A container truck burns outside the Port of Los Angeles. | Image: Pepe’s Towing A truck full of lithium-ion batteries is burning in Los Angeles, shutting down ports and a bridge. It’s not clear what the batteries were for — but LA’s Vincent Thomas Bridge, leading to the Port of Los Angeles and the next-door Port of Long Beach, has been shut down for at least 15 hours now while local firefighters let the truck burn. State Route 47 was also closed in both directions as of a couple of hours ago.Amazingly, a local towing company caught the explosion on camera from a nearby drone: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Pepe's Tow Service Inc (@pepestowing)Both the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach have shut down a number of terminals while the fire continues to... Continue reading…

The rising popularity of PC gaming handhelds has uncovered one big issue with the operating system used on most of them. That's Windows, in case you had doubts, and the issue is that Microsoft's finest operating system isn't nice to use on a smaller screen. Every PC gaming handheld we've reviewed that isn't a Steam Deck, from the ROG Ally, the ROG Ally X, the Legion Go, and devices from Onexplayer and Ayaneo all came with a similar sentiment. Nice hardware; shame about the operating system. But it doesn't have to be this way. Microsoft has shown in the past that it knows how to make a mobile OS or one built for touchscreens, and the possibility of a Windows version for handheld gaming consoles is very exciting to me.

While Microsoft Excel helps you manage multiple projects, deadlines, and responsibilities, building complex spreadsheets from scratch can eat up precious hours of your life. Here is where Excel templates come into play. Whether you want to manage cash flow, create a shift calendar, develop a social media calendar, or make an assignment schedule, these Excel templates can streamline your workflow, automate tedious tasks, and help you reclaim your valuable time.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all the rage nowadays, and the cost of entry for experimenting with AI Large Language Models (LLMs) has dropped considerably along the way. As a matter of fact, you can even install several LLMs on the diminutive and inexpensive Raspberry Pi 5. Raspberry Pi offers its own AI kit, an M.2 HAT with a Hailo AI acceleration module, but thats not the only game in town. There are a few other options for integrating high-performance AI into your Raspberry Pi 5.

Setting a timer to shut down your Windows PC can be helpful in many cases. For example, if you are downloading a large piece of software or a game, you can set your computer to shut down after a particular time, based on the estimated download time. This will not only save energy while allowing you to get on with your day, but also reduce the unnecessary load on your computer.

Illustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge Arc creator The Browser Company has officially started a bug bounty program to keep its growing Chromium-based browser’s security in check. The company is also launching a new security bulletin to maintain “transparent and proactive communication” with users and researchers on bug fixes and reports.These security revisions followed a devastating bug a researcher found and reported to the company that would’ve allowed bad actors to insert arbitrary code into anyone’s browser just by knowing their easily findable user ID. The problem lived inside the Arc Boosts feature that lets you customize any website with CSS and Javascript. On top of its initial mitigations, the company says it now has disabled Boosts with Javascript by default and... Continue reading…

Matt Mullenweg at WordCamp 2024 in Europe. | Screenshot: WordCamp WordPress is essentially internet infrastructure. It’s widely used, generally stable, and doesn’t tend to generate many splashy headlines as a result.But over the last week, the WordPress community has swept up into a battle over the ethos of the platform. Last week, WordPress cofounder Matt Mullenweg came out with a harsh attack on WP Engine, a major WordPress hosting provider, calling the company a “cancer” to the community. The statement has cracked open a public debate surrounding how profit-driven companies can and can’t use open-source software — and if they’re obligated to contribute something to the projects they use in return.The conflict has escalated in the days since with a barrage of legal threats and has left swaths of... Continue reading…

See that little circle? That’s a camera. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge All around Meta’s Menlo Park campus, cameras stared at me. I’m not talking about security cameras or my fellow reporters’ DSLRs. I’m not even talking about smartphones. I mean Ray-Ban and Meta’s smart glasses, which Meta hopes we’ll all — one day, in some form — wear.I visited Meta for this year’s Connect conference, where just about every hardware product involved cameras. They’re on the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses that got a software update, the new Quest 3S virtual reality headset, and Meta’s prototype Orion AR glasses. Orion is what Meta calls a “time machine”: a functioning example of what full-fledged AR could look like, years before it will be consumer-ready.But on Meta’s campus, at least, the Ray-Bans were already everywhere. It... Continue reading…

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Scott Olson, Getty Images The US Department of Justice has charged three Iranian nationals linked with a cyberattack against Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, according to an indictment on Friday.The three hackers, all of whom have ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, allegedly gained access to the accounts of campaign officials using social engineering and spear phishing, a tactic that attempts to trick victims into disclosing sensitive information. They then used the hijacked accounts to steal nonpublic campaign documents and emails, which they shared with the press.As outlined in the indictment, the US linked the hackers to an Iranian internet service provider, Respina Networks, which allegedly allowed them “unrestricted” internet access... Continue reading…

Photo by Jack Guez / AFP via Getty Images Here’s the thing about asking investors for money: they want to see returns.OpenAI launched with a famously altruistic mission: to help humanity by developing artificial general intelligence. But along the way, it became one of the best-funded companies in Silicon Valley. Now, the tension between those two facts is coming to a head. Weeks after releasing a new model it claims can “reason,” OpenAI is barreling toward dropping its nonprofit status, some of its most senior employees are leaving, and CEO Sam Altman — who was once briefly ousted over apparent trust concerns — is solidifying his position as one of the most powerful people in tech.On Wednesday, OpenAI’s longtime chief technology officer, Mira Murati, announced she’s leaving... Continue reading…

A hacked Nintendo 3DS is a fantastic addition to your gaming arsenal, and the homebrew community behind it is nothing short of phenomenal. There are programs to do practically anything and everything, and that includes turning your 3DS into an Xbox controller. While it's pretty cool and easy to set up, we don't recommend actually relying on it as a replacement for a true Xbox Controller.

If you're the type of person that just uses their computer to browse the internet, do some light work, and maybe play some games occasionally, well, a Chromebook might be for you. While it might not be the most powerful option that you can buy, it is a good fit if you're someone that lives on the internet.