technology

/ E-readers are great, but this ultra-dorky gadget is the best solution we’ve tried for reading physical books in dim light. 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 Callum Booth / The Verge As convenient as e-readers are, I can’t quit actual books. Maybe it’s their reassuring weight, the satisfying crinkle of their pages, their beguiling musk; but there’s something addictive about that combination of paper, ink, and glue. Despite this — and as much as it pains me to say it — physical books aren’t perfect. One issue that’s been a particularly large albatross around my neck is read...

/ Samsung weighs in on AI photo editing: “The industry needs to be responsible and it needs to be regulated.” 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″>The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, showing off its cameras.

/ Beneath the Vision Pro’s cushioned band is the biggest Lightning plug we’ve seen. 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″>This is the “smaller” Lightning-like connector hiding in the Vision Pro’s external battery pack.

/ Even with ‘Find My’ turned on, Apple says you can’t use the service to track down your missing Vision Pro.  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 Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple’s newly released Vision Pro may be packed with new technology, but it lacks a pretty basic feature we associate with recent Apple products: Find My location tracking. According to Apple’s support page for the $3,500 headset, turning on the “Find My” feature on the Vision Pro will activate a feature called Activation Lock. When a user has Activation Lock turned on, their Vision Pro will r...

/ After all the boom and bust, we’re still here talking about Joe Rogan and SmartLess. 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: The Verge It’s been a big week for podcast deals! I look forward to sleeping it off this weekend. Why did SiriusXM give SmartLess a $100 million deal? Look at its subscriber losses. It’s been a massive week for podcast deals, including SiriusXM signing SmartLess away from Amazon’s Wondery for more than $100 million. The news broke soon before SiriusXM released its annual earnings for 2023 in which the company reported a drop of 430,000 subscribers over the ...

/ Custom emoji support is finally being tested in Microsoft Teams, surprising many Microsoft employees. 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: Microsoft Microsoft has started internally testing a new custom emoji feature for its Microsoft Teams communications platform. Multiple sources tell The Verge that Microsoft employees learned about the surprise new capability after animated emoji of Pepe the Frog — a meme with a troubled past — started appearing in reactions and messages on early internal versions of Microsoft Teams. The Pepe the Frog emotes, which are now widely used in Di...

/ You can pull images generated by the Firefly app and place them in the environment around you. Panoramas and 360-degree image generation are also in development. 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″>You can pull images generated by Firefly AI and place them around you like a floating gallery.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″>Like the web-based version, the visionOS Firefly app provides some limited editing tools and filters...

/ Mark Zuckerberg shot down the idea of Meta launching its own app store for iPhones: “I think it’s just going to be very difficult for anyone, including ourselves, to really seriously entertain what they’re doing there.” 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″>Mark Zuckerberg.

Gaming/ Entertainment / Taken separately, the shaders are cool. Altogether… less so. a]:text-gray-13″>If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. 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”>Graph: Game Developer’s Conference Even worse, of the majority of those surveyed with 20 or more years of experience in the industry — the kind of people with the seniority to approve marketing materials like this — only 6 percent were Black men and none were Black women. Microsoft doesn’t break down its diversity, equity, and inclusion rep...

/ Sometimes I get really tired of Android features that I like being precipitously changed or dumped. 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 Every time another Google app or feature bites the dust — even a small, relatively inconsequential one — I get annoyed. Really annoyed. Here’s the thing: there are Google Assistant-equipped devices in three rooms of my relatively small house: living room, bedroom, and office. Which means, unfortunately, that when I say “Hey, Google” out loud to my phone, I am just as likely to get a reaction from one — or more — of those thre...

/ The iPhone 15 is selling well, and services hit another record, but Apple’s tablet needs a boost. The rumored next-gen iPad Pro might be just the thing. 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 Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Tomorrow, Apple will launch its Vision Pro headset, marking the company’s most high-profile product launch since the original Apple Watch. And later this year, it will open up the iPhone’s App Store (at least in the EU) in new ways, offering developers more freedom — even if some of them are already displeased with the approach Apple is taking. There are enormous ...

/ We’re more than three years into the latest console generation, and Elgato is launching some of the best HDMI 2.1 capture cards yet. 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: Elgato Elgato is finally ready to launch its HDMI 2.1 cards and on February 1st, or 2/1, no less. After months of teasers, there are now two options for gamers wanting to capture footage from the latest Xbox Series X and PS5 consoles at higher framerates and resolution. The $229.99 4K X is a new USB capture card that lets you capture at up to 4K / 144fps. If you have a full PC setup or you’re more interested i...