The Verge | Photo by Tom Williams via Getty Images Meta has donated $1 million to president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, The Wall Street Journal reports. Zuckerberg’s team reportedly told Trump’s inaugural committee about Meta’s planned donation before Zuckerberg and Trump dined together at Mar-a-Lago in November. Before the dinner, Zuckerberg showed off Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses and gifted a pair to Trump, according to the Journal. Zuckerberg’s advisers also met with incoming White House officials, including incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. The donation marks a significant shift for Zuckerberg, who has until recently shied away from politics. Zuckerberg called Trump to congratulate him on his election victory. But he didn’t publicly endorse a candidate in 2020 — and as Meta spokespeople have repeatedly emphasized, he also didn’t endorse anyone in 2024, despite Trump’s claims that Zuckerberg called him to say there’s “no way” he could vote for a Democrat after the attempt on Trump’s life at a Pennsylvania rally. (Zuckerberg also called Trump’s reaction to the shooting “badass.”) Still, Zuckerberg has made increasingly unsubtle overtures to Trump, who has threatened the Facebook founder over the years.The dinner — and the donation — are signs that the notoriously rocky relationship between Zuckerberg and Trump is starting to soften. Trump has had it out for Zuckerberg since Facebook banned his account in the wake of the January 6th riots, and at one point said Zuckerberg should be jailed due to Facebook’s alleged interference in the 2020 election.

When it comes to getting work done, few software suites are as prominent as Microsoft Office. The quintessential tool for office productivity, Office includes all kinds of apps to help you with different types of work, whether it's writing documents, making presentations, or processing large sets of data.

Combining layers in Photoshop is a simple task. Layers in Photoshop allow you to manipulate and stack multiple images, edits, and text. This allows for flexibility in editing without permanently changing the original image. Photoshop wasn’t the first software to introduce layers, but it has popularized the feature. Working with layers isn’t exclusive to Photoshop, and every Photoshop alternative has some way of working with layers. The non-destructive nature of working with layers is essential in graphic design and in many other creative projects.

While you can use one without a case, if you have the chance or funds to buy one, we recommend grabbing one to use with your Raspberry Pi 5. Not only can it protect the board from debris and other elements, but if you grab the right one, it can also add some much-needed cooling as well.

Image: Google Experts believe that one day, quantum computers could make today’s systems of encryption utterly obsolete. But Google tells The Verge its new “breakthrough” Willow chip is nowhere near ready for that. “The Willow chip is not capable of breaking modern cryptography,” Google Quantum AI director and COO Charina Chou tells The Verge. A so-called “cryptanalytically relevant quantum computer,” or CRQC, could “jeopardize civilian and military communications, undermine supervisory and control systems for critical infrastructure, and defeat security protocols for most Internet-based financial transactions,” the White House warned in 2022, ordering that US agencies must transition to new systems to mitigate that risk by 2035.But Willow is not a CRQC, according to Google. While the company does claim it can solve a computing challenge in five minutes that would take the world’s fastest supercomputer ten septillion years, Google has only produced 105 physical qubits worth of that computing power and suggests it would need millions to literally crack the codes.“Estimates are we’re at least 10 years out from breaking RSA, and that around 4 million physical qubits would be required to do this,” Chou writes. She says Willow doesn’t change the timeline at all. And though Chinese researchers have repeatedly claimed to discover new ways to break RSA encryption with much smaller quantum computers, ones with just a few hundreds or thousands of qubits, security experts have repeatedly been skeptical.Google is one of the many companies preparing to defend against the potential threat of broken encryption with post-quantum cryptography, or PQC, ever since the Edward Snowden leaks revealed that spy agencies like the NSA were quietly funding code-breaking quantum computer research. A few years back, we wrote about how the National Institute of Standards and Technology created a competition to develop quantum-safe cryptography standards back in 2016. This August, NIST released three finalized algorithms and its standards for integrating them into products and systems, and plans to select one or two more by the end of the year.The RAND Corporation, a think tank famous for advising on US national security in the past, suggested in a 2023 editorial that the moment an RSA-breaking quantum computer exists, it’ll trigger a worldwide rush to defend against it: “As soon as the existence of the CRQC becomes public knowledge — or is even considered plausible — and the threat becomes concrete, most vulnerable organizations will immediately move to upgrade all their communications systems to post-quantum cryptography.”

Let's face it: Windows 11's Start menu isn't the best out there. While previous versions of Microsoft's operating system let you tweak your taskbar to your liking, Windows 11 is quite restrictive. As such, all those people who enjoy having their taskbar on the left or right-hand side of the screen have been disappointed to hear that the operating system doesn't support moving the taskbar around without third-party aid. Well, if you're tired of Windows 11's Start menu and taskbar, you can now stick them to the sides using Start11.

Remember your old friend 5G? | Image: The Verge Verizon is making good on one of the many unfulfilled promises of 5G with a new service called Enhanced Video Calling. According to the company’s website, it delivers “optimized video and sound quality on calling apps,” even in times of congestion. That may not sound exciting on its own. But under the hood, Verizon is using network slicing to boost video call performance, which is a new technology only possible on a standalone 5G network.Unlike remote robot banana surgery, network slicing is a real benefit of 5G technology that we can reasonably expect to see in more places in the next few years. Slicing lets network operators provide the right resources for certain kinds of demanding activities where a strong connection is critical. Right now, that means boosting performance for video calls, but in the future it could mean being able to prioritize the data needed to safely guide an autonomous vehicle through an intersection.The catch is that you need a standalone 5G network to pull this off, and much of the US’ 5G networks still operate on 4G cores. T-Mobile has been able to move quicker on this thanks to its Sprint acquisition, and it rolled out its first feature based on slicing this fall with a service that gives priority to first responders. Verizon has been testing slicing for the past year or so, but this is its first rollout of a consumer feature based on the technology.In order to try Enhanced Video Calling out for yourself, you have to meet a specific set of requirements. It’s available in “more than 150 metro areas” right now, with more to be added in 2025. But you also need to be on Verizon’s priciest plan, Unlimited Ultimate, which costs $90 per month for one line with autopay. And you’ll need an iPhone 14 or newer running iOS 18.2. Samsung Galaxy S23 and newer and Pixel 9 phones will be compatible too, but support for Android video calling apps on Android is arriving in 2025.If you meet the above prerequisites, you should see a setting in iOS that reads “Enhance 5G” if you go to Settings > Cellular, according to Apple’s documentation.

As much as I love the idea of portable PC gaming, I haven't bought a console yet. The Steam Deck is a little pricey for me to give the hobby a shot, and third-party models tend to go the opposite direction of affordability, opting instead to make more powerful models. However, when I reported that there might be a Lenovo Legion Go "S" model, I got interested. It seemed like the perfect way to get started with handheld gaming without making too much of an investment. So, here's why the Lenovo Legion Go "S" might finally get me into the hobby.

Image: Amazon Amazon is testing a new Prime Video feature that recommends groups of content using AI rather than traditional algorithms. If you’re part of the test, you’ll see new “AI Topics” tailored to your interests, like “mind-bending sci-fi,” “fantasy quests,” or “thrilling character journeys.”Each category will have shows, movies, and linear channels that match these AI-generated labels. You can also continue refining recommendations further by selecting topics related to the category you’re looking at, which Amazon says allows you to “discover more content without hitting a dead end.” Image: Amazon Streaming services like Netflix have long used machine learning algorithms to spit out recommendations based on viewing history. But with this announcement, it seems like Prime Video is putting an extra AI spin on things — which isn’t very surprising given the hype surrounding the tech and Amazon’s own efforts to portray itself as an AI leader. For now, Amazon says AI Topics are rolling out to “select” living room devices in the US, such as the Fire TV.Last month, Prime Video also rolled out AI recaps you can use to summarize TV seasons, entire episodes, and even portions of episodes.

Toyota’s Urban Cruiser is a compact electric SUV coming to Europe. | Image: Toyota Toyota revealed its latest all-electric vehicle today as the Urban Cruiser compact SUV. The EV, which will be fully revealed at the Brussels Motor Show next month, is intended for the European market, first coming to the UK in the third quarter of 2025. Toyota says the wheelbase is only about 5 inches longer than the European-only Yaris Cross, making it another fun-sized electric EV slated for the continent like the recently revealed Ford Puma Gen-E or Hyundai Inster.The Urban Cruiser has clear design inspiration from last year's Urban SUV concept. It also shares its new EV platform built in conjunction with Suzuki, which announced its made-in-India E Vitara SUV last month. Toyota’s other EV, the bZ4X, also shares its EV platform with another automaker, Subaru, which has the Solterra EV. Image: Toyota Toyota Urban Cruiser features a side-by-side 10.25-inch cluster screen and a 10.1-inch infotainment system. Toyota’s Urban Cruiser has nearly match-for-match specs as the E Vitara, including a relatively small 49 kWh battery with an FWD drivetrain and a 61 kWh battery with an option for AWD. Toyota says power output can get as high as 135kW in the AWD version (with 40kW on the rear axel for “stable and secure performance on loose and slippery surfaces”) and up to 300 Nm of torque. While the official range is not announced, it’ll likely match the E Vitara’s expected 248 miles on a single charge.Additionally, the Urban Cruiser has downhill assist and trail modes for added control, and the FWD model includes a snow mode. All models come with a heat pump and include the ability to manually start preconditioning the battery to prepare for a DC fast charging session.Toyota has been slower in building and adopting EVs than other legacy manufacturers. The automaker has been focused on its outstanding hybrid technology as well as hydrogen vehicles. But the automaker isn’t done with EVs — it’s planning to have 15 EVs, including six models on a next-gen shared platform by 2026, and it just invested nearly another $1 billion in Kentucky for a paint facility to prepare for a three-row electric SUV for the US.

Adobe’s Reflection Removal tool is now available as a technology preview inside Camera Raw. | Image: Adobe Adobe’s Project See Through, a tool that is capable of eliminating distracting reflections in photos taken through windows, is now available as a technology preview and is now called the Reflection Removal tool. Originally revealed as a “Sneak” during the Adobe’s annual Max conference last year, you can use the tool through Adobe Camera Raw in preview with a Lightroom release “coming soon,” according to Adobe.The best way to ensure a photo isn’t marred with reflections is to avoid shooting through a window, but Adobe’s new tool will increase the chances that the beautiful mountain vista you captured during a flight will actually be worth sharing. The tool works by distinguishing the two scenes that make up an image with a reflection, which are often distinguished by different content, white balances (indoor scenes tend to look warmer than outdoor ones), and their sharpness. Image: Adobe An example of the artificial reflections Adobe created for training data by merging thousands of photos together. The AI model the Reflection Removal tool uses was trained on a database of thousands of photographs without reflections that were paired and merged to create millions of images with simulated reflections. Through a reinforcement process, the model learned how to extract the original photos from a single combined image, which are both available in the new tool. The results are often impressive, but Adobe points out that “if a reflection is so strong or complex that a person looking at the photograph struggles to figure out what is what, then our model might struggle as well.”To access the new tool, which currently only works with RAW images (support for JPEGs and HEICs is planned) you need to open the Camera Raw tool and then the Technology Previews section of its Preferences Panel where you can enable the New AI Settings and Features Panel before restarting Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Bridge. Image: Adobe The original photo (left) next to a version with reflections removed (center) and the reflected image itself isolated (right). With a RAW file imported, you’ll find a Reflections option in the Distraction Removal section of the Remove panel. After a few seconds of processing a reflection-free version of the image will be presented (hopefully!) along with a slider set to 100. Dragging the slider down to zero will restore the reflections, while dragging it to -100 will reveal only the reflected image.

Motherboards can cost as little as $100 but you can easily spend up to $1,000, if not more. Depending on the motherboard, the more you spend the more features and functionality you can expect to have available. When shopping around for a new motherboard for your PC, should you spend a small fortune on one of the more premium options or are the budget-friendly boards just as good? Here are some reasons you should consider more affordable motherboards for your next PC build.