This week, I take a look at the surprisingly strong state of Google, Meta gets a new chief AI researcher, and more. If you haven't already, be sure to check out this week's Decoder episode about deepfakes and where they are headed.Also, do you use an AI coding tool like Cursor or GitHub Copilot? I'd love to know what works and what doesn't…"I think we are doing very well through this moment"After spending time with Google executives during the company's I/O conference in May, it was clear that they were feeling confident. Now, I'm beginning to see why.ChatGPT is not making Google Search obsolete. If anything, AI is making Google st …Read the full story at The Verge.

Streaming has become a tangled web of subscriptions, and now Comcast says it can help by putting all your services into one hub. Comcast is launching a new hub on its set-top boxes, called the StreamStore, where you can buy and manage subscriptions for more than 450 streaming apps and channels.The StreamStore lives within Xfinity’s Xumo Stream Box and on X1 devices. It’s also available on the web, and features a collection of more than 200,000 movies and TV shows to rent or purchase. Xfinity will let you add or drop channels through the store, while tacking on new subscriptions to your monthly internet or TV bill, further positioning the company as a sort of streaming broker. Other cable / telecom companies like Verizon have tried to step in as a digital subscription service middleman, though Comcast is taking things a step further by putting this hub on your TV. But is streaming really messy enough that you need Comcast to manage it?Some services included in the StreamStore include Netflix, Peacock, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Hulu, Apple TV Plus, HBO Max, and over 100 “niche” streaming subscriptions, according to LightReading. Xfinity already offers its own StreamSaver bundle, which includes a subscription to Apple TV Plus, Netflix with ads, and Peacock’s ad-supported plan for $15 per month.The bundle is, of course, available through the StreamStore, and Xfinity says it plans on bringing new streaming bundles, apps, and “enhanced subscription management and activation capabilities” to the hub in the future.(Disclosure: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.)

In March, charging giant Anker announced it would spin out its 3D printer business into an "independent sub-brand," stating that the new EufyMake would "continue to provide comprehensive customer service and support" for its original 3D printers the AnkerMake M5 and M5C. Now, the 3D printing community is wondering whether that was all a euphemism for exiting the 3D printer business. eufyMake is no longer selling any 3D printers and has stopped selling some of the parts it would need to provide anything close to "comprehensive support."Anker confirms to The Verge that it has stopped selling the M5 and M5C 3D printers indefinitely. Spokes …Read the full story at The Verge.

I always recommend spending a decent amount on the motherboard to ensure reliable and stable operation. The same goes for power supplies, and so I thought it would be interesting to see how well one of the cheapest ITX AM5 motherboards would perform with an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X. ITX motherboards are among the most expensive form factors due to their restricted size and niche application. The B650i Night Devil from JGINYUE costs $100, and I bought one over Prime Day to see if it would be one of the best buys of 2025 or if I'd need to contact my home insurer. Thankfully, much to my wife's anticipation, it's the former.

Microsoft’s controversial Recall feature, that automatically screenshots nearly everything on a Copilot Plus PC, is meeting resistance from app developers. Signal kicked off a trend of blocking Recall earlier this year, with AdGuard and the Brave browser now also blocking the Windows AI feature.AdGuard calls Recall a “privacy concern” in a blog post outlining why it’s blocking Microsoft’s AI tool. “The very idea of background screen captures is unsettling,” says AdGuard. “At any given moment, the system could snap a screenshot of a private chat window, an online form where you’re entering your credit card, or simply something personal you didn’t want saved.”Brave admits it was “partly inspired by Signal’s blocking of Recall,” for its decision to also block Recall from accessing its browser. “We will disable it by default for Windows 11+ users, with a toggle to turn it back on for users who really want Recall,” says Brave.Signal first started blocking Windows 11’s Recall screenshots in May, while also highlighting that Microsoft “has launched Recall without granular settings for app developers that would enable Signal to easily protect privacy, which is a glaring omission that limits our choices.” Signal’s block involves using a DRM flag, which means it blocks any screenshot or accessibility tools from accessing the messaging app. Brave is able to offer access to screenshot and accessibility tools and still disable Recall, because Microsoft lets browser apps granularly disable Recall. “While it’s heartening that Microsoft recognizes that Web browsers are especially privacy-sensitive applications, we hope they offer the same granular ability to turn off Recall to all privacy-minded application developers,” says Brave.

As promised, Apple has finally revealed Pluribus, a new show from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan that’s coming to Apple TV Plus. In addition to a very brief teaser involving some gross donut behavior, the streamer also confirmed that the show will premiere on November 7th.The show has been in the works for a while, as Apple first announced that it had picked up a Gilligan project back in 2022. It stars Rhea Seehorn, who previously worked with Gilligan on Better Call Saul. But there aren’t a lot of details other than that. According to Apple, the show — which is already confirmed for a second season –is about “the most miserable person on Earth” who “must save the world from happiness.” The rest of the cast includes Karolina Wydra, Carlos Manuel Vesga, Miriam Shor, and Samba Schutte.While details are slim, we do at least have one single image of Seehorn in the show:Pluribus also adds to an ever-growing lineup of science fiction series on Apple TV Plus, including recent shows like Murderbot and new seasons of Foundation and Invasion, along with upcoming projects like an adaptation of Neuromancer.

Frankly, I don't remember the last time I used good ol' pencil and paper to take notes while studying. I still need to go the traditional paper-and-pen route during exams and certain assignments, but outside of that, digital note-taking has taken over almost entirely. Initially, I started typing out my notes on Google Docs, but it quickly became clear that typing wasn’t helping me retain information the way handwriting did.

If you use a Raspberry Pi, you need an SD card flashing tool to install the operating system. Supplanting Balena Etcher, the Raspberry Pi Imager includes everything we need to set up a Raspberry Pi operating system. However, hidden within that straightforward tool is another interface, which means you no longer have to spend time configuring every Wi-Fi connection and SSH password.

Mini PCs are a great option if you're looking for something cheap, compact, and versatile. While they can easily be used like a traditional PC, you'll often find that they can also be fantastic additions to your home lab, the heart of your home security system, or the brains of your smart home.

Chromebooks aren't the device for everyone. ChromeOS is a very limited operating system, but it does have a few standout features that make it a compelling operating system. Unfortunately, for those of us who require more than just web apps, no amount of slick features will make Chromebooks a worthwhile investment.

DJI barely sells drones in the United States anymore. The shelves are bare; resellers are jacking up prices. It appears an unofficial ban at US customs is to blame. But on Amazon, you can now buy a drone that's a a dead ringer for the DJI Mini 4 Pro - the SkyRover X1 - for a reasonable $758. And that's probably because DJI made it happen.There's evidence suggesting so, and DJI was not able to deny the SkyRover X1 was a DJI product one day after we reached out.As reported by DroneXL, security researchers have discovered the SkyRover X1 not only has the same specs, features, and an incredibly similar app to the one DJI provides for its dro …Read the full story at The Verge.

Activists around the world are calling attention to harassment they’ve faced on Meta’s platforms. More than 90 percent of land and environmental defenders surveyed by Global Witness, a nonprofit organization that also tracks the murders of environmental advocates, reported experiencing some kind of online abuse or harassment connected to their work. Facebook was the most-cited platform, followed by X, WhatsApp, and Instagram.Global Witness and many of the activists it surveyed are calling on Meta and its peers to do more to address harassment and misinformation on their platforms. Left to fester, they fear that online attacks could fuel real-world risks to activists. Around 75 percent of people surveyed said they believed that online abuse they experienced corresponded to offline harm.“Those stats really stayed with me. They were so much higher than we expected them to be,” Ava Lee, campaign strategy lead on digital threats at Global Witness, tells The Verge. That’s despite expecting a gloomy outcome based on prior anecdotal accounts. “It has kind of long been known that the experience of climate activists and environmental defenders online is pretty awful,” Lee says.Left to fester, they fear that online attacks could fuel real-world risksGlobal Witness surveyed more than 200 people between November 2024 and March of this year that it was able to reach through the same networks it taps when documenting the killings of land and environmental defenders. It found Meta-owned platforms to be “the most toxic.” Around 62 percent of participants said they encountered abuse on Facebook, 36 percent on WhatsApp, and 26 percent on Instagram. That probably reflects how popular Meta’s platforms are around the world. Facebook has more than 3 billion active monthly users, more than a third of the global population. But Meta also abandoned its third-party fact-checking program in January, which critics warned could lead to more hate speech and disinformation. Meta moved to a crowdsourced approach to content moderation similar to X, where 37 percent of survey participants reported experiencing abuse. In May, Meta reported a “small increase in the prevalence of bullying and harassment content” on Facebook as well as “a small increase in the prevalence of violent and graphic content” during the first quarter of 2025.“That’s sort of the irony as well, of them moving towards this kind of free speech model, which actually we’re seeing that it’s silencing certain voices,” says Hannah Sharpe, a senior campaigner at Global Witness.Fatrisia Ain leads a local collective of women in Sulawesi, Indonesia, where she says palm oil companies have seized farmers’ lands and contaminated a river local villagers used to be able to rely on for drinking water. Posts on Facebook have accused her of being a communist, a dangerous allegation in her country, she tells The Verge.The practice of “red-tagging” — labeling any dissident voices as communists — has been used to target and criminalize activists in Southeast Asia. In one high-profile case, a prominent environmental activist in Indonesia was jailed under “anti-communism” laws after opposing a new gold mine.Ain says she’s asked Facebook to take down several posts attacking her, without success. “They said it’s not dangerous, so they can’t take it down. It is dangerous. I hope that Meta would understand, in Indonesia, it’s dangerous,” Ain says. Other posts have accused Ain of trying to defraud farmers and of having an affair with a married man, which she sees as attempts to discredit her that could wind up exposing her to more threats in the real world — which has already been hostile to her activism. “Women who are being the defenders for my own community are more vulnerable than men … more people harass you with so many things,” she says. Nearly two-thirds of people who responded to the Global Witness survey said that they have feared for their safety, including Ain. She’s been physically targeted at protests against palm oil companies accused of failing to pay farmers, she tells The Verge. During a protest outside of a government office, men grabbed her butt and chest, she says. Now, when she leads protests, older women activists surround her to protect her as a security measure. In the Global Witness survey, nearly a quarter of respondents said they’d been attacked on the basis of their sex. “There’s evidence of the way that women and women of color in particular in politics experience just vast amounts more hate than any other group,” Lee says. “Again, we’re seeing that play out when it comes to defenders … and the threats of sexual violence, and the impact that that is having on the mental health of lots of these defenders and their ability to feel safe.” “We encourage people to use tools available on our platforms to help protect against bullying and harassment,” Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton said in an email to The Verge, adding that the company is reviewing Facebook posts that targeted Ain. Meta also pointed to its “Hidden Words” feature that allows you to filter offensive direct messages and comments on your posts and its “Limits” feature that hides comments on your posts from users that don’t follow you. Other companies mentioned in the report, including Google, TikTok, and X, did not provide on-the-record responses to inquiries from The Verge. Nor did a palm oil company Ain says has been operating on local farmers’ land without paying them, as they’re supposed to do under a mandated profit-sharing scheme. Global Witness says there are concrete steps social media companies can take to address harassment on their platforms. That includes dedicating more resources to their content moderation systems, regularly reviewing these systems, and inviting public input on the process. Activists surveyed also reported that they think algorithms that boost polarizing content and the proliferation of bots on platforms make the problem worse. “There are a number of choices that platforms could make,” Lee says. “Resourcing is a choice, and they could be putting more money into really good content moderation and really good trust and safety [initiatives] to improve things.” Global Witness plans to put out its next report on the killings of land and environmental defenders in September. Its last such report found that at least 196 people were killed in 2023.