If you've ever used a Chromebook, you may have noticed its keyboard looks a little "softer" than others. That's because each letter on a Chromebook keyboard appears in its lowercase form, compared to other keyboards that use uppercase. If you've ever wondered why this is the case, Google has revealed the answer, and it makes a lot more sense than you may think.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Avast, the cybersecurity software company, is facing a $16.5 million fine after it was caught storing and selling customer information without their consent. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the fine on Thursday and said that it’s banning Avast from selling user data for advertising purposes.From at least 2014 to 2020, Avast harvested user web browsing information through its antivirus software and browser extension, according to the FTC’s complaint. This allowed it to collect data on religious beliefs, health concerns, political views, locations, and financial status. The company then stored this information “indefinitely” and sold it to over 100 third parties without the knowledge of customers, the complaint says.1.... Continue reading…

Over the years, laptops have been getting slimmer, lighter, and more powerful. And while these attributes are great, sometimes it can come at a cost, like the reduction or absence of ports. While you might not need them on a daily basis, having additional ports can be a lifesaver, especially if you're looking to take productivity to the next level.

GPT-4 is the latest large multimodal model from OpenAI, and it's able to generate text from both text and graphical input. OpenAI is the company behind ChatGPT and Dall-E, and its primary research focus is in, you guessed it, artificial intelligence. Today, we're going to talk about GPT specifically, what it does, and how it contributes to a growing industry that also includes ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra may not be the best or the most powerful or feature-packed Galaxy phone out there right now, but it's still very relevant in the Android space. Not only will it continue to receive updates for many years to come, but it also beats or goes neck-to-neck with some of the best phones on the market in 2024. So it's easy to see why you may want to buy one right now or hold on to your existing unit for a few more years before upgrading.

We've all been there. You're trying to upload an image to the web, and the website where you need to upload it has an annoying file size limit. That means you now have to resize the image yourself, and we're here to show you how you can do it on your Windows PC or Mac.

PC gaming handhelds have taken the world by storm with Valve's Steam Deck leading the pack, along with other great entries from the likes of Ayaneo, Lenovo, Asus, and others. Now, what makes these devices so alluring is the fact that you can take your PC gaming with you while you're on the go. Of course, versatility is another huge draw and a USB-C hub is the perfect way to expand its capabilities.

Playing your favorite games on a PC requires either a gamepad or a keyboard and mouse. It's possible to purchase a keyboard designed for gaming for as little as $20, but I'd recommend splashing out a little more if you can. The more you spend, the better the features you'll unlock access to. My collection of gaming keyboards will include some budget-friendly examples, as well as some of the best mechanical keyboards around.

Illustration: The Verge This afternoon, AT&T confirmed that it has restored mobile service following a major outage that disrupted its network for customers across the US for much of Thursday. “We sincerely apologize to them,” the carrier said of subscribers in a statement on its website. “Keeping our customers connected remains our top priority, and we are taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future.”The company hasn’t yet offered any explanation as to what caused the outage. ABC News reported that the situation prompted the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to begin “urgently” investigating whether the carrier was the target of a cyberattack. Hopefully, AT&T will offer some clarification on the root cause soon, as... Continue reading…

Image: Bluesky Bluesky is taking a big leap toward federating. On Thursday, the social network announced that it is opening up early access for users and developers who want to self-host their data. While this isn’t true federation yet, the company plans to open up federation to larger servers with even more users in its next phase. When the dust settles, anyone can (in theory) create their own server with their own rules on Bluesky’s AT Protocol. The draw of self-hosting is that it offers users more control over their social media. Rather than store your data on Bluesky’s servers, you can keep it on your own, or move your existing posts, likes, and followers to another company’s platform. If Bluesky were to go bankrupt or change hands, users who... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge On Thursday, Reddit filed its S-1 registration statement with the SEC detailing its finances and business goals ahead of its imminent initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RDDT. In its S-1 document, Reddit said it made $804 million in revenue last year, the vast majority of which came from advertising. However, the company is unprofitable, with a net loss of $90.8 million in 2023.In an unusual twist, Reddit is also giving an unspecified number of its top users, including moderators and those with high karma scores, the chance to buy shares in its IPO. That’s a privilege usually reserved for professional investors who want to buy stock at a theoretically lower price before everyone else gets to purchase... Continue reading…

If you've ever wanted to tweak how your Nvidia GPU works, there's a very good chance you've used one of its apps. Whether you were tweaking how the GPU handled applications via the Nvidia Control Panel or updating your drivers via the GeForce Experience, gamers have become very familiar with this suite of apps.