Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube has announced a new AI assistant feature to help users recover accounts that have been targeted by hackers. Described as a “troubleshooting tool” on Google’s support page, the chatbot can be accessed via the YouTube Help Center, and should ask hacked creators a series of questions to guide them through the process of securing their impacted Google logins and reversing any changes that have been made to their YouTube channels.The support assistant is currently only available in English, and access to “certain troubleshooting features” is limited to a select group of “certain creators,” but Google says it plans to eventually make the feature available to all YouTube creators.We’ve managed to access the tool and the results seem…... Continue reading…

Image: AMD AMD says Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 version 24H2 update will improve performance for its new Zen 5 CPUs. The Ryzen 9000 series launched earlier this month, and failed to live up to AMD’s performance promises in most reviews. After rumors of a Windows bug, AMD has revealed that AMD-specific branch prediction code will be optimized in Windows 11 version 24H2, which is expected to ship next month.“Zen 5 will see the biggest boost, but this Windows update will improve performance for Zen 4 and Zen 3 as well,” admits AMD. While the chip maker hasn’t revealed how much better its older CPUs will perform, it’s predicting a 13 percent performance improvement for its 9950X CPU in Far Cry 6 running 24H2 instead of 23H2, and a seven percent... Continue reading…

Summer's coming to a close and that means schools are going to start back up and folks are going to need to come back from their vacations. Of course, we're also seeing plenty of great deals on a variety of tech and gadgets, with laptops from every brand seeing sharp discounts ahead of the new school year. Of course, it's not every day we get to see some of the best laptops of 2024 on sale, especially our top-choice for this year, the HP Spectre X360 14.

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Former President Donald Trump is launching a cryptocurrency platform, he announced on Thursday in a post on Truth Social. Trump’s post included few other details, but he and his sons have suggested it will target unbanked and underserved communities.“For too long, the average American has been squeezed by the big banks and financial elites,” the post reads. “It’s time we take a stand—together. #BeDefiant.” The name of the platform, The DeFiant Ones, is a play on “decentralized finance.”Trump’s Truth Social post links to a Telegram channel for the as-of-yet unreleased platform, which has posts dating back to August 15th calling it the “only official Telegram channel for the Trump DeFi project.” There are no details about what the... Continue reading…

Instead of carrying a bag full of lenses, the new Samyang Remaster Slim lets you only carry alternate optical elements. | Image: Samyang In an attempt to lighten camera bags, Samyang has created a prime lens that allows photographers to change the focal length by swapping out just the optical elements inside it, instead of having to change lenses completely.The simpler design of prime lenses in general — which offer no zoom capabilities — can deliver several advantages, including sharper images and a shallower depth of field. The tradeoff is that photographers have to move closer or further away when framing subjects or swap between several prime lenses with different focal lengths. That approach can get expensive and heavy — problems that Samyang’s Remaster Slim autofocus lens, measuring just 0.8 inches thick, may solve.The optical elements in the Remaster Slim sit in... Continue reading…

Most beginners may identify the high-speed PCI Express sockets on motherboards as the interface to attach discrete graphics cards to PCs. However, these slots can also be used for a handful of expansion cards. If youre unfamiliar with the term, these are optional accessories that can be plugged into the PCIe sockets to add new ports or integrate additional functions into your PC.

Senior reviews editor Nathan Edwards uses a simple spring clamp to store his headphones. | Photo: Nathan Edwards / The Verge Every year, I ask The Verge’s staff what kind of audio gear they like to use. And they are the perfect set of people to ask: besides working on videos and podcasts, our Slack channels are filled with discussions of the podcasts and music we listen to while working, walking, exercising, or just hanging out. So here are the headphones, earbuds, and other devices that some of the folks here like to use, both on a professional and personal level. Headphones and earbudsRØDE NTH-100 headphones Andrew Marino, senior audio producerThe RØDE NTH-100 headphones are the comfiest headphones I’ve used. The memory foam cushions let me wear these all day at work without fatigue. The sound is great for the price, too, and the optional headset... Continue reading…

If you're looking for a new smartphone, the top Androids and best iPhones are worth consideration, but Google's new Pixel 9 is a great pick. However, you're still going to need accessories, especially a good charger, but which ones are perfect for the Pixel 9?

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Apple will soon let iPhone and iPad users in the European Union choose default apps for phone calls, messaging, keyboards, password managers, and more. These options will be available later this year in a new “Default Apps” section in Settings, according to an update on Thursday.In the spring of next year, Apple says it will also let users set default navigation, translation apps, and call spam filter apps. Along with these new options, iPhone users in the EU will add the ability to delete the App Store, Messages, Camera, Photos, and Safari apps. The only apps Apple won’t let users delete are Settings and Phone. Image: Apple Apple is adding more detail to its browser choice screen. Some small changes are... Continue reading…

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Stuart Franklin Our basic assumptions about photos capturing reality are about to go up in smoke. Continue reading…

Photo: Antonio Cascio / Bloomberg via Getty Images The body of billionaire tech mogul Mike Lynch was recovered off the coast of Sicily, the Italian Coast Guard announced on Thursday. Lynch’s 184-foot superyacht, the Bayesian, sunk on August 19th, reportedly after being hit by a tornado over the water, called a waterspout. The yacht sank quickly, according to reports, even though its manufacturer claimed it was unsinkable.Lynch was on the yacht with family and friends celebrating his acquittal on fraud charges in June. HP, which bought Lynch’s company, Autonomy, for $11 billion in 2011, had alleged “accounting improprieties” that misrepresented Autonomy’s value. In an interview with the BBC — the only broadcast interview before the yacht sank — Lynch said his wealth helped him deal with... Continue reading…

Microsoft first introduced the Settings app with the release of Windows 8, way back in 2012. Since then, the software giant has made slow progress in migrating settings from the Control Panel to the Settings app, raising serious doubts over whether Microsoft intends to fully replace the Control Panel with the Settings app. Putting all the skepticism to the rest, Microsoft has finally shared its official word on the final fate of the Control Panel.