Microsoft has huge plans for the upcoming Windows 11 24H2 update. The operating system is going to go all-in on utilizing the power of AI PCs, including features such as AI Explorer and Copilot running locally. It's going to be the Redmond giant's biggest stake in the booming AI market, so the last thing it wants is for people to turn away and use other systems. Unfortunately, that may be exactly what's going on.

Say goodbye to your physical SIM card. | Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge If you’ve purchased an iPhone 14 or 15 series phone in the US — or one of the latest iPads — you’ll notice it’s missing one key feature: a SIM tray. That’s because Apple’s gone all in on eSIM, which is a digital version of the tiny card that allows you to use your wireless provider’s network. There’s good news and bad news here. If you’re switching from an older iPhone, activating an eSIM on your new iPhone is incredibly easy. If you’re switching from an Android phone to an iPhone 14, well, it’s less straightforward. Whichever path you need to take, we’ve got some guidance for you.iPhone with physical SIM to iPhone 14 or 15To switch from an iPhone with a physical SIM card to an eSIM iPhone, follow these steps:Make sure your old... Continue reading…

Image: Amazon Amazon is deploying 50 battery-electric heavy-duty trucks in California, which it claims is the largest such fleet in the country. The company says the new trucks represent an important step in its mission to eliminate pollution from its global operations — even as its carbon emissions have spiked in recent years. Amazon says the trucks will be integrated into first-mile operations, in which goods are moved from container ships at the ports to fulfillment centers, as well as middle-mile operations, in which packages are transported from fulfillment centers to delivery centers. From there, the packages will be loaded into Amazon’s last-mile fleet, a portion of which are electric delivery vans produced by Rivian. The... Continue reading…

EMBARGO: June 15, 2021, 10:30am ET | Image: Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge Elon Musk doesn’t like lidar, the laser sensor that powers many companies’ self-driving ambitions. He previously called it a “crutch” and said any company that relies on lidar for its autonomous capabilities was “doomed.” Well, apparently Tesla is stocking up on crutches. In its quarterly earnings report released today, Orlando-based lidar manufacturer Luminar disclosed that Tesla was its “largest LiDAR customer in Q1,” comprising more than 10 percent of the company’s revenue for the quarter. That translates to around $2.1 million worth of lidar, based on Luminar’s $21 million in revenue for the quarter. Tesla is stocking up on crutchesIn fact, Tesla bought so much lidar from Luminar, it helped offset a quarter-over-quarter drop in... Continue reading…

There are a couple of straightforward ways to activate Windows 11 or Windows 10. You can either use the Settings app or buy a software license from the Microsoft Store. However, if you're in an enterprise environment or live on the shadier side of technology, you can also use Command Prompt to activate a Windows license using a KMS (key management services) activation key. You'll only need to do this if you've installed Windows on a new PC, of course, since most laptops will come with a Windows license out of the box.

If you have a modern Intel PC connected to a monitor with built-in speakers, you might have noticed a pretty annoying issue. In some cases, you might not hear anything for a few seconds when playing a video, music, or any other audio. This not only makes it frustrating to listen to content on your computer, but it can make you miss notifications altogether, since the notification sound is short enough not to be played at all.

Image: The Verge The most important upcoming hardware product for Sonos is undoubtedly its long-anticipated Sonos Ace headphones. They will mark the company’s debut in a massive (and highly competitive) new category. But spring and summer are always the seasons of new portable speakers, and Sonos hasn’t forgotten about that part of its business.The company has been developing a sequel to the Sonos Roam, the tiny portable speaker it released three years ago. I’ve obtained images of a prerelease Sonos Roam 2 and can share a little more about the differences between it and the original model, which has been criticized by some owners for unreliable battery performance and other issues. In terms of design, the Roam 2 is basically a carbon copy of the... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images Grocery delivery service Instacart is expanding into restaurant takeout thanks to a new partnership with Uber Eats. In the coming weeks, Instacart will add a new feature for restaurant delivery, with the back-end mechanics powered by Uber. The listing of restaurants will be provided by Uber, the transaction will be overseen by Uber’s software, and the food will be picked up and delivered by Uber Eats couriers. The only difference is that everything will take place within Instacart’s app or website. Image: Uber Neither company would share the financial details of the deal, so we don’t have any insight into how much Instacart is paying to use Uber’s food delivery software. Uber spokesperson Noah Edwardsen said that... Continue reading…

Image: Walmart Walmart has listed its new “Pro” Google TV streaming box / smart speaker combo a week after the product leaked into the real world and intermittently appeared on the store site.The new Onn 4K Pro, which retails for $49.88, comes with new features, including a built-in Google Assistant smart speaker, Dolby Vision plus Atmos, HDR, and a remote with a big blue “Free TV” button to subtly point you to Google’s FAST channels as well as a customizable star button that can launch an app or change TV inputs. Image: Walmart You get a barrel plug power supply instead of direct AC or USB-C, but at least you get an included HDMI cable. Image: Walmart It’s not “Magic” — it’s the Customizable button.... Continue reading…

Illustration by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Department of Justice has unsealed charges against a Russian national accused of developing and administrating LockBit ransomware. In a filing on Tuesday, the DOJ claims the 31-year-old Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev helped make LockBit one of “the most prolific and destructive ransomware group[s] in the world.”Khoroshev has allegedly had involvement in LockBit since it first emerged in September 2019. Over the years, LockBit ransomware attacks have claimed over 2,500 victims in at least 120 countries, with Khoroshev and other co-conspirators allegedly collecting at least $500 million in ransom payments. Image: UK National Crime Agency US and UK authorities seized LockBit’s data leak site in February. LockBit... Continue reading…

Image: iFixit The first laptop with LPCAMM2 memory is finally here. The folks at iFixit got their hands on the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 (Gen 7), which uses LPDDR5X memory in an LPCAMM2 module that you can upgrade or replace by simply unscrewing from the laptop’s motherboard.That’s a major change from existing LPDDR memory in most modern laptops. This type of memory is typically soldered onto the motherboard, making it much more difficult to upgrade. LPCAMM2 — or Low-Power Compression-Attached Memory Module — offers modularity without losing the power efficiency of LPDDR.Traditional DDR RAM uses SODIMM sticks that slot into the motherboard, much like on desktop PCs. As pointed out by iFixit, LPDDR is much more power-efficient, but it needs to be soldered... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge OpenAI has added a new tool to detect if an image was made with its DALL-E AI image generator, as well as new watermarking methods to more clearly flag content it generates.In a blog post, OpenAI announced that it has begun developing new provenance methods to track content and prove whether it was AI-generated. These include a new image detection classifier that uses AI to determine whether the photo was AI-generated, as well as a tamper-resistant watermark that can tag content like audio with invisible signals. The classifier predicts the likelihood that a picture was created by DALL-E 3. OpenAI claims the classifier works even if the image is cropped or compressed or the saturation is changed. While the tool can detect if images... Continue reading…