Flow Launcher has become one of my favorite Windows apps ever since I tried it a couple of months back, and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to get things done faster using their keyboard. Flow is already extremely useful out of the box, but what makes it so special is the fact that it can be extended massively through the multitude of available plug-ins.

Illustration: The Verge Google has notified the European Union that it won’t integrate work from fact-checking organizations into Search or YouTube, ahead of the bloc’s plans to expand disinformation laws. Google had previously signed a set of voluntary commitments that the EU introduced in 2022 to reduce the impact of online disinformation, which are in the process of being formalized into law under the Digital Services Act (DSA).The pushback comes as the emboldened leaders of US tech companies, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, have been courting President-elect Donald Trump, with Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg urging him directly to combat EU regulatory enforcement. In a letter written to the European Commission’s content and technology czar Renate Nikolay seen by Axios, Google’s global affairs president Kent Walker affirmed that Google won’t commit to the fact-checking requirement as it “simply isn’t appropriate or effective for our services.” Google will also “pull out of all fact-checking commitments in the Code” before the rules become law in the DSA Code of Conduct, according to Walker.Currently, the EU’s Code of Practice on Disinformation commits signatories to work with fact-checkers in all EU countries, make their work available to users in all EU languages, and cut financial incentives for spreading disinformation on their platforms. The code also compels companies to make it easier for users to recognize, understand, and flag disinformation, alongside labeling political ads and analyzing fake accounts, bots, and malicious deep fakes that spread disinformation.Fact-checking isn’t currently included as part of Google’s content moderation practices. The company objected to some of the code’s requirements in its agreement, saying that “Search and YouTube will endeavour to reach agreements with fact checking organizations in line with this measure, but services will not have complete control over this process.” 40 online platforms have signed the code, including Microsoft, TikTok, Twitch, and Meta — despite the latter scrapping its fact-checking program in the US earlier this month. Twitter (now X) was also a signatory but pulled out after Elon Musk purchased the platform. According to the European Fact-Checking Standards Network, many of the other digital platforms that signed the voluntary disinformation code have been lax about fulfilling their commitments. It’s unclear whether all of the code’s requirements will be formalized into official rules under the DSA — EU lawmakers have been in discussions with signatories regarding which commitments they will agree to follow. The Commission has yet to announce when the code will officially become law, having said in November that it’s expected to come into force by January 2025 “at the earliest.”

That Care Plus with Theft and Loss plan ain’t cheap, though. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Samsung is sweetening the benefits for some subscribers of its extended warranty plans with a new deal: unlimited same-day glass repairs at no extra cost. Previously, a busted screen would cost subscribers $29 — and those on Samsung’s less-expensive Care Plus plan will continue to pay that price. But if you’re prone to breaking screens and you’re on the Care Plus Theft and Loss plan, you won’t pay anything extra.The new policy includes cracked glass on your phone’s outer screen, back panel, and even the inner screens on folding phones, according to Samsung spokesperson Dale Hogan. That’s a big deal, considering that repairing a cracked inner screen can cost hundreds of dollars without an extended warranty. Just one inner screen repair would probably make the Care Plus plan worth it, though the value is a little fuzzier for slab-style phones. Image: Samsung Samsung groups its phones into tiers and sets pricing for repairs based on those groups. You can also pay monthly for a three-year term or once upfront, but your policy will only cover two years. The monthly cost for a Tier 4 device, which includes the likes of the Galaxy S24 Ultra or any of Samsung’s folding phones, is $18. The Galaxy S24 Plus costs a little less, at $15 per month, and the regular S24 is $10. That’s not exactly cheap, and you’d have to crack your screen a lot to justify the price difference between Care Plus and Care Plus Theft and Loss. A two-year Care Plus plan for the Galaxy S24 Ultra costs $259 if you pay upfront; that’s $90 less than the Care Plus Theft and Loss plan. You’d have to get three screen repairs to break even between the two plans. Theft and Loss includes a lot of other benefits, of course, like replacing your device for a flat fee if it goes missing. And if you’re worried about your folding phone’s inner screen, the pricier Care plan could certainly give you some more peace of mind. In any case, benefits like these getting better are the kind of inflation we like to see.

When the internet was in its infancy and home networks were complicated things to set up correctly, every device on your network had a public-facing IP address. This made it easy for game servers, FTP servers, and other services that you might want to use. This was fine, mostly, but it did mean that your devices were exposed to the wider internet and also that IPV4 addresses were going to run out unless something was done.

3D printing has revolutionized our ability to create functional designs and creative projects. The right software at each stage of the printing process makes all the difference in quality, efficiency, and overall satisfaction.

The falling debris field from the SpaceX Starship explosion lit up the night sky over the Caribbean, | Screenshot: YouTube Falling debris from the SpaceX Starship explosion yesterday created what looked like a meteor shower, or a colorful fireworks show based on videos shared by people in the area, but it also delayed flights. Eight and a half minutes after launch yesterday, the upper stage of the SpaceX Starship “experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” following the separation from its booster and the start of its ascent to space.The footage of the explosion’s aftermath was shared to social media and Reddit. Some of it was recorded inside planes flying nearby, and many flights were diverted around the debris field, or delayed until all the fragments touched down.The Federal Aviation Administration said it had “briefly slowed and diverted planes around the area where space debris was falling,” according to Reuters.The 7th test flight of Starship was at least a partial success, marking the second time SpaceX successfully caught the Super Heavy booster with its launch tower. It was also the first time one of the booster’s Raptor engines was reused from a previous flight. The launch was a testbed for a redesigned propulsion system, an improved flight computer, and the craft’s heat shield. It’s unclear if any of these were factors in the failure, but SpaceX says that, according to “initial data,” the explosion was potentially the result of a fire that developed in the ship’s rear section.The company says that “Starship flew within its designated launch corridor” and “any surviving pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated hazard area.” The falling debris put on a show in the evening sky over the Caribbean and was captured by several tourists who seemed both amazed and slightly anxious about what they were witnessing.@cnnbrk @CNN @cnni @Pardon_Me_22 appears to be a meteor shower over Turks and Caicos this evening.. Wow!!! Flew right over @ClubMedTurkoise pic.twitter.com/OL7vq8vbkH— Joshua Johnson (@JoshAJohnson10) January 16, 2025Just saw the most insane #spacedebris #meteorshower right now in Turks and Caicos ⁦@elonmusk⁩ what is it?? pic.twitter.com/a7f4MbEB8Q— Dean Olson (@deankolson87) January 16, 2025This just happened in the sky over #turksandcaicos ☄️ ‍♀️ #Aliens #meteor #firework??? pic.twitter.com/OwodvImSVC— Sally Alington (@sallyethos) January 16, 2025 pic.twitter.com/v1kyg6YtTg— andres (@_thatonedolphin) January 17, 2025After SpaceX Starship’s rapid unscheduled disassembly, our most tracked flights are all aircraft holding or diverting to avoid any potential debris. https://t.co/CzXnD5YvZg pic.twitter.com/4FTa4zI24V— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 16, 2025A screenshot shared by the flight tracking website FlightRadar24 to its X account yesterday showed several aircraft in holding patterns or being diverted following the incident, while another showed flight departures from Miami and For Lauderdale airports being delayed by 45 minutes.The last time SpaceX lost the Starship was during its third test flight last March. Although it was the first flight where the Starship completed its full-duration ascent burn, SpaceX lost contact with the spacecraft shortly before it was expected to splash down in the Indian Ocean.

If you're running Windows 11 22H2 or 23H2 and have been putting off the upgrade to 24H2, you may be in for a shock. The company has confirmed that anyone running an older version of the operating system is now getting an upgrade to 24H2, whether they want it or not.

Image: Netflix Castlevania: Nocturne season 2 gets philosophical about what it means to be a monster who loves. Read the full story at The Verge.

If you're looking to get involved in the world of Counter-Strike, it's a fairly steep learning curve. There's a lot to learn, there are people that have been playing for literally decades, and it can be difficult to figure out where to even start. I've been playing the game for over ten years, competing in tournaments in Europe and LAN tournaments in Ireland. If you're a beginner, here are all the steps you should follow to get started and steadily improve.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, and even TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew are among the powerful tech leaders lined up to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, but Nvidia’s CEO won’t be joining them. Reuters reports that when asked about his attendance, Jensen Huang said he would instead be celebrating the Lunar New Year “on the road” with employees and their families.While Huang won’t be present at the President-elect’s ceremony, he said he will “look forward to congratulating the Trump administration when they take office.” Huang also told reporters outside Nvidia’s New Year party in Taipei that he discussed increasing the production of Nvidia’s advanced Blackwell artificial intelligence chips with Chung Ching Wei, the chairman of Nvidia’s main supplier, TSMC.Nvidia is estimated to control 90 percent of the market share of AI chips. The company criticized a new AI framework announced by the Biden administration last week that would limit how many AI chips companies can send to different countries. In its blog post, Nvidia praised the more lax regulatory environment put in place by the first Trump administration and said it looks forward to “a return to policies that strengthen American leadership.”Nvidia is notably not among the list of companies and tech execs to have donated to Trump’s inauguration, with Meta, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and Apple’s Tim Cook having each pledged $1 million to fund the ceremony. Huang also hasn’t appeared at Mar-a-Lago to schmooze Trump directly, unlike top execs from other companies like Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Now that TikTok has finally reached the end of its legal options in the US to avoid a ban, somehow its future seems less clear than ever. The Supreme Court couldn’t have been more direct: the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, as applied to TikTok, withstands First Amendment scrutiny and can take effect on January 19th. The court agreed that the government had a compelling national security interest in passing the law and that its rationale was content neutral. The solution proposed — forcing Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok or see it ousted from the US — was ruled appropriately tailored to meet those ends. Yet the government’s response hardly feels like a victory lap. In fact, despite being still under ByteDance’s control, it’s not clear that anyone in the US government will even act like TikTok is banned on the 19th. “TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement after the Supreme Court ruling today. “Given... Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images In his first statement since the Supreme Court upheld a law that could ban TikTok from the US on Sunday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew offered no insight into what would happen to the app in just a few days. Instead, he took the opportunity to appeal to President-elect Donald Trump.“I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States,” Chew says in a video on the platform. “We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a President who truly understands our platform — one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process.” @tiktok Our response to the Supreme Court decision. ♬ original sound - TikTok In discussing Trump’s TikTok views, Chew is speaking his language. After all, the incoming president is famous for keeping close tabs on his TV ratings and recently declared he had a “warm spot” for TikTok after seeing how the platform played a role in his campaign. It’s TikTok’s most public attempt to butter Trump up before he takes over the Oval Office on Monday (one day after the ban takes effect), but Chew has already visited him at Mar-a-Lago and plans to attend his inauguration, along with several other tech CEOs.Trump has previously declared his intention to save TikTok but has not said how he’d do so. After Friday’s Supreme Court ruling, he asked the public to “respect it” and said, “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation.” Earlier on Friday, he said he’d spoken with China’s President Xi Jinping about TikTok, among other things, calling it a “very good” call.Chew’s statement seems to indicate that TikTok believes appealing to Trump is now its most promising path to remaining viable in the US. Even so, Trump’s options are somewhat limited. The most effective path, if he could achieve it, would be to somehow broker a deal to get ByteDance (with China’s allowance) to sell TikTok and comply with the law’s divestiture requirements. Otherwise, he could instruct his Justice Department not to enforce the ban, possibly through an executive order — but that might not be enough to reassure companies like Apple, Google, and Oracle that they won’t risk serious penalties by continuing to provide service for TikTok.In the meantime, we still don’t know how TikTok itself will handle the impending ban, which takes effect the day before Trump is sworn in. The company has reportedly planned to go dark in the US in that case. “Rest assured, we will do everything in our power to ensure our platform thrives as your online home for limitless creativity and discovery, as well as a source of inspiration and joy for years to come,” Chew says. “More to come.”