Новости за 09.05.2024

Image: Apple

Apple has apologized after a commercial meant to showcase its brand-new iPad Pro drew widespread criticism among the creative community. In a statement provided to Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple’s vice president of marketing, said the company “missed the mark.”

Image: Albacore (X)

Microsoft has quietly started testing an intriguing change to the Windows 11 Start menu that could introduce a floating panel full of “companion” widgets. Windows watcher Albacore discovered the new Start menu feature in the latest test versions of Windows 11 that Microsoft has released publicly.

Image: Asus

The Asus ROG Ally was the first true Steam Deck challenger; while I’d argue it fell a little short, it legitimately improved the state of affordable Windows handheld gaming with its plugged-in performance boosts and smooth variable refresh rate screen. Now, Asus is beginning to reveal its successor: the ROG Ally X.

Photo: Fanatec

Corsair is pursuing an acquisition of the racing sim brand Fanatec. In an update shared on Thursday, Corsair says it’s negotiating with Fanatec to restructure the troubled company’s around €70 million (about $75.4 million) debt and cover short-term costs.

“Buy our iPad or the piano gets it!” | Screenshot: Apple

I wonder if Apple CEO Tim Cook was surprised by the visceral revulsion many people felt after viewing the newest commercial for Apple’s iPad. In it, a plethora of creative tools are flattened by an industrial press. Watching a piano, which if maintained can last for something like 50 years, squished to advertise a gadget, designed to be obsolete in less than 10, is infuriating. The backlash was immediate.

Image: Lucid

It’s earnings season, and anyone invested in the idea that electric vehicles are the future of transportation is all over Tesla. But Elon Musk’s company isn’t the only one putting all its bets on battery-electric vehicles. Three other so-called “pure EV plays” — Rivian, Lucid Motors, and Fisker — also posted their earnings this week. And sifting through the numbers reveals some worrisome trends.

Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max are teaming up for a new bundle this summer, Netflix is focused on the WWE and celebrity boxing, Disney Plus is getting ESPN, and Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Max could get a price hike. A familiar refrain emerged around all this news: streaming is becoming cable TV all over again and getting crummier in the process.

Illustration: The Verge

My Uber driver asked for my PIN recently. In my half-asleep state, I stared at him, alarmed, for a few seconds before it dawned on me: he was asking me to share the PIN Uber sent so I could verify my ride.

Image: Microsoft.com

Microsoft is finally adding an easy way to use QR codes inside Windows 11’s built-in Snipping Tool. A new update has started rolling out to Windows Insider testers today that will automatically detect QR codes in screenshots so you can open links from your PC. The Snipping Tool update also includes support for emoji.

Skylight’s 15-inch touchscreen planner is probably the last calendar your family will ever need. | Image: Skylight

As cool and useful as the Skylight Calendar is, I can’t blame anyone for feeling apprehensive about paying north of $300 for something their smartphone and a cheap paper calendar can do. But the 15-inch version of the excellent family planner is now receiving a rare $70 discount at Amazon and Best Buy, which drops it to an all-time low of $249.99. If you’re a Costco member and don’t mind waiting until tomorrow... Читать дальше...

Image: The Verge

The Maryland legislature passed two bills over the weekend limiting tech platforms’ ability to collect and use consumers’ data. Maryland Governor Wes Moore is expected to sign one of those bills, the Maryland Kids Code, on Thursday, MoCo360 reports.

Photo: Lego

Lego is releasing a new Retro Radio build that emulates a classic portable sound system. It visually scratches the nostalgic itch with its mechanical tuner knob, a handle, and even an antenna. Jay’s Brick Blog reports the $99.99 set, part of Lego’s Icons collection, can play preloaded sounds or house a smartphone to play whatever — but unfortunately, Lego skipped on implementing an actual radio.

The last-gen iPad is still worth buying even after Apple killed it and cut the price of its successor. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

Apple may have stopped selling iPads with headphone jacks, but that doesn’t mean you can‘t buy one. Despite the fact Apple dropped the ninth-gen iPad from its official lineup this week, you can still purchase the tablet from multiple third-party retailers for the time being. Until they run out of stock, Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target are still... Читать дальше...

Image: Sonos

Sonos has responded to the avalanche of feedback — some good, plenty bad — about the company’s redesigned mobile app that was released on May 7th. In the days since, customers have complained about missing features like sleep timers, broken local music library management, and no longer having the ability to edit playlists or the upcoming song queue. More alarmingly, the Sonos app’s accessibility has also taken a hit, something the company says it’s aiming to resolve by next month. Читать дальше...

Image: The Verge

TikTok already automatically applies an “AI-generated” tag to content on its platform made using TikTok’s AI tools, and that same label will now apply to content created on other platforms. Now, TikTok will detect when images or videos are uploaded to its platform containing metadata tags indicating the presence of AI-generated content and says it’s the first social media platform to support the new Content Credentials.

Photo: New Line Cinema

Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it was working on “multiple Lord of the Rings movies’’ with New Line Cinema, the production company that put out Peter Jackson’s original trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels. Now, we know when the first of those new movies is probably hitting theaters.

I hope other phone makers are taking notes on how to do a fun color. | Photo: Motorola

Motorola’s Moto G Stylus 5G is back this year with some notable spec bumps and an eye-catching new design. This year’s version gains wireless charging and an upgraded screen, while still holding onto vintage features like a headphone jack and microSD card slot — all for $399.

Image: Bigmode Games

Talk to someone who is fully immersed in the indie game Animal Well, and you’re bound to hear some strange things. They might get excited about a new way to use a Frisbee or be frustrated about playing music for a caged cat. They’ll probably chat your ear off about the dozens of different-colored eggs they’ve collected, and all of the ones that seem just out of reach. Mostly, though, what they’re saying will sound like gibberish. That’s because the world of Animal... Читать дальше...

Image: Nick Barclay / The Verge

Over the past couple of months, Spotify has been submitting update after update to Apple, changing the interface of its music streaming service to display pricing information in-app for users in the European Union. For users, this is barely worth noticing. But for Spotify, each submission has been yet another skirmish in its yearslong legal struggle with Apple in the EU. And right now, Spotify is the closest it’s ever been to getting Apple to finally cave.

An updated version of the iOS app is available that should resolve the issue for impacted Tandem Diabetes Care customers. | Photo Illustration by Matt Harbicht/Getty Images for Tandem Diabetes Care

At least 224 people with diabetes have reported injuries linked to a defective iOS app that caused their insulin pumps to shut down prematurely, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

WiiM has announced two new audiophile streaming devices for the high end of its wireless audio streaming devices. Called the WiiM Ultra and the WiiM Amp Pro, both support AirPlay 2, Chromecast, DLNA, and several other streaming protocols and will be available this summer.

Image: Tango Gameworks

Today, one day after Microsoft announced that it would shut down four of its games studios, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, held a town hall to discuss the division’s future goals. “We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards,” Booty told employees, according to internal remarks shared with The Verge.

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

Recently, motherboard makers have issued BIOS updates to improve the stability of Intel 13th and 14th Gen i9 chips in crashing games. But Intel, which announced last month that it was investigating these issues, is now asking gamers not to implement those settings.

Image: The Verge

Microsoft Strategic Missions and Technology CTO William Chappell announced that it’s deployed a GPT-4 large language model in an isolated, air-gapped environment on a government-only network. Bloomberg first reported the setup, citing an unnamed executive who claimed that the Azure Government Top Secret cloud-hosted model represents the first time a “major” LLM has operated separated from the internet.

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

There’s a new streaming bundle coming to town. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are teaming up to offer Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max in a bundle that will become available in the US this summer.