Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The long-awaited EU AI Act is still under debate as European lawmakers can’t agree on how to regulate foundation models, and it’s unlikely to pass regulation before December.As first reported by Reuters, Spain, which currently heads the EU, is pushing for more regular vetting for vulnerabilities and the creation of a tiered system of regulation depending on the number of users a model has.European lawmakers have had three trilogues (a three-party discussion between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, and the European Commission) around the AI Act, with a fourth expected to happen this week.Another meeting has been set for December, if none of the parties agree on anything this month. This has sparked concern... Continue reading…

Image: Square Enix Earlier this year, Final Fantasy XIV fans were treated to a first look at the next expansion, Dawntrail. Over the weekend, during the London leg of the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival event, Square Enix shared a bit more detail about the expansion, including a new trailer revealing the newest class: Viper.Viper will be a melee DPS class that seems similar to the Ninja class already present in the game. Vipers will dual-wield swords that can be fused together into one big sword for more damage a la Zidane from Final Fantasy IX. (Remember his Butterfly Sword?) As is tradition, the Viper was introduced by game producer Naoki Yoshida dressed up as the class, and as also is tradition, the look was pretty damn cool.(Eat your heart out, Todd... Continue reading…

Image: Murena The Murena 2, the follow-up to last year’s de-Googled and privacy-focused Murena One smartphone, is now available to back on Kickstarter and has pulled in more than $156,000, far exceeding its $26,437 goal.The big update for this new model is a physical privacy switch that, when toggled on, disconnects the front and back cameras as well as the microphones. (It’s kind of like the privacy switches we’ve seen for some laptops.) The Murena 2 also has a second physical switch that, when activated, flips on airplane mode to disconnect the phone from networks and turns on do not disturb mode.As for other hardware specs, the Murena 2 has a 6.43-inch screen with a 1080 x 2400 resolution, 128GB of storage, a 4,000mAh battery, and a MediaTek... Continue reading…

Here’s a Ram truck at CES 2018. | Image: Sean O’Kane / The Verge Stellantis — the gigantic international automotive conglomerate that owns everything from Jeep to Ram to Alfa Romeo and Opel — has canceled its plans for CES 2024, we are told via a short press release. The company blames the current United Auto Workers (UAW) strikes, which today expanded to include 6,800 workers at the factory that makes Ram 1500 trucks, which is the largest Stellantis factory in the United States. Stellantis has “the worst proposal on the table regarding wage progression, temporary worker pay and conversion to full-time, cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), and more,” the UAW said in a statement to Axios.“As the costs of the ongoing UAW strikes against Stellantis continue to mount, the Company has decided to cancel its... Continue reading…

Gone are the days when you can only rely on plain old passwords to protect your Windows PC. Microsoft offers a variety of sign-in options and account protection mechanisms for consumers. Windows Hello, for example, allows you to sign in with your face or fingerprint, if your device has Windows Hello hardware. But what if it doesn't, or what if you want to unlock the PC remotely? With a little fiddling, it's possible.

If you're looking to buy an OLED TV, you don't want to miss this flash deal. This TV can really do it all, with impressive image quality, vibrant colors, and deep black levels. Regardless of what you're using your TV for, you can't go wrong with this LG TV. Best of all, LG's 48-inch Class A2 series TV is now $700 off, dropping the price to just $600 for a limited time. So be sure to pick one up while you can, because this limited time flash deal is only good for today.

Illustration: The Verge In a post earlier this month, Valve announced the Steam Link app will “no longer be available on Samsung TV after November 30th, 2023.” The service lets users wirelessly stream PC games from their Steam library to other devices, such as a TV or phone. It launched with the Steam Link dongle in 2015, which was discontinued in 2018 in favor of the app.Samsung brought the Steam Link app to its TVs in 2017 but stopped supporting it on newer TVs after the launch of its Gaming Hub, which focused on cloud gaming services like the ones from Xbox and Nvidia GeForce Now. However, Steam says users can access the Steam Link app on Apple TV and Android hardware, including the Nvidia Shield or Amazon Fire TV.While the Steam Link app might’ve seemed... Continue reading…

One of the best yet most underrated features of the Apple Watch, including new models like the Apple Watch Series 9, is the ability to access the Apple Wallet app right from your wrist. Then, using Apple Pay (where available) and a virtual credit or debit card from a participating bank, you can pay for items by simply tapping the watch face on the reader. Even though you can pay from the best iPhones as well, being able to twist your wrist and tap means you don’t have to dig the phone out of your pocket, unlock it, and call up the Apple Wallet app.

AMD and Qualcomm Surface devices. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Nvidia and AMD are both reportedly planning to launch Arm-based CPUs for Windows-based PCs. Reuters reports that Nvidia has started designing Arm-based CPUs in what could be a major expansion of Microsoft’s Windows on Arm work. Nvidia and AMD could both be ready with PC chips as soon as 2025, according to Reuters.Microsoft has so far exclusively partnered with Qualcomm for Arm-based versions of Windows 11, and the Reuters report comes on the eve of Qualcomm’s next big Snapdragon launch for Arm-based chips that will likely power Samsung’s upcoming flagship phone. Reuters reports that Microsoft executives will be part of Qualcomm’s announcement tomorrow, including vice president of Windows and Devices Pavan Davuluri.Microsoft’s first... Continue reading…

Lenovo is one of the most popular laptop brands in the world, and that's especially true among business users. While other companies can also make some great devices, it's no surprise to see Lenovo at the top. The company makes some of the very best laptops you can buy, and none more iconic than the ThinkPad lineup. But while the ThinkPad brand may be what you're most familiar with, Lenovo has become a powerhouse across different segments, and it makes some of our favorite laptops in general. So, in this article, we're highlighting the best of the best from Lenovo's lineup, whether that's business laptops or more consumer-focused ones.

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge PimEyes, a public search engine that uses facial recognition to match online photos of people, has banned searches of minors over concerns it endangers children, reports The New York Times. At least, it should. PimEyes’ new detection system, which uses age detection AI to identify whether the person is a child, is still very much a work in progress. After testing it, The New York Times found it struggles to identify children photographed at certain angles. The AI also doesn’t always accurately detect teenagers.PimEyes chief executive Giorgi Gobronidze says he’d been planning on implementing such a protection mechanism since 2021. However, the feature was only fully deployed after New York Times writer Kashmir Hill published an article... Continue reading…

Toyota’s Land Cruiser Se concept. | Image: Toyota Toyota is bringing the content for its 2023 Japan Mobility Show showcase that includes an all-electric Land Cruiser SUV concept that could either be a serious contender to duke it out with competing three-row EVs or just a premature look for things to come.The Toyota Land Cruiser “Se” has an angular boat-like appearance with a long hood, swooping windshield, and rounded rear end with a visor taillight design. The seven-seater concept also comes with some size specs: it has a 120.08-inch wheelbase and is 202.76 inches long, 78.35 wide, and 67.13 tall. It’s got a wider stance and a shorter height than the real gas-powered 2024 Land Cruiser, which has a wheelbase of about 112 inches.The extra space between the wheels likely accounts for... Continue reading…