The Strato E player (here with a Mini Terra Prime server on top of it) is smaller than a Blu-ray disc collection, but you can get a lot of 4K discs for $3,000. We've lost something in the past 15 years. Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Apple; they've all convinced us that streaming is the best way to watch movies and shows at home. With everything at our fingertips, there's no need to run to Blockbuster for the weekend's entertainment, or wait for a DVD rental to arrive in the mail. And going to the movie theater is a luxury - one that keeps getting more expensive.But we were, all of us, deceived. We traded quality for convenience. And while TVs have improved drastically, we feed them inadequate, bitrate-starved, internet-throttled streams that won't let our fancy screens show their full potential. Blu-r …Read the full story at The Verge.

When Colin Farrell was doing press for the first season of the detective series Sugar, he had to be very careful with how he spoke. Sugar is a story about a quirky private detective, but it's also secretly a work of science fiction, something that doesn't become clear until halfway through the season. "I knew that I could get the show in deep shit if I revealed certain things," he tells me. Now as Sugar heads into its next season, which starts streaming on Apple TV on June 19th, Farrell says he feels "unburdened" by the previous veil of secrecy. "There are certain things I wouldn't mention here about season 2," he says, "but nothing as big a …Read the full story at The Verge.

I've installed VLC on every computer I've owned for the better part of two decades, and I still recommend it to all my family as the default for playing media on a computer. It's incredibly simple, self-explanatory, and offers some level of customization if you need to go deeper. So when I say I've stopped using it on my own desktop, I don't mean VLC got worse, but I found an alternative in mpv that's still based on FFmpeg, asks a bit more of you, but gives you a ton of control in return.

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. We don't have the phones we preordered yet, but this week we received unexpected news from Trump Mobile's media relations manager.If you've been following my reporting on the Trump phone, you'll know that Trump Mobile doesn't exactly keep open lines of communication with the media. That doesn't look to be changing, with the company no longer working with its long-term media relations firm.Poplar Group has represented Trump Mobile since at least last June, when the company's founding partner Chris Walker gave a statement to USA Today, insisting at the time that "T1 …Read the full story at The Verge.

Five months after returning to OpenAI, Barret Zoph - the company's head of enterprise AI sales - has departed, The Verge has learned. Zoph returned to OpenAI in mid-January after a stint as co-founder and CTO of Thinking Machines Lab, the competing AI company founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. Shortly after Zoph returned to OpenAI, the company said he would lead its push into enterprise - a significant role at OpenAI, since in recent months it had vowed to stop chasing so-called "side quests" and focus on key revenue drivers like enterprise and coding ahead of its planned IPO. OpenAI confirmed to The Verge that Zoph will be depart …Read the full story at The Verge.

Obsidian's true utility lies in its plugins. While the app is powerful on its own, the community makes it something special with the incredible range of functionality added through the plugins. In my search for a useful, efficient way to track tasks and to-do lists, I discovered Operon. It's a relatively new Obsidian plugin, but the developer has already released many updates that have built upon and expanded the previous versions in big ways.

Have I found my Chromecast Audio replacement? | Image: NTS Radio NTS Radio and Swedish audio company Atonemo have teamed up on a dedicated player that brings NTS's genre-defying mixes and streaming stations to almost any stereo or speaker setup. And, like Atonemo's existing Streamplayer, you can also listen to your favorite streaming services with it, using AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, or Tidal Connect.The $179 NTS Radio Player puts out 24-bit / 192kHz audio over a standard 3.5mm audio jack and comes with an adapter cable for connecting to RCA on your vintage hi-fi system, or whatever other speakers you have lying around. The top of the device has two buttons for tuning in directly to NTS 1 …Read the full story at The Verge.

Luca Guadagnino's film about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Artificial, has reportedly been dropped by Amazon MGM. The film, which stars Andrew Garfield and covers the rollercoaster five days in 2023 spanning Altman's termination and reinstatement as CEO, had been in the works for about a year. The cast also includes A Complete Unknown actress Monica Barbaro as OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk, and Anora's Yura Borisov as OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever.In a statement to Deadline, the studio said it believes the movie "will be better served if it were released by a different studio and is working closely with the filmmak …Read the full story at The Verge.

A desktop PC has a few USB ports on the rear of the system, be it a custom DIY build or a prebuilt turnkey model from the likes of MSI, Asus, Dell, and other vendors. But some may not know that a PC will have a USB header or two inside the chassis. Turnkey systems may have one or none, depending on the model and price, but almost all consumer-grade motherboards purchased standalone will have at least one USB header, though usually more. The primary use for these is to connect USB ports on PC cases.

Ever since I got fiber internet, I've used the router my ISP provided for the longest time because it was included with my plan and I never had a reason to replace it. After all, I didn't want to spend money on a new router and go through the hassle of setting it up myself. However, as newer wireless standards became available, such as Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7, I started wondering whether I was missing out by sticking with older hardware, especially when my ISP began advertising better routers for new connections.

If you're looking for something simple to build, you can't go wrong with the humble Pomodoro timer. They're easy to make, simple to code, and once you're done, you have a nice little desk companion to help you stay productive and focused. Plus, the components to make one usually don't break the bank.

You need a quarter teaspoon for your face alone, a half teaspoon if you include the neck (which you should!) This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they're going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here.On TikTok, the tanned youths are explaining why they no longer wear sunscreen. In one video, a young man films himself in the ocean while describing how you can naturally build up a "solar callus" or sun tolerance to getting burned. (You can't.) In another, a young woman confidently states that eating healthy foods full of polyphenols and other antioxidants will help make your body more resilient to sunburn. (Antioxidants help w …Read the full story at The Verge.