verge-rss

LG Display’s stretchable screens can now stretch up to 50 percent. | Image: LG Display

LG Display has recently announced a new version of its unique stretchable display with improved elasticity and durability. The 12-inch prototype can now be stretched up to 18 inches without being destroyed in the process, opening up new possibilities for where screens can potentially be installed.
The company first demonstrated a prototype of the display in 2022, but at the time it could only be stretched from 12 to 14 inches, or about 20 percent of its length. The latest prototype features a “new wiring design structure” and an improved silicon substrate — similar to the material used to make contact lenses — to expand the panel’s stretchability to up to 50 percent.
Built using micro LEDs, the new prototype is capable of displaying full RGB colors at a resolution of 100ppi, and is more resilient than previous versions. According to LG Display, it “can be repeatedly stretched over 10,000 times, maintaining clear image quality even in extreme environments such as exposure to low or high temperatures and external shocks.”
Although flexible displays have been available to consumers for years now in folding smartphones and even TVs that roll up out of sight, LG Display hasn’t announced any commercial applications for its stretchable screen yet. But the company expects there to be many uses for the technology, including wearable displays integrated into clothing without compromising comfort, or infotainment screens in cars that can conform to the curves or shape of a dashboard without limiting the interior design of a vehicle.

LG Display’s stretchable screens can now stretch up to 50 percent. | Image: LG Display

LG Display has recently announced a new version of its unique stretchable display with improved elasticity and durability. The 12-inch prototype can now be stretched up to 18 inches without being destroyed in the process, opening up new possibilities for where screens can potentially be installed.

The company first demonstrated a prototype of the display in 2022, but at the time it could only be stretched from 12 to 14 inches, or about 20 percent of its length. The latest prototype features a “new wiring design structure” and an improved silicon substrate — similar to the material used to make contact lenses — to expand the panel’s stretchability to up to 50 percent.

Built using micro LEDs, the new prototype is capable of displaying full RGB colors at a resolution of 100ppi, and is more resilient than previous versions. According to LG Display, it “can be repeatedly stretched over 10,000 times, maintaining clear image quality even in extreme environments such as exposure to low or high temperatures and external shocks.”

Although flexible displays have been available to consumers for years now in folding smartphones and even TVs that roll up out of sight, LG Display hasn’t announced any commercial applications for its stretchable screen yet. But the company expects there to be many uses for the technology, including wearable displays integrated into clothing without compromising comfort, or infotainment screens in cars that can conform to the curves or shape of a dashboard without limiting the interior design of a vehicle.

Read More 

You can customize Particle, but AI does most of the work. | Image: David Pierce / The Verge

It is, you might say, a complicated moment for news online. There are the efforts to erode the First Amendment, the dominant platforms that aren’t sending traffic like they used to, the complexities of an ever-changing ad business, and on and on the list goes. Maybe most of all, there’s the rise of AI, and platforms that ingest an internet’s worth of news, abstract it away into a mush of semi-true information, and then serve it up to anyone who asks their chatbot what’s new. Into that fray comes Particle, a long-in-the-works new platform from a couple of former Twitter product leaders that is designed to help people find and make sense of the news a little more easily. With a lot of AI.
Particle’s plan is to use AI to do two particularly useful things. First, it organizes lots of articles and coverage into collections the platform calls “Stories,” so you can get lots of information and perspective on whatever you’re reading about. Some stories in Particle include more than 100 news articles, plus X posts, a section of salient quotes on the subject, and more. It’s a lot of stuff.
Particle also uses AI to summarize all those articles, right at the top of each story page. By default it offers a bulleted list of information, like you might expect from ChatGPT, but you can tweak the output in lots of ways through what the app calls “summary styles.” You can select “Opposite Sides” to get a readout of roughly the two viewpoints on Trump’s proposed new cabinet, say, or pick “Explain Like I’m 5” to have the latest Gaza developments explained in the simplest possible terms. Particle even has the app rewrite the headline for you in various ways, to make it simpler or funnier (or, in my experience, mostly just more confusing.) You can also just directly ask a question, and Particle’s AI bot will try and answer.

Image: David Pierce / The Verge
All of Particle’s stuff comes from news… but it doesn’t look like articles.

This kind of AI organization and summarization is everywhere in the app. When you first download Particle, the app has you Tinder-swipe your way through some headlines, signaling what you’d like to see more and less of in your feed. You can also follow specific publications or journalists, and see their stuff more prominently. Particle attempts to suss out the political leanings of each article and publisher, both to call out one-sided coverage and to attempt to find a balance.
Particle is a nice-looking and extremely information-dense app, and in my experience as a beta tester it has been a pretty useful way to get a quick overview of big issues. It’s also full of the same ideas that so many other companies have tried and failed. Apps like Circa couldn’t manage to build an audience and business out of the same kind of broadly useful summarization and aggregation. Discors had some neat ideas about structure that also didn’t amount to much. Snapchat and Facebook both once had news-aggregation dreams, and have left those behind. There just isn’t much evidence that an app like this can work.
Particle knows all this, of course. Sara Beykpour, the company’s CEO, spent more than a decade at Twitter and understands well the complexities of information sharing on the internet. And she’s convinced that the advent of AI makes it possible to do these things better, and at bigger scale. Particle says it has found ways to vastly reduce AI hallucinations and inaccuracies — some of which involve human editorial oversight — and has made deals with Reuters, Time, Fortune, and others to share their content. Getting those deals done, and getting them right, will be key for Particle’s staying power.
In the wake of a heated election, and on an internet where information and misinformation are both plentiful and nearly indistinguishable, Particle believes it has found a way to cut through. And is hoping that’s what people actually want.

You can customize Particle, but AI does most of the work. | Image: David Pierce / The Verge

It is, you might say, a complicated moment for news online. There are the efforts to erode the First Amendment, the dominant platforms that aren’t sending traffic like they used to, the complexities of an ever-changing ad business, and on and on the list goes. Maybe most of all, there’s the rise of AI, and platforms that ingest an internet’s worth of news, abstract it away into a mush of semi-true information, and then serve it up to anyone who asks their chatbot what’s new. Into that fray comes Particle, a long-in-the-works new platform from a couple of former Twitter product leaders that is designed to help people find and make sense of the news a little more easily. With a lot of AI.

Particle’s plan is to use AI to do two particularly useful things. First, it organizes lots of articles and coverage into collections the platform calls “Stories,” so you can get lots of information and perspective on whatever you’re reading about. Some stories in Particle include more than 100 news articles, plus X posts, a section of salient quotes on the subject, and more. It’s a lot of stuff.

Particle also uses AI to summarize all those articles, right at the top of each story page. By default it offers a bulleted list of information, like you might expect from ChatGPT, but you can tweak the output in lots of ways through what the app calls “summary styles.” You can select “Opposite Sides” to get a readout of roughly the two viewpoints on Trump’s proposed new cabinet, say, or pick “Explain Like I’m 5” to have the latest Gaza developments explained in the simplest possible terms. Particle even has the app rewrite the headline for you in various ways, to make it simpler or funnier (or, in my experience, mostly just more confusing.) You can also just directly ask a question, and Particle’s AI bot will try and answer.

Image: David Pierce / The Verge
All of Particle’s stuff comes from news… but it doesn’t look like articles.

This kind of AI organization and summarization is everywhere in the app. When you first download Particle, the app has you Tinder-swipe your way through some headlines, signaling what you’d like to see more and less of in your feed. You can also follow specific publications or journalists, and see their stuff more prominently. Particle attempts to suss out the political leanings of each article and publisher, both to call out one-sided coverage and to attempt to find a balance.

Particle is a nice-looking and extremely information-dense app, and in my experience as a beta tester it has been a pretty useful way to get a quick overview of big issues. It’s also full of the same ideas that so many other companies have tried and failed. Apps like Circa couldn’t manage to build an audience and business out of the same kind of broadly useful summarization and aggregation. Discors had some neat ideas about structure that also didn’t amount to much. Snapchat and Facebook both once had news-aggregation dreams, and have left those behind. There just isn’t much evidence that an app like this can work.

Particle knows all this, of course. Sara Beykpour, the company’s CEO, spent more than a decade at Twitter and understands well the complexities of information sharing on the internet. And she’s convinced that the advent of AI makes it possible to do these things better, and at bigger scale. Particle says it has found ways to vastly reduce AI hallucinations and inaccuracies — some of which involve human editorial oversight — and has made deals with Reuters, Time, Fortune, and others to share their content. Getting those deals done, and getting them right, will be key for Particle’s staying power.

In the wake of a heated election, and on an internet where information and misinformation are both plentiful and nearly indistinguishable, Particle believes it has found a way to cut through. And is hoping that’s what people actually want.

Read More 

Apple Intelligence is just doing the best it can. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge

iPhones, iPads, and Macs with Apple Intelligence now have a unique AI feature that summarizes notifications for you. Starting with iOS / iPadOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1, when multiple notifications pile up for a given app, the tiny LLM that Apple has crammed into our stuff tries its hardest to algorithm up a brief overview for you. (Part of a group text with lots of people? It’ll try to tell you what they’re discussing.) This is sometimes good. It is very often funny.
I like the way the summaries handle some of my Apple Home notifications — like when I read “Garage changed status multiple times; recently closed” in lieu of a stack of messages about my garage door. The wording changes, but without fail (so far), it’s been right about whether the last thing it did was open or close, so I don’t have to open Apple Home or my garage camera to verify it. (I still do sometimes because LLMs can be lying liars.)
The trouble comes when it’s trying to briefly convey things like text messages, emails, and Slack notifications. They’re usually vaguely in the ballpark, in the same way that saying Cormac McCarthy’s postapocalyptic novel The Road is about a father and son who take a walk together. I guess that’s not wrong, but boy does it miss the point.
Add the mini-LLM’s problems grasping appropriate context to the chaos of human communication, and things can get very funny. Here are just a few examples I’ve collected online from my colleagues at The Verge and from my own phone.

Right after the first iOS 18.1 betas, I saw this gem, reading, “Apology for subpar communication; life busy; not ready for a relationship.”
Woof. It’s bad enough getting broken up with via text message. Is getting the message first from an AI summary better? Well, it cuts to the chase. I’ll give it that.

My mom: That hike almost killed me!Apple’s AI summary: pic.twitter.com/fyN5UopIdH— Schmidt (@AndrewSchmidtFC) October 25, 2024

????????

Screenshot: iOS notification summary

“Straight-up home invasion.” – Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel

If you’re like me, you hate notifications and tend to ignore certain noisy apps. Now, imagine you’ve woken up at 1AM and groggily unlocked your phone, only to learn that you’re about to get mobbed John Wick-style by “multiple people” at your front and back doors and in your driveway.

Screenshot: Alex Heath / iOS notification summary

In spite of this notification, Verge writer Alex Heath is safe and accounted for.

Just make sure the puppy is safe, I guess.

As a heavy Apple Shortcuts user, I feel Matthew Cassinelli’s irritation at learning that there aren’t new features coming — Apple Intelligence just conflated two unrelated notifications.

Screenshot: iOS notification summary
Technically accurate?

If I weren’t accustomed to getting random emails about screeners, I might have been very confused about the Writers Guild of America’s (which Vox Media is a part of) invitation to look at its butt. Again, context is very important.

Screenshot: iOS notification summary
Believable.

Okay, this actually is pretty much exactly what The Onion’s headline in this email was, so great job, Apple Intelligence.

Screenshot: iOS notification summary
Never mind the first two things — what am I supposed to file by October 31st??

This is a very uncomfortable collection of things to summarize. (Also, that Microsoft thing? That’s about a gender-detecting AI tool that 404 Media reported Microsoft had accidentally left active.)

Screenshot: iOS notification summary

What movie is bad? Is the button why it’s bad? (Editor’s note: look closely at the first image in this tweet.)

Screenshot: iOS notification summary
Trying to decide if I actually want to learn what movie this is or leave it an enticing mystery.

Seriously, though, why won’t it just tell me what the movie is?
What have we learned?
Are Apple Intelligence notification summaries a life-changing feature? Ha ha, no. But I don’t hate them. Notifications are an awful, constant intrusion that my attention-deficient brain loathes anyway; at least the summaries punch things up now and again. I think this last Threads post sums up my feelings pretty well:

Oh, and here’s one more for the road that came in while we were editing this story:

Screenshot: iOS notification summary
I agree, Apple Intelligence summary.

Apple Intelligence is just doing the best it can. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge

iPhones, iPads, and Macs with Apple Intelligence now have a unique AI feature that summarizes notifications for you. Starting with iOS / iPadOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1, when multiple notifications pile up for a given app, the tiny LLM that Apple has crammed into our stuff tries its hardest to algorithm up a brief overview for you. (Part of a group text with lots of people? It’ll try to tell you what they’re discussing.) This is sometimes good. It is very often funny.

I like the way the summaries handle some of my Apple Home notifications — like when I read “Garage changed status multiple times; recently closed” in lieu of a stack of messages about my garage door. The wording changes, but without fail (so far), it’s been right about whether the last thing it did was open or close, so I don’t have to open Apple Home or my garage camera to verify it. (I still do sometimes because LLMs can be lying liars.)

The trouble comes when it’s trying to briefly convey things like text messages, emails, and Slack notifications. They’re usually vaguely in the ballpark, in the same way that saying Cormac McCarthy’s postapocalyptic novel The Road is about a father and son who take a walk together. I guess that’s not wrong, but boy does it miss the point.

Add the mini-LLM’s problems grasping appropriate context to the chaos of human communication, and things can get very funny. Here are just a few examples I’ve collected online from my colleagues at The Verge and from my own phone.

Right after the first iOS 18.1 betas, I saw this gem, reading, “Apology for subpar communication; life busy; not ready for a relationship.”

Woof. It’s bad enough getting broken up with via text message. Is getting the message first from an AI summary better? Well, it cuts to the chase. I’ll give it that.

????????

Screenshot: iOS notification summary

“Straight-up home invasion.” – Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel

If you’re like me, you hate notifications and tend to ignore certain noisy apps. Now, imagine you’ve woken up at 1AM and groggily unlocked your phone, only to learn that you’re about to get mobbed John Wick-style by “multiple people” at your front and back doors and in your driveway.

Screenshot: Alex Heath / iOS notification summary

In spite of this notification, Verge writer Alex Heath is safe and accounted for.

Just make sure the puppy is safe, I guess.

As a heavy Apple Shortcuts user, I feel Matthew Cassinelli’s irritation at learning that there aren’t new features coming — Apple Intelligence just conflated two unrelated notifications.

Screenshot: iOS notification summary
Technically accurate?

If I weren’t accustomed to getting random emails about screeners, I might have been very confused about the Writers Guild of America’s (which Vox Media is a part of) invitation to look at its butt. Again, context is very important.

Screenshot: iOS notification summary
Believable.

Okay, this actually is pretty much exactly what The Onion’s headline in this email was, so great job, Apple Intelligence.

Screenshot: iOS notification summary
Never mind the first two things — what am I supposed to file by October 31st??

This is a very uncomfortable collection of things to summarize. (Also, that Microsoft thing? That’s about a gender-detecting AI tool that 404 Media reported Microsoft had accidentally left active.)

Screenshot: iOS notification summary

What movie is bad? Is the button why it’s bad? (Editor’s note: look closely at the first image in this tweet.)

Screenshot: iOS notification summary
Trying to decide if I actually want to learn what movie this is or leave it an enticing mystery.

Seriously, though, why won’t it just tell me what the movie is?

What have we learned?

Are Apple Intelligence notification summaries a life-changing feature? Ha ha, no. But I don’t hate them. Notifications are an awful, constant intrusion that my attention-deficient brain loathes anyway; at least the summaries punch things up now and again. I think this last Threads post sums up my feelings pretty well:

Oh, and here’s one more for the road that came in while we were editing this story:

Screenshot: iOS notification summary
I agree, Apple Intelligence summary.

Read More 

UN climate chief Simon Stiell delivers a speech during the opening of the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, on November 11th, 2024. | Photo by Alexander Nemenov / AFP via Getty Images

Governments around the world agreed to triple renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade during pivotal United Nations climate talks at a summit in Dubai last year. As the annual climate negotiations kick off again this week, there’s been some progress on that goal — but not nearly enough.
An assessment of national energy plans says that countries are on track to double global renewable energy capacity by 2030. There’s a lot of opportunity for growth with the falling cost of wind and solar, but whether policymakers are ready to ditch fossil fuels is a trickier question.
“Renewables markets have moved, but governments’ ambitions have not.”
“Renewables markets have moved, but governments’ ambitions have not,” Katye Altieri, electricity transition analyst at energy think tank Ember, said in a press release published alongside the new report.
More than 130 countries pledged last year to triple global renewables capacity. Ember assessed 96 countries and the EU that together represent 95 percent of global electricity demand. It found that only eight countries — all within the European Union — had actually updated their national renewable energy targets over the past year (before late October). Their updated national targets would only increase global renewables capacity by a meager four gigawatts, leaving plenty of room for improvement. Countries’ existing plans in 2023 were already enough to double global renewable energy capacity. But achieving the goal of tripling capacity would require an additional 3,758GW, the report says.
The good news is that industry forecasts look brighter than what’s reflected in national policies, and renewables can grow, even with lawmakers dragging their feet on climate action. Solar and wind are already more affordable power sources than fossil fuels in most of the world, with solar deployment on track to see a 29 percent increase in installations this year compared to last, according to Ember’s estimates. That follows a whopping 87 percent surge in solar installations in 2023.

Image: Ember
Global capacity in gigawatts, by technology.

Those gains put solar, in particular, on schedule to meet the 2030 goal of tripling capacity. But there are still shortfalls when it comes to wind power and batteries needed to store renewable energy when sunshine and gales wane. A separate analysis by the International Energy Agency earlier this year said that power grids around the world will need a nearly 15-fold increase in energy storage by 2030, mostly in the form of batteries.
Delegates from close to 200 countries are convening at the UN summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month to try to set new targets to combat climate change. The focus this year is on securing more funding from wealthy nations to help less affluent countries transition to cleaner energy and adapt to worsening climate disasters.
But the US, the biggest historical emitter of greenhouse gas emissions, has cast a shadow over international negotiations. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to take the US out of the Paris climate agreement and routinely spreads misinformation about renewable energy, including unfounded claims about offshore turbines killing whales.
Trump has also said he would rescind unspent funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes $369 billion in federal funding on climate and clean energy and has triggered more than $200 billion in clean energy investment in the US.

A Trump-inspired “retreat” on renewable energy could be a boon to competitors including China that already dominate clean energy markets. Repealing the Inflation Reduction Act would deal a blow to US manufacturing and trade, likely ceding $80 billion in investment opportunities to other countries, according to a recent analysis by the Net Zero Industrial Policy Lab at Johns Hopkins University.
Under the international treaty on climate change brokered in Paris in 2015, each country is due to submit an updated national climate plan by February. It’s an opportunity to get the world closer to tripling renewables, Ember notes. Those national plans are expected to start rolling in with talks underway in Baku.
After all, an underlying question gnaws at every round of climate negotiations: how big of an impact can these splashy summits have unless delegates can turn promises into action at home?

UN climate chief Simon Stiell delivers a speech during the opening of the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, on November 11th, 2024. | Photo by Alexander Nemenov / AFP via Getty Images

Governments around the world agreed to triple renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade during pivotal United Nations climate talks at a summit in Dubai last year. As the annual climate negotiations kick off again this week, there’s been some progress on that goal — but not nearly enough.

An assessment of national energy plans says that countries are on track to double global renewable energy capacity by 2030. There’s a lot of opportunity for growth with the falling cost of wind and solar, but whether policymakers are ready to ditch fossil fuels is a trickier question.

“Renewables markets have moved, but governments’ ambitions have not,” Katye Altieri, electricity transition analyst at energy think tank Ember, said in a press release published alongside the new report.

More than 130 countries pledged last year to triple global renewables capacity. Ember assessed 96 countries and the EU that together represent 95 percent of global electricity demand. It found that only eight countries — all within the European Union — had actually updated their national renewable energy targets over the past year (before late October). Their updated national targets would only increase global renewables capacity by a meager four gigawatts, leaving plenty of room for improvement. Countries’ existing plans in 2023 were already enough to double global renewable energy capacity. But achieving the goal of tripling capacity would require an additional 3,758GW, the report says.

The good news is that industry forecasts look brighter than what’s reflected in national policies, and renewables can grow, even with lawmakers dragging their feet on climate action. Solar and wind are already more affordable power sources than fossil fuels in most of the world, with solar deployment on track to see a 29 percent increase in installations this year compared to last, according to Ember’s estimates. That follows a whopping 87 percent surge in solar installations in 2023.

Image: Ember
Global capacity in gigawatts, by technology.

Those gains put solar, in particular, on schedule to meet the 2030 goal of tripling capacity. But there are still shortfalls when it comes to wind power and batteries needed to store renewable energy when sunshine and gales wane. A separate analysis by the International Energy Agency earlier this year said that power grids around the world will need a nearly 15-fold increase in energy storage by 2030, mostly in the form of batteries.

Delegates from close to 200 countries are convening at the UN summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month to try to set new targets to combat climate change. The focus this year is on securing more funding from wealthy nations to help less affluent countries transition to cleaner energy and adapt to worsening climate disasters.

But the US, the biggest historical emitter of greenhouse gas emissions, has cast a shadow over international negotiations. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to take the US out of the Paris climate agreement and routinely spreads misinformation about renewable energy, including unfounded claims about offshore turbines killing whales.

Trump has also said he would rescind unspent funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes $369 billion in federal funding on climate and clean energy and has triggered more than $200 billion in clean energy investment in the US.

A Trump-inspired “retreat” on renewable energy could be a boon to competitors including China that already dominate clean energy markets. Repealing the Inflation Reduction Act would deal a blow to US manufacturing and trade, likely ceding $80 billion in investment opportunities to other countries, according to a recent analysis by the Net Zero Industrial Policy Lab at Johns Hopkins University.

Under the international treaty on climate change brokered in Paris in 2015, each country is due to submit an updated national climate plan by February. It’s an opportunity to get the world closer to tripling renewables, Ember notes. Those national plans are expected to start rolling in with talks underway in Baku.

After all, an underlying question gnaws at every round of climate negotiations: how big of an impact can these splashy summits have unless delegates can turn promises into action at home?

Read More 

Image: Cadillac

Buoyed by a bustling EV business, GM is ready to take the wraps off its next offering. On Tuesday, Cadillac officially announced the 2026 Vistiq SUV, a three-row SUV with 300 miles of range and a starting price of $80,185.
The Vistiq joins the Lyriq, Optiq, and Escalade IQ, as well as the ultra-luxury, bespoke Celestiq, in Cadillac’s growing family of electric vehicles. And it comes as GM’s EV sales have surged thanks to an improved production cadence and a more diverse lineup than many of its rivals.
Cadillac’s growing family of electric vehicles
The Vistiq will slot in at the high end of GM’s plug-in vehicles, with a starting price of $78,790 plus a $1,395 destination charge. The electric SUV will be built starting early next year at GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee, plant, where the smaller Lyriq is already produced, which means it could qualify for federal tax credits, as long as those credits are still around.
The Vistiq is also carrying over a lot of the design touches first found in the Lyriq, like flush door handles and a diamond-cut pattern on the faux grille. The side panels are indented like the Lyriq, and the front and rear lights are almost identical as well.

The swept-back windshield is more akin to the Escalade IQ, which will sit alongside the Vistiq when it goes into production next year. But while that EV is being positioned as the ultimate in plug-in luxury, the Vistiq is for buyers okay with settling for something slightly less expensive.
That means a little less power than the Escalade IQ but still plenty of acceleration and range. The dual-motor Vistiq runs on a 102kWh battery (versus the 200kWh one powering the Escalade IQ), with 615 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. Active rear steering will help with sharp turns and more maneuverability. And optional 23-inch wheels will provide improved visibility — but the height of your EV could make it more dangerous to pedestrians and vulnerable road users, so proceed with caution.
The Vistiq’s infotainment system will be powered by Android using Google’s built-in software service. That means navigation powered by Google Maps, available apps for download through the Google Play Store, and no support for popular phone projection features like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. (GM’s software chief went on Decoder recently to defend the decision, despite most customers and analysts concluding it was a bad one.)
The dual-motor Vistiq runs on a 102kWh battery
A new feature for Cadillac will be the inclusion of bidirectional charging, which, with the right equipment, will enable vehicle-to-home (V2H) charging. GM’s home energy division recently started selling a V2H bundle that includes a home charger and an enablement kit for around $7,300. With this setup, Vistiq owners can run their home’s electricity off their EV battery during a blackout. In terms of regular charging, GM has yet to finalize its testing, so details such as fast-charging rates and 10–80 percent charge time are still up in the air.
The Vistiq will come with a number of other high-tech features, including improved safety warnings, OnStar collision assistance, and infrared-powered night vision, which displays on the instrument cluster for enhanced visibility on dark highways.
At launch, Cadillac will offer three distinct trims: Luxury, Sport and Premium Luxury. In 2025, the automaker will offer a Platinum trim, with “added performance elements and more interior and exterior color options, allowing the customer to choose a vehicle that matches their own personality and preferences.”
Cadillac is hoping to match the Lyriq’s success with this new three-row model. The Lyriq is one of the bestselling compact luxury EVs in the US right now and is responsible for a large portion of last year’s Cadillac sales increases.
But it will also go into production during a much less favorable environment for EVs, with a second presidential term for Donald Trump. The president-elect has vowed to eliminate the Biden administration’s EV incentives, including a federal tax credit of $7,500. GM’s aspirations for a “zero-emission” future and profitable EV business in the near term are highly reliant on federal tax credits.

Image: Cadillac

Buoyed by a bustling EV business, GM is ready to take the wraps off its next offering. On Tuesday, Cadillac officially announced the 2026 Vistiq SUV, a three-row SUV with 300 miles of range and a starting price of $80,185.

The Vistiq joins the Lyriq, Optiq, and Escalade IQ, as well as the ultra-luxury, bespoke Celestiq, in Cadillac’s growing family of electric vehicles. And it comes as GM’s EV sales have surged thanks to an improved production cadence and a more diverse lineup than many of its rivals.

The Vistiq will slot in at the high end of GM’s plug-in vehicles, with a starting price of $78,790 plus a $1,395 destination charge. The electric SUV will be built starting early next year at GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee, plant, where the smaller Lyriq is already produced, which means it could qualify for federal tax credits, as long as those credits are still around.

The Vistiq is also carrying over a lot of the design touches first found in the Lyriq, like flush door handles and a diamond-cut pattern on the faux grille. The side panels are indented like the Lyriq, and the front and rear lights are almost identical as well.

The swept-back windshield is more akin to the Escalade IQ, which will sit alongside the Vistiq when it goes into production next year. But while that EV is being positioned as the ultimate in plug-in luxury, the Vistiq is for buyers okay with settling for something slightly less expensive.

That means a little less power than the Escalade IQ but still plenty of acceleration and range. The dual-motor Vistiq runs on a 102kWh battery (versus the 200kWh one powering the Escalade IQ), with 615 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. Active rear steering will help with sharp turns and more maneuverability. And optional 23-inch wheels will provide improved visibility — but the height of your EV could make it more dangerous to pedestrians and vulnerable road users, so proceed with caution.

The Vistiq’s infotainment system will be powered by Android using Google’s built-in software service. That means navigation powered by Google Maps, available apps for download through the Google Play Store, and no support for popular phone projection features like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. (GM’s software chief went on Decoder recently to defend the decision, despite most customers and analysts concluding it was a bad one.)

A new feature for Cadillac will be the inclusion of bidirectional charging, which, with the right equipment, will enable vehicle-to-home (V2H) charging. GM’s home energy division recently started selling a V2H bundle that includes a home charger and an enablement kit for around $7,300. With this setup, Vistiq owners can run their home’s electricity off their EV battery during a blackout. In terms of regular charging, GM has yet to finalize its testing, so details such as fast-charging rates and 10–80 percent charge time are still up in the air.

The Vistiq will come with a number of other high-tech features, including improved safety warnings, OnStar collision assistance, and infrared-powered night vision, which displays on the instrument cluster for enhanced visibility on dark highways.

At launch, Cadillac will offer three distinct trims: Luxury, Sport and Premium Luxury. In 2025, the automaker will offer a Platinum trim, with “added performance elements and more interior and exterior color options, allowing the customer to choose a vehicle that matches their own personality and preferences.”

Cadillac is hoping to match the Lyriq’s success with this new three-row model. The Lyriq is one of the bestselling compact luxury EVs in the US right now and is responsible for a large portion of last year’s Cadillac sales increases.

But it will also go into production during a much less favorable environment for EVs, with a second presidential term for Donald Trump. The president-elect has vowed to eliminate the Biden administration’s EV incentives, including a federal tax credit of $7,500. GM’s aspirations for a “zero-emission” future and profitable EV business in the near term are highly reliant on federal tax credits.

Read More 

Here’s everything you get in iFixit’s $1,207 inner screen replacement kit for the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. | Image: iFixit

iFixit has started listing repair parts for Google’s Pixel Pro 9 Fold, but it’ll be cheaper to buy a regular brand-new phone than pay for a screen replacement. The inner display specifically, which includes the frame, hinge, side buttons, and OLED screen itself, will set customers back $1,199 for “Part Only.” The full kit that also includes iFixit’s repair tools bumps that up to $1,207.
With prices starting at $1,799, the Pixel Pro 9 Fold is one of the most expensive smartphones on the market. iFixit’s inner screen replacement for last year’s Pixel Fold was also costly at $899, but this is still an alarming jump for the latest model. For context, $1,199 is the same price as an iPhone 16 Pro Max, and more expensive than a 13-inch M3 MacBook Air ($1,099). That’s a daunting amount of money to spend on a DIY repair, but iFixit provides a detailed how-to guide if that doesn’t phase you.
Other Pixel Pro 9 Fold components are also available in this launch, including the outer screen ($190), rear cameras ($250), inner front camera ($90), outer front camera ($80), and both the base and flip batteries ($67). iFixit released parts for the rest of the Pixel 9 Pro series back in September, which means components for the entire lineup are now listed on the platform.

Here’s everything you get in iFixit’s $1,207 inner screen replacement kit for the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. | Image: iFixit

iFixit has started listing repair parts for Google’s Pixel Pro 9 Fold, but it’ll be cheaper to buy a regular brand-new phone than pay for a screen replacement. The inner display specifically, which includes the frame, hinge, side buttons, and OLED screen itself, will set customers back $1,199 for “Part Only.” The full kit that also includes iFixit’s repair tools bumps that up to $1,207.

With prices starting at $1,799, the Pixel Pro 9 Fold is one of the most expensive smartphones on the market. iFixit’s inner screen replacement for last year’s Pixel Fold was also costly at $899, but this is still an alarming jump for the latest model. For context, $1,199 is the same price as an iPhone 16 Pro Max, and more expensive than a 13-inch M3 MacBook Air ($1,099). That’s a daunting amount of money to spend on a DIY repair, but iFixit provides a detailed how-to guide if that doesn’t phase you.

Other Pixel Pro 9 Fold components are also available in this launch, including the outer screen ($190), rear cameras ($250), inner front camera ($90), outer front camera ($80), and both the base and flip batteries ($67). iFixit released parts for the rest of the Pixel 9 Pro series back in September, which means components for the entire lineup are now listed on the platform.

Read More 

Image: Nvidia

Nvidia is officially launching its Nvidia app on PC today, designed to overhaul and replace the GeForce Experience app. The Nvidia app originally went into beta earlier this year, and it’s now feature complete enough for the beta label to be removed and for the app to soon be bundled with GeForce drivers.
The Nvidia app includes a redesigned and improved overlay, with support for 4K 120fps AV1 video capture, Nvidia’s AI-powered RTX game filters, and an improved customizable statistic overlay.

Image: Nvidia
The new Nvidia app also gives you access to a bunch of other Nvidia apps.

Just like GeForce Experience before it, the Nvidia app includes optimal playable settings for games and it even includes a number of options that were previously only available in the Nvidia Control Panel app. You can now configure displays, enable G-Sync, and tune GPU performance all inside the Nvidia app without having to head into the separate Control Panel app.
Nvidia is still working on bringing more of its Control Panel app features over to the main Nvidia app. “In future updates, we’ll continue to add remaining NVIDIA Control Panel options like Surround and Multiple Display Mode settings, along with new features and further enhancements,” says the GeForce team in a blog post. Nvidia recently added the display settings, RTX Video HDR sliders, and RTX Video Super Resolution support into this new app.
This new Nvidia app will also be bundled as an optional install as part of Nvidia’s GeForce drivers, and you won’t even need to log into an Nvidia account to use it. “With the official launch of Nvidia app today, migration of GeForce Experience and Nvidia RTX Experience features is complete, and the new app will soon be optionally bundled as part of our Game Ready Driver and Studio Ready Drivers,” says Nvidia.

Image: Nvidia

Nvidia is officially launching its Nvidia app on PC today, designed to overhaul and replace the GeForce Experience app. The Nvidia app originally went into beta earlier this year, and it’s now feature complete enough for the beta label to be removed and for the app to soon be bundled with GeForce drivers.

The Nvidia app includes a redesigned and improved overlay, with support for 4K 120fps AV1 video capture, Nvidia’s AI-powered RTX game filters, and an improved customizable statistic overlay.

Image: Nvidia
The new Nvidia app also gives you access to a bunch of other Nvidia apps.

Just like GeForce Experience before it, the Nvidia app includes optimal playable settings for games and it even includes a number of options that were previously only available in the Nvidia Control Panel app. You can now configure displays, enable G-Sync, and tune GPU performance all inside the Nvidia app without having to head into the separate Control Panel app.

Nvidia is still working on bringing more of its Control Panel app features over to the main Nvidia app. “In future updates, we’ll continue to add remaining NVIDIA Control Panel options like Surround and Multiple Display Mode settings, along with new features and further enhancements,” says the GeForce team in a blog post. Nvidia recently added the display settings, RTX Video HDR sliders, and RTX Video Super Resolution support into this new app.

This new Nvidia app will also be bundled as an optional install as part of Nvidia’s GeForce drivers, and you won’t even need to log into an Nvidia account to use it. “With the official launch of Nvidia app today, migration of GeForce Experience and Nvidia RTX Experience features is complete, and the new app will soon be optionally bundled as part of our Game Ready Driver and Studio Ready Drivers,” says Nvidia.

Read More 

A pretty book that costs a pretty penny. | Image: Apple Music / Assouline

You can now buy a physical version of the 100 Best Albums list that Apple Music released this year — if you have some serious cash to burn, that is. Apple Music: 100 Best Albums, a 208-page coffee table book produced by luxury print company Assouline, is available to preorder today for $450, with an estimated shipping date of November 25th. Shipping itself is thankfully free.
One explanation for the high price tag is that availability is extremely limited — only 1,500 copies are up for grabs, each numbered on the rear and inside the book. The design of the book itself is also very luxurious, featuring a “custom-designed translucent acrylic slipcase etched with the Apple Music logo” that protects the white linen hardcover, and gold gilding on the page edges and spine lettering. Then again, Apple has released similarly expensive books before — at least this one has words in it.

Image: Apple Music / Assouline
Gold page gilding is hardly an exclusive feature, but it sure is pretty.

Image: Apple Music / Assouline

If this example page is anything to go by, then you get more content from checking out the digital version of the best album list.

The foreword in the book is provided by Apple Music’s Creative Director, Zane Lowe. The content itself is otherwise pulled directly from the text entries of the digital version of Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list. If anything, readers are actually missing a lot of the original content, as videos (for obvious reasons) and additional imagery aren’t included, so this is largely targeted as a collector’s item.
“If our list sparks more debate among fans outside of Apple Music and gets people talking passionately about the music they love, then we’ve done what we set out to do,” Lowe said on the listing. The lofty price has already sparked outrage online, but some music lovers have confessed that it won’t deter them from trying to get a copy.

A pretty book that costs a pretty penny. | Image: Apple Music / Assouline

You can now buy a physical version of the 100 Best Albums list that Apple Music released this year — if you have some serious cash to burn, that is. Apple Music: 100 Best Albums, a 208-page coffee table book produced by luxury print company Assouline, is available to preorder today for $450, with an estimated shipping date of November 25th. Shipping itself is thankfully free.

One explanation for the high price tag is that availability is extremely limited — only 1,500 copies are up for grabs, each numbered on the rear and inside the book. The design of the book itself is also very luxurious, featuring a “custom-designed translucent acrylic slipcase etched with the Apple Music logo” that protects the white linen hardcover, and gold gilding on the page edges and spine lettering. Then again, Apple has released similarly expensive books before — at least this one has words in it.

The foreword in the book is provided by Apple Music’s Creative Director, Zane Lowe. The content itself is otherwise pulled directly from the text entries of the digital version of Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list. If anything, readers are actually missing a lot of the original content, as videos (for obvious reasons) and additional imagery aren’t included, so this is largely targeted as a collector’s item.

“If our list sparks more debate among fans outside of Apple Music and gets people talking passionately about the music they love, then we’ve done what we set out to do,” Lowe said on the listing. The lofty price has already sparked outrage online, but some music lovers have confessed that it won’t deter them from trying to get a copy.

Read More 

Nuki says its new Smart Lock Ultra is a third the size and three times as fast as previous models. | Image: Nuki

Popular European smart lock maker Nuki has announced the fifth generation of its smart lock. The Smart Lock Ultra is a third the size of the original Nuki, features a new brushless motor for faster operation, and promises at least six months of battery life. Plus, for the first time, the new lock has been designed to work with US deadbolts.
The Nuki Smart Lock Ultra (€349) will be available in Europe in December and is the company’s first full-replacement door lock. Previous Nuki models could be retrofitted over an existing lock, so you could keep using your existing keys. This one requires swapping out the entire cylinder and comes with three new keys. However, the US model, coming next year, will work as a retrofit lock and only require replacing the thumb turn on your door — similar to how the August smart lock works.
Martina Stix, Nuki’s communications manager, tells The Verge that the US version looks identical but comes with a different mounting plate and no replacement cylinder — so you can use your existing keys. She says it should be available in Q2 of 2025, with pricing still to be determined.

Image: Nuki
The Nuki Ultra, pictured on the right, is a third the size of the previous model, shown here on the left.

The big change here is that the Nuki Ultra packs all of the functions of the previous model into a much smaller design thanks to a new built-in battery that does away with the bulky battery compartment. The company says it’s also over three times faster — capable of locking or unlocking in under 1.5 seconds.
That’s very fast; the fastest locks I’ve tested take two to three seconds to fully unlock, and most are closer to five, especially retrofit locks. Stix says the speed comes from an all-new motor: “The new smart lock is powered by brushless engine technology, commonly used in electric cars, used for the first time in a Nuki smart lock.”
The lock can be controlled in several ways: with a key, with geo-fenced-based auto-unlock, with the Nuki app on a phone or smartwatch, or with any compatible smart home platform. It also works with all existing Nuki accessories, including a key fob and a separate Bluetooth keypad mounted outside the door, with the option of a fingerprint reader.

Image: Nuki
The Nuki Ultra Smart Lock uses a new brushless motor.

As with the Nuki Smart Lock (4th-gen) launched last year, the Ultra offers a choice of connectivity options: Wi-Fi, Matter-over-Thread, or Bluetooth. It supports Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and other Matter-compatible platforms.
The company’s existing keypad accessory does not support Apple’s Home Key function, which allows you to tap your iPhone or Apple Watch to an NFC-enabled lock or keypad to unlock it. Stix says Nuki plans to support Aliro when it launches next year, a new standard for smart locks that is reported to include a similar tap-to-unlock capability to Home Key, although the specification has not yet been released.

Image: Nuki
The lock has a built-in rechargeable battery and comes with a two-meter power cable for charging.

Unlike some previous generations of the lock, Wi-Fi connectivity is built into the Nuki Ultra, so there is no need for a separate bridge. The new battery technology promises up to six months of battery life (possibly more, depending on your connectivity choice; Thread or Bluetooth will last longer than Wi-Fi). But it does have to be charged on the door, which seems a bit awkward. The company supplies a two-meter magnetic power cable to reach a nearby outlet and says it can fully charge in under two hours.
The Smart Lock Ultra is available for preorder now at Nuki.io in Europe for €349 and will ship in December. The US version is expected to launch next year.

Nuki says its new Smart Lock Ultra is a third the size and three times as fast as previous models. | Image: Nuki

Popular European smart lock maker Nuki has announced the fifth generation of its smart lock. The Smart Lock Ultra is a third the size of the original Nuki, features a new brushless motor for faster operation, and promises at least six months of battery life. Plus, for the first time, the new lock has been designed to work with US deadbolts.

The Nuki Smart Lock Ultra (€349) will be available in Europe in December and is the company’s first full-replacement door lock. Previous Nuki models could be retrofitted over an existing lock, so you could keep using your existing keys. This one requires swapping out the entire cylinder and comes with three new keys. However, the US model, coming next year, will work as a retrofit lock and only require replacing the thumb turn on your door — similar to how the August smart lock works.

Martina Stix, Nuki’s communications manager, tells The Verge that the US version looks identical but comes with a different mounting plate and no replacement cylinder — so you can use your existing keys. She says it should be available in Q2 of 2025, with pricing still to be determined.

Image: Nuki
The Nuki Ultra, pictured on the right, is a third the size of the previous model, shown here on the left.

The big change here is that the Nuki Ultra packs all of the functions of the previous model into a much smaller design thanks to a new built-in battery that does away with the bulky battery compartment. The company says it’s also over three times faster — capable of locking or unlocking in under 1.5 seconds.

That’s very fast; the fastest locks I’ve tested take two to three seconds to fully unlock, and most are closer to five, especially retrofit locks. Stix says the speed comes from an all-new motor: “The new smart lock is powered by brushless engine technology, commonly used in electric cars, used for the first time in a Nuki smart lock.”

The lock can be controlled in several ways: with a key, with geo-fenced-based auto-unlock, with the Nuki app on a phone or smartwatch, or with any compatible smart home platform. It also works with all existing Nuki accessories, including a key fob and a separate Bluetooth keypad mounted outside the door, with the option of a fingerprint reader.

Image: Nuki
The Nuki Ultra Smart Lock uses a new brushless motor.

As with the Nuki Smart Lock (4th-gen) launched last year, the Ultra offers a choice of connectivity options: Wi-Fi, Matter-over-Thread, or Bluetooth. It supports Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and other Matter-compatible platforms.

The company’s existing keypad accessory does not support Apple’s Home Key function, which allows you to tap your iPhone or Apple Watch to an NFC-enabled lock or keypad to unlock it. Stix says Nuki plans to support Aliro when it launches next year, a new standard for smart locks that is reported to include a similar tap-to-unlock capability to Home Key, although the specification has not yet been released.

Image: Nuki
The lock has a built-in rechargeable battery and comes with a two-meter power cable for charging.

Unlike some previous generations of the lock, Wi-Fi connectivity is built into the Nuki Ultra, so there is no need for a separate bridge. The new battery technology promises up to six months of battery life (possibly more, depending on your connectivity choice; Thread or Bluetooth will last longer than Wi-Fi). But it does have to be charged on the door, which seems a bit awkward. The company supplies a two-meter magnetic power cable to reach a nearby outlet and says it can fully charge in under two hours.

The Smart Lock Ultra is available for preorder now at Nuki.io in Europe for €349 and will ship in December. The US version is expected to launch next year.

Read More 

Google’s Learn About website. | Image: Google

Google has launched an experimental new AI tool called Learn About, which is different from the chatbots we’re used to, like Gemini and ChatGPT. It’s built on the LearnLM AI model that Google introduced this spring, saying it’s “grounded in educational research and tailored to how people learn.” The answers it provides have more visual and interactive elements with educational formatting.
We tested Learn About and Google Gemini with a simple prompt: “How big is the universe?” Both answered that “the observable universe” is “about 93 billion light-years in diameter.”
However, while Gemini opted to show a Wikipedia-provided diagram of the universe and a two-paragraph summary with links to sources, Learn About emphasized an image from the educational site Physics Forums and added related content that was similarly focused more on learning than simply offering facts and definitions.

Screenshot: Jake Kastrenakes / The Verge
Learn About’s answer to “How big is the universe?”

Screenshot: Jake Kastrenakes / The Verge
Gemini’s answer to “How big is the universe?”

Learn About’s response also created textbook-style boxes that give you additional context like “why it matters” and ones that help you “Build your vocab” with word definitions. In the sidebar, additional topics appear to continue exploring using the tool.
We also asked Learn About “What’s the best kind of glue to put on a pizza?” (Google’s AI search overviews have struggled with this one in the past), and it managed to get that one right, even if the “common misconception” sticker makes us wonder how many times this question has been asked.

Screenshot: Richard Lawler / The Verge
Learn About tries to explain why you shouldn’t put glue on pizza.

Google’s Learn About website. | Image: Google

Google has launched an experimental new AI tool called Learn About, which is different from the chatbots we’re used to, like Gemini and ChatGPT. It’s built on the LearnLM AI model that Google introduced this spring, saying it’s “grounded in educational research and tailored to how people learn.” The answers it provides have more visual and interactive elements with educational formatting.

We tested Learn About and Google Gemini with a simple prompt: “How big is the universe?” Both answered that “the observable universe” is “about 93 billion light-years in diameter.”

However, while Gemini opted to show a Wikipedia-provided diagram of the universe and a two-paragraph summary with links to sources, Learn About emphasized an image from the educational site Physics Forums and added related content that was similarly focused more on learning than simply offering facts and definitions.

Screenshot: Jake Kastrenakes / The Verge
Learn About’s answer to “How big is the universe?”

Screenshot: Jake Kastrenakes / The Verge
Gemini’s answer to “How big is the universe?”

Learn About’s response also created textbook-style boxes that give you additional context like “why it matters” and ones that help you “Build your vocab” with word definitions. In the sidebar, additional topics appear to continue exploring using the tool.

We also asked Learn About “What’s the best kind of glue to put on a pizza?” (Google’s AI search overviews have struggled with this one in the past), and it managed to get that one right, even if the “common misconception” sticker makes us wonder how many times this question has been asked.

Screenshot: Richard Lawler / The Verge
Learn About tries to explain why you shouldn’t put glue on pizza.

Read More