For many years, I used to manage my Windows setup in the traditional manner — installing apps one by one, customizing the environment, and manually checking for updates. It worked, until it didn't. System reinstalls, updates, frequent app conflicts, and overall disorganized configurations began to disrupt my workflow, resulting in a loss of productivity.

Apple has quietly launched a new website called “‎Snapshot on Apple” that presents viewers with a carousel of celebrities and information on where you can find their work across the company’s services.The website, spotted by 9to5Mac reports, presents two slowly moving rows of celebrity images, with no way to manually scroll or search them. In total, we have counted 36 profiles, including Bad Bunny, Dua Lipa, Matt Damon, Serena Williams, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake.The more useful part of the site is when you click into the cards. Each one takes you to a mini-profile of the celebrity and presents you with names and images of content they’re featured in with links out to Apple’s TV, Music, and Podcasts apps. They’re a bit like Apple-specific versions of the Feature.fm or Linktree pages that artists use to direct fans to their latest work.For instance, if you explore Zendaya, the page says that she’s an American actress and singer, and includes a “more” button that can bring out her full text profile. Under that card you can click to access content Zendaya is in, like Spider-Man: No Way Home, or her Podcast appearance on The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert.For now, Apple’s Snapshot seems like an unfinished product or perhaps something that’s meant to be part of an upcoming app or feature.

Poker Face’s Natasha Lyonne has a new project in the works that seemed poised to become a case study in the debate about how and whether Hollywood should be using generative AI.Lyonne is teaming up with technologist and virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier to produce a new sci-fi film that will feature elements generated by AI models. Titled Uncanny Valley, the feature will tell the story — which Lyonne co-wrote with The OA’s Brit Marling — of a teenage girl whose life is turned upside down by a popular virtual reality game. In addition to directing, Lyonne will star in the film alongside Marling. The film’s more fantastical visuals are being developed by Asteria, a new AI-focused production company Lyonne co-founded with her partner, director / producer Bryn Mooser (Body Team 12, Lifeboat). In a statement about Uncanney Valley, Lyonne said that collaborating with Marling and Lanier was an “endlessly inspiring” experience, and likened the film to a Wachowski project.“Imagine if Dianne Wiest and Diane Keaton, at their loquacious best, decided to take a journey through The Matrix for sport, only to find themselves holding up an architectural blueprint, and you’ll have a sense of the adventure we’ve been on,” Lyonne said. “Coming together as a trio in cahoots with the astounding imagineers at Asteria, to worldbuild this film at scale, has been a synergistic dream come true.”Asteria is trying to differentiate itself from other AI entertainment outfits by emphasizing its use of Marey, an AI model created by generative text-to-video startup Moonvalley. Moonvalley markets Marey as of the first truly “clean” AI models due to it being trained entirely on licensed material whose original creators were properly compensated. Uncanny Valley does not yet have a production timeline, and there’s no word on whether Asteria intends to debut the film theatrically or on a streaming service. But news of the project’s existence comes at a time when it has become increasingly clear that Hollywood is open to the idea of working with AI companies, and incorporating the technology into their production workflows despite concerns about its exploitative potential. Last month, more than 400 artists signed an open letter slamming OpenAI and Google for insisting that they should be allowed to train their models on copyrighted material as “a matter of national security.” And in 2023, the threat of AI being used to create digital replicas of / replace living actors was one of the contributing factors that ultimately led to an industry-wide strike.Because Marey is purportedly trained on footage that Moonvalley compensated the original creators for, Uncanny Valley could sidestep some of the issues posed by other types of AI. But what’s not at all clear is whether this kind of workflow might produce a movie people actually want to see, and if the project has any real legs beyond making for a solid bit of tech hype.

The 27 Project Kuiper satellites were carried into LEO by a United Launch Alliance rocket on Monday.Amazon’s Kuiper broadband internet constellation is starting to take shape, with its first batch of satellites shipped and deployed into space on Monday. The launch is just the first of 80 that Amazon has lined up to take all 3,236 Project Kuiper satellites into low-Earth orbit as part of the retail giant’s effort to compete with Starlink — SpaceX’s market-dominating satellite internet business.The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying Amazon’s first 27 Kuiper satellites was launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7PM ET on April 28th, after its first attempt on April 9th was scrubbed due to poor weather conditions.“While this is the first step in a much longer journey to launch the rest of our low Earth orbit constellation, it represents an incredible amount of invention and hard work,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said on X. “Am really proud of the collective team.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by United Launch Alliance (@ulalaunch)The Kuiper satellites were deployed 280 miles (450 kilometers) above Earth, and Amazon has confirmed that the satellites are successfully activated and communicating with ground systems. If all goes to plan, Amazon said it expects to start providing “high-speed, low-latency” satellite internet to customers “later this year.”“This launch marks the first step towards the future of our partnership and increased launch cadence,” ULA CEO Tory Bruno said in a post-launch statement. “We have been steadily modifying our launch facilities in Cape Canaveral to support the capacity for future Project Kuiper missions in a manner that will ultimately benefit both our commercial and government customers as we endeavor to save lives, explore the universe and connect the world.”The $10 billion Project Kuiper plan was announced in 2019 and is now under a deadline from the US Federal Communications Commission to have 1,618 satellites deployed by mid-2026 — half of its total constellation, but significantly fewer than the more than 7,200 satellites that Starlink already has in operation. By contrast, SpaceX announced yesterday that it had completed its 50th Starlink mission of 2025, passing a total milestone of 250 dedicated Starlink launches to date. The company is currently aiming to have 12,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, but already has regulatory approval to expand to 34,400 satellites. Amazon is one of several companies, including France’s Eutelsat and China’s Spacesail, seeking to provide a viable alternative to Starlink’s network, but SpaceX has a substantial head start — and low-Earth orbit is already starting to look pretty cluttered.

Choosing the right monitor can be challenging due to the countless models available on the market. Monitors are available in various sizes and resolutions, with many designed for a specific type of user or task. Entry-level options are usually fine for basic office work and other daily tasks. However, competitive gamers will want a high-refresh-rate model, while creators might prefer an OLED monitor with exceptional color accuracy for animation or graphic design.

The Nintendo Switch 2 Direct revealed a wealth of information about the upcoming console almost a month ago. Something that wasn’t received very well, however, was the announcement of Game-Key cards, physical game cartridges that would merely serve as a key to download a digital version of the game you bought. Unfortunately, it seems most third-party games for the Switch 2 will actually be Game-Key cards.

It’s always a good time to lock in for a marathon watch of Alfred Hitchcock films, and Netflix is getting ready to make a bunch of the legendary director’s features a lot easier to watch in one place.Today, Netflix announced that it plans to stream a number of Hitchcock’s films next month as part of a showcase tributing his impact on cinema. Starting on June 1st, Netflix subscribers will be able to watch Vertigo, Rear Window, Frenzy, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Family Plot, and The Birds. The showcase will also include a selection of films by other filmmakers like Jordan Peele’s Us and Zach Cregger’s Barbarian that drew inspiration from Hitchcock’s work. For folks keen on seeing the films at the cinema, Netflix is partnering with the Paris Theater in New York City to present “HITCH! The Original Cinema Influencer,” a six-week-long screening series designed to “highlight [Hitchcock’s] evolving technique and influence on popular culture.” The theatrical screenings, which you can buy tickets to now, are set to run from May 16th through June 29th.

OpenAI is rolling back its latest GPT-4o update after CEO Sam Altman said the company would be making fixes to address the chatbot’s “sycophant-y and annoying” personality introduced with recent updates.The rollback, which started Monday night, is “now 100%” rolled back for free ChatGPT users and will be rolled back for paid users “hopefully today,” Altman says in a post on X. “We’re working on additional fixes to model personality and will share more in the coming days.”OpenAI updated GPT-4o with improved “intelligence and personality,” Altman announced on Friday. But less than ten minutes after making that post, an X user said that “it’s been feeling very yes-man like lately,” to which Altman responded soon after with “yeah it glazes too much” and “will fix.” Then, on Sunday, Altman announced that OpenAI was working on some fixes “asap” to address personality issues from “the last couple” of GPT-4o updates.OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

A geologist with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency collects samples of treated Lake Michigan water in a laboratory at the water treatment plant in Wilmette, Illinois, on July 3, 2021. | Photo: Getty ImagesThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a new plan to address “forever chemicals” once widely used in non-stick and water-proof products that have since been linked to cancer, reproductive health issues, and liver damage. The vague details the EPA has shared so far, however, have health and environmental advocates wondering whether the EPA’s plan helps or delays action to keep the chemicals out of drinking water.The agency says it’ll launch new efforts to study the chemicals and will develop new guidelines to limit pollution from manufacturers. But the announcement on Monday comes as the EPA under Donald Trump attempts to roll back dozens of other environmental protections. And, notably, the agency hasn’t decided whether it plans to enforce existing limits on the amount of forever chemicals in drinking water. Nor will the agency say whether it plans to defend a Biden-era rule to classify the two most common forms of PFAS as hazardous chemicals prioritized for cleanup under the federal Superfund law.“It just feels like it offered a lot of words without saying anything,” says Mary Grant, a campaign director at the nonprofit Food & Water Watch. “It reminds me so much of the previous Trump administration, where they had PFAs roadmap after PFAs roadmap without actually taking any steps to really move the needle.”“A lot of words without saying anything.”The chemicals fall under the umbrella of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and earned the “forever” label because of how long they can persist in the environment and accumulate in the human body. They were used for decades in items such as nonstick pans, food packaging, fire-fighting foams, fabric protector, dental floss, and menstrual products. After facing a slew of lawsuits, some major companies have already pledged to stop using PFAS. But the chemicals have already made their way into at least 45 percent of the nation’s tap water and into most Americans’ blood streams.  “I have long been concerned about PFAS and the efforts to help states and communities dealing with legacy contamination in their backyards,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a press release yesterday. “This is just a start of the work we will do on PFAS to ensure Americans have the cleanest air, land, and water.”The EPA said it would develop new water pollution regulations for PFAS manufacturers and metal finishers. Forever chemicals can be used in the electroplating process of applying an anticorrosive “chrome” finish to metal. The EPA also says it’ll “designate an agency lead” on PFAS initiatives, including new efforts to gather information on how to detect and destroy the chemicals. Last year the Biden administration finalized the nation’s first legally enforceable federal limits on the most common types of PFAS in drinking water. It was the culmination of years of research and advocacy stretching back to Trump’s first term in office, when advocates and Democratic lawmakers accused the Trump administration of dragging its feet on the issue.Industry groups filed suit over the national drinking water standards, claiming the EPA overstepped its authority in crafting them. Trade groups similarly filed suit against the Biden administration over the hazardous waste designation for PFAS, arguing the EPA misinterpreted the Superfund law.The EPA’s announcement yesterday didn’t mention either suit, only saying that it will “address the most significant compliance challenges” related to national drinking water regulations for forever chemicals. When asked by The Verge whether it planned to defend those PFAS rules in court, EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said in an email that “New EPA leadership is in the process of reviewing the PFAS drinking water rule, and the issues presented in the litigation in the current case around it, and developing its position on how to proceed.” The agency faces May deadlines to decide whether to defend the drinking water and hazardous waste rules after asking for extensions in both cases.

Snap is backing away from plans to simplify the design of Snapchat as it reports losing 1 million users in North America. As part of its Q1 2025 earnings report on Tuesday, Snap revealed that it’s instead going to start testing a “refined” layout that keeps the app’s five existing tabs.The company first started testing the “Simple Snapchat” redesign last year, which would’ve removed the Snap Map and private chats tabs from the main navigation bar, leaving users with tabs for Stories, the camera, and its TikTok-like video feed, Spotlight.Snap is now reversing these plans after months of testing, seemingly after seeing reduced usage or user frustration. “Our‬‭ most‬‭ engaged‬‭ Snapchatters‬‭ consistently‬‭ demonstrated‬‭ a‬‭ preference‬‭ for‬‭ a‬‭ five-tab‬‭ layout, favoring‬ the‬‭ familiarity‬‭ of‬‭ tile-based‬‭ content‬‭ discovery‬‭ and‬‭ a‬‭ dedicated‬‭ Map‬‭ tab,” Snap writes in a letter to investors. In 2018, Snap’s stock sunk and users fled following a redesign aimed at keeping content from friends and brands separated.The newly revamped five-tab layout “combines the best of both approaches,” the company says, as it will bring more Stories to the messaging experience and make it easier to find Spotlight, which will appear directly to the right of the camera button.Snap doesn’t say how widely the redesign was rolled out or where it was tested. But the company reported losing users in North America in the most recent quarter, falling to 99 million daily active users, down from 100 million users in Q4 2024. Snapchat’s usage in North America has been essentially flat for close to three years.Despite a decrease in North American users, Snap reported a 14 percent year-over-year increase in revenue to $1.36 billion, which it attributes to growth in advertising and its Snapchat Plus subscription. Its global daily active users continue to grow, increasing to 460 million from 453 million last quarter.

Since Slate Auto came out of stealth mode last week, the internet has been abuzz with speculation about the finer details of the ultra-barebones electric Truck, which is set to cost just $20,000 when it enters production next year - assuming our federal EV incentives are still in place by then.One of those questions was where Slate will build the thing, with a TechCrunch report suggesting a factory in Indiana. Today we can officially confirm the details. Slate Auto will retrofit an existing 1.4 million square foot factory in Warsaw, Indiana, where the company plans to eventually produce 150,000 Trucks annually.If you missed all the excitement last week, Slate's Truck is a radically simplified EV with 150 miles of range, a barebones machine that could be considered a minimum viable car. It has no touchscreen, no radio, no power windows, and no paint. Slate Auto will retrofit an existing 1.4 million square foot factory in Warsaw, Indiana.Those were some of the concessions required to make an EV that inexpensively in the United States, but some of those seeming compromises enable a uniquely streamlined production workflow.Because the Truck doesn't have paint, Slate Auto's f …Read the full story at The Verge.

Saying the PC hardware industry isn't doing so hot right now is the understatement of the year. The latest Nvidia and AMD graphics cards are still marked up by 15–100% over MSRP, and stock levels aren't remotely close to where they should be. In the CPU department, gaming chips like the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X3D are either out of stock (at the time of writing) or out of reach of the majority anyway.