Technology

A free browser version of Adobe Photoshop is now officially being tested in Canada and is set to be rolled out later this year. After launching web-only versions of Photoshop and Illustrator earlier this year, the online photo editing software will reportedly return via a freemium model with a heavily expanded range of editing tools and features. The new model includes Curves, RefineEdge, Dodge and Burn, Smart Objects conversion, and the ability to create new projects directly on the browser. The free web-based version will also allow previously incompatible devices such as Google Chromebook to access the app, and empower first-time users to get a taste of the editing software without needing to lock in for a trial. Learn more about the Photoshop web beta on the Adobe website and stay tune...

Although Adidas and Nike have been in and out of court several times over the years, Adidas has taken it to a new level. On Friday, the company filed its first federal lawsuit against Nike, alleging that its rival infringed on nine of its patents relating to smartphone apps and adjustable shoe tech. Initially reported by Reuters and Complex, the lawsuit pertains to a number of Nike’s digital products. Adidas claims that the Nike Run Club, Training Club, and SNKRS apps infringe its patents related to features like audio feedback during workouts, GPS tracking, training plans, integration with third-party accessories like heart rate monitors, and the ability to reserve and buy limited-edition sneakers. These are basic features on several running and fitness tracking apps, and this isn’t the f...

You’ve got to hand it to Lime — they really lean into the whole fruit thing. Case in point: the shared scooter company is trialing a new electric motorbike in Long Beach, California, called, wait for it, the Citra. It’s the latest lightweight electric vehicle to join the company’s fleet, which has been diversifying beyond the electric kick scooters that have defined Lime for the last five years. The Citra motorbike, which has a large padded seat and can reach a top speed of 20mph, is designed and built in-house by Lime’s existing manufacturing partners. And the company is hoping that, with soaring gas prices, customers will flock to a new vehicle that can help replace some of their car trips. The news comes after Lime quietly killed off its shared moped program in New York City and Washing...

Google has suspended one of its engineers for claiming that the company’s computer chatbot has become sentient. In a chain of events that could be similar to the beginning of a Black Mirror-inspired sci-fi film, engineer Blake Lemoine has claimed that the system has gained the ability to express thoughts and feelings that are equivalent to that of a human child. Just last week, Lemoine, who is an engineer for Google’s responsible AI organization was placed on leave after he published a conversation transcript between himself as a Google “collaborator” and the company’s Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) chatbot system. In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Lemoine said, “If I didn’t know exactly what it was, which is this computer program we built recently, I’d thin...

Today’s the day: Dish Network needs to offer 5G service to at least 20 percent of the US population or face some steep fines from the US government. And lo and behold, Dish appears to be lighting up its 5G service in the nick of time — but there’s an awful lot still up in the air. The company’s website for Project Genesis (that’s what it’s calling this whole endeavor) has been updated to state that it’s “live in 120 cities” with a link to “order now.” Until very recently, the website only listed the 120 initial cities that the service would cover outside of its first test market in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it looked uncertain that Dish would make its deadline. It’s still not entirely clear that Dish has met the requirements. Dish has yet to formally announce the service’s launch, and the com...

Instagram Stories seem to be misbehaving for some users, making it so that they have to re-view all of someone’s stories before they’re able to see new ones. The issue has affected several Verge staff members since yesterday, and some Reddit users have reported the same thing is happening to them. Meta spokesperson Christine Pai told The Verge in an email that the company is “aware that some people are having trouble accessing Instagram Stories.” Pai said Instagram is “working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible,” and apologizes for the inconvenience. The root issue seems to be that Instagram doesn’t remember where you left off when viewing someone’s stories. For example, if one of my friends has posted five stories, and I look at four of them before swiping away, the next ...

Sony’s upcoming Gran Turismo film is apparently hitting theaters sooner than we might have expected — its scheduled for release on August 11th, 2023, according to a new report from Deadline. Neill Blomkamp is set to direct the movie, which is supposed to be based on a true story. Seriously. Here’s the official logline (aka short summary) of the movie, per Deadline: “Based on a true story, the film is the ultimate wish fulfillment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional race car driver.” That means the film likely pulls from the story of someone from the GT Academy, which let Gran Turismo pros compete to join a real-life racing team sponsored by Nissan from 2008 until its last iteration in 2016. Deadline’...

T-Mobile is certainly not afraid to tout its own 5G achievements, and true to form, it’s announcing another milestone today: by combining three channels of mid-band spectrum on its 5G network, the company achieved 3Gbps network speeds. This seems to be more than a stunt, too — T-Mobile says this technology will become available to customers on its network “later this year.” Those 3Gbps (or 3000Mbps) speeds are approaching mmWave territory — that’s the high-band, limited range kind of 5G that lets you download a movie in seconds. Mid-band 5G typically reaches around 200Mbps, and that’s considered very good compared to LTE — but T-Mobile is doing a little tinkering behind the scenes to boost those speeds significantly. this most recent test ups speeds with an additional third channel More sp...

In a judgment on Tuesday, an appeals tribunal in the United Kingdom largely upheld a previous ruling ordering Meta (parent company to Facebook) to unwind its acquisition of Giphy, as first reported by the Financial Times. The judgment comes more than six months after the initial ruling by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and more than two years after Meta first announced its intention to acquire the company. The ruling was not a total defeat for Meta, however. While the appeals tribunal found in favor of the CMA in five of the six claims, the tribunal did rule that the CMA had failed to properly inform Meta of Snapchat’s acquisition of Gfycat for nearly a year after it became aware of the ruling, thus undermining the company’s defense. The tribunal will decide how to remedi...

Bethesda, which recently delayed Starfield into next year and hasn’t shown anything substantial about The Elder Scrolls 6 since announcing it in 2018, is already thinking about what comes after. In an interview with IGN, Bethesda’s Todd Howard said Bethesda Game Studios is planning on making Fallout 5… eventually. “Yes, Elder Scrolls 6 is in pre-production and, you know, we’re going to be doing Fallout 5 after that, so our slate’s pretty full going forward for a while,” Howard said. There’s no indication about when we can expect Fallout 5 to be released. Given how long we’ve been waiting for Starfield and the fact that we know basically nothing about The Elder Scrolls 6 — note that Howard said the game is still in pre-production despite being announced four years ago — it seems likel...

Twitch is expanding its ad incentive program to include more creators and pay them more money. Earlier this year, Twitch began offering select streamers a flat, guaranteed payment in exchange for running a fixed amount of ads during a fixed number of hours. Now, Twitch is opening up the program to include more partners and is changing the way it structures payouts to pay creators more. Originally, payouts earned with the ad incentive program were calculated using a CPM model. Basically, streamers would get a flat rate for every 1,000 ads watched on their channel. “We found that a fixed CPM model wasn’t the most straightforward way to share revenue with creators,” said Mike Minton, vice president of monetization at Twitch, in an email to The Verge. “So we’re now launching a new model that’s...

Peacock is bringing Downton Abbey: A New Era to its streaming service on June 24th. The film, which was released on May 20th, will exclusively stream on the platform following its departure from theaters. New Era is the sequel to the 2019 Downton Abbey film (which Peacock currently owns the rights to stream as well) and the original series. It centers around the Crawleys and staff as part of the family embarks on a journey to a villa in France, while the others greet a movie crew that arrives at the estate. If you’re a fan of Singing in the Rain, you’ll probably have a good time. To celebrate the film’s arrival (and to help fans catch up before the film’s arrival), Peacock also added a 24/7 channel that will just air seasons 1 through 6 nonstop. While you might not want to miss a second an...