Amazon has a new ZeroOne team focused on “breakthrough” devices, and it’s led by Xbox cofounder and former Microsoft executive J Allard, CNBC reports. Based on a job listing for the team, one of those products is a smart home device.J Allard was one of the main faces of the original Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles, and during his nearly 20-year tenure at Microsoft, he also worked on the Zune MP3 player, Kin phones, and Courier tablet prototype. He joined Amazon to focus on “new ideas” in late 2024.Job listings for his ZeroOne team at Amazon include senior roles in applied science, product marketing, and customer insights. The description for the applied scientist role says the person will work on “a new smart-home product,” while the product marketing job description vaguely mentions work on “an Amazon device.”It’s unclear when a product from ZeroOne might actually be released.Smart home tech isn’t anything new for Amazon, as the company already has various product lines within its Alexa ecosystem, including Echo devices, and even other brands it owns, like Blink and Eero. Amazon’s Alexa event in February was focused almost solely on its new AI-powered Alexa Plus smart assistant, which is still invite-only and carries a $20 per month subscription fee.

Instagram now supports photos that have a 3:4 aspect ratio, meaning that when you upload a photo with that ratio, “it’ll now appear just exactly as you shot it,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri says in a Threads post. He also notes that “almost every phone camera defaults to” that format.An image from Instagram’s broadcast channel shows how the change makes a difference. You can already post images with a rectangular aspect ratio of 4:5, but with 3:4, your photo won’t be cropped at the ends. 3:4 photos are supported with single-photo uploads and with carousels, according to the channel.If you want, you can still post photos with a square or 4:5 aspect ratio.The change follows Instagram’s move in January to make profile grids feature rectangles instead of squares. “At this point, most of what’s uploaded, both photos and videos, are vertical in their orientation,” Mosseri said at the time.

Have you given the Hitman games a try before? If you haven't, now would be an excellent chance to give my favorite stealth series a try. One of the episodes for Hitman: World of Assassination has become free to keep forever for a limited time, but before you get too excited, there's just one little catch you'll need to wrap your head around before you're met with disappointment.

While mobile phones usually get the newest version of Wi-Fi connectivity before anything else, the PC market is never far behind. With Wi-Fi 7 arriving and being fully supported in Windows, the majority of new motherboards equipped with wireless connectivity will feature Wi-Fi 7 chips. The (slightly) older Wi-Fi 6E is being phased out, and you might be wondering if you need to upgrade your motherboard to stay current.

There are plenty of features in Windows 11 that are notably better than previous versions. However, while improving the OS overall, some features still need a significant overhaul, so they provide a better experience. For instance, many users still use alternative solutions to replace Windows features. Notable features like File Explorer, the Settings app, Task Manager, and others still need work.

You can circle, highlight, or tap the item you want to search for. | Image: YouTubeYouTube is bringing Lens to Shorts. The feature, which will roll out in beta in the coming weeks, will let you search for more information about the animals, plants, and items you spot within a video.If you’re watching a Short with a landmark in the background, for example, YouTube says you can use Lens to search for the specific landmark and find out more about where the video was filmed.You’ll be able to use the feature by accessing Shorts from within YouTube’s mobile app. After you pause the Short, tap the Lens button in the top menu, and then circle, highlight, or tap the item you want to search for.  YouTube will then show visual matches and search results overlaid on the Short. The platform notes that when you select one of these results, you can “quickly jump back into the content you were watching.”Google has begun expanding Lens in recent months, as it now lets you search with video and can even help you figure out what to buy in store.YouTube says that while Lens doesn’t use “biometric facial recognition” to identify specific people, it may show results for “notable public figures.” It also won’t show ads in results during the pilot, and will also not be available on Shorts with shopping affiliate links to start.

For the past several months, it seemed like President Donald Trump and Elon Musk were inseparable. The tech billionaire and "First Buddy" championed Trump on his reelection campaign trail, slept at the White House, attended deal-making dinners at Mar-a-Lago, and chainsawed a giant hole in the government with firings and spending cuts through DOGE.Now, Musk is saying he's had a change of heart. On May 28th, Musk announced that he's officially stepping away from DOGE as his "scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end." And in the days leading up to this update, Musk has held a flurry of interviews in which he's tried to convince his audience that he's done with politics."I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics," Musk said during an interview with Ars Technica. "It was just relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I've reduced that significantly in recent weeks." For reasons we've explained, the idea he's leaving politics is suspect - but he's got good reasons to say he is.Musk's time as a special government employee always had a legal 130-day deadline that was up at the end of May. He isn …Read the full story at The Verge.

Whenever I travel, I miss the reliable home Wi-Fi network to stay connected. I, too, have ignorantly connected my devices to public Wi-Fi networks, Airbnbs, cafés, hotels, and other public places without considering the security risks. I decided to turn my Raspberry Pi into a travel router and carry it everywhere possible. RaspAP is a popular free software that turns the Raspberry Pi into a wireless router. I had a Raspberry Pi lying around and wanted to put it to good use.

In dribs and drabs, we’re starting to get a better idea of what Tesla’s robotaxi service will look like when it launches in Austin, Texas, in just a few weeks. But it’s not nearly enough given what’s at stake.The company is considering June 12th as a possible date to launch its robotaxi service in Austin, Bloomberg reports — though that date could change. Tesla has yet to publicly announce a date, nor has it clarified who will be able to access the vehicles.The news comes as CEO Elon Musk said that the company has begun to test vehicles without safety drivers. “For the past several days, Tesla has been testing self-driving Model Y cars (no one in driver’s seat) on Austin public streets with no incidents,” Musk said on X. “A month ahead of schedule. Next month, first self-delivery from factory to customer.”“No incidents.”But before you give Musk too much credit for the milestone, keep in mind that we still know next to nothing about how this service will operate. Tesla has never publicly demonstrated that its vehicles can operate fully driverless, without a human safety driver behind the wheel, on public roads. We have seen them drive themselves within the confines of Tesla’s factory, which is an environment totally controlled by the company and nowhere near as complex as an active city street with pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users.We know that Tesla plans to launch the service with 10–20 Model Y vehicles. Are these vehicles meaningfully different from the Model Ys that Tesla sells to its customers? It seems very likely, given that Ashok Elluswamy, VP of Autopilot and AI software, said in a recent earnings call that they would have “audio inputs” so they can pick up sirens from emergency vehicles, for example.These vehicles will also be heavily teleoperated, meaning there will be remote operators watching the vehicles through their embedded cameras, ready to take control should a problem arise. But keep in mind this came from a research note published by Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, not from Tesla itself. Jonas also said the service will be invite-only at launch. So unless you’re a Tesla investor, a social media influencer with a sizable following, or a close personal friend of Elon Musk’s, don’t make any immediate plans to travel to Austin next month.Tesla’s approach to its self-driving service is a major departure from how robotaxi companies typically handle these types of launches. Waymo, which it should be noted operates the only publicly available robotaxi service in the US, tests its driverless vehicles for weeks, sometimes months, before opening them up to members of the public. And even then, the company only allows specific people, usually from a waitlist, to ride in its vehicles.Tesla’s approach to its self-driving service is a major departure from how robotaxi companies typically handle these types of launchesBut before that, Waymo spends months driving manually around a city, gathering data about the streetscape and driving habits of other drivers. Sometimes it uses that information to launch a commercial robotaxi service; other times that data is just fed into Waymo’s central computer to make general improvements to its automated driving software.Waymo is also relatively transparent about its process. Before it launched a robotaxi service in Phoenix, Arizona, the company invited journalists from dozens of outlets to its testing facility in Castle, California, allowing them to ride in the vehicles on a closed course. Waymo has also released its own safety case, posted numerous blog posts about its approach to safety, and published a handful of peer-reviewed studies that demonstrates how its technology routinely behaves safer than human drivers. Tesla, on the other hand, has said very little about the safety of its vehicles beyond the hype-filled statements of its chief executive. Even the federal government, of which Musk was most recently a quasi-member as part of DOGE, has a lot of questions about the imminent launch. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which operates under the US Department of Transportation, recently sent the company a barrage of questions, including about the number of vehicles, their ability to operate in poor weather conditions, and on what timetable Tesla owners will be able to access the supposed driverless technology.A lingering concern for NHTSA is that Tesla is basing its robotaxi service on its Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assist feature. Tesla’s first-gen driver assist system, Autopilot, has been linked to hundreds of nonfatal incidents and 51 reported fatalities as of October 2024. At least two of those fatalities have been linked to FSD. NHTSA has been investigating these crashes for a number of years now.Self-driving technology is built on a lot of stuff — cameras, software, AI, engineering, probability — but the success of any public robotaxi service will ultimately come down to trust. Do people trust the company building the technology enough to get inside a vehicle with no one in the front seat? Numerous public opinion polls have shown declining support for autonomous vehicles over the years and a rise in outright hostility toward the technology.On top of that, Tesla’s own brand problems come into focus. The company is clearly struggling under the yoke of Musk and his hard turn to the right. His online antics, his support of far-right political parties, and his fascist gestures at Trump rallies have all turned the Tesla brand toxic. A recent survey gauging the reputations of top companies ranked Tesla 95th, down from the 8th highest-rated brand four years ago.Tesla will always have its fans — many of them fill my inbox with predictions of the company’s future success as well as personal insults for daring to question Musk’s leadership — but it will take more than a few reply guys to make a successful robotaxi business. Especially one we know very little about.

Anthony Boyle at the Disney Plus BAFTA TV Awards reception in May 2025. | Photo: Getty ImagesLike Amazon and Apple, Netflix is also looking to cash in on the story of how Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison managed to steal billions from the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.Variety reports that Anthony Boyle (Tetris, Manhunt) and Julia Garner (Ozark, The Fantastic Four: First Steps) have been cast in Netflix’s upcoming drama series The Altruists as Bankman-Fried and Ellison. Executive produced by Graham Moore and Jacqueline Hoyt (who will also showrun the series), The Altruists will recount how Bankman-Fried, FTX’s former CEO, and Ellison, the former head of FTX’s sister cryptocurrency trading firm, Alameda Research, enriched themselves by defrauding FTX’s investors. Netflix has ordered eight episodes for the series, and James Ponsoldt (Shrinking, Running Point) is attached to direct the premiere.Netflix describes the series as being about “two hyper-smart, ambitious young idealists who tried to remake the global financial system in the blink of an eye — and then seduced, coaxed, and teased each other into stealing $8 billion,” which sounds accurate, if a bit aggrandizing. Presumably, the show will cover how both Bankman-Fried and Ellison ultimately wound up being sentenced to 25 and two years in prison, respectively. And if The Altruists really wants to be seen as a serious, thoughtful piece of storytelling that isn’t just mythologizing its central felons, it should probably touch on how hard Bankman-Fried is now pushing for Donald Trump to give him a pardon. (Disclosure: The Altruists is a coproduction by Higher Ground Productions and New York Magazine/Vox Media Studios.)Correction, May 29th: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Bankman-Fried pleaded guilty to the charges against him. He pleaded not guilty before he was subsequently sentenced to 25 years.

Tile trackers are getting more deeply integrated with the Life360 app. In a blog post published this week, Life360 announced that you’ll now be able to set up and manage the handy Bluetooth location trackers without using the Tile app at all. Life360, a family safety and location app, purchased Tile’s Bluetooth device-tracking business for $205 million in 2022. Since then, Tiles have been part of the Life360 app, allowing you to track the location of both people and items in one app, but you still needed to use the Tile app to set up the tracking devices. As part of the transition, the Life360 app will get some of the Tile app’s features, including sending an automatic push notification if you leave an item behind and the ability to see location history for Tile-tracked items.The move seems aimed at pushing Tile’s users toward the Life360 app. In an email to The Verge, Kristi Collura, director of corporate communications at Life360, confirmed that the Tile app is still available and is not being retired “at this time.” However, with her statement that “all new features and updates are available only in the Life360 app,” the standalone Tile app’s days are likely numbered.As part of the update, Life360 is also reorganizing its paid plans, adding the SOS Alerts feature that lets you call 911 by triple-tapping on a compatible Tile to its $7.99 a month Silver membership, along with seven days of location history. SOS Alerts were previously only available with the $14.99 a month Gold plan, which also allows for 30 days of location history. You can use Life360 for free to track both people and items, but you only see 2 days of location history. Life360 is a location app designed for families. Similar to Apple’s Find My app, it allows authorized members of a “Circle” to see each other’s real-time locations in the app. Each member has control over whether the app shares their location, as well as how precise a view of their location other members have at any time. The service can send alerts to members of your circle when you arrive somewhere, leave somewhere, and when your flight lands. It essentially does away with all those “text me when you get there” requests from parents and family members. Life360 offers more than just location services. It styles itself as an overall family safety app and has features such as crash detection and roadside assistance. Its paid plans also include driver reports, which show phone usage, top speed, and hard braking data. Families with teens who are tempted by this service may want to consider exactly how that data is shared before signing up for it. While Life360 says it no longer sells precise user data, its current privacy policy states it may share data with business partners, including driving analytics services. These services may share data with insurance companies, as detailed in this report by Kashmir Hill in the New York Times. After this story was published, Life360’s Collura said in an email to The Verge that “Life360 does not make driving data available to insurance companies to influence our members’ insurance premiums, except in cases where a member explicitly requests that we share their individualized data for this purpose.” According to a Life360 blog post linked by Collura, Life360 shares data, including location, with the driving analytics company Arity, which provides the app’s drive and crash detection. Arity sells “aggregated and anonymous insights” on driver behavior to insurance companies.Updated May 29th: Added a statement from Life360 regarding the Tile app and additional details about its data sharing practices.

AI could soon surpass Bitcoin mining in energy consumption, according to a new analysis that concludes artificial intelligence could use close to half of all the electricity consumed by data centers globally by the end of 2025.The estimates come from Alex de Vries-Gao, a PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Institute for Environmental Studies who has tracked cryptocurrencies' electricity consumption and environmental impact in previous research and on his website Digiconomist. He published his latest commentary on AI's growing electricity demand last week in the journal Joule. AI already accounts for up to a fifth of the electricity that data centers use, according to de Vries-Gao. It's a tricky number to pin down without big tech companies sharing data specifically on how much energy their AI models consume. De Vries-Gao had to make projections based on the supply chain for specialized computer chips used for AI. He and other researchers trying to understand AI's energy consumption have found, however, that its appetite is growing despite efficiency gains - and at a fast enough clip to warrant more scrutiny."Oh boy, here we go."With alternative cryptocurrencies t …Read the full story at The Verge.