The secret environmental cost hiding inside your smart home device Illustration by Nico H. Brausch for The VergeVijay Janapa Reddi runs a lab at Harvard University where he and his team attempt to solve some of the computer world’s greatest challenges. As a specialist in artificial intelligence systems, the technology he studies even follows him home, where his two daughters love to talk to their Amazon Alexa. …

Bellroy’s iPhone 15 Pro case has a proper Action Button now A traditional button in place of a cutout. | Image: BellroyTwo months after some case makers were wrong-footed by Apple’s decision to replace the mute switch with an Action Button on the iPhone 15 Pro lineup, Bellroy has released an updated range of cases. Unlike the first run, which had a cutout over the Action Button that could make it hard to…

Discord is shutting down its AI chatbot Clyde Illustration: Alex Castro / The VergeDiscord is shutting down Clyde, its experimental AI chatbot. In a support note, Discord says the chatbot will be “deactivated” at the end of the month, and that by December 1st “users will no longer be able to invoke Clyde in DMs, Group DMs or server chats.” Discord first started testing Clyde’s AI features e…

YouTube loosens ad guidelines around breastfeeding nudity and twerking Illustration: Alex Castro / The VergeYouTube has adjusted its ad-friendly content guidelines to allow breastfeeding videos with nudity — but only in cases when a child is present — as well as videos with twerking, grinding, and other “sensual” types of dancing. The platform updated its guidelines on Thursday with the changes, which will carry ov…

Fortnite is blocking some outfits in experiences made for kids Image: Epic GamesFortnite just started showing age ratings for every experience you can play in the game, but as a result of those changes, some in-game outfits can’t be used in experiences that are rated Everyone or Everyone 10 Plus, according to a blog post from the Fortnite team. For example, while writing this article, got my game set up to…

A hefty stable Steam Deck update gives the Dock a brand-new feature Image: ValveValve’s new Steam Deck OLED just went on sale today, but there are goodies for the original LCD model, too — the company is now rolling out a stable build of SteamOS 3.5.5 with a hefty list of fixes, changes, and upgrades. Some of the biggest are ones we’ve already seen in a September beta, like support for VRR and HDR external displ…

Twitter’s decentralized offshoot Bluesky now has 2 million users A Bluesky sign-in screen. | Image: BlueskyBluesky, a decentralized social media app alternative to X (formerly Twitter), has announced that it has now crossed 2 million users — doing so just two months after crossing 1 million users. The company is also finally about to add a public web interface, which might help make it a more attractive desti…

Google’s revised Chrome extension standard loosens restrictions on ad blockers Illustration: The VergeGoogle has shared an updated timeline about Manifest V3, the latest version of its Chrome extension specification that has faced criticism for putting limits on ad blockers. After putting the update on pause last year, Google announced on Thursday it will continue the transition to Manifest V3 with some key changes. One of…

TikTok is ‘aggressively removing’ videos promoting an Osama bin Laden manifesto Illustration by Nick Barclay / The VergeTikTok is taking action against content promoting the manifesto Osama bin Laden wrote discussing his supposed motivations for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), TikTok says it’s “proactively and aggressively removing this content and investigating how it got onto our platfo…

Using your iPhone to start your car is about to get a lot easier Image: AppleDigital keys could become more popular and more ubiquitous after automakers and the consumer tech industry came together to announce the formation of a new working group to develop industrywide standards for ultra wideband (UWB) connectivity. The working group is the result of two consortiums teaming up (don’t you love it when conso…

IBM pulls X ads as Elon Musk endorses white pride Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty ImagesIBM has pulled its advertising presence from X, formerly Twitter, as Elon Musk continues to endorse far-right talking points — agreeing with posts this week that promoted antisemitism and pushed support for white pride. The nonprofit Media Matters drew attention to those statements and note…

The best note-taking apps for collecting your thoughts and data Photo by James Bareham / The VergeThese days, we are all dealing with huge amounts of information, ranging from meeting notes to social media to photos and videos to whatever else we’ve collected — and we are all trying to find some way to store it, organize it, and find it when we need it. If you want to get really basic, you can use a spreads…

Amazon announces online car sales for the first time, starting with Hyundai Image: AmazonStarting next year, you’ll be able to buy a car on Amazon for the first time. The company announced a deal with Hyundai that will allow dealerships to sell cars through the site. Previously, customers could browse car showrooms and compare prices on Amazon but not actually buy a car. That will change next year when several Hyundai …

Kia brings EV3 and EV4 concepts to the LA Auto Show and is launching an all-new hybrid Sorento The 2025 Kia Sorento PHEV. | Image: KiaKia is stationing its latest concept EV3 and EV4 electric vehicles at the LA Auto Show and is launching all-new 2025 Sorento hybrid and plug-in hybrid SUVs that will hit dealerships next year. Kia’s EV3 crossover and EV4 sedan were first announced in October only as concept vehicles, and that hasn’t changed…

Baldur’s Gate 3: Deluxe Edition on Xbox and PS5 is coming on a ‘fuck-ton of discs’ Image: Larian StudiosLarian Studios has announced that a physical deluxe edition of Baldur’s Gate 3 is available for preorder now, and just like my bear boyfriend, it’s friggin’ huge. Image: Larian Studios “On both PS5 and Xbox, the game will be playable on disc, with the PS5 version sporting two discs, and Xbox a whopping three discs to hou…

Fitbit, once again, was struck by a server outage Fitbit’s having issues with its servers again. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The VergeIt appeared that Fitbit suffered from another server outage that affected syncing data from devices. The news was first spotted by 9to5Google, and Downdetector shows a spike in outage reports starting at about 11AM ET. Some users also posted on Reddit an…

Meta teases new AI-powered editing tools coming to Facebook and Instagram Meta says Emu Edit “precisely follows instructions” to avoid altering anything besides user-specified changes. | Image: MetaFacebook and Instagram are getting some new AI-powered creative tools that will allow users to edit their photographs and produce “high-quality videos” using text descriptions. On Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announce…

The EU will finally free Windows users from Bing Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The VergeMicrosoft will soon let Windows 11 users in the European Economic Area (EEA) disable its Bing web search, remove Microsoft Edge, and even add custom web search providers — including Google if it’s willing to build one — into its Windows Search interface. All of these Windows 11 changes are part of key…

Microsoft is bringing its AI Copilot to Windows 10 soon Photo by Chris Welch / The VergeMicrosoft is bringing its AI-powered Copilot to Windows 10. In a surprise move, the software giant will soon release Copilot for Windows 10 to Release Preview testers, just months after signaling an end of major Windows 10 updates. “It’s a key opportunity for us to bring Copilot value to more customers,” explains …

Apple says iPhones will support RCS in 2024 Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The VergeThe blue versus green bubble debate may finally be winding down. Apple says the iPhone will add support for RCS messaging, the messaging standard used by most Android phones, in 2024, according to a report from 9to5Mac. “Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as current…