Samsung promoting Unpacked at The Sphere. | Image: Samsung It’s almost time for Samsung’s winter Unpacked event, where we’ll see the launch of the Galaxy S24 lineup and some splashy new AI features to go along with them. The event will cap off months of leaks of the new devices — plus some teases directly from Samsung itself.Just before Thanksgiving last year, Samsung announced a new mobile AI experience it’s calling Galaxy AI, which it said was scheduled to debut in early 2024. We should get the lowdown on Galaxy AI at this year’s event. The company is also rumored to be partnering with Google on some AI features, too.We’ve rounded up everything else you need to know about this year’s Unpacked below: When is Samsung Galaxy Unpacked?Samsung will hold Galaxy Unpacked on January 17th, 2024, at... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon is testing a new AI feature on its app that lets customers ask specific questions about products. The AI tool can help figure out exactly how big a new shelf is, determine how long a battery will last, or even... write you a Christmas carol about snow boots. Yep, the new feature is meant for more practical applications, but it seems the tool will happily respond to more colorful queries, too, answering the same questions people occasionally ask AI chatbots when they’re bored.Using the questions box on the product page (the box right before customer reviews), you can query Amazon’s AI tool about the product. Only some people have access to the feature right now, but some Verge staffers saw it on their apps and found it will... Continue reading…

I recently bought my first car, a Kia Picanto, and it's old enough that the pre-installed head unit was a simple radio with a CD player and Bluetooth support. While that's more than good enough for most people, as a tech enthusiast, I wanted to go a bit fancier than that. That's why one of the first things I did was buy a new aftermarket Android car head unit, and it's leaps and bounds better than what I had before.

Illustration: The Verge Apple has updated its App Store policies to spell out how developers can link to outside payment platforms, as reported by 9to5Mac. Developers will still owe Apple a cut if they use an outside payment platform. Apple will take a 27 percent cut (as opposed to the 30 percent in many cases) or 12 percent if a developer is part of the App Store Small Business Program, according to a support page about external purchase links. Section 3.1.1(a) of the App Store Review Guidelines lays down more of the new rules for developers who want to link to alternative payment methods, like how they have to apply for an “entitlement” to enable them. Developers also can’t exclusively receive payments from outside Apple’s walled garden; they’ll also have... Continue reading…

Image: Harmonix Harmonix is going to stop releasing DLC songs for Rock Band 4 this month, the Epic Games-owned studio announced today. The developer has added nearly 3,000 songs to the game as downloadable content over the course of eight years, but that remarkable run is coming to an end on January 25th.If you’ve already purchased songs, don’t worry: Harmonix says you’ll still have access to those even after it stops releasing new DLC. “Many of you reading this own a good chunk of this content and we remain committed to protecting that investment - to be very clear, you can play the songs you own within Rock Band 4 for as long as you like,” Harmonix’s Daniel Sussman says in a blog post about the news. Sussman also brought up Fortnite Festival, the... Continue reading…

Illustration by The Verge The publishing platform’s response to Nazi content is driving away some well-known writers. Continue reading…

Image: Ford Most electric vehicles are built for the prim streets and highways of cities, never to sully their tires in anything dirtier than a mud puddle. And then there are the EVs that like to gobble gravel, take flight over a dirt ramp, or generally wallow in the mud. Ford’s new one-off electric truck, the F-150 Lightning Switchgear, falls firmly in that latter category of plug-in vehicle. A year ago, Ford teased a high-performance demonstrator based on its F-150 Lightning, with the company’s CEO Jim Farley tweeting a photo of himself pulling back the cover to show a portion of the truck’s front end. Now the company is finally ready to pull back the entire cover. The F-150 Lightning Switchgear is a high-riding, high-performance, all-electric... Continue reading…

The Galaxy S24 is likely launching tomorrow, and you still have time to already secure a decent bonus for pre-ordering one. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S24 series tomorrow, January 17th. If you’ve caught up on our coverage of all the rumored changes and know you’ll be upgrading upon release, you might as well reserve one. There’s no payment due today for doing so, and you’ll be rewarded with a $50 credit that’s usable toward other devices or accessories at the time of purchase. Today is your last chance to take advantage of this deal, and there are no guarantees that we’ll see any other Galaxy S24 preorder incentives outside of Samsung’s traditional trade-in offers. You’ll only need to provide your name and email address to receive a unique link to place your order after the event.Samsung will also offer separate instant credits worth $25,... Continue reading…

The era of AI on our phones is upon us, and it’s Samsung’s turn to show us a vision for the future. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Samsung is announcing new phones this week, and they’re going to be the most AI phones that ever AI’ed. That’s not a guess, although it would be an easy one coming off the heels of “Put a ChatGPT on it” CES 2024. No, Samsung is telling us in the loudest ways possible — including putting it on the Sphere, which is the 2024 equivalent of shouting it from the rooftops. But what exactly does AI on a phone look like? So far, it has amounted to a handful of tech demos. This week’s Galaxy Unpacked event is an opportunity to show us the potential of AI on a mobile device. And unlike a washing machine with ChatGPT preinstalled, AI could be really useful on our phones.AI showed up in a big way in 2023, but as a tool on our mobile devices, it’s... Continue reading…

Image: Samsung On top of the latest generation of its flagship phones, Samsung revealed a bevy of new AI features at its Unpacked event in San Jose. Continue reading…

Just before 2023 ended, Google agreed to settle a lawsuit about how it described incognito mode on Chrome. The main complaint was that Google could still harvest data and information from people using incognito mode, and while Google never explicitly stated that it wouldn't collect user data, the courts believed the description of incognito mode was vague enough to trick people into assuming it couldn't. Now, Google has adjusted the incognito mode's description to describe better what it does and doesn't do.

Marvel Studios Echo star and Daredevil alum Vincent D’Onofrio says Netflix’s Marvel series are part of the MCU’s canon, which was obvious if you watched shows or listened to Kevin Feige. Continue reading…