technology

/ Those who previously plunked down $100 to reserve Tesla’s advertised $39,900 Blade Runner prop truck will need to revisit their Cybertruck purchasing plans. By Umar Shakir, a news writer fond of the electric vehicle lifestyle and things that plug in via USB-C. He spent over 15 years in IT support before joining The Verge. Share this story If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. A newer showcase model of the Cybertruck in New York City.Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Cybertruck is here — for real this time — and for those who haven’t reserved one already, Tesla has a new ordering process. Today, you can preorder the visually perplexing, low-poly pickup truck on Tesla’s website with a refundable deposit of $250. A s...

It’s been a long time coming, but Hayao Miyazaki’s next film is almost here. After being announced in 2016 and premiering in Japan in early 2023, The Boy and the Heron — previously known as How Do You Live? — hits North American theaters on December 8th. It’s the first new feature from Studio Ghibli since Earwig and the Witch in 2020 (which was directed by Miyazaki’s son Goro) and the first from Miyazaki himself since 2013’s The Wind Rises. The film was initially shrouded in mystery; prior to its premiere in Japan, no trailers or even images were released. It was also expected to be Miyazaki’s final film, though the famed director has since backtracked (again) on the idea of retiring. Since then, we’ve gotten plenty of looks at The Boy and the Heron and even had the opportunity to talk to ...

/ You can now choose to reveal your locked chats on WhatsApp with a secret code. By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. Share this story Illustration: The Verge WhatsApp is introducing a new way to keep your locked chats away from prying eyes. Instead of having your locked chats folder visible with all your other conversations, you can now hide the chats behind a secret code of your choosing. As shown in the below example provided by Meta, you can use letters, numbers, special characters, and even emoji in your secret code. All you have to do is type that password into the WhatsApp search bar to find your locked chats. This should hopefully keep people from knowing you ha...

By Alex Heath, a deputy editor and author of the Command Line newsletter. He’s covered the tech industry for over a decade at The Information and other outlets. Share this story When OpenAI’s board asked Sam Altman to return a day after they fired him, he initially felt defiant, hurt and angry. “It took me a few minutes to snap out of it and get over the ego and emotions to then be like, ‘Yeah, of course I want to do that,’” he told me by phone on Wednesday. “Obviously, I really loved the company and had poured my life force into this for the last four and a half years full time, but really longer than that with most of my time. And we’re making such great progress on the mission that I care so much about, the mission of safe and beneficial AGI.” After an attempted boardroom coup that last...

/ Court documents show the gaming giant wanted more from mobile. By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget. Share this story Illustration by William Joel / The Verge Until today, we’d never heard of “Project Boston”. It was Activision Blizzard King’s big plan to earn more money from its mobile games by changing its relationship with Google. And if things had gone differently, it would have given Activision Blizzard its own app store on Android. In late 2019, according to internal emails and documents I saw today in the courtroom during the Epic v. Google trial, the company decided it was going to dual-track two intriguing parallel plans. The first plan was to bu...

/ After selling Workflow to Apple in 2017, the co-founders are back with a new startup that wants to reimagine how desktop computers work using generative AI. By Alex Heath, a deputy editor and author of the Command Line newsletter. He’s covered the tech industry for over a decade at The Information and other outlets. Share this story From left to right: Conrad Kramer, Kim Beverett, and Ari Weinstein of Software Applications Incorporated. AI chatbots like ChatGPT have, to date, been fairly impersonal, existing outside of the apps and data that we use every day. A new startup by three ex-Apple employees called Software Applications Incorporated hopes to change that. The company’s CEO, Ari Weinstein, is a repeat founder, having sold his last startup, the iOS automation app Workflow, to Apple...

/ The five social media executives will testify before the Senate on January 31st, 2024 over their ‘failure to protect’ kids online. By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. Share this story Laura Normand / The Verge Some of the biggest names in tech will testify before the US Senate on January 31st, 2024 during a hearing about online child exploitation. In a Wednesday announcement, the Senate Judiciary Committee said it will hear from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, X (formerly Twitter) CEO Linda Yaccarino, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, and Discord CEO Jason Citron. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) issued subpoenas for Yaccarino, Spiegel, a...

/ The automaker is slashing costs and reining in spending on its robotaxi business, which has paused operations in the wake of a crash. By Andrew J. Hawkins, transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State. Share this story Image: Getty General Motors is dealing with a lot right now: a slowing EV business, delays in battery manufacturing, a safety crisis with its robotaxi unit, Cruise, and financial headwinds from the monthslong autoworker strike. On top of it all, its stock price is still struggling to get back to where it was this summer before the strike started. With all that in mind, GM CEO Mary Barra hopped on a call with investors early Wednesday to address t...

/ Spotify’s yearly roundup is showing error messages instead of listening data for some people. By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. Share this story Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Spotify Wrapped, the yearly roundup that offers insight into your listening habits, started having issues shortly after its launch. While Spotify is offering Wrapped on the web for the first time, the experience isn’t loading for some users. Instead of landing on a login page when heading to Spotify.com/wrapped, some users (including myself and several others at The Verge) are seeing a blank webpage that says “500 Internal Server Error.” There are also numerous reports on X (formerl...

/ Uber was once banned in London. Now it’s on track to list all 15,000 black cabbies in its app. One trade group denounced the deal. By Andrew J. Hawkins, transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State. Share this story Photo by Mike Kemp / In Pictures via Getty Images Uber notched another win in its effort to win over the beleaguered taxi industry, announcing a plan to start listing London’s famed black cabbies in its app. The service won’t roll out until early 2024, but some London cabbies have already begun to sign up. Uber says all 15,000 of London’s cab drivers “will now have the opportunity” to sign up for Uber trip referrals. The company recently brokered de...

/ Amazon Q, currently available for contact centers, will be integrated to other AWS services soon. By Emilia David, a reporter who covers AI. Prior to joining The Verge, she covered the intersection between technology, finance, and the economy. Share this story AWS CEO Adam SelipskyNoah Berger Amazon’s cloud business AWS launched a chat tool called Amazon Q, where businesses can ask questions specific to their companies. Announced during a keynote speech by AWS CEO Adam Selipsky at AWS re:Invent, Amazon Q acts like an AI assistant where users can ask questions about their businesses using their data. For example, employees can query Amazon Q on the company’s latest guidelines for logo usage or understand another engineer’s code to maintain an app. Q can surface the information instead of ...

/ Amazon Q, currently available for contact centers, will be integrated to other AWS services soon. By Emilia David, a reporter who covers AI. Prior to joining The Verge, she covered the intersection between technology, finance, and the economy. Share this story AWS CEO Adam SelipskyNoah Berger Amazon’s cloud business AWS launched a chat tool called Amazon Q, where businesses can ask questions specific to their companies. Announced during a keynote speech by AWS CEO Adam Selipsky at AWS re:Invent, Amazon Q acts like an AI assistant where users can ask questions about their businesses using their data. For example, employees can query Amazon Q on the company’s latest guidelines for logo usage or understand another engineer’s code to maintain an app. Q can surface the information instead of ...