Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images Eight TikTok creators are suing to stop a law that would ban the app unless its Chinese parent company divests it, arguing that the measure would strip them of their livelihoods and creative outlets.The suit is similar to the company’s own challenge to the law in that it leans on First Amendment arguments, calls lawmakers’ concerns around the app speculative, and recalls that courts have blocked other methods of banning TikTok, including former President Donald Trump’s executive order and a Montana state law. But while the company’s suit details the alleged impracticality of separating TikTok from its owner ByteDance, the creators’ suit focuses squarely on how their own speech could be impacted if TikTok went away.While the court is l... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta is throwing in the towel on Workplace, its Facebook-based alternative to office communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams alternative, as reported earlier by TechCrunch. Meta spokesperson Ashley Zandy confirmed to The Verge that it will be available to customers for use through August 31st, 2025. Formerly known as Facebook @ Work, it was used internally for two years before its public launch in 2016, and according to Zandy, there won’t be any changes in terms of its internal use.Meta will offer a 50 percent discount on the service starting in September, and it’s offered to work with customers on transitioning to the Zoom-owned Workvivo. After September 1st, 2025, Workplace will become read- and export-only until June... Continue reading…

The billboard ads contained messages that seemingly mocked celibate women. | Image: The Verge Dating app company Bumble has issued an apology for running an ad campaign that seemingly shamed women for not being sexually active and mocked people for choosing celibacy instead of dating.After updating its app and brand design in April to try to attract new users who are “exhausted from the dating scene,” Bumble ran a series of billboard ads containing messages like “You know full well a vow of celibacy is not the answer,” and “Thou shalt not give up on dating and become a nun.” The company faced swift backlash across social media from users who condemned the ads for delegitimizing celibacy as a valid personal choice.“We made a mistake,” the company said via an Instagram post on Monday. “Our ads referencing celibacy were an attempt... Continue reading…

Google's A-series Pixel phones have been pretty popular among those shopping for relatively affordable and cheap Android phones, as opposed to $1,000 flagships. The Pixel 8a is the latest entry in that series, offering some impressive specifications for the price. At $499, the Pixel 8a is a reasonably priced phone that offers Google Tensor G3, a 120Hz OLED screen, a 64MP main camera, and more. It's also available in some fun colors, like Aloe and Bay, which look great.

Illustration: The Verge Google has announced that the code for Project Gameface, its hands-free gaming ‘mouse’ that you control by making faces, is now available open-source to Android developers on Tuesday.Developers can now integrate the accessibility feature into their apps, allowing users to control the cursor with facial gestures or by moving their heads. For example, they can open their mouth to move the cursor or raise their eyebrows to click and drag.Announced during last year’s Google I/O for desktop, Project Gameface uses the device’s camera and a database of facial expressions from MediaPipe’s Face Landmarks Detection API to manipulate the cursor.“Through the device’s camera, it seamlessly tracks facial expressions and head movements, translating... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The just-released iPad Pro and iPad Air have a new Battery Health menu option that includes an optimized charging option and provides more data about the battery. As reported by MacRumors, the new menu matches the settings introduced on iPhone 15, which lets users set their device to not charge past 80 percent, which can help extend the usable life of the battery.You can get to the new menu on iPad by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Health, which will also provide datapoints for charge cycle count, the date the battery was manufactured, and when the battery was first charged. It was introduced in iPadOS 17.5, but isn’t available on older iPad models. Image: David Pierce / The Verge New battery health menu... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission is already running over budget and behind schedule. But it may also be our best chance of finding extraterrestrial life. Continue reading…

Marvel You can never be sure what to expect out of Disney’s upfront presentation, but this year’s showcase of the studio’s new projects brought a slew of news about Disney Plus’ upcoming WandaVision spinoff series.While there’s been a bit of confusion about what the Agatha Harkness-focused series would ultimately be called, Kathryn Hahn, Patti Lupone, and Joe Locke revealed today that it will, in fact, be titled Agatha All Along, and its first two episodes will premiere on September 18th.It was Agatha All Along Don’t miss the two-episode premiere of #AgathaAllAlong, September 18 on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/hwPSOeJFv6— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) May 14, 2024A brief teaser for the series made it seem like Agatha All Along will... Continue reading…

Photo: Sonos A week after introducing a redesigned, sleeker app that omitted many core features, Sonos held an Ask Me Anything event on its forums today. The purpose was partly to make it clear that customer frustrations are being heard. But as has been the case since last week, the feedback skewed overwhelmingly negative. This company’s community remains pretty damn angry over losing software capabilities like local music search, sleep timers, and more with no warning.Many participants asked Sonos why it released an app that was nowhere near on par with the previous version in terms of functionality — even after, as The Verge has learned, private beta testers raised concerns with the state that the software was in before launch. And they were often... Continue reading…

If you've been tapped into the PC building community, you'll agree that things haven't changed much on a fundamental level. Essentially, you will always need the same basic parts to build a gaming PC. On the other hand, some PC components and technologies have all but disappeared from existence after having their moment in the sun. Whether it's due to the introduction of superior replacements, or growing irrelevance for the majority of builders, those PC components now only live in our memory.

Google made a lot of noise about its Gemini AI taking over search at its I/O conference today, but one of its flashiest demos was once again marked by the ever-present fatal flaw of every large language model to date: confidently making up the wrong answer.During a sizzle reel for “Search in the Gemini era,” Google demoed video search, which allows you to search by speaking over a video clip. The example is a video of a stuck film advance lever on a film camera with the query “why is the lever not moving all the way,” which Gemini recognizes and provides some suggestions to fix. Very impressive! You know, just get in there and nudge the shutter a little bit. The only problem is that the answers it comes up with... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Google says its new AI model, LearnLM, will help students with their homework.LearnLM, a family of AI models based on Google’s other large language mode, Gemini, was built to be an expert in subjects, find and present examples in different ways like a photo or video, coach students while studying, and, in Google’s words, “inspire engagement.” Google has already integrated LearnLM into its products, bundling it with other services like Google Search, Android, YouTube, and the Gemini chatbot. For example, customers can use Circle to Search on Android to highlight a math or physics word problem, and LearnLM will help solve the question. On YouTube, while watching a lecture video, viewers can ask questions about the video, and the model... Continue reading…