Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel shared a new proposal Wednesday that would make it harder for domestic abuse survivors to be stalked through their cars’ location tracking systems.The notice of proposed rulemaking would kick off a process for the FCC to consider how it can use existing authority to create new protections for domestic abuse survivors. It seeks more information on available connected car services and whether changes to the way the agency implements the Safe Connections Act are necessary to address how those tools could be used for abuse. The agency is expected to take up the issue in the next month.The Safe Connections Act, which was signed into law in late 2022, requires mobile service... Continue reading…

Handheld PC gaming devices really seemed to take off in 2023, but it was the popular release of the Steam Deck a year earlier that really pushed a lot of other manufacturers to begin taking the devices seriously. We're now seeing a long list of quality PC gaming handhelds on the market, ranging from the Linux-based Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED to Windows-based models from Asus, Lenovo, Ayaneo, GPD, and more.

Mobile World Congress (MWC) is a massive technology event that takes place every year in the city of Barcelona. Thousands of people go there to take a glimpse at the latest and greatest tech being launched, and we attended to get some hands-on time with some of the best out there. Some of these are concepts that you can't buy, some of these are products that you can buy today, but all of them deserve a place on our list of the best products available at the show this year.

Aqara’s U200 smart lock is a retrofit, Matter-over-Thread door lock, with support for Apple Home Key promised. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Aqara has launched its Smart Lock U200 on Kickstarter, where you can currently nab the device for $209, down from the $249.99 it’ll cost you when it goes on sale later this year. According to the Kickstarter page, it will ship to backers in April. The company debuted its new retrofit lock at the IFA 2023 tech show last summer; showcasing its Matter-over-Thread connectivity and separate Bluetooth keypad with a fingerprint reader and NFC built in. This gives you the option to unlock with digital codes, Aqara NFC cards, the Aqara app on your phone, and voice control with compatible voice assistants. That’s in addition to still being able to use your existing key. Uniquely for a retrofit lock (where you don't need to replace your... Continue reading…

Microsoft recently started the process of auto-upgrading eligible PCs, including the ones running Windows 11 22H2, to the newer Windows 11 23H2. It made sense because Windows 11 22H2 was going to no longer receive non-security optional updates after February 27, 2024, and reach the end of life this October. While the software giant hasn't changed its mind about auto-upgrading PCs to 23H2, it's backtracked on its decision to stop pushing non-security updates to Windows 11 22H2 beyond February.

Say goodbye to the rounded-corners that featured on previous Galaxy Z Fold devices. | Image: Onleaks / Smartprix Samsung’s incoming Galaxy Z Fold 6 smartphone appears to have leaked in unofficial renders published on Wednesday by SmartPrix and OnLeaks, giving us our first look at the company’s latest flagship foldable. The images show a much boxier design that’s more in keeping with the recently launched Galaxy S24 Ultra, with squared edges in place of the softer, rounded ones adorning the Galaxy Z Fold 5.According to Smartprix, the dimensions for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 are 153.5 x 132.5 x 6.1mm (around 6 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches) when unfolded, making it a smidge shorter and wider than its predecessor. The inner screen reportedly measures 7.6 inches diagonally, with the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s front cover display coming in at approximately 6.2 inches.O... Continue reading…

ED MILLER/NETFLIX Check out all of The Verge’s coverage of Netflix’s upcoming 3 Body Problem series based on Cixin Liu’s epic sci-fi novel. Continue reading…

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. | Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge The historically inaccurate images and text generated by Google’s Gemini AI have “offended our users and shown bias,” CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in an internal memo obtained by The Verge.Last week, Google paused Gemini’s ability to generate images after it was widely discovered that the model generated racially diverse, Nazi-era German soldiers, US Founding Fathers who were non-white, and even inaccurately portrayed the races of Google’s own co-founders. While Google has since apologized for “missing the mark” and said it’s working to re-enable image generation in the coming weeks, Tuesday’s memo is the first time the CEO has widely addressed the controversy.In the memo, which was first reported by Semafor, Pichai says the... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Three more news organizations have sued OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging copyright infringement, including the removal of author, title, and other copyright information while training AI models. The Intercept, Raw Story, and AlterNet filed separate lawsuits in the Southern District of New York. All three cases are being litigated by the same law firm. The publications said ChatGPT “at least some of the time” reproduces “verbatim or nearly verbatim copyright-protected works of journalism without providing author, title, copyright or terms of use information contained in those works.” According to the plaintiffs, if ChatGPT trained on material that included copyright information, the chatbot “would have learned to communicate that... Continue reading…

If you own a Pixel smartphone or smartwatch, the Pixel Tablet makes for a great trifecta. | Photo: Dan Seifert / The Verge It’s easy to default to iPads and Samsung Galaxy Tabs when shopping for a new tablet, but believe it or not, there are other devices worth your consideration. Take the Google Pixel Tablet, for instance, which is on sale at Amazon and Best Buy in the 256GB configuration for $449 ($150 off) — a record low for the higher storage model. In fact, the current discount makes the larger model cheaper than the $499.99 base model.The Pixel Tablet’s 11-inch 16:10 display isn’t as comfortable as a 4:3 device for reading or browsing, but it works great as a multimedia consumption device, especially when you attach it to the fabric-wrapped speaker dock that comes with the tablet. The bundled speaker dock sounds pretty good, and playback will... Continue reading…

The 20-20-20 rule and some eye drops can help if you’re feeling eye strain. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge We’ve all heard that screens aren’t good for your eyes. So it might not be too surprising to hear that many Vision Pro users have complained about eye strain. (After all, the headset does use two 4K screens, one in front of each eyeball.) However, these are common complaints from overall VR usage and experts say it isn’t something to freak out over.“Despite what many people believe, sitting too close to the TV does not damage your eyes. Screens ruining your eyes is another myth,” says Dr. Arvind Saini, clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. If you peruse VR subreddits, not just the Apple Vision Pro one, that can be hard to believe. You’ll often find people complaining that their eyes “hurt like hell,” are i... Continue reading…

Google For anyone who has ever wished for the ability to hand annotate directly on a Google Doc, Google announced on Tuesday it’s rolling out a new markup feature for Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and personal Google accounts that will allow users to write directly on a Google Doc with a stylus or their finger. The new feature includes a few standard pen and highlighter colors (black, blue, red, green, yellow), and an eraser. If you don’t like any of those colors, you can add your own.There are so many use cases for a feature like this, across age groups, industries, and professional and personal work. Google calls out some good ones in its announcement, especially for “educators giving students feedback... Continue reading…