If you're a fan of Apple products, then you were probably watching the company's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in excitement for what was to come. iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia updates were a big part of the show, but one particular announcement was one that had been leaked months prior. Siri was getting some big upgrades, and one of those big upgrades came in the form of native ChatGPT support on your Mac and iPhone.

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…

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…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The onslaught of summer gaming news might finally be at an end — but not before Nintendo has its say. Following events from PlayStation and Xbox, along with Summer Game Fest and presentations focused on Ubisoft and EA games, Nintendo has announced its latest Direct presentation. It’s slated to last around 40 minutes and will be “focused on Nintendo Switch games coming in the second half of 2024,” according to the company. (There won’t be any news about the next Switch, however, Nintendo says.)As always with Nintendo, it’s tough to predict what to expect, though it’s possible we’ll see a number of rereleases of classic games and, just maybe, finally get a glimpse of Metroid Prime 4. You’ll definitely have to tune in to see what the... Continue reading…

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images Don’t hold your breath for a resurgence of government internet subsidies. Republicans and Democrats can’t seem to agree on a way forward to fund the program, and passing such bills will only get more difficult as Election Day inches closer.Democrats and Republicans have introduced dueling bills to reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission’s spectrum auctions, where the agency doles out access to frequencies that can be used to carry wireless signals. But the Democratic bill that has been repeatedly delayed in committee specifically seeks to fund a now-defunct internet subsidy program, while the Republican version does not. While some Republicans supported earlier efforts to extend the subsidy program, those efforts did not go... Continue reading…

South Korea’s LG Electronics is teaming up with ChargePoint to install more electric vehicle charging stations in the US, the companies announced today. As part of the deal, ChargePoint will provide software to operate LG’s EV chargers, and LG will supply ChargePoint with hardware to bolster its network of 306,000 charge ports. The companies say they plan coming together to jointly install “commercial charging solutions,” with the first deliveries expected later this summer. Other possibilities include ChargePoint tapping into LG’s energy storage installations, as well as connecting LG’s ThinQ smart home system with ChargePoint’s Home Flex residential charger. LG Electronics, which makes TVs and home appliances, opened its first EV... Continue reading…

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…

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…

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…

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X is a powerful processor, requiring the AM5 socket and DDR5 system memory. The question of which RAM kit is best for this processor depends on how much memory your PC requires. Using more resource-intensive software and games will eat up more RAM, whereas simply watching some videos and typing up documents won't use much. Windows 11 requires 4GB, though I recommend at least 8GB for normal desktop PCs and 16GB for gaming and creator systems. Here are some of my favorite RAM kits.

Image: WhatsApp Four members of ABC’s Modern Family cast have returned to their roles to star in a new commercial for WhatsApp. The ad is designed to promote WhatsApp to families that use a mix of iPhones and Android devices, so they can avoid green bubbles and the limitations of Apple’s group chat MMS solution.If you’re an iPhone user in the US you probably already avoid inviting Android friends into group chats, as it switches from iMessage to MMS and the regular Messages functionality like read receipts, encryption, and full resolution images are all disabled. WhatsApp hits on this directly in its commercial, with Julie Bowen (Claire Dunphy) explaining to Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Mitchell Pritchett) that “blurry photos” and “weird likes” are why he... 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…