Uber will pay you $1,000 to ditch your car for five weeks Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeTraffic got you down? If the idea of locking your car keys in a drawer and using alternate means of transportation sounds intriguing, Uber has the challenge for you. Today, the ridehailing company announced the One Less Car trial, in which 175 people in the US and Canada will be selected to ditch their cars…

Google Translate is getting support for more than 110 new languages Illustration: The VergeGoogle is adding support for 110 new languages to Google Translate, the company announced on Thursday. Before now, Google Translate supported 133 languages, so this expansion — which the company says is its biggest ever — marks a significant jump. Google’s PaLM 2 AI language model helped Translate learn these new languages…

An AI-designed horse purse is tearing apart this small but passionate community Image: BagguIt all started with a nylon purse shaped like a horse. Baggu, the wildly popular brand of reusable shopping bags, announced earlier this month that it would be releasing a collaborative collection with New York-based brand Collina Strada. In the past, special-edition designer drops have been successful for Baggu: a previous collab so…

Japan’s Olympic athletes will wear outfits designed to block infrared cameras Image: The VergeAt the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, Le Monde reports that athletes on Japan’s volleyball, track and field, and other teams will be competing in outfits made from a new fabric that can better absorb infrared light. Similar to stealth aircraft that avoid detection by deflecting radar signals away from detectors, the fabric absorbs a…

You will never guess Wordle’s terrible, hilarious original name “Mr. Bugs Wordy Nugz.” | Screenshot by Jay Peters / The VergeWordle is a pretty clever name for the very good word game created by Josh Wardle. But when he was first working on it in 2013, Wardle had another name in mind that isn’t quite as catchy. “This is true: I was going to call Wordle, Mr. Bugs’ Wordy Nugz,” Wardle revealed as part of a pre…

BMW M5 gets its first plug — and gains a lot of weight BMW’s 2025 BMW M5, which is coming as a plug-in electric hybrid (PHEV) for the first time, will be a husky vehicle. With an electric motor to go along with its 4.4-liter V8 engine, the sedan will weigh in at a hefty 5,390 pounds when it launches during the fourth quarter of 2024. That makes the new M5 about 1,000 pounds heavier than the 2023 mod…

Playing Super Monkey Ball with a monkey in a ball just makes sense A 3D-printed version of Super Monkey Ball’s AiAi completes this custom creation. | Photo: Tom Tilley / XGamers could get an edge in Sega’s Super Monkey Ball with the help of a unique DIY controller: a literal monkey in a ball that can be physically rolled around instead of mashing a joystick on a gamepad. Super Monkey Ball requires players to ti…

Steam is getting an official controller, but Valve isn’t making it Hori’s design is a little funky, but those yellow and violet versions look fantastic. | Image: HoriNearly five years after Valve discontinued its experimental Steam Controller, a new officially licensed gamepad for Steam is on the way. The new controller is made by Hori, and it’s only coming to Japan (at least for now). Dubbed the Wireless Horip…

Steam’s new native gameplay recording tool also works on the Steam Deck Image: The VergeValve is adding a native gameplay recording tool to Steam so that you can more easily capture and share clips. The game recording feature is available now in beta — including on Steam Deck. You’ll be able to both continuously record clips with background recording or manually turn on recording with a hotkey, according to Valve’s …

A group of R1 jailbreakers found a massive security flaw in Rabbit’s code Researchers say Rabbit left secure data vulnerable to bad actors. | Photo: David Pierce / The VergeRabbit and its R1 AI gadget are under fire again, and it’s much more serious than the time we found out its launcher really could just be installed as an Android app. A group of developers and researchers called Rabbitude says it discovered API key…

Arkansas AG lawsuit claims the number one mobile shopping app is ‘dangerous malware’ Image: The VergeArkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin made sweeping claims against e-commerce app Temu in a lawsuit on Tuesday, accusing the company of violating state law against deceptive trade practices. “Temu purports to be an online shopping platform, but it is dangerous malware, surreptitiously granting itself access to virtually all data …

New Chrome mobile shortcuts let you call a restaurant from your address bar Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeGoogle has added new Chrome Actions to mobile that will let you call, read reviews for, or get directions to a restaurant or other business — all right from the address bar. The company announced the new feature in a blog on Wednesday. Android users will see this new feature right away, but iOS users will h…

Samsung is offering a $50 credit when you reserve the next Galaxy Z Flip or Z Fold Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeSamsung’s next Unpacked event is right around the corner, taking place on July 10th in Paris, France. Judging by various leaks and the recent invite video, we’ll be seeing new versions of the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip phones (and perhaps a closer look at the Galaxy Ring). Now, in the lead-up to the event, Sa…

Microsoft’s canceled Xbox cloud console gets detailed in new patent Image: The Verge, MicrosoftA few years ago, Microsoft was planning to launch a dedicated Xbox cloud console, codenamed Keystone. The device looked like a miniature Xbox Series S, a small white box that was dedicated to accessing Xbox games over the company’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service. Microsoft eventually canceled its plans to launch Keystone, b…

Erdtree gets a little easier with new Elden Ring update Image: FromSoftwareShadow of the Erdtree is gonna get easier. Bandai Namco has seemingly heard the great hue and cry from reviewers and players alike that Erdtree is far too difficult. In response, the publisher is implementing a “calibration update” that will reduce the level of difficulty by making players stronger. According to the patch note…

Snap adds new warnings and region blocks to address teen ‘sextortion’ scams Snapchat will now warn users when a message comes from certain regions or an account that’s been blocked by others. | Image: SnapSnap is rolling out intense new protections for teenagers’ Snapchat accounts in an effort to “address a growing trend of sophisticated sextortion scams.” Among them are new warnings and automatic friend request blocks …

Rivian teases four new vehicles, and I have no idea what they are Photo by Daniel Golson for The VergeI’ll admit, I was too distracted by Rivian’s surprise announcement of a $5 billion deal with Volkswagen to develop software and electric vehicles to notice that the buzzy California company was also planning an investor day event on June 27th. So when I woke up on Wednesday to see this shareholder letter — th…

Figma announces big redesign with AI Image: FigmaFigma is announcing a bunch of new features at its Config conference today, including a major UI redesign, new generative AI tools to help people more easily make projects, and built-in slideshow functionality. Let’s start with the redesign, which is intended to “lay the foundation for the next decade,” according to a blog post. You…

Everything you need to know about the tech at the Paris Olympics Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesHere’s our coverage from the Summer Games. Continue reading…

NBC’s Paris Olympics coverage will have AI-generated recaps, split screen, and more Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesThe Paris 2024 Olympics are nearly here. The opening ceremony starts on July 26th, and this year’s events run through August 11th. On the main NBC channel, you can see hours of live morning and afternoon coverage of events like swimming and gymnastics ahead of a three-hour primetime recap, to go alon…