Tech
TikTok Launches “Elevate” Music Program
TikTok has grown to be a crucial platform for musical artists of all calibers, and the company is now set to dive even further into music with the "Elevate" program. "Elevate" aims to set aspiring artists up with sustainable careers that aren't driven by just one viral track, and in pursuit of that goal it'll give the, early access to in-app features as well as content amplification and social media support from TikTok's official accounts.The goal of TikTok's new initiative is to “identify the next wave of emerging stars poised to break out in the music industry.” Artists Chinchilla, Sam Barber, Omar Courtz, Isabel La Rosa, Kaliii, and Lu Kala make up the inaugural group of emerging artists sponsored by "Elevate," also referred to as the Class of 2023. All of these artists are already crea...
Margaret Atwood, Suzanne Collins and 8,000 More Authors Sign Letter Urging AI Makers To Stop Using Their Books
As AI models continuously advance their capabilities, some even expressed the ability to mimic the writing style of a given author. For instance, if a user requests a passage of writing inspired by a given author, such as The Hunger Games’ Suzanne Collins or The Handmaid’s Tale’s Margaret Atwood, the program is often capable of churning out a passage in their style, having been trained using their iconic texts.Authors, understandably, are protesting the use of their work to train AI models and demanding their fair share. Over 8,000 authors have penned an open letter – entitled The Authors Guild's Open Letter to Generative AI Leaders – addressed to the CEOs of OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Stability AI’s Emad Mostaque, IBM’s Arvind Krishna and Micros...
Why Anthony Casalena says Squarespace is ready for the next era of the web
Squarespace has lived through the eras of domain squatting, SEO keywords, and social algorithms and is now launching AI tools. Here’s what’s next for the 20-year-old company. By Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of the Verge, host of the Decoder podcast, and co-host of The Vergecast. Share this story *:last-child>*:last-child]:mb-0″> Listen to Decoder, a show hosted by The Verge’s Nilay Patel about big ideas — and other problems. Subscribe here! We celebrated our 20th anniversary in April. So we’re used to a web, pre-social network phase, almost pre-YouTube, pre-iPhone. The predominant browser was Internet Explorer. So we’ve seen a lot. Blogging was a word I used to have to explain to people what it meant when Squarespace launched. So we’re no stranger to change on the web. It’s...
This Barbie is a feminist parable fighting to be great in spite of Mattel’s input
Movie Review Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is often good and sometimes great, but it always feels like it’s fighting to be itself rather than the movie Warner Bros. and Mattel Films want. By Charles Pulliam-Moore, a reporter focusing on film, TV, and pop culture. Before The Verge, he wrote about comic books, labor, race, and more at io9 and Gizmodo for almost five years. Share this story 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: Warner Bros. Barbies might “just” be toys, but Barbie™ is an impossibly perfect paragon of glamorous femininity who’s had as many specialized professions over...
Google is testing AI-generated Meet video backgrounds
/ Type an AI prompt for ‘Luxurious living room interior,’ and suddenly, you’re video calling from a new tax bracket. 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 I am not big on blurring out or replacing my office background with premade images, but then again, I’m fortunate enough to have a small environment I’m completely in control of at my disposal, and I want people to see the Doctor Zhivago DVD on the shelf behind me. I could, however, see myself using the new AI-generated backgrounds Google is now testing in its Workspace Labs (via XDA-Developers / 9to5Google). T...
Elon Musk says Twitter is working on a feature that will let you publish articles
Twitter/ Tech / ‘You could publish a book if you want.’ 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 Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter is working on a feature that will let you publish articles on the platform, according to owner Elon Musk. The feature will “allow users to post very long, complex articles with mixed media,” Musk said in a reply to a user tweeting about the in-development tool, which is apparently now called “Articles” instead of “Notes.” “You could publish a book if you want.” The feature will further expand the ways you can write on the platform, which, under Mu...
Mobileye’s latest car tech reads road signs to better pester you about speed
/ The Intel-owned autonomous vehicle developer has a simple solution to help drivers follow speed limits. 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″>Mobileye’s system can detect illustrated signs as well as regular speed limit signs.
A Sealed Apple iPhone 4 From 2007 Sold for $190,000 USD
Apple iPhone models are notoriously pricey, but if you thought a top-spec iPhone 14 Pro Max wasn't enough, then perhaps you should look at buying a super-rare Apple iPhone 4 instead.A sealed example of the rare 4GB model from 2007 has just sold at LCG Auctions to an anonymous buyer for (precisely) $190,372.80 USD. When Apple released the phone, it went on to become the tech conglomerate's most successful product ever. It came as a 4GB or 8GB mobile, and per Kotaku, it was the 4GB version that has gone on to become a collector's item thanks to it selling out slower, as most people opted for the more expensive, doubled-memory iPhone 4.Per LCG Auctions, "The original 4GB model is considered a 'Holy Grail' amongst iPhone collectors." It continues to note:"The lagging sales resulted in Apple ma...
E-Bike Imprint VanMoof Hits the Brakes, Announces Bankruptcy
Independent Dutch e-bike company VanMoof has been declared bankrupt by the Netherlands authorities, hitting the brakes on its luxurious ride. VanMoof's boom began during the Covid19 pandemic, seeing expanding interest in its eco-friendly electronic bicycles worldwide. The brand was progressing upward, becoming synonymous with sophisticated bike frames that oozed with on-wheel elegance. Following its "suspension of payment" court proceedings, VanMoof has declared that its Dutch structure has gone bankrupt, appointing two administrators to examine the possibility of a company refresh. VanMoof's future is uncertain, but for now, it will close local retail operations effective immediately. The brand intends to keep its international entities running while working to maintain its online and rep...
The Biden Administration is tackling smart devices with a new cybersecurity label
/ The US Cyber Trust Mark would require smart products to meet certain thresholds, including ongoing software security support, to qualify for the program. 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 Carlo Cadenas / The Verge The Biden Administration is unveiling a new cybersecurity label for smart devices today. In a press briefing, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the new label, called the US Cyber Trust Mark, will signify that devices bearing it meet security standards based on those established in a report by the National Institut...
Meta’s Threads App Gets Rate Limited Over Spam Bot Attacks
Recently, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri shared that the Threads app would need to implement stricter rate limits [which limits how many posts a user can view] due to growing attacks from spam bots.Mosseri explained that "Spam attacks have picked up so we're going to have to get tighter on things like rate limits, which is going to mean more unintentionally limiting active people (false positives). If you get caught up those protections let us know."With Twitter having to implement similar measures recently, Elon Musk, as he does, took the opportunity to jeer Mosseri and Instagram by insulating they were copycats -- expressed using a cat emoji.LmaoooCopy ?— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 17, 2023While Threads has just begun its challenges with spam bots, Twitter could be considered a vete...
VanMoof e-bikes is bankrupt
/ The news was announced to employees in an internal e-mail after the Dutch court’s decision. Administrators are now looking at the possibility of a restart. 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″>It’s the end of the road for VanMoof as we know it.
