 off) from REI, Backcountry, and Black Diamond. The 400-lumen headlamp only needs three AAA batteries for power (it’s also compatible with an optional rechargeable battery) and offers several lighting modes and brightness levels. It has an IPX8 water resistance rating, too, allowing it to survive in up to 1.1 meters of water (approximately 3.5 feet) for up to 30 minutes.
Miscellaneous tech deals
The 512GB Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is down to $849.99 ($270 off) at Amazon and Best Buy, while the 256GB Galaxy Z Fold 5 is on sale for $1,349.99 ($450 off) at Amazon — just $50 north of its all-time low. Samsung’s latest foldables offer a fun form factor, with the Fold 5 serving particularly well as a productivity device. One major downside compared to the smartphone maker’s traditional candy bar flagships, however, is their aging camera systems.
The Anker Prime 27,650mAh Power Bank is available for only $124.99 ($55 off) from Amazon, Walmart, and Anker (with promo code WS7DV2OOFSUC). It has 250W throughput to supply two USB-C ports with up to 140W each, plus a 65W USB-A port. There’s also a handy LCD display that clues you in on remaining capacity, recharge time, and power draw for each port, and you can locate it by playing a sound using the companion app.
Now through May 26th, you can use promo code FA15 to save 15 percent on Grid Studio’s framed artwork, which showcases the innards of iconic tech products. A few pieces are even currently on discount, including the iPhone 4S (now $99), the Nokia 3310 (now $99), and the Game Boy Pocket (now $129).
Anker’s Soundcore Bluetooth speaker is on sale for an all-time low of $19.99 ($10 off) at Amazon in select colors when you clip the on-page coupon. It’s the most basic speaker Anker currently makes, but it offers decent sound for the price, up to 24 hours of battery life, and an IPX5 rating for water resistance.
Update May 24th:We’ve adjusted pricing and added an assortment of new deals, including those for Apple Watches, the Roborock Q5 Plus, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
Fortnite’s new post-apocalyptic season has Fallout, Magneto, and vehicular mayhem
Image: Epic Games
Out with the gods, in with... a post-apocalypse. After some teasing, Fortnitejust launched its latest battle royale season — we’re up to Chapter 5: Season 3 — and it’s heavily inspired by Mad Max and Fallout (in fact, Fallout is part of it). It’s called “Wrecked,” and it introduces a new wasteland region, a larger focus on vehicular combat, and, for some reason, Magneto.
First up, let’s talk about the island itself. In the game’s fiction, a massive sandstorm rolled in, completely changing the southern section of the map. There are three new locations: a refinery called Redline Rig, a vehicle arena called Nitrodrome, and a beach area called Brutal Beachhead. To go along with them are “Wasteland Warriors,” which are basically this season’s boss characters, with names like The Machinist and Ringmaster Scarr. Also: there are now two War Buses patrolling the island, which players can hijack and take over.
Here’s the new map:
Image: Epic Games
It appears there are two main gameplay updates. One is a substance called Nitro, which you can either drink or use on your vehicle: it’ll make players faster, stronger, and reload quicker, while cars will go faster, consume less gas, and be able to ram with increased power. To go along with this, vehicle mods are back, so you can outfit your car with gun turrets, bulletproof tires, and more. And since Fallout is now part of the Fortnite universe, Nuka-Cola is being added to the game. Drinking it will replenish health and slowly build your shield.
Speaking of Fallout, those who purchase this season’s battle pass will get themselves some T-60 Power Armor, along with other characters, including a sentient pea pod. Starting in July, X-Men’s Magneto will be unlockable as well. Here’s the full crew:
Image: Epic Games
This season will run until August 16th. And it follows a pretty busy period for the game, which included collaborations with everyone from Star Wars to Billie Eilish and Lofi Girl.
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You can now share passwords within your Google family group
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Google is now letting users securely share passwords with members of their own family group over the internet, making it easier for everyone in the household to access passwords for shared services like Netflix. The new ability is included in the Google Play services update for May 2024 that’s rolling out now, as reported by Android Authority.
The new password sharing feature just applies to ones that are stored in Google Password Manager, the company’s service that natively stores your passwords and passkeys in Chrome and Android and is linked to your Google account. As of today, the new password sharing feature works on mobile — but apparently not via Chrome on desktop, yet. Once you share a password with one of your family members, a copy of it will be saved into that member’s own Google Password Manager.
You can’t use this feature with people who aren’t in your Google-sanctioned family group (which can only have up to six people). So if you want to share a password with anyone else, you’ll need to use Nearby Share to zap it over in person or use more rudimentary and / or less secure methods.
Microsoft Bing issue takes down Copilot, DuckDuckGo, and ChatGPT search features
It’s a sad panda day. | Image: Microsoft
Search capabilities for ChatGPT, Copilot, DuckDuckGo, and other platforms aren't working properly right now due to a Microsoft outage that appears to be related to the Bing application programming interface (API). Sites and services are either completely unavailable or only intermittently responding at the time of publication.
The issues — which began around 3AM ET — appear to be linked to Bing’s API and any service that relies upon it. While Microsoft’s own web search engine Bing was also seemingly affected earlier, according to Techcrunch, the service now appears to be correctly loading search results.
Image: DuckDuckGo
Search engines like DuckDuckGo relying on Bing’s API are displaying error messages.
Other search engines like DuckDuckGo and Ecosia, which rely on Bing’s API, are unable to load any search results. Microsoft’s Copilot is also experiencing similar issues, displaying a loading loop that prevents users from accessing the service. ChatGPT, which allows Plus subscribers to perform web searches, is similarly displaying an error message when users attempt to make a search enquiry.
We're investigating an issue where users may be unable to access the Microsoft Copilot service. We're working to isolate the cause of the issue. More information can be found in the admin center under CP795190.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) May 23, 2024
Microsoft has acknowledged the loading issues with its Copilot service, saying it’s “working to isolate the cause of the issue.” Meanwhile, Microsoft’s service health platform doesn’t flag any other service outages currently. OpenAI and Ecosia have confirmed that they are experiencing issues with their platform's search features, and OpenAI says it’s also investigating the issue.
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NASA’s Psyche mission fires up its futuristic electric engines
Image: NASA
NASA has turned on the electric Hall thrusters of Psyche, a spacecraft that’s now gently motoring toward a metal-rich asteroid embedded in the main asteroid belt beyond Mars. The agency says Psyche is in “full cruise” mode now, six months after launching on October 13th, 2023, on a conventional, SpaceX rocket.
On the way, NASA used Psyche to test laser-based deep space communications. The craft shot a communications laser back at the Earth from close to 10 million miles out, which is a first for NASA. It’s expected to reach its target and namesake, the Psyche asteroid, by 2029 and will orbit it for two years, observing and sending data back to NASA. Scientists suspect Psyche is actually the beginning core of a planet, also called a planetesimal.
Image: NASA
Ion propulsion is both relatively new and pretty old for NASA. The agency has been working on the tech since before US astronauts first flew to the Moon, having test-fired its first ion thruster in 1964. They also have no moving parts; instead, they generate thrust by exciting xenon particles, pushing them out of the thruster. You can read more about them in this NASA paper (PDF) describing ion propulsion.
There are lots of different kinds of ion propulsion, including the magnetic Hall thrusters used by Psyche. In 2018, Psyche’s Spacecraft Chief Engineer wrote this detailed explanation of the differences between those and other ion thrusters, as well as other kinds like arc jets and microwave thrusters.
NASA first used ion propulsion as a spacecraft’s main propulsion for 1998’s Deep Space 1, a mission specifically conducted to test “various advanced technologies for future interplanetary missions.” In 2007, Dawn became NASA’s “first exclusively science-focused” mission to use ion thrusters, flying until it ran out of hydrazine, the fuel it used for its orientation thrusters. Without those, it couldn’t turn itself back to maintain communication with NASA
Ion propulsion isn’t powerful enough to launch a rocket from Earth, but they can still reach very high speeds over time. Right now, NASA says Psyche is traveling at 23 miles per second, or about 84,000mph, and will eventually reach 124,000mph. Thrusters like Psyche’s are generally useful because the lack of moving parts makes them durable, and they use less fuel, so they’re lighter and can be used on smaller spacecraft. Plus, they look cool when they’re turned on.
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Humane is looking for a buyer after the AI Pin’s underwhelming debut
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Humane, the startup behind the poorly-reviewed AI Pin wearable computer, is already hunting for a potential buyer for its business. That’s according to a report from Bloomberg, which says the company — led by former longtime Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno — is “seeking a price of between $750 million and $1 billion.”
That might be a tough sell after the $699 AI Pin’s debut: the device has been widely panned for its slow responses and a user experience that falls well short of the always-on, wearable AI assistant concept that its founders promised in the run-up to the device’s release. The product was pitched at least partially as a way for people to be more present and reduce their ever-growing dependence on smartphones.
Humane developed its own operating system called CosmOS that runs on the AI Pin. It hooks into a network of AI models to fetch answers for voice queries and to analyze what the built-in camera is pointed at. For some interactions, the device beams out a laser “display” that is shown on the wearer’s inner palm. A monthly subscription is required to keep the device active.
The Bloomberg report notes that Humane has raised $230 million from investors including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is rumored to be developing an unrelated product (in collaboration with legendary Apple designer Jony Ive) that could better showcase AI’s promise.
Humane was valued at $850 million by investors in 2023, but that was before its first-ever product was universally criticized by reviewers. There are some novel and clever ideas in there, but the AI Pin’s software is underbaked and too inconsistent, and the hardware has exhibited poor battery life and overheating issues. Humane has pledged to address some of those bugs with firmware updates. Just last week, it rolled out OpenAI’s GPT-4o model to further enhance the device’s smarts.
The list of potential buyers for Humane seems quite small considering the price that the startup is hoping to fetch. Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft are all making significant pushes into the AI realm — with large language models and generative AI becoming more prevalent by the day — but it’s unclear how much value Humane’s intellectual property would really bring to any of their ongoing efforts.
Garmin’s fashion-forward Lily 2 tracker is on sale for $50 off
Garmin’s unassuming tacker is daintier than most smartwatches, but is that really such a bad thing? | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
As an avid runner, I understand the appeal of tracking fitness metrics. That said, in recent weeks, I’ve also grown annoyed with the onslaught of notifications I receive on my wrist via my Apple Watch Series 7, which I find to be incredibly distracting. Thankfully, if you’re like me, Garmin’s back-to-basics Lily 2 is on sale at Amazon and direct from Garmin right now for $199.99 ($50 off), its lowest price to date.
Whether it aims to be or not, Garmin’s fashion-forward smartwatch is a throwback to the heyday of Fitbits, Misfits, and Jawbones — you know, basic fitness bands. Its compact, 35mm sizing probably means it’s best suited for women, though, we’d venture to guess it should work for anyone with smaller wrists who wants a touch of style to their wardrobe. It can track all your basic fitness activities (including your sleeping habits), too, and works with both Android and iOS, allowing you to receive text and call notifications. Admittedly, the hidden OLED display on the Lily 2 is a bit difficult to navigate and the watch eschews premium features like built-in GPS, but if you prefer to keep things simple, it’s a great little tracker for casual users that can easily cut back on notification fatigue.
Memorial Day weekend is nearly upon us. We’ll be publishing a larger roundup detailing the best holiday savings tomorrow, but if you’re looking to get ahead, Coleman’sCascade 222 Camping Stove is available from REI, Backcountry, and Colman starting at $126.99 ($43 off). The solid two-burner stove is a slight step up from Coleman’s most basic model, providing you with a bit more cooking precision, a built-in carrying handle, and a handy piezo ignition for getting things started.
Sony’s ULT Field 7 is down to $398 ($102 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Sony’s online storefront. Like other Bluetooth speakers in the ULT Power Sound series, the mid-tier Field 7 is all about immersing you in lively, bass-heavy sound. Most of the specs on the beefy 20-inch speaker are pretty table-stakes for its class — including its IP67 rating, integrated lighting, and 30-hour runtime — but it also packs a seven-band EQ and an ULT button that lets you toggle between different bass modes, letting you fine-tune its sound on the fly.
Need a streaming device to catch up on House of the Dragon before the second season drops on June 16th? If so, Amazon’slatest Fire TV Cube is currently matching its all-time low of $109.99 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and The Home Depot. The streaming device / smart speaker hybrid continues to support all the popular 4K HDR formats and remains the fastest device in Amazon’s Fire TV lineup, only now it supports Wi-Fi 6E connectivity and an improved port selection. Read our review.
Scarlett Johansson told OpenAI not to use her voice — and she’s not happy they might have anyway
Photo by Nathan Congleton / NBC via Getty Images
Scarlett Johansson says that OpenAI asked her to be the voice behind ChatGPT — but that when she declined, the company went ahead and created a voice that sounded just like her. In a statement shared to NPR, Johansson says that she has now been “forced to hire legal counsel” and has sent two letters to OpenAI inquiring how the soundalike ChatGPT voice, known as Sky, was made.
“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system,” Johansson writes. She says that Altman contacted her agent as recently as two days before the company first demoed the ChatGPT voice asking for her to reconsider.
Altman has made it clear that he admires Johansson’s work. He’s said that Her, which features Johansson as an AI voice assistant, is his favorite film; after the ChatGPT event last week, he posted the word “her,” seemingly in reference to the voice demo the company presented, which featured an assistant that sounded just like Johansson.
OpenAI said this morning that it was pulling the voice of Sky in order to address questions around “how we chose the voices in ChatGPT.” The Verge has reached out to OpenAI for comment.
Johansson says she was “shocked, angered and in disbelief” over how “eerily similar” the voice of Sky sounded to herself. OpenAI said the voice comes from an actor who they hired who is speaking in their normal speaking voice. The company declined to share the actor’s name, citing privacy concerns.
The voice of Sky has been available since OpenAI launched ChatGPT’s voice mode last September. But the connection to Johansson wasn’t as clear until last week when OpenAI demoed an updated AI model that made the voice more expressive. The demo had an uncanny similarity to Johansson’s assistant in Her, leading to headlines and even a Saturday Night Live joke about the comparison.
At least for the time being, Johansson seems to just want an explanation. She says she’s looking for “resolution in the form of transparency” and has asked OpenAI to “detail the exact process by which they created” the voice of Sky. OpenAI CTO Mira Murati previously told The Verge that the voice of Sky was not designed to sound like Johansson. Earlier today, Joanne Jang, model behavior lead at OpenAI, told The Verge that the company was “in conversations” with Johansson’s representatives over their concerns.
A representative for Johansson sent the same statement to The Verge. It’s printed in full below:
“Last September, I received an offer from Sam Altman, who wanted to hire me to voice the current ChatGPT 4.0 system. He told me that he felt that by my voicing the system, I could bridge the gap between tech companies and creatives and help consumers to feel comfortable with the seismic shift concerning humans and AI. He said he felt that my voice would be comforting to people.
After much consideration and for personal reasons, I declined the offer. Nine months later, my friends, family and the general public all noted how much the newest system named “Sky” sounded like me.
When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference. Mr. Altman even insinuated that the similarity was intentional, tweeting a single word “her” - a reference to the film in which I voiced a chat system, Samantha, who forms an intimate relationship with a human.
Two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released, Mr. Altman contacted my agent, asking me to reconsider. Before we could connect, the system was out there.
As a result of their actions, I was forced to hire legal counsel, who wrote two letters to Mr. Altman and OpenAI, setting out what they had done and asking them to detail the exact process by which they created the “Sky” voice. Consequently, OpenAI reluctantly agreed to take down the “Sky” voice.
In a time when we are all grappling with deepfakes and the protection of our own likeness, our own work, our own identities, I believe these are questions that deserve absolute clarity. I look forward to resolution in the form of transparency and the passage of appropriate legislation to help ensure that individual rights are protected.”
Scarlett Johansson’s Statement About Her Interactions With Sam Altman The actress released a lengthy statement about the company and the similarity of one of its A.I. voices.
Election officials are role-playing AI threats to keep them from undermining democracy
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes led a tabletop exercise for journalists to role-play as election officials to understand the speed and scale of AI threats they face. | Photo by Ash Ponders for The Verge
The job has never been harder, and the threats have never been stranger.
It’s the morning of Election Day in Arizona, and a message has just come in from the secretary of state’s office telling you that a new court order requires polling locations to stay open until 9PM. As a county election official, you find the time extension strange, but the familiar voice on the phone feels reassuring — you’ve talked to this official before.
Just hours later, you receive an email telling you that the message was fake. In fact, polls must now close immediately, even though it’s only the early afternoon. The email tells you to submit your election results as soon as possible — strange since the law requires you to wait an hour after polls close or until all results from the day have been tabulated to submit.
This is the sort of whiplash and confusion election officials expect to face in 2024. The upcoming presidential election is taking place under heightened public scrutiny, as a dwindling public workforce navigates an onslaught of deceptive (and sometimes AI-generated) communications, as well as physical and digital threats.
The confusion played out in an Arizona conference room in early May as part of an exercise for journalists who were invited to play election officials for the day. The subject matter — AI threats in elections — was novel, but the invitation itself was unusual. The entire event was unusual. Why is the Arizona secretary of state reaching out to journalists months in advance of the election?
During the 2020 election, Arizona swung blue, tipping the election to Joe Biden. Fox News forecast the win well ahead of other news outlets, angering the Trump campaign. Trump and his supporters pointed to unsubstantiated incidents of voter fraud and later filed (then dropped) a suit against the state demanding that ballots be reviewed. Later, Republicans commissioned an audit of the votes, which ultimately upheld the accuracy of the original tabulation. And only last Friday, Rudy Giuliani was served with an indictment in which he is charged with pressuring Arizona officials to change the outcome of the 2020 election in favor of Trump.
Election officials have been on the receiving end of unprecedented harassment. As recently as February, a California man was arrested for a threatening message he allegedly left on the personal cell phone of an election official in Maricopa County, Arizona, in November 2022.
The aftershocks of 2020 have not yet faded for election officials, and yet, the next presidential election is already on the horizon. Arizona officials are proactively seeking to restore confidence in the process. There’s a lot on the line for them. Unsubstantiated accusations of voter fraud or election interference are dangers to democratic stability. But for the officials that end up in the crosshairs of conspiracy theories, their personal safety is also at risk.
Journalists were invited to the role-playing event as part of an effort to educate the public not just about the threats that election officials are preparing for but also about the scale and seriousness of the preparation itself.
“We want to make sure in this that we have done everything that we can to make 2024 the best election that [it] possibly can be,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said at the start of the day’s events. “And we’re facing the kinds of threats that no one has ever seen before.” The proliferation of generative AI tools presents the latest set of challenges for election workers because of how easily and quickly these tools can pump out convincing fodder for sophisticated social engineering schemes.
The exercise being conducted was a version of a program created for actual Arizona election officials, who participated in the training back in December. Law enforcement is expected to also undergo the training soon. The Arizona secretary of state’s office spearheaded the initiative to expose election officials to the kinds of threats — particularly related to AI — that they might see in the lead-up to the elections.
Photo by Ash Ponders for The Verge
Susan Lapsley is the elections security advisor for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency region that includes Arizona.
“It is unnerving to be where we’re at,” Fontes said, referencing an AI-generated deepfake of himself that played for attendees, showing the secretary of state seamlessly speaking both German and French — two languages he doesn’t speak fluently.
Fontes said he hopes to inoculate election officials against some of the known AI threats, giving them a baseline wariness like most people nowadays would have for an email from a “Nigerian prince” seeking some extra cash. The goal, according to Angie Cloutier, security operations manager at the secretary of state’s office, “is to desensitize election officials to the newness and the weirdness” of AI technology.
Throughout the day, reporters viewed presentations from AI experts demonstrating how easy it is to use free online tools to create disinformation at scale.
One presentation used the LinkedIn profile of a reporter in the room to write a personalized email to the reporter with an AI text generator. The email included a phishing link in the signature masquerading as a LinkedIn profile URL. Later, the presenter used an image generator to put the reporter in a prison jumpsuit and attach that image to a fake article with false allegations, on a webpage designed to look like The New York Times. They also used a podcast recording to clone his voice to say whatever the presenter inputted.
Reporters were also presented with timed exercises. One condensed the months before Election Day into less than an hour and had reporters (role-playing election officials) choosing how to spend a $30,000 budget on a list of fortifications ranging from installing a firewall for the elections website to providing active shooter training or mental health resources to election workers. As time ticked by, organizers unveiled one new crisis after another: an influx of public information requests, a disinformation campaign, complaints of some voters failing to receive their mailed ballots, and sketchy messages asking for login credentials. Some of the obstacles could be avoided by picking the right fortifications, though the budget constrained how many each group could buy. Election Day itself was simulated in a similar — but shorter — timed exercise. The speed of the exercise was overwhelming, with problems popping up before we’d solved the last one. Actual election workers, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State C. Murphy Hebert said, were given even less time in the simulation.
Organizers wanted to simulate the stress and time crunch election officials feel while handling a wide range of threats while administering an election. “We prepare for the unexpected. And the way that we do that is by training ourselves to think in crisis mode,” said Hebert.
The work, for election officials, is very much like the myth of Sisyphus, Fontes told The Verge in an interview after the event. (In ancient Greek lore, Sisyphus was condemned to spend eternity in the afterlife rolling a boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down again.) “It’s just like, every year, there’s another set of folks who just want to dismantle our democracy because they’re upset about political outcomes,” he said.
Even in the roughly five-month gap between the election officials’ training and the media exercise I was invited to, new AI tools and capabilities have become readily available. In an environment where the threats are so rapidly evolving, officials need to quickly develop skill sets and heuristics that will aid them in evaluating threats that may not even exist yet.
Fontes said that even though the technology evolves, the training prepares election workers to understand its overall trajectory. “When people look at it for the first time now, they’re like, ‘Wow, this is really scary.’ The folks that saw it in December are like, ‘Okay, this is a logical progression from what there was,’ so they can be a little more thoughtful about this,” he said. “Is it challenging to keep up with the changes in technology? Absolutely. But that’s part of the job.”
Although they are preparing for AI to be used against them, Fontes and his colleagues are also open to using the same tools to make their work more efficient as they balance constrained resources. Fontes sees AI as just another tool that could be used for good or bad. When asked about the role of AI companies in ensuring their products are used responsibly, he said he’s “not in the business of telling people how to utilize their tools or how to develop their tools.”
“I think there’s enough good uses in AI, not just for people, but for the economy, that that needs to be developed,” said Fontes. He’s open to what automation can do effectively. It’s understandable — election officials have never been more pressed for time or resources.
As the threats to the electoral process widen in range and complexity, the job of an election official gets increasingly complex, even as their ranks dwindle in number.
AI is just the latest challenge to the work of administering free and fair elections in the US. Both tech experts and election officials emphasized at the event that AI isn’t all good or bad and doesn’t necessarily outweigh the importance of all the other threats they must prepare for. The office chose to focus on AI threats in particular this year because they’re so new.
Michael Moore, the chief information security officer for the Arizona secretary of state, said his role is more expansive than it used to be. “It used to be that a CISO was just focused on cybersecurity. But when I started [in] elections, that was not the case,” said Moore, who’s been working in the field since 2019. AI and online disinformation can fuel physical threats, meaning security teams need to think holistically about how to protect elections.
Photo by Ash Ponders for The Verge
Michael Moore, the chief information security officer for the Arizona secretary of state, said that title encompasses a greater range of threats than it used to.
Meanwhile, election officials are doing more with less. This isn’t by choice. Unprecedented scrutiny and outright harassment of election officials during the 2020 election have contributed to significant turnover in election workers. Giuliani was most recently indicted for his alleged activities in Arizona, but the problem extends far beyond Arizona. Two Georgia election workers, for instance, were the victims of such extreme harassment that a jury awarded them $148 million in damages in a defamation suit against Rudy Giuliani after he admitted to falsely accusing them of ballot fraud.
Last year, nonpartisan group Issue One found that 40 percent of chief local election officials in the western states would change between 2020 and 2024. The trend was even more pronounced in battleground states, including Arizona, where President Joe Biden won over then-President Donald Trump in 2020 with a slim majority. As of September 2023, Issue One reported that 12 out of 15 Arizona counties had new election officials since November 2020, covering 98 percent of the state population. Such turnover means a loss in institutional knowledge, which is especially important in a time-crunched field like elections.
Even as their job gets harder, election officials are trying to bolster trust in the system. Educating the press about the checks and safeguards in their processes is a part of this effort.
Election officials are trying to get people not to believe everything they see and hear. They also don’t want to scare voters and election workers into believing nothing they see or hear. They’re walking a fine line. “Part of that sweet spot is getting people to be vigilant but not mistrustful,” says Fontes. “Vigilant in that they’re going to look out for the stuff that isn’t real, but not mistrustful so that they don’t lose confidence in everything, which is kind of counterproductive to what our mission is in the first place.”
Officials want to avoid a scenario where voters throw their hands up in the air and just don’t vote. “It used to be, ‘They’re all corrupt,’” said Susan Lapsley, elections security advisor for the region covering Arizona at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Administration (CISA).
These days, she says, that kind of low-grade nihilism comes mostly in the form of “I don’t know what’s real.”
How much of a role will AI play in the 2024 elections? Will 2024 be as rocky as 2020? Will Arizona become a battleground of misinformation and distrust again? Arizona is trying to prepare for all scenarios. “What exactly is going to happen? We’re not sure,” Fontes said. “What are we best preparing for? Everything. Except Godzilla.”
A.I. and the Election: See How Easily Chatbots Can Create Disinfo for Social Media Ahead of the election this year, the results suggested how easy it could be to create divisive content online, on either side of the political spectrum.
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Photo by Ash Ponders for The Verge
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Photo by Ash Ponders for The Verge
