Technology news

A new report by Human Rights Watch documents the continued exploitation of webcam models abroad, many of whom operate on popular sites like Chaturbate and are streamed by millions around the world — but aren't protected by either the platforms' Terms of Service or the larger labor movement.An extensive documentation of webcam studio conditions in Colombia, the international human rights group's report outlines an increasingly abusive environment within webcamming studios hosted in cities l

Photo by Ashley Carman / The Verge Spotify has officially shut down its Car Thing accessory that offered simple and slick control over music and playlists while driving, and it’s giving owners just over a month (January 14th) to reach out to the company and get a refund. The device started to display its final words early today as enthusiasts mourn the loss of the device on its dedicated subreddit.
The final message on the Car Thing reads:
Car Thing is discontinued and no longer operationa

The holiday travel season is coming up, which means loads of empty homes and packages sitting on porches, ripe for the plucking. All the more reason to gift the people on your list, and yourself, a Ring security device that will shine a spotlight on dark places around the house, alert them to when someone’s lurking, and let them know when packages arrive, all in real time. Check out these top Ring picks that’ll keep tabs on their space while they’re at grandma’s &mda

Photo: David Pierce / The Verge Meta has announced the v72 Quest update, and it’s packed with features like faster hand tracking, an easier way to pair your headset with a Windows 11 PC, and better support for showing your keyboard while you’re in full virtual reality. The update is rolling out gradually, which also goes for certain features so you may not be able to use them immediately.
Meta says you can now connect to a paired PC with the Quest’s Remote Desktop feature simpl

A thin layer of ice thaws on a puddle in the sunshine in Bavaria, Marktoberdorf.| Photo: Getty Images Scientific advisers to the European Commission are calling for a moratorium across the EU on efforts to artificially cool Earth through solar geoengineering. That includes controversial technologies used to reflect sunlight back into space, primarily by sending reflective particles into the atmosphere or by brightening clouds.
Proponents argue that this can help in the fight against climate chan

Will Manchester City’s next uniform feature AI-generated cats? | Screenshot: Puma AI Creator Manchester City is holding a competition that asks fans to generate its future kit design with AI. Players will wear the winning design during the 2026-2027 season as City’s official third kit, and it will even be sold to fans.
The club partnered with Puma to launch a text-to-image uniform generator powered by the AI company DeepObjects. To use the tool, you’ll have to create an account

iPhone owners in Norway can now select Vipps as their default mobile payment app. | Image: Vipps A Norwegian payment app called Vipps is the first service to take advantage of a new, more open iOS ecosystem thanks to EU regulations. Starting today, Norwegians can use Vipps for tap-to-pay transactions and online payments, and they can even set the app as the default payment option on their iPhones, as reported by MacRumors.It’s all thanks to commitments Apple made in response to scrutiny fr

Donald Trump speaks with Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. | Photo: Peter Kramer / NBC via Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump gave a murky answer when NBC’s Kristen Welker asked whether he would protect TikTok from its impending ban during a Meet the Press interview on Sunday. He didn’t say he would save the app from its ban but did seem to imply that ByteDance should sell it.
After its argument that the ban is unconstitutional came up short in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals

One of the most highly-anticipated AI-related products has just arrived: OpenAI's AI video generator Sora launched on Monday as part of the company's 12 Days of OpenAI event.OpenAI has provided sneak peeks at Sora's output in the past. But, how different is it at launch? OpenAI has certainly been hard at work to update and improve its AI video generator in preparation for its public launch.YouTuber Marques Brownlee had a first look at Sora, releasing his video review of the latest OpenAI product

The NYPD released this photo of the person of interest in the case. | Image: NYPD Police have arrested Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old software developer, in connection with the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione, of Maryland, was detained at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Monday morning.Mangione was taken into custody on local firearm charges, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters. He has not been charged in connection with the shoo

OpenAI officially launched Sora on Monday, Dec. 9, and people are already testing its capabilities. The company showed off its AI video generator last year before launching it during its 12 Days of OpenAI series of announcements. It was made available to the U.S. and lots of countries earlier today. Mashable's Cecily Mauran has all the details about the launch. SEE ALSO:OpenAI's Sora is officially here
The general idea behind Sora is that, much like a chatbot, you give the AI tool a prompt, and

Image: Rivian When I first started testing electric vehicles, finding a charging station was the means to an end. I didn’t care what it looked like or what neighborhood it was in — it was a minor miracle that I found a charger, any charger, to juice up. But now consumers want more. Heck, I want more, and I don’t even own an EV. After all, this is a place where you’ll spend at least 20 minutes to shove some electrons into your vehicle. Is a bathroom too much to ask for?
Ri

Sora is here.On Monday, Dec. 9, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that users in "most countries" will have access to its AI video generator, Sora — all you have to do is head to Sora.com and use your ChatGPT account. This was the company's biggest announcement so far in its ongoing 12 Days of OpenAI event, in which it discusses new products every day for the first 12 business days in December. "This is going live today in most of the world," Altman said during the livestream, adding that it

Image: OpenAI OpenAI is launching Sora, its text-to-video AI model, on Monday as part of its 12-day “ship-mas” product release series, as The Verge previously reported it would. It’s available today on Sora.com for ChatGPT subscribers in the US and “most other countries,” and a new model, Sora Turbo. This updated model adds features like generating video from text, animating images, and remixing videos.
With a ChatGPT Plus subscription, OpenAI says you can generate

Free users can still browse a feed of AI-generated videos created by the community. | Screenshot: OpenAI OpenAI launched Sora, its text-to-video AI model, on Monday as part of its 12-day “ship-mas” product release series, as The Verge previously reported it would. It’s available today on Sora.com for ChatGPT subscribers in the US and “most other countries,” and a new model, Sora Turbo. This updated model adds features like generating video from text, animating image

OpenAI has officially launched Sora. On Monday, CEO Sam Altman immediately kicked off the livestream by announcing the Sora public release. As of today, Sora will be available today to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users in the U.S. and other countries — excluding the UK and countries within the EU. SEE ALSO:Sora reportedly shipping as part of '12 Days of OpenAI' livestream marathon Tweet may have been deletedEarly last year, OpenAI introduced the AI video generator. But it has been quietly in deve

SAVE $25: The rarely on sale Kindle Paperwhite is $25 off at Best Buy and Amazon. Get it now for $134.99 and 16% off.Opens in a new windowCredit: AmazonAmazon Kindle Paperwhite$134.99 at Amazon $159.99 Save $25.00Get DealAmazon is known for good deals, even on their own products, discounting Fire tablets and Echo devices frequently. However, when it comes to their Kindle e-readers, the deals are few and far between. Unless it's a shopping event like Prime Day or Black Friday, Kindles rarely see

SAVE $6.98: As of Dec. 9, select Verizon customers can get Netflix and Max (with ads) for just $10 a month, a $6.98 savings. Opens in a new windowCredit: Verizon Netflix & Max (with ads)Get DealIf your subscription services are pinching your wallet, you might be able to save money with the latest Verizon bundle. As of Dec. 9, select Verizon customers can get Netflix & Max (with ads) for just $10 a month. That’s about $6.98 off per month if you subscribe to Netflix Standard and Max

Lego sets from retailers like Lego, Target, and Amazon for up to 30% off or more on Dec. 9th, ahead of the holidays. Plus, order now and get 2x Lego Insiders points when you buy direct from the Lego webstore.Best Lego holiday dealsBest Lego webstore dealLego Jade Rabbit$11.99(Save $8)Get DealBest Lego Star Wars dealLego Star Wars Mos Espa Podrace Diorama Build and Display Set 75380$54.99(Save $25)Get DealBest Lego flower dealLego Icons Poinsettia Building Set$34.99(Save $15)Get DealBest Lego Cre

Reddit is launching an AI search tool to simplify all the instances in which you need to find an answer to a particular problem.We've all been there before — usually, for me, it's some weird tech issue — where you're in a pickle that seems resolvable only through the collective experience and knowledge of the Reddit hive-mind. The social media company's new AI tool, called Reddit Answers, aims to be the place you go for such searches instead of trawling through Google.Wrote the compa

EA games — maker of the popular Sims, FIFA, and Madden franchises — is investing in more robust game development for people with disabilities.In honor of International Day of People with Disabilities (Dec. 3), the electronic gaming company announced it will be expanding its Patent Pledge to include dozens more patents for accessible technologies that would put the power of more inclusive design in the hands of game developers. EA's Patent Pledge is a commitment to providing royalty-f

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Only a little over two weeks separate us from Christmas, which means its crunch time for securing gifts for those on your list. If you missed out

Google’s Pixel Tablet uniquely turns into a smart display of sorts when you buy the charging speaker dock. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Google might soon stop selling tablets altogether, which is a shame, because we were fans of the Google Pixel Tablet when it was released last year. Yet while we may never see a Pixel Tablet 2, luckily the original slate is still around and receiving a steep discount. Normally $399, right now the base Google Pixel Tablet with 128GB of storage has ret

Image: The Verge OpenAI’s highly-anticipated AI text-to-video generator, Sora, will become available to everyone today. In a video posted on Monday, Marques Brownlee confirmed its imminent release and detailed his experience using Sora over the past few weeks, calling the results “horrifying and inspiring at the same time.”
OpenAI first revealed Sora in February but only made the tool available to a select number of visual artists, designers, and filmmakers to start.Brownlee sh

When it comes to J.R.R. Tolkien adaptations, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is a tough act to follow. Look no further than the Hobbit movies, which floundered in their efforts to capture the original films' success. Then there's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, whose attempts to cram everything we love about Middle-earth into too-short seasons make for unwieldy (if still fun) TV.Enter The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an anime prequel from director Kenji Kamiya

Cath Virginia / The Verge China is investigating Nvidia over antitrust violations, reportedly over claims the chipmaker failed to follow conditions set during China’s approval for its $6.9 billion acquisition of Israeli network hardware company Mellanox in 2020.While announcing the DGX A100 GPU after acquiring Mellanox, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said this while explaining its importance to his company:
“If you take a look at the way modern data centers are architected, the workloads th

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Image: Xiaomi Xiaomi is continuing to dive deeper into China’s competitive EV market with the reveal of a new model, the YU7 SUV, coming in the summer of 2025.The YU7 is an all-electric SUV with a similar design to the SU7 sedan, the electronics giant’s first electric model released earlier this year. That vehicle has received a lot of press and praise, including from Ford CEO Jim Farley, who personally drove one after having it flown into the US from Shanghai. Farley loved it so muc

SAVE $90: As of Dec. 9, you can nab a Sonos Move 2 for $359 at Amazon. That's 20% off the list price and a savings of $90.Opens in a new windowCredit: Sonos Sonos Move 2$359.00 at Amazon$449.00 Save $90.00Get DealPortable speakers are always a good idea — they’re great for gifting to friends, fam, and yourself. With a durable, portable Bluetooth speaker, you can take the party wherever you go. As of Dec. 9, you can get the Sonos Move 2 for $359 at Amazon. (Sonos and B&H match thi

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Awards season has almost arrived, and here to usher it in are the official Golden Globes 2025 nominations. As expected there are plenty of big names in there — Sean Baker's bold dramedy Anora, Edward Berger's Vatican thriller Conclave,and Jon M. Chu's glittering Wicked adaptation on the movie side, and Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks' historical epic Shōgun and Richard Gadd's dark limited series Baby Reindeer on the TV side — as well as a few notable snubs.SEE ALSO:The 25 best mov

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Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman at the UK AI Safety Summit in November 2023. | Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman disagrees with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s recent claim in a Reddit AMA that artificial general intelligence, or AGI, is possible on today’s hardware. While AGI is “plausible,” he tells The Verge’s Nilay Patel in the latest Decoder episode that it could take as long as 10 years to achieve.
With current hardware defined by Nil

Image: Epic Games Lego is building something new in Fortnite. A year after Lego Fortnite launched a new era inside of the game — one based on the idea that Fortnite is a collection of many game experiences, rather than just a battle royale — Lego is expanding its presence with a new title that sounds reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto V roleplaying as well as a rebrand of its core survival game.
First up is a game called Brick Life, which is billed as “an all-new social roleplay e

The Raspberry Pi 500 computer keyboard starts at $90, but you’ll need to add your own mouse, power supply, and screen for that price. | Image: Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi has announced an upgraded version of its compact computer-in-a-keyboard, adding the new features and performance improvements of the Raspberry Pi 5 microcomputer it introduced last September.
The Raspberry Pi 500, which is available now starting for $90, is $20 more expensive than the Raspberry Pi 400 that debuted in late 2

Illustration: The Verge Reddit is launching a new AI-powered search tool called Reddit Answers to help you more easily find information on the platform. The tool, similar to other AI search products, responds to queries by generating well-formatted responses and showing links to its sources.
But the distinction with Reddit Answers is that it sources things directly from Reddit, which means it could be a way to skip Google and get information directly from the source. Reddit has already been crac