Technology

There’s a future where we don’t need roads and regular folks like you and me can jump into a boat-sized electric pod and just fly anywhere on a whim. While we’ve been perfecting the miracle of human flight for more than a century, instant air transportation has long been relegated to science fiction. But in the last decade, many companies have stepped up to help get flying cars and air taxis out of the Hollywood movie magic bubble. Startups like Joby Aviation and Archer are building electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that can taxi several people around in the sky without burning nasty fuel. The air taxi dream is already passing some regulatory milestones: the FAA has now established rules. Although these vehicles aren’t exactly the “flying cars” we’ve imagined, this is...

/ The app isn’t likely to be released but aimed to help prediabetic people make lifestyle changes. a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>Metabolic health is a burgeoning wearable health trend.a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>Dexcom’s Stelo OTC CGM is geared toward prediabetics and Type 2 diabetics who don’t use insulin.

Like a Dragon proves that a quality adaptation doesn’t always have to be a faithful one. By Ash Parrish, a reporter who covers the business, culture, and communities of video games, with a focus on marginalized gamers and writing about the intersection of video games and sex. It was late when I watched the first episode of Amazon Prime Video’s Like a Dragon: Yakuza. I bargained with myself to watch one episode before sleep; three episodes later, I finally went to bed. Let’s get this out of the way: if you’re looking for Like a Dragon to be a faithful representation of the Yakuza video game series, you’re going to be disappointed. But that’s what makes it worth watching. Like a Dragon’s unique approach to storytelling blends two different timelines together, making for a show that works on ...

/ On The Vergecast: Apple gadgets new and upcoming, the many moving parts of the AI industry, and clicking to cancel. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge The first bits of Apple Intelligence are starting to show up on people’s phones. The features in iOS 18.1 are fairly basic: summarizing messages, writing emails, that kind of thing. Apple is already letting developers play with iOS 18.2, though, which looks like a much more substantial update. Meanwhile, the company is about to launch a bunch of new M4-powered and AI-focused Macs, and launched the ...

/ The Browser Company is already onto its second product — but it promises it’s not leaving Arc behind. a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>One of the many prototypes The Browser Company is building for its next browser.

/ The startup’s next flagship model, codenamed Orion, is slated to arrive around the two-year anniversary of ChatGPT. *:last-child>*:last-child]:mb-0″> Do you work at OpenAI? I’d love to chat. You can reach me securely on Signal @kylie.01 or via email at kylie@theverge.com. Orion has been teased by an OpenAI executive as potentially up to 100 times more powerful than GPT-4; it’s separate from the o1 reasoning model OpenAI released in September. The company’s goal is to combine its LLMs over time to create an even more capable model that could eventually be called artificial general intelligence, or AGI. It was previously reported that OpenAI was using o1, code named Strawberry, to provide synthetic data to train Orion. In September, OpenAI researchers threw a happy hour to celebrate ...

/ The German electric VTOL aircraft maker is going insolvent. a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>Lilium’s Jet eVTOL.

/ The M3 MacBook Air is also on sale, and we’re seeing the best prices to date on Google’s Pixel Tablet and Anker’s UFO-shaped MagSafe charger. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Apple might be updating several Macs with M4 chips as early as next week, but it’s looking like the MacBook Air lineup might not join the party until early 2025. That said, if you’re on an older MacBook and can’t wait to upgrade, there have been few better times than now. The base 13-inch M2 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage has fallen to an all-time low of $...

/ AAA compared older and newer models to see how automatic emergency braking is progressing. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Photo by Selcuk Acar / Anadolu via Getty Images Automatic emergency braking (AEB) isn’t perfect, but the technology is improving, according to a recent study conducted by AAA. The research comes on the heels of a new federal rule requiring all vehicles to have the most robust version of AEB by 2029. AAA wanted to see how newer vehicles with AEB fared compared to older models with the technology. AEB uses forward-facing cameras and other sensors to automatica...

/ Roblox’s also adding a new type of account that will let parents manage their kids on the platform. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Illustration: The Verge Roblox is making some potentially major changes that will limit what pre-teens can access and give parents more control over what their kids do on the platform, according to an email sent by the company and shared with The Verge. The changes follow recent reports highlighting how Roblox has failed to protect children. In July, for example, Bloomberg published a big report about predators on the platform. Turkey blocked access...

/ A lawsuit claims that Character.AI’s founders launched a dangerous product that it advertised as safe for use by kids without warning them or their parents of possible risks. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images A lawsuit has been filed against Character.AI, its founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, and Google in the wake of a teenager’s death, alleging wrongful death, negligence, deceptive trade practices, and product liability. Filed by the teen’s mother, Megan Garcia, it claims the platform for custom AI cha...

/ Groups representing telecom companies, home security companies, and internet advertisers don’t want to make subscriptions easier to cancel. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge Three industry groups are suing to prevent the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from enforcing its new “Click to Cancel” rule that requires companies to make it easy to cancel subscriptions, according to Reuters. And yes, it’s exactly who you’d expect. Click to cancel expands the Negative Option Rule to forbid businesses from making customers cancel services using a meth...