Technology news

Image: The Verge Threads is testing the option to automatically hide your old posts. Instagram head Adam Mosseri says the feature is only available to a “small number” of users for now, but it will let you choose to archive individual posts manually or have them automatically archived after a certain amount of time.
You can see an example of how the feature might look in Mosseri’s post on Threads. Users with access to the test should be able to manually archive their content by

BattleGC Pro in limited-edition crystal. | Image: Retro Fighters This new BattlerGC Pro controller looks like it could be the ultimate GameCube gamepad — one with drift-resistant Hall effect joysticks, hybrid analog / digital triggers, programmable back buttons, a rechargeable battery with a USB-C port, and the ability to use it across different consoles and systems thanks to Bluetooth support. And of course, it’s the latest controller to host the best face button layout ever, and I

Photo by Prince Williams / Wireimage While Drake’s fans have been having a ball with the Canadian rapper’s recently released track dissing fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar, the legal team representing Tupac Shakur is threatening to take legal action if the song isn’t pulled off the internet.
Billboard reports that late rapper Tupac’s legal team is ready to take Drake to court over the release of “Taylor Made,” Drake’s recently released song featuring the AI-

Photo by Urbanandsport / NurPhoto via Getty Images The Department of Transportation (DOT) finalized rules that will soon require airlines to quickly refund passengers if they cancel or delay flights or make significant changes.Airlines must pay passengers back either in cash or in the original form of payment, no matter the reason they cancel their flight. Alternatively, passengers can choose to accept travel credit, other kinds of transportation, or another flight offered by the airline.
Airlin

Illustration: The Verge One more app joins the passwordless future we’ve been promised. WhatsApp says it’s now rolling out support for passkeys in the iOS version of the app. With the feature enabled, users of Meta’s encrypted messaging app can use iPhone biometrics for login — that is, Face ID or Touch ID — or their phone’s passcode.WhatsApp already supports unlocking its iOS app with one of these options, but this takes that a step further. Passkey support c

The Digital Services Act strikes again. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok Lite users in Europe will have to find another way to earn an extra 38 cents a day.
The light version of the TikTok app, which launched in two EU countries a couple of weeks ago, included a reward feature that paid users a small amount each day to engage with videos. European regulators launched an inquiry soon after, citing the feature’s potential for encouraging addiction — particularly in youn

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote to restore net neutrality on Thursday in the latest volley of a yearslong game of political ping-pong.
The commission is expected to reclassify internet service providers (ISPs) — e.g., broadband companies like AT&T and Comcast — as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act. That classification would open ISPs up to greater oversight by the FCC. The vote is wid

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge There are two types of parents I’m friends with: those who let their kids watch YouTube and those who work very hard to keep their kids as far from YouTube as possible. Given I know at least one small child who developed an obsession with dictators after getting around the YouTube parental controls, I understand the divide. Streaming services seem to understand that divide, too, and are eager to provide an alternative to YouTube that gives parents al

Sometimes it feels like everything is getting a little bit worse every day. This latest Windows 11 update is a good example of that. In the patch notes for Windows 11 update KB5036980, Microsoft noted that the start menu in Windows 11 will now display recommended apps from the Windows app store. In other words, they put ads in the start menu. "The Recommended section of the Start menu will show some Microsoft Store apps. These apps come from a small set of curated developers," the patch notes sa

Illustration: The Verge Apple has been quiet about its plans for generative AI, but with the release of new AI models today, it appears the company’s immediate ambitions lie firmly in the “make AI run locally on Apple devices” realm.
Researchers from Apple released OpenELM, a series of four very small language models on the Hugging Face model library, on Wednesday. Apple said on its Hugging Face model page that OpenELM, which stands for “Open-source Efficient Language Mod

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Spotify submitted a new version of its iOS app that should give users in the European Union in-app pricing information for subscriptions made outside of Apple’s payment system — provided the update doesn’t get stonewalled by Apple again.
According to TechCrunch, the latest version of the app doesn’t contain a direct link to subscription plans on Spotify’s website, something the company hoped would allow it to skirt the 30 percent cut

Ryan Gosling sang in Barbie. He sang at the Oscars. He even sang about Barbie on Saturday Night Live. Now, the Academy Award nominee continues his singing streak with a promotional video for The Fall Guy, a film in which he plays a stuntman.SEE ALSO:'The Fall Guy' review: Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt make movie magic
In the clip, The Fall Guy director David Leitch tasks Ryan Gosling with driving around and picking up his stuntmen. "It's like Carpool Karaoke... without the music," Leitch tells Go

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The US government has charged and sanctioned four Iranian nationals over claims they carried out a yearslong hacking campaign against US government agencies and companies. It also accuses the group of waging these attacks on behalf of the Iranian government.
An indictment unsealed on Tuesday alleges that from around 2016 through at least April 2021, the four individuals waged cyberattacks against “more than a dozen” US-based companies, alon

Illustration: The Verge Reddit is updating its mobile app on iOS and Android to emphasize comments, the company said today. The handful of changes announced are aimed at “removing hurdles and reducing friction points,” the company wrote in a blog post.
The changes are subtle but add up to comments becoming more of a focal point in the user experience. Comments will now load faster and open in an “instant” when users click on the comment icon of a post. Clicking the commen

Between the Muppets, Sesame Street, and fantasy films like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, there's a good chance Jim Henson played a key part in your childhood. Want to know more about the man behind the puppets? Check out the first trailer for the upcoming Disney+ documentary Jim Henson Idea Man, which dives deep into Henson's storied life and career.Directed by Ron Howard, Jim Henson Idea Man uses Henson's archival, never-before-seen home videos and sketches to create an in-depth portrait of t

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President Joe Biden signed a bill into law on Wednesday that could, effectively, ban TikTok in the U.S. But that doesn't mean you'll be without the app right now or, really, anytime soon. Like any bill, things are complicated. The bill Biden signed is primarily a foreign aid package that'll send $60 billion to Ukraine to fight Russia's invasion and some $26 billion to both Israel and relief in Gaza. However, tied to that bill was legislation that gave ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company,

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Microsoft released Phi-3 Mini, a new version of its lightweight AI model designed for specific tasks. According to the research paper published earlier this week, Phi-3 Mini has 3.8 billion parameters which is significantly less than other models like OpenAI's GPT-4, making it small enough to be deployed on a smartphone. OpenAI hasn't shared how many parameters GPT-4 has but it's believed to have over one trillion parameters per Semafor. SEE ALSO:ChatGPT Plus can exploit zero-day security vulner

Amazfit’s GTR 4 offers an impressive feature set for its price, including an OLED display and dual-band GPS. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Smartwatches like the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic are some of the best on the market. Yet, at almost $400, they’re not for everybody, especially since you’ll need to be tapped into a particular operating system to make the most of either wearable.
Thankfully, for everybody else, there’s t

Ever wondered what K-pop group member archetype suits you best? If so, you're in luck. Spotify's latest gimmick sorts users into different personas of a K-pop group. SEE ALSO:Taylor Swift's brand is mightier than her pen
The feature borrows imagery from a more analog internet and uses your answers to questions like, "What's your favorite thing about K-Pop?" and "A perfect first date with your bias would be..." to define you as a Main Rapper, Main Vocal, Main Dancer, or Main Trainee. Each persona

Just look at the abject horror on that kid’s face. | Image: Nissan Almost seven years ago, my partner and I took an ill-advised road trip for a wedding with our nearly one-month-old child. In those early days, our kid cried. A lot. Loudly. In the confines of an SUV, this meant a nightmare of constantly pulling over to try, desperately and often in vain, to quell the woes of this tiny fleshy sack full of our combined genetics that has no understanding of our world.
That’s where things

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Image: Getty During last night’s earnings call with investors, Elon Musk threw out an all-time late-night dorm room bong sesh of an idea: what if AWS, but for Tesla?
Musk, who loves to riff on earnings calls, compared the unused compute power of millions of idle Tesla vehicles to Amazon’s cloud service business. If they’re just sitting there, he mused, why not put them to good use to run AI models? (Also, have you ever really looked at your hands? No, I mean really looked?)
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Update: On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed the bill that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if ByteDance fails to divest the app within a year. Original story:The U.S. TikTok ban has just passed the Senate, meaning it's just one presidential signature away from becoming law. Considering President Joe Biden has previously said he would sign the bill, it now seems practically guaranteed that the TikTok ban will actually go ahead.Seventy-nine U.S. senators approved of the TikTok ban, eclipsing the

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Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images President Joe Biden signed a foreign aid package that includes a bill that would ban TikTok if China-based parent company ByteDance fails to divest the app within a year.
The divest-or-ban bill is now law, starting the clock for ByteDance to make its move. The company has an initial nine months to sort out a deal, though the president could extend that another three months if he sees progress.
While just recently the legislation seemed like it

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If nothing else, Sand Land is a testament to its legendary creator’s timeless charm.Going into this video game adaptation of a 24-year-old manga by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, I wasn’t sure how to feel. Bandai Namco’s numerous adaptations of manga and anime (it’s published pretty much every recent Naruto and Dragon Ball and One Piece game) have mostly left me cold over the years. Put simply, they tend to be pretty average video games wrapped in the shell of someth

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