Image: Getty Images The TSA’s been planning to expand facial recognition to a whopping 430 US airports over the next several years — but a bipartisan group of 14 senators is now challenging that. Facial recognition “poses significant threats to our privacy and civil liberties, and Congress should prohibit TSA’s development and deployment of facial recognition tools until rigorous congressional oversight occurs,” reads part of the May 2nd letter (via Gizmodo) from Sens. Merkley, Kennedy, Markey, Marshall, Cramer, Wyden, Warren, Daines, Braun, Sanders, Lummis, Van Hollen, Welch, and Butler. They add later that “this powerful surveillance technology as deployed by TSA does not make air travel safer” and suggest that the TSA’s current error rate of 3 percent... Continue reading…

Rufino Choque, from the Urus Indigenous community, stands over a boat in the middle of the extinct Poopó Lake, which disappeared in 2015. | Photo by Manuel Seoane Attacks against environmental journalists have risen dramatically across the world, according to a report released by UNESCO to commemorate World Press Freedom Day.UNESCO and the International Federation of Journalists surveyed 905 journalists across 129 countries. Between 2009 and last year, more than 70 percent of reporters experienced attacks while working on environmental stories ranging from mining and deforestation to protests and land grabs. There were more than 300 attacks reported over the past five years alone, a 42 percent jump from the previous five-year period. The attacks come in many forms, from legal threats and online harassment to physical violence and death threats — although physical attacks were most common. They... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Last week, I placed a big dinner order for myself and several friends through DoorDash. There was no way to add a tip when I placed my order, but I wasn’t too worried — DoorDash assured me I’d be able to tip after the order was placed or delivered.It was the first time I had used the service since last November, and since then, DoorDash made some big changes: in protest of a New York City law guaranteeing a minimum wage for delivery drivers, the platform removed the ability to add a tip when you place an order. Now, in New York City, customers like myself who want to continue tipping must do so after their order is placed.It wasn’t until I went back to add a tip to that dinner order that I realized just how difficult DoorDash has made... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Bounced emails. Stalled projects. Delayed adapters. These are the immediate effects of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s “absolutely hard core” approach to cost cutting, which has resulted in at least 500 layoffs from the company’s Supercharger business, including the division’s top executive, Rebecca Tinucci.The timing couldn’t have been worse. Tesla was on the verge of making its vehicle charging plug the de facto standard in North America, and its competitors and stakeholders are counting on a smooth ride. But Musk claims the leaner team will focus less on deploying new Supercharger locations and instead focus on “100 percent uptime.” How that will translate into reality is unclear, with laid-off employees telling InsideEVs that reduced manpower... Continue reading…

If you're not tired of companies announcing AI features for their platforms, you may be interested in what Apple is doing. So far, while other big tech companies are jumping head-first into the AI scene, Apple has been relatively quiet about its plans. However, the company is expected to break its silence with a wave of AI-based features, which will arrive in staple apps for iOS and macOS users.

I wouldn’t call portable in the traditional sense, but it sure as hell beats lugging a 65-inch OLED around. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge As my colleague Chris Welch pointed out in his review of the LG StanbyME Go, there’s something refreshing about a TV that takes a chance on a less familiar concept, especially at a time when beastly OLED panels and art-inspired TVs seem to dominate the landscape. And now, thanks to a $200 discount, you can pick up LG’s suitcase TV at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo starting at $996.99.In terms of design, the StanbyME Go is basically a 27-inch touchscreen TV that’s built directly into a 28-pound, military-grade briefcase you can tote around with you. The panel itself is nothing to write home about — it’s a basic 1080 LCD with an HDMI/eARC port and a peak brightness of 500 nits — but it’s the concept itself that makes it a fun... Continue reading…

Image: Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge Luminar, which makes lidar sensors for autonomous driving systems, announced today plans to lay off 20 percent of its workforce amid a broader restructuring of its production process. The company, which just announced shipments of its next-generation laser sensors to Volvo, said that it will transition to an “asset light” business model that will see more of its production outsourced to its partners. As part of the restructuring, at least 147 people will lose their jobs. Luminar has at least 730 employees based in the US, according to LinkedIn. “Many of these team members have been on our journey with us for years, which is why this is so difficult,” Luminar CEO Austin Russell said in a statement. “We have also made the decision to... Continue reading…

The debate of whether Google Maps or Apple Maps is the better choice is a fierce one, but it's Apple Maps that ships with all the best iPhones right out of the box. That, by itself, makes Apple Maps a great choice of navigation software for iOS 17 users. There are thousands of locations stored in Apple Maps, but what happens if you need to get somewhere that isn't on the map? This kind of situation is where dropped pins come into play. Apple Maps lets you drop a pin anywhere on the map, instantly providing access to that specific location's address, coordinates, and more. On top of that, you can get directions to your dropped pin, save it to a guide or favorites, or even share it with others. Here's everything you need to know about dropping pins in Apple Maps.

A lot of programs and services have made it to the tech graveyard over the years, and plenty of them, believe it or not, have come from Microsoft. That's right, Microsoft has sunsetted a lot of its products and services in the name of innovation, many of which I have very fond memories of using back in my early days of computing. It's never a bad time to revisit these programs, as they've all had a pretty big role in shaping the programs and services we love and use today.

Although it's not quite as widely used in the U.S., WhatsApp is the most utilized instant messenger application globally. It offers a boatload of features, rivaling some of the best messaging apps on the market, and it keeps getting more useful additions with each successive update. However, while some may be happy about these changes, others may find the new features a bit frustrating.

Razer is just one of those companies that just doesn't play it safe when it comes to its designs and products. Unlike other companies, it's willing to take risks with new types of products, and while these items can sometimes be a miss, it's still good to see a company out there willing to try new things.

Illustration: The Verge Apple CEO Tim Cook has made it clear that AI features are coming soon, and a new report from AppleInsider offers more details about what we might see in the next version of iOS. One of the big focuses will be on Siri, which will reportedly gain the ability to analyze and summarize texts within the Messages app.AppleInsider previously said a similar “Intelligent Search” feature is coming to Safari in iOS 18, allowing users to summarize webpages. Apple’s large language model (LLM), called Ajax, will power these features. Several papers published by Apple suggest that the company is working on bringing on-device AI processing to the iPhone, and AppleInsider’s report further aligns with this. The report says that Ajax uses on-device... Continue reading…