verge-rss

Image: OceanGate

A former OceanGate contractor, Antonella Wilby, testified before a U.S. Coast Guard panel on Friday that the company’s Titan submarine, which imploded last year during a dive to the Titanic’s wreckage, relied on an incredibly convoluted navigation system.
As Wilby described it during the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation hearing, the Titan’s GPS-like ultra-short baseline (USBL) acoustic positioning system generated data on a sub’s velocity, depth, and position using sound pings.

Screenshot: U.S. Coast Guard video courtesy of Pelagic Research Services
Images of the remains of the Titan submarine lying on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean were shared as part of the US Coast Guard hearing,

That information is typically automatically loaded into mapping software to keep track of a sub’s position. But Wilby said that for the Titan, the coordinate data was transcribed into a notebook by hand and then entered into Excel before loading the spreadsheet into mapping software to track the sub’s position on a hand-drawn map of the wreckage.
The OceanGate team tried to perform these updates at least every five minutes, but it was a slow, manual process done while communicating with the gamepad-controlled sub via short text messages. When Wilby recommended the company use standard software to process ping data and plot the sub’s telemetry automatically, the response was that the company wanted to develop an in-house system, but didn’t have enough time.
Wilby was later taken off the team and flew home after telling supervisors, “This is an idiotic way to do navigation.” She also testified that after Dive 80 in 2022, a loud bang / explosion was heard during the Titan’s ascent and that it was loud enough to be heard from the surface.

This mirrors testimony given yesterday by OceanGate’s former scientific director, Steven Ross. Like Wilby, he said that the sound was attributed to a shifting of the pressure hull in its plastic cradle, although Wilby testified that there were only “a few microns” of damage.
According to Ross, six days before the Titan submarine imploded, the sub’s pilot and the company’s co-founder, Stockton Rush, crashed the vessel into a launch mechanism bulkhead while the vessel was attempting to resurface from Dive 87. The incident was caused by a malfunction with a ballast tank, which inverted the submarine, causing other passengers to “tumble about,” according to the Associated Press. No one was injured during the incident, but Ross said he did not know if an inspection of the sub was carried out afterward.

Image: OceanGate

A former OceanGate contractor, Antonella Wilby, testified before a U.S. Coast Guard panel on Friday that the company’s Titan submarine, which imploded last year during a dive to the Titanic’s wreckage, relied on an incredibly convoluted navigation system.

As Wilby described it during the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation hearing, the Titan’s GPS-like ultra-short baseline (USBL) acoustic positioning system generated data on a sub’s velocity, depth, and position using sound pings.

Screenshot: U.S. Coast Guard video courtesy of Pelagic Research Services
Images of the remains of the Titan submarine lying on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean were shared as part of the US Coast Guard hearing,

That information is typically automatically loaded into mapping software to keep track of a sub’s position. But Wilby said that for the Titan, the coordinate data was transcribed into a notebook by hand and then entered into Excel before loading the spreadsheet into mapping software to track the sub’s position on a hand-drawn map of the wreckage.

The OceanGate team tried to perform these updates at least every five minutes, but it was a slow, manual process done while communicating with the gamepad-controlled sub via short text messages. When Wilby recommended the company use standard software to process ping data and plot the sub’s telemetry automatically, the response was that the company wanted to develop an in-house system, but didn’t have enough time.

Wilby was later taken off the team and flew home after telling supervisors, “This is an idiotic way to do navigation.” She also testified that after Dive 80 in 2022, a loud bang / explosion was heard during the Titan’s ascent and that it was loud enough to be heard from the surface.

This mirrors testimony given yesterday by OceanGate’s former scientific director, Steven Ross. Like Wilby, he said that the sound was attributed to a shifting of the pressure hull in its plastic cradle, although Wilby testified that there were only “a few microns” of damage.

According to Ross, six days before the Titan submarine imploded, the sub’s pilot and the company’s co-founder, Stockton Rush, crashed the vessel into a launch mechanism bulkhead while the vessel was attempting to resurface from Dive 87. The incident was caused by a malfunction with a ballast tank, which inverted the submarine, causing other passengers to “tumble about,” according to the Associated Press. No one was injured during the incident, but Ross said he did not know if an inspection of the sub was carried out afterward.

Read More 

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by STR / NurPhoto, Getty Images

Cards Against Humanity sued SpaceX for allegedly trespassing on and damaging its property in Texas. The company behind the card game is asking for $15 million in damages, according to its complaint against SpaceX, filed in Texas state court on Thursday, but has also said it will “accept Twitter.com in compensation.”
SpaceX has been using the “pristine vacant property” in Cameron County, Texas, without permission for around six months, the suit claims. Cards Against Humanity bought the plot in 2017 as part of a stunt to “make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for [former President Donald] Trump to build his wall.” SpaceX has since acquired “many of the vacant lots” on the road surrounding Cards Against Humanity’s property, the complaint claims, and started building “large modern-looking buildings, changing the entire dynamic of the area” — and damaging Cards Against Humanity’s land in the process.

As part of the construction process, SpaceX has cleared vegetation, compacted the soil so employees and contractors could park, and brought in generators to run equipment and lights. These actions, the complaint claims, have not only damaged the property but also hurt Cards Against Humanity’s relationship with its customers.
Cards Against Humanity’s 2017 purchase of the land was a crowdfunded effort, with 150,000 supporters chipping in $15 each, the suit says, and is indicative of the company’s broader relationship with its customers and supporters. “Part of CAH’s method to maintain this supporter relationship — and ongoing trust that they will continue to stand up against injustice — is the use of humorous ‘pranks’ or ‘stunts’ that draw attention to particular issues or people who ignore the rights and problems of regular people for their own personal enrichment or aggrandizement,” the complaint says. But SpaceX’s alleged trespassing on Cards Against Humanity’s property has damaged the company’s “most precious asset in the form of its current relationship and the prospective relationship in the future” with its customers by “creating the impression that there is some association between CAH and SpaceX.”
Other reports suggest that Cards Against Humanity isn’t the only neighbor with whom SpaceX has a troubled relationship. Reuters, which first reported the lawsuit, spoke with residents of Boca Chica — a small, remote village SpaceX has attempted to rechristen Starbase — who said SpaceX workers tore down a sign and removed a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the town. One Boca Chica resident told Reuters that SpaceX offered to buy her two homes for $340,000.
Cards Against Humanity claims SpaceX also offered to buy Cameron County property. “Elon Musk’s SpaceX was building some space thing nearby, and he figured he could just dump all his shit all over our gorgeous plot of land without asking,” the company wrote on a website announcing its lawsuit. “After we caught him, SpaceX gave us a 12-hour ultimatum to accept a lowball offer for less than half our land’s value. We said, ‘Go fuck yourself, Elon Musk. We’ll see you in court.’”

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by STR / NurPhoto, Getty Images

Cards Against Humanity sued SpaceX for allegedly trespassing on and damaging its property in Texas. The company behind the card game is asking for $15 million in damages, according to its complaint against SpaceX, filed in Texas state court on Thursday, but has also said it will “accept Twitter.com in compensation.”

SpaceX has been using the “pristine vacant property” in Cameron County, Texas, without permission for around six months, the suit claims. Cards Against Humanity bought the plot in 2017 as part of a stunt to “make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for [former President Donald] Trump to build his wall.” SpaceX has since acquired “many of the vacant lots” on the road surrounding Cards Against Humanity’s property, the complaint claims, and started building “large modern-looking buildings, changing the entire dynamic of the area” — and damaging Cards Against Humanity’s land in the process.

As part of the construction process, SpaceX has cleared vegetation, compacted the soil so employees and contractors could park, and brought in generators to run equipment and lights. These actions, the complaint claims, have not only damaged the property but also hurt Cards Against Humanity’s relationship with its customers.

Cards Against Humanity’s 2017 purchase of the land was a crowdfunded effort, with 150,000 supporters chipping in $15 each, the suit says, and is indicative of the company’s broader relationship with its customers and supporters. “Part of CAH’s method to maintain this supporter relationship — and ongoing trust that they will continue to stand up against injustice — is the use of humorous ‘pranks’ or ‘stunts’ that draw attention to particular issues or people who ignore the rights and problems of regular people for their own personal enrichment or aggrandizement,” the complaint says. But SpaceX’s alleged trespassing on Cards Against Humanity’s property has damaged the company’s “most precious asset in the form of its current relationship and the prospective relationship in the future” with its customers by “creating the impression that there is some association between CAH and SpaceX.”

Other reports suggest that Cards Against Humanity isn’t the only neighbor with whom SpaceX has a troubled relationship. Reuters, which first reported the lawsuit, spoke with residents of Boca Chica — a small, remote village SpaceX has attempted to rechristen Starbase — who said SpaceX workers tore down a sign and removed a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the town. One Boca Chica resident told Reuters that SpaceX offered to buy her two homes for $340,000.

Cards Against Humanity claims SpaceX also offered to buy Cameron County property. “Elon Musk’s SpaceX was building some space thing nearby, and he figured he could just dump all his shit all over our gorgeous plot of land without asking,” the company wrote on a website announcing its lawsuit. “After we caught him, SpaceX gave us a 12-hour ultimatum to accept a lowball offer for less than half our land’s value. We said, ‘Go fuck yourself, Elon Musk. We’ll see you in court.’”

Read More 

The Bio Bidet BB-1200 can be controlled using a wireless remote or through the Bemis Living app. | Image: Bemis

Bemis has announced its Bio Bidet BB-1200 toilet seat is now available, allowing luxuries like unlimited warm water, a heated seat, and an air dryer to be activated using a smartphone app.
The company claims the BB-1200, which first debuted at CES 2024 last January, is “the first North American bidet toilet seat that is controlled by an app and affordably priced.” Kohler announced a similar product at CES 2024 with its PureWash E930 bidet seat that can be operated using the Kohler Konnect app or through voice commands. It was immediately available to order in January for $2,149, but its price has since dropped to $1,597.50.

Image: Bemis
The Bemis Living app allows multiple users to configure profiles that cater to their cleaning preferences.

That definitely makes the $399 BB-1200 “affordably priced” by comparison. In addition to controlling the seat using the Bemis Living app (available for both iOS and Android), the BB-1200 lets two users configure profiles with their preferred water pressure, water temperature, and seat temperature. The BB-1200 connects over both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and users open the app when seated to activate their preferred setup.
Guests without a profile can access all of the bidet’s functions using an included wireless remote, and the seat can be retrofitted to most existing toilets.
Bemis says its mobile apps don’t share users’ personal info with third parties and that any diagnostic data it collects won’t be linked to your identity. But if you have privacy concerns and don’t want your smartphone connected to your toilet, there are more affordable alternatives. Bemis also sells a $59 seat upgrade that doesn’t even need a power outlet, as well as a $309.99 app-less bidet that still includes water and seat warming.

The Bio Bidet BB-1200 can be controlled using a wireless remote or through the Bemis Living app. | Image: Bemis

Bemis has announced its Bio Bidet BB-1200 toilet seat is now available, allowing luxuries like unlimited warm water, a heated seat, and an air dryer to be activated using a smartphone app.

The company claims the BB-1200, which first debuted at CES 2024 last January, is “the first North American bidet toilet seat that is controlled by an app and affordably priced.” Kohler announced a similar product at CES 2024 with its PureWash E930 bidet seat that can be operated using the Kohler Konnect app or through voice commands. It was immediately available to order in January for $2,149, but its price has since dropped to $1,597.50.

Image: Bemis
The Bemis Living app allows multiple users to configure profiles that cater to their cleaning preferences.

That definitely makes the $399 BB-1200 “affordably priced” by comparison. In addition to controlling the seat using the Bemis Living app (available for both iOS and Android), the BB-1200 lets two users configure profiles with their preferred water pressure, water temperature, and seat temperature. The BB-1200 connects over both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and users open the app when seated to activate their preferred setup.

Guests without a profile can access all of the bidet’s functions using an included wireless remote, and the seat can be retrofitted to most existing toilets.

Bemis says its mobile apps don’t share users’ personal info with third parties and that any diagnostic data it collects won’t be linked to your identity. But if you have privacy concerns and don’t want your smartphone connected to your toilet, there are more affordable alternatives. Bemis also sells a $59 seat upgrade that doesn’t even need a power outlet, as well as a $309.99 app-less bidet that still includes water and seat warming.

Read More 

The Echo Hub offers an easy way for the whole household to control smart home gadgets, including the tech-averse. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

In case you missed the news, Amazon recently announced a second Prime Day event for the fall. The two-day deal blitz, dubbed Prime Big Deal Days once again, will run from October 8th through the 9th, offering Prime subscribers a chance to save on all sorts of tech ahead of Black Friday. It’s still a few weeks away, but in typical fashion, Amazon has already rolled out a selection of early deals and discounts.

Admittedly, there aren’t that many gadgets on sale yet — and we’ll likely start to see better deals trickle in as we get closer to the event — but we’ve still managed to dig up a few solid deals, particularly for those already embedded in the Amazon ecosystem. These include sizable discounts on the new Echo Hub and Amazon’s latest Echo Show 8, as well as Fire tablets, streaming devices, mesh routers, and more.
Below, we’ve rounded the best discounts currently available ahead of Prime Big Deal Days. We’ll be updating this guide as more deals drop, so be sure to bookmark this page and keep checking back in the run-up to October.
The best speaker deals

Amazon is selling the fifth-gen Echo Dot with an 800-lumen Sengled smart bulb in blue, black, and white for $34.99 ($34.99 off), which is $7 shy of the bundle’s all-time low. The Alexa-enabled smart speaker can be used as a Wi-Fi extender for Eero mesh networks like the Echo Pop, though it delivers richer sound and more bass. It also features a few more advanced sensors, including a temperature sensor and an ultrasound motion detector that can detect when you enter a room. Read our review.
You can buy the new Echo Spot with a Sengled smart bulb for $79.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, which means you’re effectively getting the bulb for free. The Spot works well as a bedside alarm clock and features a 2.83-inch display, which can showcase the time, weather, music playback, and other info. You can also use it to carry out a range of Alexa-enabled tasks like Amazon’s larger smart displays, but keep in mind it lacks a camera. Read our review.
Amazon is also currently selling the fourth-gen Echo in blue and white with an 800-lumen Sengled smart bulb for $64.99 ($54.99 off). Despite its age, the smart speaker still manages to deliver more robust sound than any of Amazon’s entry-level speakers. Plus, unlike the Pop and the latest Echo Dot, the standard Echo can double as a smart home hub with Zigbee support. Read our review.

The best smart home deals

If you’re looking for a smart display that’s smaller than the Echo Show 8, the latest Echo Show 5 is also available at Amazon in white and black with a Sengled smart bulb for $59.99 ($30 off). The Echo Show 8 offers a higher-res 13-megapixel camera and supports Zoom, rendering it a better option for video calls. But if you’re just looking for an Alexa-enabled smart display to play music, get weather reports, set alarms, and perform other tasks, the 5.5-inch Echo Show 5 is still a solid option that’s perfect sized for a nightstand.
Eero’s last-gen router, the Eero Pro 6E, is on sale for $159.99 ($90 off) at Amazon, which marks a new all-time low. The mesh router was the first in Eero’s lineup to support Wi-Fi 6E and faster than gigabit speeds. Each unit covers up to 2,000 square feet, but you can buy extra routers if you want to expand coverage. Right now, for instance, a pair is going for $259.99 ($140 off) and a three-pack for $349.99 ($200 off). Read our review.
Amazon’s older Eero 6 Plus mesh router is also on sale for $99 ($40 off) at Amazon, which is $10 shy of its best price to date. The dual-band gigabit system covers up to 1,500 square feet and supports over 75 connected devices. Unlike the faster Eero Pro 6E, however, it only supports Wi-Fi 6.

The best deals on tablets, streaming devices, and other gadgets

You can buy Amazon’s latest HD 8 Plus at Amazon with ads and 32GB of storage for an all-time low of $64.99, down from $119.99. The latest Fire HD 10 offers a sharper display, but the Fire HD 8 Plus is still a decent device for tapping into Amazon content, especially since it offers relatively long battery life and support for both USB-C and wireless charging. Read our review.
The latest Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for $29.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, matching its lowest price to date. In addition to support for 4K streaming, the gadget offers broad HDR support for Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HDR10 Plus. It also integrates well with Alexa, like the higher-end Fire TV Stick 4K Max, but lacks Wi-Fi 6E support and offers less storage.
You can buy Samsung’s black Galaxy Watch 6 Bespoke Edition with a Milanese band in the 44mm size for $279.99 ($100 off) at Amazon, which is $20 shy of its best price to date. The last-gen wearable lacks Samsung’s upgraded 3nm Exynos W1000 chip and BioActive Sensor but is still a good smartwatch that supports Wear OS 5. It also comes equipped with a wide range of health and fitness features, including personalized heart rate zones and passive irregular heart rhythm alerts. Read our review.

The Echo Hub offers an easy way for the whole household to control smart home gadgets, including the tech-averse. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

In case you missed the news, Amazon recently announced a second Prime Day event for the fall. The two-day deal blitz, dubbed Prime Big Deal Days once again, will run from October 8th through the 9th, offering Prime subscribers a chance to save on all sorts of tech ahead of Black Friday. It’s still a few weeks away, but in typical fashion, Amazon has already rolled out a selection of early deals and discounts.

Admittedly, there aren’t that many gadgets on sale yet — and we’ll likely start to see better deals trickle in as we get closer to the event — but we’ve still managed to dig up a few solid deals, particularly for those already embedded in the Amazon ecosystem. These include sizable discounts on the new Echo Hub and Amazon’s latest Echo Show 8, as well as Fire tablets, streaming devices, mesh routers, and more.

Below, we’ve rounded the best discounts currently available ahead of Prime Big Deal Days. We’ll be updating this guide as more deals drop, so be sure to bookmark this page and keep checking back in the run-up to October.

The best speaker deals

Amazon is selling the fifth-gen Echo Dot with an 800-lumen Sengled smart bulb in blue, black, and white for $34.99 ($34.99 off), which is $7 shy of the bundle’s all-time low. The Alexa-enabled smart speaker can be used as a Wi-Fi extender for Eero mesh networks like the Echo Pop, though it delivers richer sound and more bass. It also features a few more advanced sensors, including a temperature sensor and an ultrasound motion detector that can detect when you enter a room. Read our review.
You can buy the new Echo Spot with a Sengled smart bulb for $79.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, which means you’re effectively getting the bulb for free. The Spot works well as a bedside alarm clock and features a 2.83-inch display, which can showcase the time, weather, music playback, and other info. You can also use it to carry out a range of Alexa-enabled tasks like Amazon’s larger smart displays, but keep in mind it lacks a camera. Read our review.
Amazon is also currently selling the fourth-gen Echo in blue and white with an 800-lumen Sengled smart bulb for $64.99 ($54.99 off). Despite its age, the smart speaker still manages to deliver more robust sound than any of Amazon’s entry-level speakers. Plus, unlike the Pop and the latest Echo Dot, the standard Echo can double as a smart home hub with Zigbee support. Read our review.

The best smart home deals

If you’re looking for a smart display that’s smaller than the Echo Show 8, the latest Echo Show 5 is also available at Amazon in white and black with a Sengled smart bulb for $59.99 ($30 off). The Echo Show 8 offers a higher-res 13-megapixel camera and supports Zoom, rendering it a better option for video calls. But if you’re just looking for an Alexa-enabled smart display to play music, get weather reports, set alarms, and perform other tasks, the 5.5-inch Echo Show 5 is still a solid option that’s perfect sized for a nightstand.
Eero’s last-gen router, the Eero Pro 6E, is on sale for $159.99 ($90 off) at Amazon, which marks a new all-time low. The mesh router was the first in Eero’s lineup to support Wi-Fi 6E and faster than gigabit speeds. Each unit covers up to 2,000 square feet, but you can buy extra routers if you want to expand coverage. Right now, for instance, a pair is going for $259.99 ($140 off) and a three-pack for $349.99 ($200 off). Read our review.
Amazon’s older Eero 6 Plus mesh router is also on sale for $99 ($40 off) at Amazon, which is $10 shy of its best price to date. The dual-band gigabit system covers up to 1,500 square feet and supports over 75 connected devices. Unlike the faster Eero Pro 6E, however, it only supports Wi-Fi 6.

The best deals on tablets, streaming devices, and other gadgets

You can buy Amazon’s latest HD 8 Plus at Amazon with ads and 32GB of storage for an all-time low of $64.99, down from $119.99. The latest Fire HD 10 offers a sharper display, but the Fire HD 8 Plus is still a decent device for tapping into Amazon content, especially since it offers relatively long battery life and support for both USB-C and wireless charging. Read our review.
The latest Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for $29.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, matching its lowest price to date. In addition to support for 4K streaming, the gadget offers broad HDR support for Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HDR10 Plus. It also integrates well with Alexa, like the higher-end Fire TV Stick 4K Max, but lacks Wi-Fi 6E support and offers less storage.
You can buy Samsung’s black Galaxy Watch 6 Bespoke Edition with a Milanese band in the 44mm size for $279.99 ($100 off) at Amazon, which is $20 shy of its best price to date. The last-gen wearable lacks Samsung’s upgraded 3nm Exynos W1000 chip and BioActive Sensor but is still a good smartwatch that supports Wear OS 5. It also comes equipped with a wide range of health and fitness features, including personalized heart rate zones and passive irregular heart rhythm alerts. Read our review.

Read More 

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Twitch is changing the way it enforces its community guidelines. In an announcement posted on its website, Twitch said that it will introduce a new enforcement strategy in which strikes for certain offenses will depreciate over time, users will receive more information regarding their strikes, and users will be able to take educational courses to reduce the severity of enforcement actions. In an interview with The Verge, Rob Lewington, Twitch’s VP of safety operations, and Kristen Murdock, the director of safety risk and response, spoke about the new program and what it means for moderating communities on Twitch.
According to Lewington, safety is Twitch’s highest priority. He said Twitch hosts over 105 million users per month with 1.3 trillion minutes of content viewed. But such enormous numbers, combined with Twitch’s age and popularity as a livestream destination, have created unique challenges in how the platform punishes people who violate its rules.
Currently, when a streamer violates one of Twitch’s community guidelines, they receive some kind of enforcement action like a warning or a suspension, which then counts against them in the form of a strike. After a certain number of strikes, that streamer’s account can be suspended indefinitely. “We’ve had people on Twitch for a long time that have had enforcements in the past, but they don’t expire over time,” Lewington said. “[This current system] is punitive for folks who’ve been on Twitch for longer and that’s not what we want to do.”
In this new system, strikes for “low severity” offenses will expire after a certain amount of time. Though accidental nudity was given as one example, Twitch did not offer a comprehensive list of what the “low severity” offenses are nor how long it would take for them to expire. “That’s still a work in progress,” Lewington said. “We’re still figuring out the exact timelines.” He did, however, say that strikes for high-severity offenses — incidents relating to child safety, terrorism, or hateful conduct — will never depreciate.
In addition to expiring strikes, Twitch will now offer more information to users when a violation occurs. Starting next year, Twitch will provide the relevant chat message or clip to give context on why an enforcement action was taken. According to Lewington, providing this information will help people better understand what they did wrong while also giving them the tools they might need if they want to file an appeal.
The final part of Twitch’s new enforcement strategy involves offering users educational courses when a violation occurs. As an example, Murdock described a situation in which a person who received a hateful conduct strike was able to reduce the length of their suspension because they took a relevant educational course and quiz.
Murdock said Twitch worked with the Anti-Defamation League and other outside experts to develop these courses and quizzes around subjects like hateful conduct, sexual content, and gambling. Their goal is to create consistent messaging for both streamers and moderators on what actions will constitute a violation.
Taken together, this new strategy represents a desire at Twitch to ensure its communities remain safe while allowing members who have made mistakes to learn and grow from their experience.

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Twitch is changing the way it enforces its community guidelines. In an announcement posted on its website, Twitch said that it will introduce a new enforcement strategy in which strikes for certain offenses will depreciate over time, users will receive more information regarding their strikes, and users will be able to take educational courses to reduce the severity of enforcement actions. In an interview with The Verge, Rob Lewington, Twitch’s VP of safety operations, and Kristen Murdock, the director of safety risk and response, spoke about the new program and what it means for moderating communities on Twitch.

According to Lewington, safety is Twitch’s highest priority. He said Twitch hosts over 105 million users per month with 1.3 trillion minutes of content viewed. But such enormous numbers, combined with Twitch’s age and popularity as a livestream destination, have created unique challenges in how the platform punishes people who violate its rules.

Currently, when a streamer violates one of Twitch’s community guidelines, they receive some kind of enforcement action like a warning or a suspension, which then counts against them in the form of a strike. After a certain number of strikes, that streamer’s account can be suspended indefinitely. “We’ve had people on Twitch for a long time that have had enforcements in the past, but they don’t expire over time,” Lewington said. “[This current system] is punitive for folks who’ve been on Twitch for longer and that’s not what we want to do.”

In this new system, strikes for “low severity” offenses will expire after a certain amount of time. Though accidental nudity was given as one example, Twitch did not offer a comprehensive list of what the “low severity” offenses are nor how long it would take for them to expire. “That’s still a work in progress,” Lewington said. “We’re still figuring out the exact timelines.” He did, however, say that strikes for high-severity offenses — incidents relating to child safety, terrorism, or hateful conduct — will never depreciate.

In addition to expiring strikes, Twitch will now offer more information to users when a violation occurs. Starting next year, Twitch will provide the relevant chat message or clip to give context on why an enforcement action was taken. According to Lewington, providing this information will help people better understand what they did wrong while also giving them the tools they might need if they want to file an appeal.

The final part of Twitch’s new enforcement strategy involves offering users educational courses when a violation occurs. As an example, Murdock described a situation in which a person who received a hateful conduct strike was able to reduce the length of their suspension because they took a relevant educational course and quiz.

Murdock said Twitch worked with the Anti-Defamation League and other outside experts to develop these courses and quizzes around subjects like hateful conduct, sexual content, and gambling. Their goal is to create consistent messaging for both streamers and moderators on what actions will constitute a violation.

Taken together, this new strategy represents a desire at Twitch to ensure its communities remain safe while allowing members who have made mistakes to learn and grow from their experience.

Read More 

Masimo is keen to offer its expertise to Wear OS smartwatch makers for biosensing tech. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Last week, medical device maker Masimo announced new deals with Google and Qualcomm to bring its biosensing tech to Wear OS smartwatches. That’s pretty inside baseball for the wearable industry, but it takes an interesting turn when you realize Masimo is also the reason why the new Apple Watch Series 10 doesn’t have blood oxygen features in the US.
From the outside, it sort of looks like the company battling Apple over blood oxygen is now setting the terms for how that exact tech is used by Apple’s smartwatch rivals. Securing the bag, so to speak, against other alleged patent infringement.

Masimo CEO Joe Kiani says that’s not exactly how he sees it. As part of the deals, Masimo is creating a reference platform where its tech is embedded in Qualcomm’s smartwatch chip and the Wear OS platform.
“We see it as a way of giving people continuous, accurate monitoring so they don’t have to try to maybe rip us off,” Kiani says in a call with The Verge. “We’ve done this because we see a world where people really want these wearables for accurate SpO2, for real scientifically based sleep apnea and sleep analysis, measuring hydration, all kinds of things.”
Kiani contends that ensuring accuracy across the market is the real goal, touting Masimo’s medical pedigree. He has a point. Masimo’s tech is FDA-cleared, meaning the agency has evaluated and vetted Masimo’s accuracy claims across a wide range of variables. This isn’t the case for the blood oxygen sensors in most consumer-grade smartwatches. That’s because blood oxygen data is largely presented as a wellness feature. It’s nice data to have, but you’re not meant to make any major health or medical decisions based on it. This understandably can lead to confusion, especially since it’s hard for consumers to keep track of which features have or haven’t been FDA-authorized.

Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge
Masimo is also working on its own Wear OS watch, the Freedom (left).

“Not only do we have FDA clearance for the statements we’re making, but every OEM that goes through us, we’re going to do a verification and validation to see that their implementation is as good as ours,” Kiani says. He also notes that Masimo will also help companies navigate the FDA regulatory process.
The potential benefits are manifold. FDA clearance is a time-consuming, resource-heavy process that can be difficult for companies outside the medical space to navigate. Even now, consumer-grade blood oxygen monitoring is fairly limited in usefulness. Spot checks don’t necessarily provide useful long-term data, while night-time monitoring accuracy can be negatively impacted if you’re a side sleeper. At the same time, Kiani says truly accurate SpO2 monitoring in wearables could help folks and medical providers remotely monitor patients with chronic illnesses. However, the accuracy has to be there for that potential to be realized.
Still, it’s hard to ignore what this means for smartwatch blood oxygen sensors at large.
Apple remains stubborn about not licensing Masimo’s tech, meaning Apple Watches in the US won’t have blood oxygen monitoring until the patent dispute resolves or the patent itself runs out in 2028. Wear OS watches, however, could start adding them en masse in the next year or two. Kiani declined to name any potential partners but hinted that some announcements may be coming soon. Masimo itself is also working on a Wear OS smartwatch, pointedly called Freedom, that it showed earlier this year at CES.

Masimo is keen to offer its expertise to Wear OS smartwatch makers for biosensing tech. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Last week, medical device maker Masimo announced new deals with Google and Qualcomm to bring its biosensing tech to Wear OS smartwatches. That’s pretty inside baseball for the wearable industry, but it takes an interesting turn when you realize Masimo is also the reason why the new Apple Watch Series 10 doesn’t have blood oxygen features in the US.

From the outside, it sort of looks like the company battling Apple over blood oxygen is now setting the terms for how that exact tech is used by Apple’s smartwatch rivals. Securing the bag, so to speak, against other alleged patent infringement.

Masimo CEO Joe Kiani says that’s not exactly how he sees it. As part of the deals, Masimo is creating a reference platform where its tech is embedded in Qualcomm’s smartwatch chip and the Wear OS platform.

“We see it as a way of giving people continuous, accurate monitoring so they don’t have to try to maybe rip us off,” Kiani says in a call with The Verge. “We’ve done this because we see a world where people really want these wearables for accurate SpO2, for real scientifically based sleep apnea and sleep analysis, measuring hydration, all kinds of things.”

Kiani contends that ensuring accuracy across the market is the real goal, touting Masimo’s medical pedigree. He has a point. Masimo’s tech is FDA-cleared, meaning the agency has evaluated and vetted Masimo’s accuracy claims across a wide range of variables. This isn’t the case for the blood oxygen sensors in most consumer-grade smartwatches. That’s because blood oxygen data is largely presented as a wellness feature. It’s nice data to have, but you’re not meant to make any major health or medical decisions based on it. This understandably can lead to confusion, especially since it’s hard for consumers to keep track of which features have or haven’t been FDA-authorized.

Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge
Masimo is also working on its own Wear OS watch, the Freedom (left).

“Not only do we have FDA clearance for the statements we’re making, but every OEM that goes through us, we’re going to do a verification and validation to see that their implementation is as good as ours,” Kiani says. He also notes that Masimo will also help companies navigate the FDA regulatory process.

The potential benefits are manifold. FDA clearance is a time-consuming, resource-heavy process that can be difficult for companies outside the medical space to navigate. Even now, consumer-grade blood oxygen monitoring is fairly limited in usefulness. Spot checks don’t necessarily provide useful long-term data, while night-time monitoring accuracy can be negatively impacted if you’re a side sleeper. At the same time, Kiani says truly accurate SpO2 monitoring in wearables could help folks and medical providers remotely monitor patients with chronic illnesses. However, the accuracy has to be there for that potential to be realized.

Still, it’s hard to ignore what this means for smartwatch blood oxygen sensors at large.

Apple remains stubborn about not licensing Masimo’s tech, meaning Apple Watches in the US won’t have blood oxygen monitoring until the patent dispute resolves or the patent itself runs out in 2028. Wear OS watches, however, could start adding them en masse in the next year or two. Kiani declined to name any potential partners but hinted that some announcements may be coming soon. Masimo itself is also working on a Wear OS smartwatch, pointedly called Freedom, that it showed earlier this year at CES.

Read More 

8BitDo’s Retro Keycaps include options for both ANSI and ISO layouts. | Image: 8BitDo

8BitDo is now selling a set of keycaps featuring the same Nintendo Entertainment System-inspired design as those used on the Retro Mechanical Keyboard it debuted last July. While the keyboard is now available in four styles, including Commodore 64 and Famicom designs, only the NES-style keycaps are currently available on their own.
The $49.99 8BitDo Retro Keycaps set includes 165 PBT keys with legends printed using dye-sublimation for added durability. The expanded set allows the keys to be used on larger keyboards with a dedicated number pad. 8BitDo’s $99.99 mechanical keyboards are only available in a shorter tenkeyless layout.

Image: 8BitDo
The set can be used on keyboards featuring as small as a 65 percent layout.

The set features alternate designs for some keys, like a spacebar with an added health meter in two different lengths, and both the American ANSI and international ISO versions of others, like an Enter key with an inverted L design and a smaller Shift key. 8BitDo says the set supports 65, 75, 80, 95, and 100 percent layouts, as well as ergonomic split keyboards, but compatibility is limited to MX-style switches.

Image: 8BitDo
8BitDo includes alternate styles for many of the keycaps.

If you want to stick with a compact tenkeyless layout but feel you’ll still be missing a dedicated number pad, 8BitDo’s $44.99 wireless mechanical numpad doubles as a desktop calculator and is available with matching NES theming.

8BitDo’s Retro Keycaps include options for both ANSI and ISO layouts. | Image: 8BitDo

8BitDo is now selling a set of keycaps featuring the same Nintendo Entertainment System-inspired design as those used on the Retro Mechanical Keyboard it debuted last July. While the keyboard is now available in four styles, including Commodore 64 and Famicom designs, only the NES-style keycaps are currently available on their own.

The $49.99 8BitDo Retro Keycaps set includes 165 PBT keys with legends printed using dye-sublimation for added durability. The expanded set allows the keys to be used on larger keyboards with a dedicated number pad. 8BitDo’s $99.99 mechanical keyboards are only available in a shorter tenkeyless layout.

Image: 8BitDo
The set can be used on keyboards featuring as small as a 65 percent layout.

The set features alternate designs for some keys, like a spacebar with an added health meter in two different lengths, and both the American ANSI and international ISO versions of others, like an Enter key with an inverted L design and a smaller Shift key. 8BitDo says the set supports 65, 75, 80, 95, and 100 percent layouts, as well as ergonomic split keyboards, but compatibility is limited to MX-style switches.

Image: 8BitDo
8BitDo includes alternate styles for many of the keycaps.

If you want to stick with a compact tenkeyless layout but feel you’ll still be missing a dedicated number pad, 8BitDo’s $44.99 wireless mechanical numpad doubles as a desktop calculator and is available with matching NES theming.

Read More 

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is planning to allow Windows 11 users to customize the Copilot key that has started shipping on new laptops and keyboards. The Copilot key is configured as default to launch Microsoft’s Copilot app on Windows 11, but the company is now testing the ability to use it to launch other apps instead.
A new beta build of Windows 11 includes the customization changes, available for testers today. “You can choose to have the Copilot key launch an app that is MSIX packaged and signed, thus indicating the app meets security and privacy requirements to keep customers safe,” explains the Windows Insider team in a blog post. “The key will continue to launch Copilot on devices that have the Copilot app installed until a customer selects a different experience.”

Image: Microsoft
The Copilot key customization in Windows 11.

The Copilot key is the first big change to Windows keyboards in 30 years and part of a push by Microsoft to encourage Windows users to try its AI assistant.
New Copilot Plus PCs also started shipping with the key earlier this year, with Microsoft actually making the Copilot experience less useful on these new devices by turning Copilot into a web app in the latest 24H2 update to Windows 11.
This web app version of Copilot no longer integrates into the Windows 11 settings, so you can’t use the AI assistant to control whether you have dark mode enabled or a variety of other settings. It’s still not clear how Microsoft intends to evolve the Copilot experience in Windows, nor whether the company will turn its Copilot key into something that could be used more like the Windows key to launch shortcuts.
Given the customization for the Copilot key is available to beta testers of Windows 11 today, I would expect we’ll see this available for all Windows 11 users in the coming months.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is planning to allow Windows 11 users to customize the Copilot key that has started shipping on new laptops and keyboards. The Copilot key is configured as default to launch Microsoft’s Copilot app on Windows 11, but the company is now testing the ability to use it to launch other apps instead.

A new beta build of Windows 11 includes the customization changes, available for testers today. “You can choose to have the Copilot key launch an app that is MSIX packaged and signed, thus indicating the app meets security and privacy requirements to keep customers safe,” explains the Windows Insider team in a blog post. “The key will continue to launch Copilot on devices that have the Copilot app installed until a customer selects a different experience.”

Image: Microsoft
The Copilot key customization in Windows 11.

The Copilot key is the first big change to Windows keyboards in 30 years and part of a push by Microsoft to encourage Windows users to try its AI assistant.

New Copilot Plus PCs also started shipping with the key earlier this year, with Microsoft actually making the Copilot experience less useful on these new devices by turning Copilot into a web app in the latest 24H2 update to Windows 11.

This web app version of Copilot no longer integrates into the Windows 11 settings, so you can’t use the AI assistant to control whether you have dark mode enabled or a variety of other settings. It’s still not clear how Microsoft intends to evolve the Copilot experience in Windows, nor whether the company will turn its Copilot key into something that could be used more like the Windows key to launch shortcuts.

Given the customization for the Copilot key is available to beta testers of Windows 11 today, I would expect we’ll see this available for all Windows 11 users in the coming months.

Read More 

Sadly, Theory 1 isn’t going into production. | Image: Lotus

Lotus revealed its new Theory 1 electric sports car, a concept that the automaker says “embodies the future of intelligent performance vehicles.”
It’s a visual aid for Lotus’ new Digital, Natural, and Analogue (DNA — get it?) design principles on which it plans to base its performance vehicles for the modern era.
Theory 1 features Lotus’ new “Lotuswear” interior that promises an immersive and personalized driving experience. It adapts physically to the driver and passengers, making seats more comfortable and communicating with lights and haptic feedback that can tell you when to make a turn, for example.

The interior materials are lightweight robotic textiles built by MotorSkins that use inflatable pods in the seating and steering wheel that dynamically adjust while driving. You’ll probably need that assist, too, as the concept outputs almost 1000 horsepower, has a top speed of 320km per hour (nearly 200mph), and a 0–62mph acceleration in less than 2.5 seconds.
Lotuswear also encapsulates all the other modern technology hardware and software bits of the vehicle, including an OLED screen, artificial “speed” sounds, interior noise-canceling, and immersive audio.
It’s also Level 4-capable with self-driving hardware that includes four lidar sensors and six HD cameras, as well as an Nvidia Drive computer platform for real-time processing around the car. And it features steer-by-wire with an electric range of 250 miles (WTLP).
The Theory 1 is not slated to go into production; it’s meant to serve as a “canvas” for R&D, according to Lotus. The automaker’s parent company, Geely, is working to reinvent Lotus into the electric age, and it has some cool EVs in the pipeline like the Emeya. The Theory 1 concept shows the British automaker still believes in lightweight sports cars — just like the Japanese.

Sadly, Theory 1 isn’t going into production. | Image: Lotus

Lotus revealed its new Theory 1 electric sports car, a concept that the automaker says “embodies the future of intelligent performance vehicles.”

It’s a visual aid for Lotus’ new Digital, Natural, and Analogue (DNA — get it?) design principles on which it plans to base its performance vehicles for the modern era.

Theory 1 features Lotus’ new “Lotuswear” interior that promises an immersive and personalized driving experience. It adapts physically to the driver and passengers, making seats more comfortable and communicating with lights and haptic feedback that can tell you when to make a turn, for example.

The interior materials are lightweight robotic textiles built by MotorSkins that use inflatable pods in the seating and steering wheel that dynamically adjust while driving. You’ll probably need that assist, too, as the concept outputs almost 1000 horsepower, has a top speed of 320km per hour (nearly 200mph), and a 0–62mph acceleration in less than 2.5 seconds.

Lotuswear also encapsulates all the other modern technology hardware and software bits of the vehicle, including an OLED screen, artificial “speed” sounds, interior noise-canceling, and immersive audio.

It’s also Level 4-capable with self-driving hardware that includes four lidar sensors and six HD cameras, as well as an Nvidia Drive computer platform for real-time processing around the car. And it features steer-by-wire with an electric range of 250 miles (WTLP).

The Theory 1 is not slated to go into production; it’s meant to serve as a “canvas” for R&D, according to Lotus. The automaker’s parent company, Geely, is working to reinvent Lotus into the electric age, and it has some cool EVs in the pipeline like the Emeya. The Theory 1 concept shows the British automaker still believes in lightweight sports cars — just like the Japanese.

Read More 

Illustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge

A security researcher revealed a “catastrophic” vulnerability in the Arc browser that would have allowed attackers to insert arbitrary code into other users’ browser sessions with little than an easily findable user ID. The vulnerability was patched on August 26th and disclosed today in a blog post by security researcher xyz3va, as well as a statement from The Browser Company. The company says that its logs indicate no users were affected by the flaw.
The exploit, CVE-2024-45489, relied on a misconfiguration in The Browser Company’s implementation of Firebase, a “database-as-a-backend service,” for storage of user info, including Arc Boosts, a feature that lets users customize the appearance of websites they visit.
In its statement, The Browser Company writes:

Arc has a feature called Boosts that allows you to customize any website with custom CSS and Javascript. Since running arbitrary Javascript on websites has potential security concerns, we opted not to make Boosts with custom Javascript shareable across members, but we still synced them to our server so that your own Boosts are available across devices.
We use Firebase as the backend for certain Arc features (more on this below), and use it to persist Boosts for both sharing and syncing across devices. Unfortunately our Firebase ACLs (Access Control Lists, the way Firebase secures endpoints) were misconfigured, which allowed users Firebase requests to change the creatorID of a Boost after it had been created. This allowed any Boost to be assigned to any user (provided you had their userID), and thus activate it for them, leading to custom CSS or JS running on the website the boost was active on.

Or, in the words of xyz3va,

arc boosts can contain arbitrary javascript
arc boosts are stored in firestore
the arc browser gets which boosts to use via the creatorID field
we can arbitrarily change the creatorID field to any user id

You can get someone’s creatorID in several ways, including referral links, shared easels, and publicly shared Boosts. With that info, an attacker could have created a boost with arbitrary code in it and added it to the victim’s Arc account without any action on the victim’s part. That’s bad.
The Browser Company responded quickly — xyz3va reported the bug to cofounder Hursh Agrawal, demonstrated it within minutes, and was added to the company Slack within half an hour. The bug was patched the next day, and the company’s statement details a list of security improvements it says it’s implementing, including setting up a bug bounty program, moving off of Firebase, disabling custom Javascript on synced Boosts, and hiring additional security staff.

Illustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge

A security researcher revealed a “catastrophic” vulnerability in the Arc browser that would have allowed attackers to insert arbitrary code into other users’ browser sessions with little than an easily findable user ID. The vulnerability was patched on August 26th and disclosed today in a blog post by security researcher xyz3va, as well as a statement from The Browser Company. The company says that its logs indicate no users were affected by the flaw.

The exploit, CVE-2024-45489, relied on a misconfiguration in The Browser Company’s implementation of Firebase, a “database-as-a-backend service,” for storage of user info, including Arc Boosts, a feature that lets users customize the appearance of websites they visit.

In its statement, The Browser Company writes:

Arc has a feature called Boosts that allows you to customize any website with custom CSS and Javascript. Since running arbitrary Javascript on websites has potential security concerns, we opted not to make Boosts with custom Javascript shareable across members, but we still synced them to our server so that your own Boosts are available across devices.

We use Firebase as the backend for certain Arc features (more on this below), and use it to persist Boosts for both sharing and syncing across devices. Unfortunately our Firebase ACLs (Access Control Lists, the way Firebase secures endpoints) were misconfigured, which allowed users Firebase requests to change the creatorID of a Boost after it had been created. This allowed any Boost to be assigned to any user (provided you had their userID), and thus activate it for them, leading to custom CSS or JS running on the website the boost was active on.

Or, in the words of xyz3va,

arc boosts can contain arbitrary javascript

arc boosts are stored in firestore

the arc browser gets which boosts to use via the creatorID field

we can arbitrarily change the creatorID field to any user id

You can get someone’s creatorID in several ways, including referral links, shared easels, and publicly shared Boosts. With that info, an attacker could have created a boost with arbitrary code in it and added it to the victim’s Arc account without any action on the victim’s part. That’s bad.

The Browser Company responded quickly — xyz3va reported the bug to cofounder Hursh Agrawal, demonstrated it within minutes, and was added to the company Slack within half an hour. The bug was patched the next day, and the company’s statement details a list of security improvements it says it’s implementing, including setting up a bug bounty program, moving off of Firebase, disabling custom Javascript on synced Boosts, and hiring additional security staff.

Read More