One remote to rule them all (but in the darkness, you probably still can’t find them). | Photo: Cantata Universal remotes might be on a comeback tour if devices like Cantata’s Haptique RS90 and RS90X actually materialize and are as good as advertised. The connected remote purports to double as a comprehensive smart home controller, but it’s merely a Kickstarter hopeful for now. Serial remoters (remotees?) have pledged more than $300,00, with less than $10,000 needed to fully fund the project as of writing, and there’s currently an estimated ship date of August 2024.What separates this from the sparse competition is that it’s hub-free. You won’t need a separate box plugged in to the TV or IR repeaters to make this work. It comes with a charging dock and has a relatively roomy 3.2-inch color touchscreen for the Android-based OS. The... Continue reading…

Last week, AI startup Luma posted a series of videos created using its new video-generating tool Dream Machine, which the company describes as a “highly scalable and efficient transformer model trained directly on videos.”The only problem? At about 57 seconds in, the Dream Machine-generated trailer for Monster Camp — an animated story about furry creatures journeying to a sleepaway camp — features a slightly AI-smudged but still recognizable Mike Wazowski from Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. Many people noticed that multiple characters and its overall aesthetic look borrowed from the franchise, and the questions quickly started pouring in.Upon closer inspection, Mike from the actual Monster's Inc. Is in the cartoon. Straight up ripping it... Continue reading…

Cath Virginia / The Verge Less than two weeks after Nvidia jumped Apple in terms of its overall valuation, the GPU maker has now passed Microsoft to stand as the world’s most valuable company based on the chips it makes that are key to powering a boom in generative AI technology. At the close of trading on Tuesday, its share price stood at $135.58, up $4.60 from the previous day and pushing its market cap to $3.335 trillion. That’s more than Microsoft ($3.32 trillion), Apple ($3.29 trillion), and Google ($2.17 trillion). Nvidia’s shares split 10-for-1 after June 7th, lowering the overall share price, but the spike in the company’s value has been jarring. Its share price has gone up 160 percent in 2024, and the company only passed the $2 trillion mark in February.... Continue reading…

Existing Home Key-capable smart locks like this Aqara lock won’t work with the new hands-free unlock feature for Apple Home. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Last week, Apple announced it’s bringing hands-free unlocking for smart locks to Apple Home when iOS 18 arrives this fall. The new capability leverages the U1 ultra wideband (UWB) chip in many iPhones and Apple Watches to allow a smart lock to open automatically as you approach the front door — no tapping required. But hands-free unlocking isn’t coming to your existing Home Key smart lock because no current locks have the hardware to support it. To use this cool new feature, you’re going to have to buy a new lock, and we likely won’t see any UWB-enabled smart locks until the end of 2024 at the earliest.Apple’s hands-free unlocking won’t be coming to your existing Home Key smart lockThe new capability is part of Home Key — a feature of... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge AMD is looking into a potential cyberattack. A threat actor that goes by the alias “IntelBroker” is selling data that it claims was obtained from an AMD.com breach this month, BleepingComputer reports, and the company confirmed in a statement that it’s looking into the purported theft. IntelBroker claims that the data for sale includes future products, employee databases, and customer databases.“We are aware of a cybercriminal organization claiming to be in possession of stolen AMD data,” AMD said in the statement given to BleepingComputer, PCMag, and Bloomberg. “We are working closely with law enforcement officials and a third-party hosting partner to investigate the claim and the significance of the data.”AMD didn’t immediately reply... Continue reading…

Chomsky often was critical of the media. | Photo by Heuler Andrey / AFP via Getty Images Everyone dies eventually, and famed linguist Noam Chomsky will be no different — but at the time of this writing, he is alive. And, sadly, his wife is explaining to people that reports of his death are “false,” according to The Associated Press.Chomsky, 95, has been hospitalized in Brazil as he recovers from a stroke he had last year, the AP reported earlier this month. He’s having difficulty speaking, and “the right side of his body is affected.” He is being tended to by various specialists. This is not in dispute.Two publications, Jacobin and The New Statesman, published what appeared to be obituaries. (The New Statesman took its post down; Jacobin changed its headline from “We Remember Noam Chomsky” to “Let’s Celebrate Noam Chomsky,... Continue reading…

We've written at length about the various ways you can debloat Windows 11, whether it's by using dedicated software to remove certain features or using a custom ISO like Tiny11.

Union organizer Chris Smalls speaks following the April 1st, 2022, vote for the unionization of the Amazon Staten Island warehouse in New York. | Photo by ANDREA RENAULT / AFP via Getty Images Amazon Labor Union (ALU) members voted to affiliate with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in a move they hope will bring new life to a yearslong struggle to secure union contracts for Amazon warehouse workers.Amazon has tried to block various efforts to unionize across different branches of the company since at least 2000, but the movement to unionize warehouse workers only gained steam in the past few years. The Teamsters, founded in 1903, is one of the biggest labor unions in the US. Employees at the Staten Island warehouse, known as JFK8, became the first Amazon workers to vote to unionize in 2022. They still don’t have a contract, as the union struggles to get Amazon to the bargaining table. Union members at JFK8 approved... Continue reading…

Hue’s new Twilight bedside lamp costs $280. | Image: Philips Hue Following leaks last week, smart lighting company Philips Hue has confirmed it has a new sunrise lamp called Twilight. The company also announced several other new products, including a less expensive light strip, new decorative Lightguide bulbs, and the Datura ceiling light. The new products are available now, except the ceiling light, which is coming on September 10th.The Philips Hue Twilight ($279.99 / €279.99) is the company’s first dedicated smart sunrise lamp — a light designed to help with falling asleep and waking up more naturally. At $280, it’s even more expensive than the very expensive Hatch Restore 2 (although it doesn’t require a subscription). It’s surprising that Hue hasn’t had a solid offering in this space to date.... Continue reading…

You won't find Framework products among the list of some of the best laptops that you can buy. But that doesn't mean you should ignore this brand by any means. While most of the technology we buy is destined for landfills after just a few years of use thanks to the way they are constructed, Framework strives to ensure that its laptops are the complete opposite, with repairability high on the list of the brand's priorities.

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X is the company's most powerful processor from the 9000 series. With 16 cores and a maximum boost speed of 5.7 GHz, it's a weapon for gamers and creators alike. To make the most of this CPU, you'll need to install it on a capable platform. AMD's AM5 motherboards are excellent foundations for powerful PC builds and we've rounded up some of our favorites right here that will work wonders with the 16-core beast.

There are a lot of great keyboard options on the market, but if you're looking for one that's going to stand out from the crowd, then the 8bitdo Retro Mechanical Keyboard is going to be it. This keyboard features a retro design that borrows its stunning look from Nintendo's Famicom and comes with a set of programmable buttons too.