Yesterday, Microsoft detailed all the features it had added to Excel during June 2024, and while the change log wasn't huge, it contained several enhancements to entice existing and potential customers. Now, right on cue, Google has announced a major update for Sheets, its web-based spreadsheet software. The update focuses on productivity improvements, along with the integration of AI capabilities.

“Mr. Bugs Wordy Nugz.” | Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge Wordle is a pretty clever name for the very good word game created by Josh Wardle. But when he was first working on it in 2013, Wardle had another name in mind that isn’t quite as catchy.“This is true: I was going to call Wordle, Mr. Bugs’ Wordy Nugz,” Wardle revealed as part of a presentation about Wordle at Figma’s Config conference on Wednesday. He also showed a slide that spelled out the name in big yellow letters. “Had I called the game Mr. Bugs, I like to think it would not have been successful.”During the presentation, which was about the development decisions that he said “are the opposite of what you’re meant to do” but ultimately contributed to making the game a hit, Wardle also discussed the history of the game and showed... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Google is adding support for 110 new languages to Google Translate, the company announced on Thursday. Before now, Google Translate supported 133 languages, so this expansion — which the company says is its biggest ever — marks a significant jump.Google’s PaLM 2 AI language model helped Translate learn these new languages. It was especially good at learning ones that were related to one another, such as languages “close to Hindi, like Awadhi and Marwadi, and French creoles like Seychellois Creole and Mauritian Creole,” Google’s Isaac Caswell says in a blog post. The list of newly-supported languages in Translate includes Cantonese, which “has long been one of the most requested languages for Google Translate,” Caswell says. “Because... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google has added new Chrome Actions to mobile that will let you call, read reviews for, or get directions to a restaurant or other business — all right from the address bar. The company announced the new feature in a blog on Wednesday.Android users will see this new feature right away, but iOS users will have to wait until the fall. Image: Google A screenshot of the new Chrome Action shortcuts. First introduced in 2020, Google Actions lets you quickly perform tasks from the address bar by typing in select queries, like “edit passwords,” “delete history,” or “translate this page.” It’s one of a few address bar shortcuts Google offers, like the “@” shortcut that lets you quickly find bookmarks, tabs, and links... Continue reading…

M.2 SSDs are the way to go if you're looking to upgrade the storage on your PC, laptop, or other compatible devices. Of course, it's not always as easy at just picking one and popping it in, as there are a number of different options. While 2280 SSDs are the most common, 2230s are also quite popular as well, with the latter being the most common form factor you'll find in today's popular PC gaming handhelds.

Image: The Verge At the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, Le Monde reports that athletes on Japan’s volleyball, track and field, and other teams will be competing in outfits made from a new fabric that can better absorb infrared light. Similar to stealth aircraft that avoid detection by deflecting radar signals away from detectors, the fabric absorbs and prevents infrared light from reaching cameras and infrared sensors.Some devices have unintentionally demonstrated how the infrared sensing used in night vision goggles and thermal cameras can reveal the unseen, like the OnePlus 8 Pro’s “Photochrom” color filter that worked like X-ray vision on the thin shell of an Apple TV. When used on people, infrared photography can reveal the lines of a person’s body or... Continue reading…

If you're a frequent visitor to XDA, you'll know that we love seeing SBC projects that really let creators' talents shine. Of course, in order to come up with some of these great projects, you often only need a little imagination and some programming skills. But for the most part, it's still possible to get things done thanks to the support of a deep online community and powerful feature-packed SBCs.

Image: Baggu It all started with a nylon purse shaped like a horse.Baggu, the wildly popular brand of reusable shopping bags, announced earlier this month that it would be releasing a collaborative collection with New York-based brand Collina Strada. In the past, special-edition designer drops have been successful for Baggu: a previous collab sold out within minutes of items hitting the web. This new collection — with its colorful, dreamlike prints and bags shaped like a pony, little legs and all — seemed designed to elicit that same viral hype. The brands teased designs. Influencers posted unboxing videos. Fans were ready to shop.But on the day the bags and accessories were set to go on sale, fans got more details about the designs: some of the... Continue reading…

The Rabbit R1 AI device launched a few months ago, and since then, its existence has been plagued by controversies, one after the other. We reviewed the hardware and gave it an abysmal 2/10 rating, citing issues like half-baked technical implementation of several features, not being able to provide enough value to complement a smartphone, connectivity issues, and more. The internet echoed our thoughts, also discovering that Rabbit used to be a shady NFT company and that the R1 could just be used as a smartphone app without requiring dedicated - and rather expensive - hardware.

BMW’s 2025 BMW M5, which is coming as a plug-in electric hybrid (PHEV) for the first time, will be a husky vehicle. With an electric motor to go along with its 4.4-liter V8 engine, the sedan will weigh in at a hefty 5,390 pounds when it launches during the fourth quarter of 2024.That makes the new M5 about 1,000 pounds heavier than the 2023 model that preceded it. It also weighs more than trucks like the 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe (5,356 pounds), the 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire (5,336 pounds), and the 2024 Range Rover Sport (5,090 pounds), Motor1 noted today. Unlike Lucid’s EV, though, the M5 can’t blame as much of its heft on the battery, which is only big enough to go 25 miles without using gas.The M5 isn’t the heaviest electrified BMW — the a... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung’s next Unpacked event is right around the corner, taking place on July 10th in Paris, France. Judging by various leaks and the recent invite video, we’ll be seeing new versions of the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip phones (and perhaps a closer look at the Galaxy Ring). Now, in the lead-up to the event, Samsung is offering one of its reservation promotions, allowing early adopters to ”reserve” one of the phones and get a $50 credit to use on an eligible device once a preorder is complete.The reservation period runs through Wednesday, July 10th, and even if you reserve a preorder, you are not obligated to buy the new phones if you change your mind. Those who do, however, will get a $50 credit to use on Samsung’s site or in the Shop... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin made sweeping claims against e-commerce app Temu in a lawsuit on Tuesday, accusing the company of violating state law against deceptive trade practices.“Temu purports to be an online shopping platform, but it is dangerous malware, surreptitiously granting itself access to virtually all data on a user’s cell phone,” Griffin alleges. Screenshot: App Store / Google Play Temu on the App Store. Temu is the number one free shopping app on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store and is owned by PDD Holdings, which also runs a popular app called Pinduoduo. PDD was based in China until last year, when it moved its headquarters to Ireland. The lawsuit tees up its allegations... Continue reading…