Technology

vendredi 13 septembre 2024

How Elon Musk’s Security Detail Has Grown Following Death Threats and Stalkers

How Elon Musk’s Security Detail Has Grown Following Death Threats and Stalkers As threats to his personal safety have become graver, the world’s richest man has barricaded himself behind a phalanx of bodyguards that operates like a mini-Secret Service.

jeudi 12 septembre 2024

Come pixel-peep what the PS5 Pro can maybe actually do

*A crop of Spider-Man 2 from Sony’s PS5 Pro video.* | Image: Sony

We’ve got lossless screenshots — but you’ll have to download them.

I think Sony might have made a mistake.

Not by pricing the PS5 Pro at $700 or ditching the optical drive — it can always drop the price or bundle — but by trying to showcase the PS5 Pro’s graphical improvements using a bandwidth-limited, compressed YouTube video.

I say that because I’m currently looking at a native 5.3GB video file of Sony’s presentation right now, on a 4K OLED screen, and I think corporate can genuinely tell the difference in some of these games. That wasn’t necessarily true on YouTube.

But I don’t want you to take my word for it. I want you to download the lossless PNG screenshots I just captured, so you can decide for yourself.

Important note: Do not right-click to download the images you see below, do not even left-click them — they’re just visual aids so you know which image you’ll get. Left-click the link in each caption to load the pictures, then download them; each should have a filesize well over 4MB. Optimally, you should then display them on a big 4K screen, like the one you might use with the PlayStation.

The above examples are the PS5 Pro compared to the original PS5’s faster-framerate “performance” mode, and they’re designed to show how you don’t have to sacrifice graphics for smooth 60fps speeds. But if you’re willing to tolerate the lower framerates of “Fidelity” mode, the advantage isn’t as clear-cut:

Sony didn’t offer comparo images for every title, but here are pictures from other games it used to represent the PS5 Pro’s graphics, too:

If you’re really dedicated, I suppose you could even try to find the same moment in the same game on your own PS5, grab your own screenshot, and use Nvidia’s ICAT tool to peep pixels like a pro.

Is it ridiculous that we’ve come to this? Maybe! But I don’t want you to think there’s no difference between PS5 and PS5 Pro graphics at 60fps:

There’s absolutely a difference — just perhaps not one that’s worth $700 to you.

The entire staff of beloved game publisher Annapurna Interactive has reportedly resigned

A ginger cat sits atop a crate in a dark neon robot street — Stray, a game where you play a cat. | Image: Annapurna

Annapurna Interactive, the game company famous for publishing indie hits like Stray, Outer Wilds, Gorogoa, Neon White, What Remains of Edith Finch, and many more, may not be the same company anymore.

Bloomberg reports that the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive, the gaming division of Megan Ellison’s Annapurna, has resigned after failing to convince Ellison to let them spin off its games division into a new company. IGN is corroborating the report.

Former president Nathan Gary, Annapurna Interactive executives, and “around two dozen” staffers have resigned, Bloomberg reports. An Annapurna spokesperson told Bloomberg that existing games and projects will remain under the company. Annapurna didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment from The Verge.

Last week, The Hollywood Reporter said that Gary and the coheads of Annapurna Interactive, Deborah Mars and Nathan Vella, would be leaving. THR also reported that Annapurna planned to “integrate its in-house gaming operations with the rest of Annapurna’s divisions, which include film, TV and theater.” Hector Sanchez, who most recently headed up the Unreal Engine games business at Epic Games and is an Annapurna Interactive cofounder, announced last month that he would be president of interactive and new media at Annapurna.

Annapurna Pictures, the company’s film arm, has won countless awards for a variety of films, including Her, American Hustle, and Zero Dark Thirty, and the company had only been expanding its ambitions alongside its video game publishing hot streak.

In 2020, Annapurna announced that it would begin developing its own games, too; it launched an in-house animation division in 2022, one that soon announced a movie based on Stray. Annapurna Pictures produced the excellent animated film Nimona for Netflix, and it just last month partnered with Remedy Entertainment to begin exploring film and TV adaptations of Control and Alan Wake.

This year, Annapurna Interactive published Lorelei and the Laser Eyes and Open Roads; upcoming games include its own developed Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth as well as Ghost Bike and Wanderstop.

G.M. and Hyundai Plan to Work Together on New Vehicles

G.M. and Hyundai Plan to Work Together on New Vehicles General Motors and the South Korean automaker say they will collaborate on new vehicles, buying parts and clean energy technologies.

Apple’s latest iPhones charge faster over a wire

A photo showing the iPhone 16 Pro — *The entire iPhone 16 lineup also supports faster 25W MagSafe charging.* | Image: The Verge

All the new iPhone 16 models unveiled this week can reportedly charge more than 50 percent faster through a wired USB-C connection than the previous series. That’s according to a Chinese certification posted on Weibo indicating that Apple’s latest iPhones can support up to 45W of wired fast charging.

The certification from the China Quality Certification Centre regulatory body, also posted to X by user ShrimpApplePro, shows all of the new iPhone 16 models were tested at 5-15 volts and 3 amps, which equates to a 45W maximum. The iPhone 15 lineup maxed out at 29W. As noted by 9To5Mac, it’s not unusual for Apple to neglect announcements around wired charging.

The 45W max of the iPhone 16 easily bests the Google Pixel 9’s 27W capabilities (37W for the Pixel 9 Pro XL) and is on par with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. But these all fall significantly short of the 240W-plus fast charging capabilities of some Chinese phones — including Realme’s upcoming 320W fast charging tech.

Still, we’ll take what we can get. The latest iPhones also feature faster wireless charging now that MagSafe can deliver up to 25W when paired with a 30W power adapter, up from 15W on previous iPhone models and the Qi2 standard.

Offshore Wind Slowed by Broken Blades, Rising Costs and Angry Fishermen

Offshore Wind Slowed by Broken Blades, Rising Costs and Angry Fishermen Accidents involving blades made by GE Vernova have delayed projects off the coasts of Massachusetts and England and could imperil climate goals.

mercredi 11 septembre 2024

SpaceX Polaris Dawn Spacewalk: How to Watch the Astronauts

SpaceX Polaris Dawn Spacewalk: How to Watch the Astronauts The astronauts of the Polaris Dawn mission, after traveling through heavy radiation and high orbits, are getting ready to open the hatch of their SpaceX vehicle.

When Self-Driving Cars Don’t Actually Drive Themselves

When Self-Driving Cars Don’t Actually Drive Themselves An immersive article shows readers what a New York Times reporter has tracked for nearly a decade: Robot taxis still need human help.

mardi 10 septembre 2024

Donald Trump goes all in on viral anti-immigrant lie

Photo collage of an image of Donald Trump behind a graphic, glitchy design. — Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

Less than 30 minutes into the presidential debate, former president Donald Trump brought up a viral racist lie about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio — and repeated it after fact-checkers asserted that it wasn’t true.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs — the people that came in — they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said in response to a question about why he asked Republican legislators to vote against a bipartisan border security bill. After Trump finished his tirade, ABC News moderator David Muir clarified that Springfield’s city manager told ABC reports of migrants eating pets were false — but Trump repeated the lie. “People on television are saying, ‘My dog was taken and being used for food,’” Trump interjected.

Trump falsely accuses migrants of eating dogs and pets in Springfield, Ohio, then fights the moderators when he gets fact-checked.

"I've seen people on television." pic.twitter.com/u5vRymVgEm
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) September 11, 2024

Trump’s resistance to fact-checking shouldn’t come as a surprise by this point. In fact, his campaign has fully leaned into the claim, which took off on right-wing social media over the weekend has since been mainstreamed by the likes of Elon Musk and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

On Tuesday, vice presidential candidate JD Vance claimed his office had “received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield” regarding their pets being eaten, contradicting statements from Springfield police and city officials that they had received no such complaints. Though Vance acknowledged the possibility that “all these rumors will turn out to be false,” he nonetheless encouraged supporters to continue spreading them. “In short, don’t let the crybabies in the media dissuade you, fellow patriots,” Vance posted on X. “Keep the cat memes flowing.”

In the days since the Springfield rumor went viral, Trump’s supporters and campaign surrogates have embraced it, posting AI-generated images depicting Trump as a champion of America’s pets. The Republican Party of Arizona unveiled a dozen billboards in the Phoenix area referencing the meme, urging Arizonans to “eat less kittens” and vote Republican.

THE ARE LIVE!

Catch our newest billboard across 12 locations in the Phoenix metro area! https://t.co/bCv6TsBJr3 pic.twitter.com/xkRlfE9AJf
— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) September 10, 2024

These memes have become a visual shorthand for Trump and his supporters’ belief in the white supremacist great replacement theory. And rather than acknowledging the falsehood at the heart of the rumor about Haitians in Springfield, Trump’s supporters have suggested that the media’s focus on fact-checking the viral lie obscures the “replacement” of Americans in Springfield with Haitian migrants.

Some good points here https://t.co/2zoPTjxlkC
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 10, 2024

Trump, the Republican Party’s standard-bearer, isn’t bothering to obfuscate the baseless claims by tying them to locals’ broader concerns about immigrants. Instead, he’s going for the baldest version of the lie.

Polaris Dawn Astronauts in SpaceX Dragon Reach Record Orbit Above Earth

Polaris Dawn Astronauts in SpaceX Dragon Reach Record Orbit Above Earth After launching early on Tuesday, the billionaire Jared Isaacman and his crew traveled to altitudes not visited by any astronaut since the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and ’70s.

SpaceX’s historic Polaris Dawn mission: how to watch the launch

A photo showing the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Launch Complex 39A of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center — *The Crew Dragon capsule will launch aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.* | Photo by Joe Raedle / Getty Images

SpaceX is getting ready to set out on its historic Polaris Dawn mission, which will send four astronauts into orbit aboard its Crew Dragon capsule. The five-day journey through the Van Allen radiation belts will include the first spacewalk done by private astronauts.

If you’re curious about the mission, here’s what you should know about today’s launch targeting currently targeting 5:23AM ET.

Watch live as Falcon 9 launches the @PolarisProgram’s Polaris Dawn crew on a multi-day mission orbiting Earth https://t.co/u1KqQx5AFr
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 10, 2024

What is the Polaris Dawn mission?

First announced in 2022, Polaris Dawn is a mission funded by billionaire and private astronaut Jared Isaacman. In addition to Isaacman, three other privately trained astronauts will embark on the mission, including retired US Air Force fighter pilot Scott Poteet, as well as SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis. Only Isaacman and Gillis will perform the spacewalk, which will take place around 430 miles above Earth.

Once launched into orbit, the four crew members will eventually reach a maximum altitude of around 870 miles, making it the furthest astronauts have traveled since the Apollo missions more than 50 years ago. They’ll also fly through the Van Allen belts, two bands of radiation NASA says consist of high-energy particles that come from the Sun and the atmosphere’s interaction with cosmic rays.

Why is Polaris Dawn so important?

The spacewalk isn’t the only objective of the Polaris Dawn mission. The astronauts will also test SpaceX’s extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, which are made with new materials for improved mobility. These suits are paired with a 3D-printed helmet with a heads-up display and a visor designed to mitigate glare.

All four astronauts will wear the upgraded suits when the spacewalk takes place, as the Crew Dragon doesn’t have an airlock, leaving the crew members inside the capsule “exposed to the vacuum of space,” according to SpaceX. During the spacewalk, Isaacman and Gillis will perform tests with the new spacesuits.

Since the capsule will pass through the Van Allen radiation belts, the mission will also contribute to research about the effects of space radiation on the human body. Additionally, the Polaris Dawn crew will test Starlink’s satellite internet technology to communicate with Earth, as well as conduct research on decompression sickness and Spaceflight Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome.

When is Polaris Dawn?

Polaris Dawn was scheduled for a launch attempt on Tuesday, August 27th, but that was scrubbed as teams took “a closer look at a ground-side helium leak on the Quick Disconnect umbilical, according to @SpaceX. After another delay, a failure of a Falcon 9 rocket’s attempt to land caused the FAA to ground the rocket temporarily, putting the Polaris Dawn launch on hold.

SpaceX is now targeting a Tuesday, September 10th launch. The first launch opportunity was at 3:38AM ET but chaotic weather pushed the schedule to 5:23AM ET. Right now the weather looks good for launch. The next opportunity is at 7:09AM ET. Otherwise, they’ll attempt to launch on Wednesday, September 11th at the same times.

The Crew Dragon capsule will launch aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

How to watch the Polaris Dawn launch

You can watch a livestream of the mission from SpaceX’s website and its X page.

The spacewalk, which will take place on the third day of the mission, will also be livestreamed. It will likely be available from SpaceX’s website and on X.

Update, September 10th: Added details of the launch delay and current launch schedule.

Google and Apple Lose Appeals in Landmark E.U. Cases

Google and Apple Lose Appeals in Landmark E.U. Cases The cases had established the European Union as the world’s leading tech watchdog, but have since raised questions about its protracted appeals process.

lundi 9 septembre 2024

Google and DOJ’s ad tech fight is all about control

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Google and the US Justice Department each believe the other wants too much of one thing: control.

“Control is the defining characteristic of a monopolist,” DOJ counsel Julia Tarver Wood said during opening statements in the federal government's second antitrust trial against the search giant, which kicked off Monday in Alexandria, Virginia. To the government, Google exerts too much control over every step in the way publishers sell advertising space online and how advertisers buy it, resulting in a system that benefits Google at the expense of nearly everyone else.

To Google, the government is seeking control over a successful business by making it deal with rivals on more favorable terms, disregarding the value of its investments in technology and the unique efficiencies of its integrated tools.

By the end of the trial, which is expected to last several weeks, US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema will be left to decide which side is exerting too much control — and ultimately, if Google has illegally monopolized the markets for advertising technology.

Markets is a key word, since one question raised on the first day is how many monopolies Google might actually have. (A federal court in DC says at least one, since it recently ruled Google a monopolist in search.) The DOJ is arguing that Google has monopoly power in three different ad-related markets: those for publisher ad servers (where websites hawk ad space), ad exchanges (which facilitate ad transactions), and advertiser ad networks (where advertisers go to buy ad space). They’re also arguing that Google illegally tied together its publisher ad server with its ad exchange to maintain its monopoly power.

“One monopoly is bad enough,” Wood said during opening statements. “But a trifecta of monopolies is what we have here.”

Google says it’s not a monopolist, and in fact there’s only one market: a two-sided market made of buyers and sellers of online ad inventory. In opening arguments, its counsel said the government is ignoring relevant Supreme Court precedent that says this is the best way to view such a market. The company also argues regulators are carving up the field with terms like “open web display advertising,” which Google calls contrived. What the government really wants here, Google claims, is to require it to deal with its rivals — something the Supreme Court has said isn’t really the job of the judicial system.

After opening statements, the DOJ began calling its first witnesses, focusing on the tools publishers use to monetize display ads. These are the ads that typically pop up at the top or the side of the page on news websites and blogs, populating through super-quick auctions that run while the page loads. During the auction, an ad exchange helps match publishers and advertisers based on things like topic and price without active intervention by a human. The process is called programmatic advertising, and it’s used by The Verge’s parent company Vox Media among many others. (Vox Media president of revenue and growth Ryan Pauley is on the list of potential witnesses but wasn’t called today.)

Google’s tools play an essential role in the process, with some of them holding about 90 percent of the market, according to the government. Google has a publisher ad server called Google Ad Manager (formerly DoubleClick for Publishers, or DFP), which helps publishers sell ad space. It operates an ad exchange, AdX, that facilitates transactions. And it owns an advertiser ad network, rounding out its trifecta of major products across different parts of the ad world.

Four industry players testified Monday, representing a publisher (Tim Wolfe, SVP of revenue at Gannett), an ad exchange (Andrew Casale, president and CEO of Index Exchange), a marketer (Joshua Lowcock, president of media at Quad), and a publisher ad network (James Avery, founder and CEO of Kevel). Across the testimonies, the government tried to establish that programmatic display advertising is not something publishers can easily substitute with other types of advertising, including direct deals with advertisers or ads on social media sites. And it introduced the idea that switching from Google tools isn’t such an easy decision, even when there might be some reason to do so.

In testimony, for instance, Wolfe and Avery both made clear that publishers are largely unwilling to switch away from Google Ad Manager. They said it’s because Google packages it with access to AdX, and losing that package deal would mean giving up large amounts of revenue — even if rivals offer to take a much smaller cut for facilitating each ad sale. Wolfe testified that when Gannett received one such offer, that reduced take rate didn’t move the needle, since it wouldn’t offset the benefits of AdX.

The ad server company Kevel started by targeting traditional publishers, but Avery says competing with Google proved impossibly hard. He recalled publishers asking how his company would replace the revenue they made from AdX, something Kevel simply couldn’t manage. After trying to engage Google twice about ways to connect Kevel’s ad server with AdX, Avery testified, his efforts were rebuffed. Kevel pivoted to facilitating things like sponsored listings for retailers instead.

Speaking from the ad exchange perspective, Casale testified that switching ad servers is a big lift at the technical level, so publishers rarely do it. Building a new one is “very complex and expensive.” In the ad exchange market, Casale said competing with Google’s AdX is “very challenging,” and in experiments, reducing fees had barely a “nominal” impact on the ability to gain more business. Because of the huge network effects it takes to get an exchange off the ground, as well as the fact that it only gets visibility into ad impressions it wins, “I can’t imagine anyone starting a new exchange today,” he said.

Google’s attorneys poked at the witnesses’ arguments and credibility during cross-examination, pointing out ways players like Avery would benefit if the court forced Google to share access to its tools. Google will call its own witnesses to counter the DOJ later in the trial.

This trial covers very different ground from last year’s antitrust fight in the District of Columbia. But on the first day of court, both sides alluded to their earlier battle. The Department of Justice mentioned during opening statements that another court had already adjudicated the question of Google’s search monopoly, referencing a ruling Judge Amit Mehta handed down just over a month ago. And although Mehta ruled mostly against Google, the tech giant cited a piece of the ruling that went in its favor. The topic? A DOJ argument Mehta interpreted as a requirement for Google to cut deals with competitors — and, accordingly, dismissed.

JD Vance’s latest cat flub is bizarre misinformation about migrants eating them

Graphic photo collage of J. D. Vance. — Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance — a vocal proponent of conspiracy theories about immigrants “replacing” Americans — is now spreading misinformation about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio killing family pets and protected wildlife.

“Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country,” Vance posted on X on Monday, echoing an unsubstantiated rumor that took off on right-wing social media over the weekend.

The unnamed “reports” Vance cites are likely from Infowars or the Daily Mail, both of which published thinly sourced posts about Haitian migrants eating pets and wildlife. Both publications reference a Facebook post in which someone claims their neighbor’s daughter’s friend lost her cat — and later found it “hanging from a branch, like you’d do a deer for butchering,” outside a house “where Haitians live.” Local police, however, tell the Springfield News-Sun that there are no reports of pets being stolen and eaten in the community.

Still, the Springfield pet situation is a particularly instructive example of how right-wing media often launders and mainstreams obvious misinformation. The rumor, which reports suggest had been spreading locally for at least a month, was amplified by conservative influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers — and then mainstreamed by politicians including Vance and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and immigration obsessives like Elon Musk.

The News-Sun suggested that the original Facebook post conflated Springfield with Canton, Ohio, a city 175 miles northeast where a woman was recently arrested for allegedly killing and eating a cat in front of multiple people. Right-wing commentator Ian Miles Cheong — who frequently posts about US politics despite living in Malaysia — suggested the woman who ate the cat was Haitian.

That woman, Allexis Ferrell, is a US citizen, according to Daniel Di Martino, a PhD student at Columbia and fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute who found her voter registration information. Other reports suggest the rumor began before Ferrell’s arrest. “We get these reports ‘the Haitians are killing ducks in a lot of our parks’ or ‘the Haitians are eating vegetables right out of the aisle at the grocery store,’” Jason Via, Springfield’s deputy director of public safety and operations, told NPR in August. “And we haven’t really seen any of that. It’s really frustrating.”

But the rumor has persisted. One Springfield resident brought it up during an August 27th meeting of Springfield’s City Commission, claiming Haitian migrants were “in the park grabbing up ducks by their neck and cutting their head off and walking off with them and eating them.”

The city commission meetings, which are archived on YouTube, have been a steady source of content for right-wing commentators eager to prove that real Americans are suffering due to the supposedly open border. On September 8th, the X account End Wokeness posted a clip from the commission’s August 27th meeting, amplifying the duck-eating rumor to more than 2.9 million followers. Two days earlier, the same account posted a screenshot of the unsubstantiated Facebook post, claiming “ducks and pets are disappearing” in Springfield. Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk reposted the image on September 8th. “Apparently, people’s pet cats are being eaten,” wrote Musk, who often posts about the “great replacement” conspiracy theory. “If not for ,” End Wokeness posted the following day, “you would have no idea that Haitians were eating cats in Springfield.”

Right-wing misinformation campaigns about migrants are by no means limited to Springfield. Last month, after a video depicting armed men knocking on an apartment door went viral on X, conservative commentators claimed members of a Venezuelan gang had taken over an apartment complex in Colorado. End Wokeness claimed gang members had begun collecting rent in a second building. City Journal, the in-house publication of the Manhattan Institute, claimed two apartment complexes were “under siege” by Venezuelan gang members. Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman later said “criminal elements” had taken over buildings in the city, and were extorting residents. Former President Donald Trump parroted the reports, saying Venezuelans were “taking over the whole town.”

In fact, Aurora police told the Associated Press that gang members hadn’t taken over the apartment complexes and weren’t collecting rent. Residents of one building, some of whom are Venezuelan, said the complex’s New York-based management company had neglected repairs. But the rumor continued to spread on X, where it was amplified by Musk. “Unless Trump wins,” he posted, “meet your new building managers.”

What to expect from Apple’s ‘It’s Glowtime’ iPhone 16 event

Apple’s iPhone 16 event invitation. | Image: Apple

Apple is getting ready to announce the iPhone 16, which will surely be its most powerful and best-camera-having phone yet (at least for the Pro models). It’s also expected to be the first iPhone to launch with Apple Intelligence across the board.

In addition to the iPhone 16 lineup and a slate of new watches and AirPods, Apple is expected to show more AI features, like the ability to understand what’s onscreen, along with features it introduced at WWDC in June, which include an upgraded Siri, image generation, AI rewrite, and call recording and transcription abilities.

The word “glowtime” is likely a reference to the glow effect that appears around the edges of the screen when Siri is activated in the latest developer betas of iOS 18. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, “glow” is also the internal name for macOS Sequoia, which will likely release after the event at around the same time as iOS 18.

The updated Siri coming in iOS18. — *Siri in iOS 18 adds a glow effect around the screen when activated.*

When and how to watch the iPhone 16 event

Apple’s iPhone 16 event will be live and in person in Cupertino, California, on September 9th at 1PM ET / 10AM PT, and The Verge will be there live blogging all the news. The event will also be livestreamed on YouTube, Apple TV, and Apple’s website.

New processors for all that AI

Apple Intelligence will require powerful processors. Apple’s trend in the last couple of years was to give the previous generation’s top processor to the base-model iPhone and introduce a new, stronger chip for the Pro. The iPhone 15 Pro’s A17 Pro processor is the only A-series chip right now that supports Apple Intelligence, but rumors suggest all iPhone 16 models will get a new A18 chip. Beyond that, we expect new Apple Watches and additions to the AirPods lineup.

iPhone 16 gets a new camera look

The main iPhone 16 models will come in new colors and look slightly different from the back this year. If leaked dummy units are to be believed, the camera module will now have two lenses stacked vertically, like the iPhone 12 and iPhone X, instead of the diagonal placement used since the iPhone 13.

Vertical lens placement would better support landscape spatial video capture for watching on the Vision Pro. There’s no indication we’ll see an update to the Vision Pro itself, but hopefully we’ll get something to keep customer interest in Apple’s mixed reality tech afloat.

The iPhone 16 lineup will also get better battery life, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max finally match up

The iPhone 16 Pro might finally have the same cameras as the Pro Max, one of several things Google dinged Apple on at the Pixel 9 event. Both models may get the 5x “tetraprism” telephoto lenses that are currently exclusive to the 15 Pro Max. Rumors suggest that the ultrawide camera in the new Pros will also have significant quality improvements thanks to a larger 48MP sensor.

For the Pro models, we’re expecting a new rose finish and a Zune-brown “bronze” titanium finish, and both the regular and Max models are expected to have slightly larger screens than their iPhone 15 counterparts. Gurman says the Pro’s display will go from 6.1 inches to 6.3 and that the Pro Max will jump from 6.7 to 6.9 inches.

The iPhone’s side buttons may change to new pressure-sensitive ones and could include a DSLR-like feature where you can focus with light pressure and take the picture by pressing harder. It’s a Pro feature that could also come to the regular 16.

Overall, the iPhone 16 models won’t be much of a design change. We’re already seeing rumors that the next model, the iPhone 17, will get a slimmer redesign.

Apple Watch, big and thin

The new Apple Watch Series 10 (or X?) may have a thinner and more refined case than the previous Series 9 model, but the real thing to look out for is a model with a bigger screen. Gurman believes the Series 10 will get an Apple Watch Ultra-sized 49mm screen option, plus a new chip.

Super athletes and outdoorsy people can also expect a new black color option for the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and a plastic Apple Watch SE is also rumored to make an appearance.

AirPods on the double

The new headphone lineup is expected to include new entry and midtier AirPods and possibly a new USB-C version of the over-the-ear AirPods Max, which might also get new colors, adaptive audio, and better noise cancellation.

The new AirPods models will replace the second- and third-generation versions, according to Gurman, with two new models. The midtier model is rumored to have a Pro-style design with noise cancellation, plus speakers in the charging case for Find My support.

Apple’s third-gen AirPods reportedly haven’t sold as well as the second-generation models. The third generation’s higher price tag and an awkward combination of the AirPods Pro shape without removable ear tips might be to blame. The two new models still won’t get ear tips, but their USB-C charging cases will complete Apple’s transition from Lightning for iPhone accessories.

Maybe a new Mini

No, no, no, not the iPhone Mini. Sorry to my fellow one-hander smartphone users. (I still rock an iPhone 13 Mini and am waiting to see if Apple ever swings back). What Apple is planning, though, according to Gurman, is a new Mac Mini, one that is nearly as small as an Apple TV. The new Mac Mini is expected to ship to warehouses this month, and an M Pro chip version might come in October. Considering the short timeframe, there’s a possibility we could hear about the new Mac Mini at the iPhone event, but it could also get its own event, like the prime-time one Apple pulled last year for the colorful iMac M3 refresh.

Update, September 9th: Modified latest rumors for Apple Watch Ultra, iPhone 16, and AirPods Max.

Google’s Legal Scorecard Before New Antitrust Fight

Google’s Legal Scorecard Before New Antitrust Fight How the tech giant has fared in its major legal battles across the U.S. and Europe so far.

dimanche 8 septembre 2024

Researchers say a bug let them add fake pilots to rosters used for TSA checks

A collection of warning signs, bugs, and notifications emulating malware or a cyber attack. The images are placed in a connected web against a blue background. — Illustration by Carlo Cadenas / The Verge

A pair of security researchers say they discovered a vulnerability in login systems for records that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) uses to verify airline crew members at airport security checkpoints. The bug let anyone with a “basic knowledge of SQL injection” add themselves to airline rosters, potentially letting them breeze through security and into the cockpit of a commercial airplane, researcher Ian Carroll wrote in a blog post in August.

Carroll and his partner, Sam Curry, apparently discovered the vulnerability while probing the third-party website of a vendor called FlyCASS that provides smaller airlines access to the TSA’s Known Crewmember (KCM) system and Cockpit Access Security System (CASS). They found that when they put a simple apostrophe into the username field, they got a MySQL error.

This was a very bad sign, as it seemed the username was directly interpolated into the login SQL query. Sure enough, we had discovered SQL injection and were able to use sqlmap to confirm the issue. Using the username of ‘ or ‘1’=’1 and password of ‘) OR MD5(‘1’)=MD5(‘1, we were able to login to FlyCASS as an administrator of Air Transport International!

In April, @samwcyo and I discovered a way to bypass airport security via SQL injection in a database of crewmembers. Unfortunately, DHS ghosted us after we disclosed the issue, and the TSA attempted to cover up what we found.

Here is our writeup: https://t.co/g9orwwgoxt
— Ian Carroll (@iangcarroll) August 29, 2024

Once they were in, Carroll writes that there was “no further check or authentication” preventing them from adding crew records and photos for any airline that uses FlyCASS. Anyone who might have used the vulnerability could present a fake employee number to get through a KCM security checkpoint, the blog says.

TSA press secretary R. Carter Langston denied that, telling Bleeping Computer that the agency “does not solely rely on this database to authenticate flight crew, and that “only verified crewmembers are permitted access to the secure area in airports.”

Apple could hold an October event to refresh its smallest iPads and Macs

Illustration: The Verge

Tomorrow’s iPhone 16 launch won’t be the final Apple event of the year, as the company plans to debut some M4 Macs and new iPads with another showing in October, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter.

Apple could be announcing a new iPad Mini for the first time since 2021 in October, as well as a Mac Mini with an M4 chip, packed into a box about the size of an Apple TV, making that the first real redesign of the diminutive desktop in over a decade. So it’s about time for both! The event will include new versions of the iMac and MacBook Pro, both with M4 chips, as well, Gurman writes.

Between that and updated iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods expected at tomorrow’s “Glowtime” event, only a handful of Apple products haven’t been touched this year. That includes the AirPods Max, which Gurman wrote Friday are still well-stocked at Apple retail, making an update unlikely, at least for tomorrow. Guess they’ll be helping to keep the Lightning port dream alive just a little longer.

An all-in-one app for the internet

Pictures of Reeder, Astro Bot, the DJI Neo, and Peak Design bags, on an Installer illustration. — Image: David Pierce / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 51, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, I hope you love spy shows as much as I do, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been reading about cobalt miners and religious AI and the history of the Moleskine, listening to pop-punk Disney songs on repeat, finally starting The Sopranos (I know, I know), soundtracking my workday with the Earth.fm app, giving Tweek another whirl for simple task and calendar stuff, and spending too much time debating whether NFL Sunday Ticket is worth the money. It’s definitely not, but it also, like, kind of is.

I also have for you everybody’s favorite new PlayStation game, a new documentary about money in sports, two new cameras worth a look, and a terrific E Ink note-taking device. Oh, and apologies: I included the wrong link to my homescreen icon pack last week. (Luckily, the one I did link to is also very good.) Mine are actually from Nate Wren’s Lines pack.

Anyway, so many gadgets this week! Let’s dig in.

(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What should everyone else be watching, reading, playing, cooking, downloading, or building this weekend? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, tell them to subscribe here.)

The Drop

Reeder. It’s a podcast app, a YouTube queue, an RSS reader, a social feed, and a whole bunch more, all in one place. (And for Apple devices only.) It’s a reading app for feeds from all over the internet, it’s gorgeous, and as we talk about the fediverse and the future of the web, this is the kind of app that gets me really excited.
Slow Horses season 4. I avoided this Apple TV Plus show for a while because I didn’t love the book, which is very well done but just kind of… slow. (I eventually soldiered through the first third of the first book, at which point it does start moving.) The show is not slow. It’s just funny and smart and exactly the right amount of action-packed.
Astro Bot. I promised myself I was going to wait until Black Friday to buy a PS5… but this new game, an adorable platformer that seems to have charmed absolutely everyone who tried it, is going to make me pull the trigger sooner. Seriously, people love this game.
The Remarkable Paper Pro. This thing is pure E Ink overkill, with an overengineered color display and a bunch of extremely fancy features. It’s like $800 for the whole setup including the keyboard, which is an awful lot, but this is a heck of a note-taking device.
The Money Game. A miniseries about the NIL revolution in college sports, which is actually a story about social media and the internet and the way that everybody, including athletes, struggles to balance life and content.
Circle to Search for music. Forget Gemini — Google’s most clever AI features are all happening through Circle to Search. Google’s song lookup tool is the best in the biz, and with Circle to Search and Android 15, you can get at it from anywhere.
The Peak Design Outdoor Line. Peak Design’s stuff is just always great, and the new line of rugged gear looks like a winner. (Don’t be thrown by the Kickstarter, it’s just how the company rolls for some reason. PD is legit.) I’ve recently become a sling convert for daily use, and I’m very into the new one here.
The GoPro Hero 13 Black. Every new GoPro is kind of the same: a little better in a bunch of ways but still a GoPro. And that’s fine! Adding some new lenses and improving transfer speeds goes a long way here, too.
The DJI Neo. The other nifty camera launch of the week: a simple selfie drone that follows you around, does cool camera moves, and lands in your hand. Getting real Snap Pixy vibes from this thing, but I think this one might be a hit.
The PlugBug with Find My. My first reaction to the idea of a wall plug with Find My support was, just, why? But then I thought about how many hotels and coffee shops I’ve left chargers in, and I think this $70 gizmo might pay for itself pretty fast. Plus, Twelve South stuff rarely disappoints.

Group project

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve asked you all to share your favorite lesser-known creators. This was, as always, at least partly selfish: I love my favorites on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and the rest, but my feeds are starting to feel a little static. I had a feeling you all might be able to help me liven things up — and that maybe a few of you were looking for some good new stuff, too.

As ever, you all delivered. I got hundreds of emails, messages, Threads posts, and comments from folks with great ideas and recommendations. I hardly got any duplicate recommendations, either, which is just delightful — there’s so much good stuff out there. And rather than keep it all for myself, I figured I’d share some of the best folks I’ve been turned onto in the last couple of weeks. I’m going to mostly link to YouTube channels, both because that’s what most people recommended but also because you can find folks’ other social links from their channel pages.

(One small caveat before we dive in: I haven’t been able to thoroughly vet everything all these folks have done forever. So if someone turns out to be the worst, in whatever way, I’m really sorry. If I’m missing something I should know about, definitely let me know. But y’all rarely steer me wrong, so I have high hopes.)

No surprise, a lot of what I heard about were tech creators. Here are a bunch of the folks you recommended, in no particular order:

Work From Hype: all about desk setups and WFH gear
Macho Nacho: retro gaming
Elliotisacoolguy: a very funny graphic designer
Brandon Talbot: fitness and health tech reviews
MobileTechReview: gadget reviews
Brandon James Greer: a pixel artist sharing their process
Easy Allies: video game news and reviews
Ritvikmath: data science and predictions
Technology Connections: everyday tech explainers
Enrico Tartarotti: essays on how tech works and how we use it
Byte Review: gadget lifestyle videos, especially Apple stuff
Salem Techsperts: stories from a computer repair shop
The Serial Port: all things tech history

Also, it turns out you all love a good video essay and explainer as much as I do, and you shared a bunch of great channels for just that:

Paul E.T. (on movies)
Not Just Bikes (on urban planning)
What’s So Great About That? (on… everything)
Answer in Progress (also on… everything)
Kaptainkristian (on movies and TV)
Golden Owl (on video game design)
Blast Processing (on video game history)
Middle 8 (on music culture)
MinuteFood (on food)
Calum (on transportation history)

Then there were just a lot of miscellaneous folks you all shared. Here are a few I’ve been enjoying:

Berm Peak, all about bikes and scooters and anything you can ride on
Slickerdrips, with lots of board game tutorials and playthroughs
Vanwives, on van life, DIY, and off-grid living
Boulder Creek Railroad: a model builder half working and half teaching
Escape to rural France, a guy chronicling his attempt to rebuild a chateau
Jelle’s Marble Runs, because marble runs are never not fun
Adventure Chasing, a guy and his dog exploring the outdoors

I could keep going, and I’m sure I will at some point. Thanks again to everyone who sent stuff in! My watch list will never be the same, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Screen share

From now on, if you’re a Vergecast listener and you like the way the show sounds, you’ll have Erick Gomez to thank. He joined the team this week as our audio engineer and has, in his career, worked on some of the best podcasts and radio shows on the planet.

I like to have new folks share their homescreen with us, both because I think it’s a fun way to get to know someone and I like having a work-appropriate reason to make fun of people’s silly wallpapers and app choices. But from the first time I met Erick, it became abundantly clear he was a person who brokered no chaos and would have a homescreen that Just Made Sense.

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

The phone: iPhone 14 Pro Max

The wallpaper: I’ve been gaming since I was about five years old, and it is still one of my greatest hobbies and passions, so my lock screen is that of a Game Boy Advance SP — a cherished handheld from my childhood. I love how the widgets make it seem as though they’re part of the Game Boy display.

My homescreen wallpaper is my daughter Charlie in her Elmo costume from last year. We are a BIG Halloween family, and we are always counting the days until spooky season.

The apps: Eufy Security, Dot, Passwords, Delta, Journal, Parcel, Overcast, Hey Email, Arc Search.

I’m a big fan of widgets and glanceable information — the less I have to pop into an app, the better. I don’t have any social media apps installed on my phone and will only reinstall them whenever I feel compelled to post something. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized the insane amounts of time I’ve spent mindlessly scrolling Instagram and the like, so I’ve channeled that energy into journaling apps.

Dot: It’s an AI companion chatbot thing. It’s actually really cool. It’s very much like a journal or friend that responds to you and can give you some feedback and spark ideas. It’s great until it confuses some facts about you, which breaks the immersion. It will often text me during the day when I’m super busy so I don’t get a chance to respond. If you ignore it for long enough, it will stop reaching out to you. Just like a friend in real life!

Delta: Did I mention I’m a gamer? It was LONG overdue for emulators to come into the App Store, and this is by far the best for playing retro games. If I find myself waiting around for something, I’ll quickly pop into a game of NBA Jam or Streets of Rage.

Hey: Hey is my favorite email client and service. The email screener and privacy-focused approach make it well worth the yearly subscription. And it looks better than most email apps.

Arc: This is a new addition to the homescreen and has quickly replaced Safari for me in most cases. Its “Browse For Me” feature is a godsend. I also love the app’s alternate icon, which pays homage to Netscape Navigator. It’s 1994 all over again!

I also asked Erick to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he sent back:

I’m currently reading MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios. As a Marvel zombie from way back, I’m a huge fan of the movies and am fascinated by the behind-the-scenes look at how the sausage was made.
I’m currently watching Dark Matter on Apple TV Plus. A thought-provoking sci-fi show that more people need to be watching! It’s been renewed for a second season, so that should tell you something.
I’m trying to get through my ginormous backlog of video games (there are TOO MANY games, y’all), and I’m currently playing the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake on Switch. It’s an absolutely beautiful gem of a game that needs to be experienced by everyone.

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 even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on Threads.

“Just moved my work Windows PC to Zen Browser. A Firefox version that has a very strong Arc feeling.” – Maciej

“Was away at a cabin with family and we did not bring a camera. When the baby fell asleep, we popped in one AirPod and turned on Live Listen, left the phone in the room, and went about our business! Two birds with one stone, really, since then I didn’t have my phone. I am curious if Android has anything similar!” – Saad

“Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman is rocking my world right now. For those in constant search of productivity optimization (speaking of no one in particular, of course…), this book hits home.” – Ryan

“Diggnation came back. So that’s been some fun nostalgia.” – Brian

“The HandleStash — a shock absorbing beverage holder for bikes. Game-changer for morning commute / weekend morning rides with coffee.” – Jim

“I switched from Spotify to YouTube Music a few years ago after Joe Rogan-gate and haven’t looked back! The audio quality is SO MUCH BETTER than Spotify. Feel that bass. There aren’t as many playlists, but just enough, and I tend to really enjoy checking out the new releases each week. It’s like a digital Best Buy from the ’90s. Plus, if you’re already paying for YouTube Premium, it’s included.” – Ellen

“I just got a rice cooker, and I’m eyeballing rice cooker cornbread for this weekend.” – Daniel

“Kaos on Netflix is amazing. A perfect blend of Greek mythology and modern-day politics. Highly recommended.” – Sacchi

“This week, I’m procrastinating by deciding whether I should stick with Bear, go back to Obsidian, or accept my fate and move back to Apple Notes. It is torture.” – Eitan

“A Short History of Nearly Everything. I know that this book is pretty old and many people have already read it, but if you haven’t read it, you should surely give it a try.” – Aashwath

“I lost most of my Labor Day weekend to Shapez 2. It’s incredible!” – Alec

Signing off

Apple’s annual iPhone launch event is on Monday, and we’re going to get a whole bunch of new gear: sounds like phones, watches, headphones, and maybe even desktops are all on the docket. We’re also going to get upgrades to all of Apple’s software, too. Which is mostly good news! But after watching this video about what Apple’s updates do to the very oldest devices they technically support, I’m also thinking of everyone whose devices are supposedly about to be “upgraded” and might instead just begin to fall apart. Best of luck to all the Intel-powered Mac owners out there.

See you next week!

samedi 7 septembre 2024

How Russia Found Its Way Into America’s Conservative Media

How Russia Found Its Way Into America’s Conservative Media Federal prosecutors say Russia paid an American media company to push pro-Kremlin messages from social media influencers including Benny Johnson, Tim Pool and Dave Rubin.

How Telegram Became a Playground for Criminals, Extremists and Terrorists

How Telegram Became a Playground for Criminals, Extremists and Terrorists Drug dealers, scammers and white nationalists openly conduct business and spread toxic speech on the platform, according to a Times analysis of more than 3.2 million Telegram messages.

vendredi 6 septembre 2024

The Boeing Starliner’s strange test flight is finally returning to Earth, but it’s empty

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft that launched NASA’s Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station is pictured docked to the Harmony module’s forward port. This long-duration photograph was taken at night from the orbital complex as it soared 258 miles above western China. — Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft that launched NASA’s Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station is pictured docked to the Harmony module’s forward port on Wednesday, July 3, 2024. | Image: NASA

The Starliner is flying home empty after undocking autonomously, while the astronauts it took to the ISS will make a separate trip back to Earth in 2025.

After years of delays, the first crewed flight test of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft launched on June 5th, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams to the International Space Station for what was supposed to be a short trip. However, after thruster issues and some leaks, their return trip on Starliner was postponed and eventually canceled.

On September 6th at 6:04PM ET, the Starliner spacecraft autonomously undocked from the ISS and began to return home without its crew, who will stay aboard the ISS until they return to Earth with SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission in 2025.

During a press conference in August, NASA Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich justified the decision, saying, “...there was just too much uncertainty in the prediction of the thrusters.” Before the spacecraft undocked, NASA traced a series of strange sounds it had been emitting to an “audio configuration between the space station and Starliner.”

Follow along here for all of the updates as Starliner and its crew make their way back to Earth.

jeudi 5 septembre 2024

Telegram will start moderating private chats after CEO’s arrest

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Telegram has quietly removed language from its FAQ page that said private chats were protected from moderation requests. The change comes nearly two weeks after its CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France for allegedly allowing “criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app.”

Earlier today, Durov issued his first public statement since his arrest, promising to moderate content more on the platform — a noticeable change in tone after the company initially said he had “nothing to hide”. “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform,” the company wrote in an unattributed statement posted in August.

Now, Durov appears to have changed his tone.

“Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950M caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform,” he wrote in the statement shared today. “That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard. We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon.”

I'm still trying to understand what happened in France. But we hear the concerns. I made it my personal goal to prevent abusers of Telegram's platform from interfering with the future of our 950+ million users.

My full post below. https://t.co/cDvRSodjst
— Pavel Durov (@durov) September 5, 2024

Some of those changes appear to be already taking effect: the company’s FAQ page has changed in the last 24 hours. Take one section titled, “There’s illegal content on Telegram. How do I take it down?”

As of September 5th, Telegram’s response to the question read in part, “All Telegram chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them,” according to a Wayback Machine archive of the page.

But at the time of this writing, that sentence has been removed. Instead, has been replaced with: “All Telegram apps have ‘Report’ buttons that let you flag illegal content for our moderators — in just a few taps,” followed by instructions on how to report content.

Durov’s arrest came as French authorities issued preliminary charges saying the messaging platforms is being used for distributing child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, and that the company refused to cooperate with investigators, according to the Associated Press. The platform serves as a way for people to get crucial information about Russia’s war in Ukraine, but has historically taken a hands-off approach to moderating content.

Japan Tries to Reclaim Its Clout as a Global Tech Leader

Japan Tries to Reclaim Its Clout as a Global Tech Leader Japanese chip companies are tapping billions of dollars and collaborating with foreign firms as part of new government policies that look outward.

Telegram CEO says he’ll moderate better after getting arrested in France

Pavel Durov. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Twelve days after he was arrested in France, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has broken his silence with a 600-word statement on his Telegram account that blames “growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”

French authorities had charged Durov with enabling various forms of criminal activity on Telegram, including an unnamed person’s distribution of child sexual abuse material on the platform. An unnamed statement from Telegram at the time of his arrest said Durov had “nothing to hide.”

While the vast majority of his statement today paints his arrest as surprising and unfair, he also admits that policing Telegram has become harder. Durov says it’s now his “personal goal” to “significantly improve things in this regard.”

Here’s Durov’s full statement:

❤️ Thanks everyone for your support and love!

Last month I got interviewed by police for 4 days after arriving in Paris. I was told I may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram, because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram.

This was surprising for several reasons:

1. Telegram has an official representative in the EU that accepts and replies to EU requests. Its email address has been publicly available for anyone in the EU who googles “Telegram EU address for law enforcement”.

2. The French authorities had numerous ways to reach me to request assistance. As a French citizen, I was a frequent guest at the French consulate in Dubai. A while ago, when asked, I personally helped them establish a hotline with Telegram to deal with the threat of terrorism in France.

3. If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself. Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach. Building technology is hard enough as it is. No innovator will ever build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for potential abuse of those tools.

Establishing the right balance between privacy and security is not easy. You have to reconcile privacy laws with law enforcement requirements, and local laws with EU laws. You have to take into account technological limitations. As a platform, you want your processes to be consistent globally, while also ensuring they are not abused in countries with weak rule of law. We’ve been committed to engaging with regulators to find the right balance. Yes, we stand by our principles: our experience is shaped by our mission to protect our users in authoritarian regimes. But we’ve always been open to dialogue.

Sometimes we can’t agree with a country’s regulator on the right balance between privacy and security. In those cases, we are ready to leave that country. We’ve done it many times. When Russia demanded we hand over “encryption keys” to enable surveillance, we refused — and Telegram got banned in Russia. When Iran demanded we block channels of peaceful protesters, we refused — and Telegram got banned in Iran. We are prepared to leave markets that aren’t compatible with our principles, because we are not doing this for money. We are driven by the intention to bring good and defend the basic rights of people, particularly in places where these rights are violated.

All of that does not mean Telegram is perfect. Even the fact that authorities could be confused by where to send requests is something that we should improve. But the claims in some media that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue. We take down millions of harmful posts and channels every day. We publish daily transparency reports (like this or this ). We have direct hotlines with NGOs to process urgent moderation requests faster.

However, we hear voices saying that it’s not enough. Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950M caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform. That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard. We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon.

I hope that the events of August will result in making Telegram — and the social networking industry as a whole — safer and stronger. Thanks again for your love and memes