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Image: Epic Games

Epic Games plans to bring Fortnite to the third-party iOS app store AltStore PAL, which is only available in the EU. The company made the announcement in a Thursday blog post about its strategy for mobile stores, and it says it expects to announce support for “at least two other third-party stores soon.”
While Epic says that it plans to “bring our own mobile games including Fortnite to other mobile stores that give all developers a great deal,” it didn’t provide a specific timeline. In addition to Fortnite, Epic also plans to bring Rocket League Sideswipe to AltStore PAL, spokesperson Natalie Munoz tells The Verge.
When reached for comment, AltStore’s Riley Testut pointed to Epic’s post and said that “we’re very excited to be bringing Fortnite and more to AltStore PAL.”

We’ve announced our new strategy for bringing Epic’s games to mobile stores: not only the soon-to-launch Epic Games Store for mobile, but also other independent mobile stores that give all developers a fair deal, including https://t.co/wX14FI47KZ.https://t.co/mp3lq3fFbc— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) July 25, 2024

The company is also working on bringing Fortnite to iOS in the EU, which it says will happen “soon,” and launching its own app store on iOS and Android.
Epic also announced that “we will be ending distribution partnerships with mobile stores that serve as rent collectors without competing robustly and serving all developers fairly, even if those stores offer us a special deal for our own games.” Epic is presumably talking about Apple and Google here, given the company’s disputes with both companies over their app store practices. Munoz declined to comment.

Epic also plans to pull Fortnite and its mobile games from Samsung’s Galaxy Store. The company cites two factors as to why. One is Samsung’s “Auto Blocker” feature that blocks sideloading by default (though you can turn the feature off, according to 9to5Google). Another is “public revelations in the US Epic v. Google lawsuit of ongoing Google proposals to Samsung to restrain competition in the market for Android app distribution,” presumably referring to initiatives like Project Banyan, which Google gave up on.
Apple, Google, and Samsung didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Image: Epic Games

Epic Games plans to bring Fortnite to the third-party iOS app store AltStore PAL, which is only available in the EU. The company made the announcement in a Thursday blog post about its strategy for mobile stores, and it says it expects to announce support for “at least two other third-party stores soon.”

While Epic says that it plans to “bring our own mobile games including Fortnite to other mobile stores that give all developers a great deal,” it didn’t provide a specific timeline. In addition to Fortnite, Epic also plans to bring Rocket League Sideswipe to AltStore PAL, spokesperson Natalie Munoz tells The Verge.

When reached for comment, AltStore’s Riley Testut pointed to Epic’s post and said that “we’re very excited to be bringing Fortnite and more to AltStore PAL.”

The company is also working on bringing Fortnite to iOS in the EU, which it says will happen “soon,” and launching its own app store on iOS and Android.

Epic also announced that “we will be ending distribution partnerships with mobile stores that serve as rent collectors without competing robustly and serving all developers fairly, even if those stores offer us a special deal for our own games.” Epic is presumably talking about Apple and Google here, given the company’s disputes with both companies over their app store practices. Munoz declined to comment.

Epic also plans to pull Fortnite and its mobile games from Samsung’s Galaxy Store. The company cites two factors as to why. One is Samsung’s “Auto Blocker” feature that blocks sideloading by default (though you can turn the feature off, according to 9to5Google). Another is “public revelations in the US Epic v. Google lawsuit of ongoing Google proposals to Samsung to restrain competition in the market for Android app distribution,” presumably referring to initiatives like Project Banyan, which Google gave up on.

Apple, Google, and Samsung didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

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California Gig Workers Union members gather outside the Supreme Court in May. | Photo by Lea Suzuki / San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash workers in California will remain independent contractors after the state’s Supreme Court upheld Proposition 22, as reported by CalMatters. The unanimous decision issued on Thursday is a win for ridehailing and food delivery services, which have spent millions campaigning for Prop 22 to avoid having to classify gig workers as employees.
While Prop 22 guarantees workers some protections, such as 120 percent of the local minimum wage for each hour spent driving, a health insurance stipend, and reimbursement for job-related injuries, it’s far from the full range of benefits Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and other services would’ve had to provide if workers were classified as employees.

We are deeply disappointed the State Supreme Court has allowed tech corporations to buy their way out of basic labor laws despite #Prop22’s inconsistencies with our state constitution. Our statement on today’s chilling decision⬇️ pic.twitter.com/SNKPOL0XPr— California Federation of Labor Unions (@CaliforniaLabor) July 25, 2024

After voters passed Prop 22 in 2020, a group of Uber and Lyft drivers filed a lawsuit that challenged the law. Prop 22 was overturned in 2021 when a judge deemed it “unconstitutional,” but an appeals court upheld the law in March 2023. In the California Supreme Court’s decision today, Justice Goodwin H. Liu reaffirmed that Prop 22 “does not conflict” with the state’s constitution.
Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have all issued responses in support of the court’s decision. “From the moment it became law, Prop 22 has been working for the millions of drivers and couriers that earn on platforms like ours,” Uber writes in a post on its website. “Uber alone has delivered more than $1 billion in direct benefits to date.”
Opponents of Prop 22 are frustrated with the outcome. “We are deeply disappointed that the state Supreme Court has allowed tech corporations to buy their way out of basic labor laws despite Proposition 22’s inconsistencies with our state constitution,” Lorena Gonzalez, the president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, says in a statement posted online. “These companies have upended our social contract, forcing workers and the public to take on the inherent risk created by this work, while they profit.”
Other locations, such as Massachusetts, Minneapolis, and New York City, have established some protection for Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash drivers, but they’re still classified as contractors.

California Gig Workers Union members gather outside the Supreme Court in May. | Photo by Lea Suzuki / San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash workers in California will remain independent contractors after the state’s Supreme Court upheld Proposition 22, as reported by CalMatters. The unanimous decision issued on Thursday is a win for ridehailing and food delivery services, which have spent millions campaigning for Prop 22 to avoid having to classify gig workers as employees.

While Prop 22 guarantees workers some protections, such as 120 percent of the local minimum wage for each hour spent driving, a health insurance stipend, and reimbursement for job-related injuries, it’s far from the full range of benefits Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and other services would’ve had to provide if workers were classified as employees.

After voters passed Prop 22 in 2020, a group of Uber and Lyft drivers filed a lawsuit that challenged the law. Prop 22 was overturned in 2021 when a judge deemed it “unconstitutional,” but an appeals court upheld the law in March 2023. In the California Supreme Court’s decision today, Justice Goodwin H. Liu reaffirmed that Prop 22 “does not conflict” with the state’s constitution.

Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have all issued responses in support of the court’s decision. “From the moment it became law, Prop 22 has been working for the millions of drivers and couriers that earn on platforms like ours,” Uber writes in a post on its website. “Uber alone has delivered more than $1 billion in direct benefits to date.”

Opponents of Prop 22 are frustrated with the outcome. “We are deeply disappointed that the state Supreme Court has allowed tech corporations to buy their way out of basic labor laws despite Proposition 22’s inconsistencies with our state constitution,” Lorena Gonzalez, the president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, says in a statement posted online. “These companies have upended our social contract, forcing workers and the public to take on the inherent risk created by this work, while they profit.”

Other locations, such as Massachusetts, Minneapolis, and New York City, have established some protection for Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash drivers, but they’re still classified as contractors.

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Image: Jay Maidment

Check out all of The Verge’s coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2024. With massive panels scheduled for both Thursday and Saturday, Marvel Studios seems ready to hype up its latest film as well as potentially share more details about the next handful of projects it has been cooking up to keep viewers plugged into the MCU.
While Warner Bros. has a bunch of DC films in the pipeline, the studio won’t be matching Marvel’s energy at this year’s SDCC in terms of panels, but it’s very likely that it will make a few surprise announcements to tide fans over. We can also expect to hear more news about shows like AMC’s Interview With the Vampire, Apple’s Silo, and Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. And in a summer that’s already been defined by cinema with exquisitely creepy vibes, the Alien: Romulus panel is likely to give con-goers even more of a reason to get excited.
Until the event’s through, we won’t know just how strong a showcase it will ultimately be, but until then, you can keep checking in here as we cover all of the biggest updates.

Image: Jay Maidment

Check out all of The Verge’s coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2024.

With massive panels scheduled for both Thursday and Saturday, Marvel Studios seems ready to hype up its latest film as well as potentially share more details about the next handful of projects it has been cooking up to keep viewers plugged into the MCU.

While Warner Bros. has a bunch of DC films in the pipeline, the studio won’t be matching Marvel’s energy at this year’s SDCC in terms of panels, but it’s very likely that it will make a few surprise announcements to tide fans over. We can also expect to hear more news about shows like AMC’s Interview With the Vampire, Apple’s Silo, and Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. And in a summer that’s already been defined by cinema with exquisitely creepy vibes, the Alien: Romulus panel is likely to give con-goers even more of a reason to get excited.

Until the event’s through, we won’t know just how strong a showcase it will ultimately be, but until then, you can keep checking in here as we cover all of the biggest updates.

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Image: NASA

NASA and Sierra Space blew up another space habitat in June, and everyone is smiling about it. That’s because the full-size inflatable structure in this “ultimate burst pressure” test only failed after exceeding NASA’s recommended x4 safety levels by 22 percent.
Sierra Space’s inflatable structure, known as a Large Integrated Flexible Environment, or LIFE, had its last stress test in January. LIFE is built from “basket-weaved Vectran fabrics” that strengthen once inflated. It’s intended to be used as a component in the Orbital Reef space station project involving NASA, Blue Origin, and Sierra Space.

“This second burst test will get us the design, repeatability, and architecture as we go towards our certification of the pressure shell of the LIFE habitat,” Sierra Space’s program manager for soft goods, Beth Licavoli, said before the test.
This second test model, called LIFE 285, stood over 20 feet tall and is about the size of “an average family home.” Compared to the previous test model, this has larger and lighter “blanking plates” on the walls, which Licavoli says allow the model to expand and have larger windows.
The latest stress test reached 74psi before bursting, enough to verify “scalability for 10 cubic-meter and up to 1,400 cubic-meter structures.” Next year, Sierra Space plans to test its first 500-cubic-meter space station technology.

Image: NASA

NASA and Sierra Space blew up another space habitat in June, and everyone is smiling about it. That’s because the full-size inflatable structure in this “ultimate burst pressure” test only failed after exceeding NASA’s recommended x4 safety levels by 22 percent.

Sierra Space’s inflatable structure, known as a Large Integrated Flexible Environment, or LIFE, had its last stress test in January. LIFE is built from “basket-weaved Vectran fabrics” that strengthen once inflated. It’s intended to be used as a component in the Orbital Reef space station project involving NASA, Blue Origin, and Sierra Space.

“This second burst test will get us the design, repeatability, and architecture as we go towards our certification of the pressure shell of the LIFE habitat,” Sierra Space’s program manager for soft goods, Beth Licavoli, said before the test.

This second test model, called LIFE 285, stood over 20 feet tall and is about the size of “an average family home.” Compared to the previous test model, this has larger and lighter “blanking plates” on the walls, which Licavoli says allow the model to expand and have larger windows.

The latest stress test reached 74psi before bursting, enough to verify “scalability for 10 cubic-meter and up to 1,400 cubic-meter structures.” Next year, Sierra Space plans to test its first 500-cubic-meter space station technology.

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Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

After a year and a half of negotiations, SAG-AFTRA has called a strike of all video game work produced under the union’s Interactive Media Agreement. The strike goes into effect July 26th at 12:01AM and impacts all SAG-AFTRA actors, voice actors, and motion capture actors and involves companies like Activision Blizzard, EA, Insomniac Games, WB Games, and more. According to SAG-AFTRA’s press release, the union and video game companies could not come to an agreement regarding AI protections.
“We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse AI to the detriment of our members,” said SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher in the press release. “When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate.”
In a statement to The Verge, Audrey Cooling, spokesperson for the video game producers involved in the negotiations, wrote:
We are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations. We have already found common ground on 24 out of 25 proposals, including historic wage increases and additional safety provisions. Our offer is directly responsive to SAG-AFTRA’s concerns and extends meaningful AI protections that include requiring consent and fair compensation to all performers working under the IMA. These terms are among the strongest in the entertainment industry.
SAG-AFTRA’s website has a lengthy list of prohibited activities, including singing, acting, dancing, performing motion capture, rehearsals, auditions, and more. Advertising for struck work is also prohibited, which would potentially impact games being promoted at San Diego Comic-Con, but SAG-AFTRA included a clause explaining games at SDCC would be exempt from strike action.
Developing…

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

After a year and a half of negotiations, SAG-AFTRA has called a strike of all video game work produced under the union’s Interactive Media Agreement. The strike goes into effect July 26th at 12:01AM and impacts all SAG-AFTRA actors, voice actors, and motion capture actors and involves companies like Activision Blizzard, EA, Insomniac Games, WB Games, and more. According to SAG-AFTRA’s press release, the union and video game companies could not come to an agreement regarding AI protections.

“We’re not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse AI to the detriment of our members,” said SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher in the press release. “When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live — and work — with, we will be here, ready to negotiate.”

In a statement to The Verge, Audrey Cooling, spokesperson for the video game producers involved in the negotiations, wrote:

We are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations. We have already found common ground on 24 out of 25 proposals, including historic wage increases and additional safety provisions. Our offer is directly responsive to SAG-AFTRA’s concerns and extends meaningful AI protections that include requiring consent and fair compensation to all performers working under the IMA. These terms are among the strongest in the entertainment industry.

SAG-AFTRA’s website has a lengthy list of prohibited activities, including singing, acting, dancing, performing motion capture, rehearsals, auditions, and more. Advertising for struck work is also prohibited, which would potentially impact games being promoted at San Diego Comic-Con, but SAG-AFTRA included a clause explaining games at SDCC would be exempt from strike action.

Developing…

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Apple’s UWB trackers remain a cheap, convenient way to keep tabs on all your belongings. | Photo: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Over the past month or so, we’ve seen a flurry of new Bluetooth trackers, from Motorola’s forthcoming Moto Tag to ESR’s Find My-compatible wallet. That being said, if you’re an iPhone user, Apple’s AirTag remains the best option — one you can still grab at Amazon and Walmart for an all-time low of $23.99 ($5 off). You can also buy a four-pack of trackers at Amazon and Walmart for around $89 ($10 off), though be aware that you can often buy the bundle for $15 less.

Despite having launched several years ago, Apple’s AirTags pack plenty of utility. The ultra wideband (UWB) location trackers provide ultra-precise tracking if you’re embedded in the Apple ecosystem, as they allow you to easily leverage the company’s extensive Find My network to locate your lost belongings. The handy accessories also sport an IP67 rating — meaning they’re sealed against dust and can handle some water immersion — and run on a single CR2032 coin cell battery, which isn’t the case with all Bluetooth trackers. You can even share a single AirTag with up to five people if your iPhone is running iOS 17 or later, making them a great choice if you’re hoping to keep tabs on your car keys and other household items you’d rather not lose track of.

Read our original AirTag review.

More deals, discounts, and ways to save

Acer’s latest Chromebook Plus Spin 714 is on sale at Best Buy for $579 ($120 off), matching the all-time low we saw at the beginning of July. The midrange Chromebook, which remains our favorite model to date and features Google Gemini baked in, comes with an Intel Core Ultra 5 115U processor, 256GB of storage, and 8GB of LPDDR5 memory; the Core Ultra also has an NPU, which makes it better suited for running AI-centric tasks on-device.
Amazon may be discontinuing the latest clock-equipped Echo Dot, but you can still pick it up at Amazon and Best Buy for $59.99 while supplies last. The step-up smart speaker is identical to the standard model from 2022, only it features an LED dot-matrix display that shows the time, a scrolling weather forecast, song titles, and other info. The new $80 Echo Spot might be a worthy alternative, though, as my colleague Sean Hollister points out, it’s not quite as visually pleasing as Amazon’s fabric-covered orb. Read our review.
If you weren’t able to grab an Apple Watch Series 9 during Amazon Prime Day, Apple’s latest mainline wearable is once again on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart in its 41mm base configuration starting at $299 ($100 off). The big updates this year come in the form of Apple’s second-gen ultra wideband chip and speedy S9 SiP, the latter of which enables onboard Siri processing, better display technology, and a new double tap gesture. Read our review.

Apple’s UWB trackers remain a cheap, convenient way to keep tabs on all your belongings. | Photo: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Over the past month or so, we’ve seen a flurry of new Bluetooth trackers, from Motorola’s forthcoming Moto Tag to ESR’s Find My-compatible wallet. That being said, if you’re an iPhone user, Apple’s AirTag remains the best option — one you can still grab at Amazon and Walmart for an all-time low of $23.99 ($5 off). You can also buy a four-pack of trackers at Amazon and Walmart for around $89 ($10 off), though be aware that you can often buy the bundle for $15 less.

Despite having launched several years ago, Apple’s AirTags pack plenty of utility. The ultra wideband (UWB) location trackers provide ultra-precise tracking if you’re embedded in the Apple ecosystem, as they allow you to easily leverage the company’s extensive Find My network to locate your lost belongings. The handy accessories also sport an IP67 rating — meaning they’re sealed against dust and can handle some water immersion — and run on a single CR2032 coin cell battery, which isn’t the case with all Bluetooth trackers. You can even share a single AirTag with up to five people if your iPhone is running iOS 17 or later, making them a great choice if you’re hoping to keep tabs on your car keys and other household items you’d rather not lose track of.

Read our original AirTag review.

More deals, discounts, and ways to save

Acer’s latest Chromebook Plus Spin 714 is on sale at Best Buy for $579 ($120 off), matching the all-time low we saw at the beginning of July. The midrange Chromebook, which remains our favorite model to date and features Google Gemini baked in, comes with an Intel Core Ultra 5 115U processor, 256GB of storage, and 8GB of LPDDR5 memory; the Core Ultra also has an NPU, which makes it better suited for running AI-centric tasks on-device.
Amazon may be discontinuing the latest clock-equipped Echo Dot, but you can still pick it up at Amazon and Best Buy for $59.99 while supplies last. The step-up smart speaker is identical to the standard model from 2022, only it features an LED dot-matrix display that shows the time, a scrolling weather forecast, song titles, and other info. The new $80 Echo Spot might be a worthy alternative, though, as my colleague Sean Hollister points out, it’s not quite as visually pleasing as Amazon’s fabric-covered orb. Read our review.
If you weren’t able to grab an Apple Watch Series 9 during Amazon Prime Day, Apple’s latest mainline wearable is once again on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart in its 41mm base configuration starting at $299 ($100 off). The big updates this year come in the form of Apple’s second-gen ultra wideband chip and speedy S9 SiP, the latter of which enables onboard Siri processing, better display technology, and a new double tap gesture. Read our review.

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Soldier 76 and Reinhardt in Overwatch 1. | Image: Activision Blizzard

A couple of years into the Overwatch 2 experience, player angst has reached a point where the people making the game are considering bringing the old 12-person matches back. Today’s blog post from the developers at Blizzard says that, finally, “we’re exploring how we can test different forms of 6v6 in the game to gauge the results.”
Game director Aaron Keller also notes that issues like hero balancing, game performance, and what might happen to queue times if players have a choice between the two formats are questions the team needs to answer but is at least ready to start considering.

Other than making a full-priced game free to play and laying out promises about player-vs-environment content that weren’t exactly fulfilled, the shift to Overwatch 2 also removed one tank player from each team. Removing one of the largest characters who dealt and received the most punishment made things much simpler but also made it seem like the outcome of the game depended a little too much on that one role.
If your tank is getting countered or outplayed — there’s often not a lot left to do.

Image: Activision Blizzard

So, should they bring the old style back? It’s not really that simple. I’ve played the game in all roles throughout all of these iterations, and I see arguments on both sides of the issue. There’s no question that the new game has better queue times, which the post attributes to the fact that the actual number of players queueing for each role has always more closely fit a ratio of one tank per team.
But even in the old system, I agree that the games were chaotic, and now there’s a playerbase full of people who’ve never experienced it. Good luck explaining ultimate combos to someone who might have never heard most of the voice lines from tank teammates talking to each other.
While it’s unclear when the 6v6 playtests will happen, Keller says that at least one “Hacked” event this season will try out “other ways of putting a team together that aren’t quite as rigid as a set composition, but not as loose as Open Queue,” to see how the developers can address some issues.

Soldier 76 and Reinhardt in Overwatch 1. | Image: Activision Blizzard

A couple of years into the Overwatch 2 experience, player angst has reached a point where the people making the game are considering bringing the old 12-person matches back. Today’s blog post from the developers at Blizzard says that, finally, “we’re exploring how we can test different forms of 6v6 in the game to gauge the results.”

Game director Aaron Keller also notes that issues like hero balancing, game performance, and what might happen to queue times if players have a choice between the two formats are questions the team needs to answer but is at least ready to start considering.

Other than making a full-priced game free to play and laying out promises about player-vs-environment content that weren’t exactly fulfilled, the shift to Overwatch 2 also removed one tank player from each team. Removing one of the largest characters who dealt and received the most punishment made things much simpler but also made it seem like the outcome of the game depended a little too much on that one role.

If your tank is getting countered or outplayed — there’s often not a lot left to do.

Image: Activision Blizzard

So, should they bring the old style back? It’s not really that simple. I’ve played the game in all roles throughout all of these iterations, and I see arguments on both sides of the issue. There’s no question that the new game has better queue times, which the post attributes to the fact that the actual number of players queueing for each role has always more closely fit a ratio of one tank per team.

But even in the old system, I agree that the games were chaotic, and now there’s a playerbase full of people who’ve never experienced it. Good luck explaining ultimate combos to someone who might have never heard most of the voice lines from tank teammates talking to each other.

While it’s unclear when the 6v6 playtests will happen, Keller says that at least one “Hacked” event this season will try out “other ways of putting a team together that aren’t quite as rigid as a set composition, but not as loose as Open Queue,” to see how the developers can address some issues.

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The Nutribullet Flip’s high-torque motor is strong enough to blend ice and most fruits. | Image: Nutribullet

Nutribullet’s new Flip incorporates a blender into an insulated stainless steel tumbler that looks no larger than a typical travel mug. If you don’t have enough time in the morning to blend your breakfast, the rechargeable Flip works anywhere you don’t mind making a bit of noise. (Maybe skip the crowded subway.)
The $99.99 Flip isn’t Nutribullet’s first single-serve blender, nor is it the company’s first rechargeable one. What sets it apart from past offerings is that the blender part — including blades, an 11.1-volt electric motor, and a rechargeable battery — are all incorporated into the Flip’s lid, instead of into a removable base that gets left behind.

Image: Nutribullet
You can drink and pour from the Flip’s cap, which includes the blades, motor, and battery.

On a full charge, the Flip can run a 30-second blend cycle over 14 times before it needs to be plugged back in via a USB-C charging cable. Seven minutes isn’t a lot of time but should be sufficient for blending up a drinkable breakfast or maybe lunch later in the day.
You can fill the 20-ounce tumbler with whatever ingredients you want. Nutribullet claims the Flip’s motor is powerful enough to blend ice, fresh ingredients, and “most” frozen fruits. But it also warns against using heated ingredients, as they can cause pressure to build up inside that could result in the lid forcefully opening or completely separating from the tumbler.
When filled, the lid is then attached to the insulated tumbler, and the whole thing is inverted before blending so the contents fall onto the chopping blades. It’s also worth pointing out that the Flip weighs 3.45 pounds on its own. A 20-ounce Yeti mug, for comparison, is just over a pound. Adding ice and frozen fruit is going to give you a real workout when carrying this around.
Once complete, the lid can be left on and used for pouring or drinking. The best feature is that when the Flip is empty it can be easily cleaned by filling it with soap and water and then running a single blend cycle. What you don’t want to do is submerge the Flip or stick it in the dishwasher, as that USB-C port is not waterproof.

The Nutribullet Flip’s high-torque motor is strong enough to blend ice and most fruits. | Image: Nutribullet

Nutribullet’s new Flip incorporates a blender into an insulated stainless steel tumbler that looks no larger than a typical travel mug. If you don’t have enough time in the morning to blend your breakfast, the rechargeable Flip works anywhere you don’t mind making a bit of noise. (Maybe skip the crowded subway.)

The $99.99 Flip isn’t Nutribullet’s first single-serve blender, nor is it the company’s first rechargeable one. What sets it apart from past offerings is that the blender part — including blades, an 11.1-volt electric motor, and a rechargeable battery — are all incorporated into the Flip’s lid, instead of into a removable base that gets left behind.

Image: Nutribullet
You can drink and pour from the Flip’s cap, which includes the blades, motor, and battery.

On a full charge, the Flip can run a 30-second blend cycle over 14 times before it needs to be plugged back in via a USB-C charging cable. Seven minutes isn’t a lot of time but should be sufficient for blending up a drinkable breakfast or maybe lunch later in the day.

You can fill the 20-ounce tumbler with whatever ingredients you want. Nutribullet claims the Flip’s motor is powerful enough to blend ice, fresh ingredients, and “most” frozen fruits. But it also warns against using heated ingredients, as they can cause pressure to build up inside that could result in the lid forcefully opening or completely separating from the tumbler.

When filled, the lid is then attached to the insulated tumbler, and the whole thing is inverted before blending so the contents fall onto the chopping blades. It’s also worth pointing out that the Flip weighs 3.45 pounds on its own. A 20-ounce Yeti mug, for comparison, is just over a pound. Adding ice and frozen fruit is going to give you a real workout when carrying this around.

Once complete, the lid can be left on and used for pouring or drinking. The best feature is that when the Flip is empty it can be easily cleaned by filling it with soap and water and then running a single blend cycle. What you don’t want to do is submerge the Flip or stick it in the dishwasher, as that USB-C port is not waterproof.

Read More 

Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela onstage at Vox Media’s 2023 Code Conference. | Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media

Runway trained its AI text-to-video generator on thousands of YouTube videos and pirated films, according to a report from 404 Media. A spreadsheet of training data obtained by the outlet includes links to YouTube channels belonging to major entertainment companies, such as Netflix, Disney, Nintendo, and Rockstar Games, along with creators like MKBHD, Linus Tech Tips, and Sam Kolder.
There are also links to channels owned by news outlets like The Verge, The New Yorker, Reuters, and Wired. “The channels in that spreadsheet were a company-wide effort to find good quality videos to build the model with,” a former Runway employee tells 404 Media. “This was then used as input to a massive web crawler which downloaded all the videos from all those channels, using proxies to avoid getting blocked by Google.”

Runway is an AI startup that has received millions in funding from Google parent company Alphabet and Nvidia. It has created impressive tools that allow users to make realistic-looking AI videos as well as ones that capture a particular animation type. Runway’s latest tool, Gen-3 Alpha, launched in June and can “create videos in any style you can imagine.” Like other AI models, Gen-3 Alpha needs to ingest a breadth of content when training.
In addition to YouTube channels, 404 Media also found that Runway’s dataset contains links to piracy sites like KissCartoon, which lets you watch anime and other animated content for free. It’s still not clear whether Runway used all of the videos in this spreadsheet to train its Gen-3 Alpha model — and we may never find out. In an interview with TechCrunch in June, Runway cofounder Anastasis Germanidis said the company uses “curated, internal datasets” to train its models, but he didn’t provide further detail.
When reached for comment, Google pointed The Verge to a statement from YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, who told Bloomberg in April that training AI on the platform’s videos is a “clear violation” of its policies. The Verge reached out to Runway with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.
Runway isn’t the only AI company that has had its AI training data linked to YouTube. Earlier this year, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said she “wasn’t sure” whether the company’s text-to-video generator, Sora, trained on YouTube. Meanwhile, a recent report from Proof News and Wired found that Anthropic, Apple, Nvidia, and Salesforce trained their AI models on more than 170,000 YouTube videos.

Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela onstage at Vox Media’s 2023 Code Conference. | Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media

Runway trained its AI text-to-video generator on thousands of YouTube videos and pirated films, according to a report from 404 Media. A spreadsheet of training data obtained by the outlet includes links to YouTube channels belonging to major entertainment companies, such as Netflix, Disney, Nintendo, and Rockstar Games, along with creators like MKBHD, Linus Tech Tips, and Sam Kolder.

There are also links to channels owned by news outlets like The Verge, The New Yorker, Reuters, and Wired. “The channels in that spreadsheet were a company-wide effort to find good quality videos to build the model with,” a former Runway employee tells 404 Media. “This was then used as input to a massive web crawler which downloaded all the videos from all those channels, using proxies to avoid getting blocked by Google.”

Runway is an AI startup that has received millions in funding from Google parent company Alphabet and Nvidia. It has created impressive tools that allow users to make realistic-looking AI videos as well as ones that capture a particular animation type. Runway’s latest tool, Gen-3 Alpha, launched in June and can “create videos in any style you can imagine.” Like other AI models, Gen-3 Alpha needs to ingest a breadth of content when training.

In addition to YouTube channels, 404 Media also found that Runway’s dataset contains links to piracy sites like KissCartoon, which lets you watch anime and other animated content for free. It’s still not clear whether Runway used all of the videos in this spreadsheet to train its Gen-3 Alpha model — and we may never find out. In an interview with TechCrunch in June, Runway cofounder Anastasis Germanidis said the company uses “curated, internal datasets” to train its models, but he didn’t provide further detail.

When reached for comment, Google pointed The Verge to a statement from YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, who told Bloomberg in April that training AI on the platform’s videos is a “clear violation” of its policies. The Verge reached out to Runway with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

Runway isn’t the only AI company that has had its AI training data linked to YouTube. Earlier this year, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said she “wasn’t sure” whether the company’s text-to-video generator, Sora, trained on YouTube. Meanwhile, a recent report from Proof News and Wired found that Anthropic, Apple, Nvidia, and Salesforce trained their AI models on more than 170,000 YouTube videos.

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Image: Sonos

The big Sonos app redesign was intended to make the company’s software more modern, customizable, and easier to use. But two months after its May release, it’s hard to look at this situation as anything but a colossal unforced error. Sonos has been steadily adding back missing features and functionality with frequent app updates, but the chorus of customer frustration isn’t going away.
To that end, CEO Patrick Spence today published a letter that covers the progress Sonos has made with the new app — and what customers can expect in the near future. It also contains Sonos’ first direct apology for the rough patch that “too many” users have gone through. Some customers have been waiting for that after the company’s initial responses (like saying the app overhaul took “courage”) came across as tone-deaf, given all the bugs and technical difficulties.

We’ve heard your concerns about the app update launched on May 7 and appreciate your patience as we make improvements. Please read the letter from our CEO about our progress and commitment to delivering the Sonos experience you expect and deserve: https://t.co/7Y767JBEAc— Sonos (@Sonos) July 25, 2024

“I want to begin by personally apologizing for disappointing you,” Spence writes. “There isn’t an employee at Sonos who isn’t pained by having let you down, and I assure you that fixing the app for all of our customers and partners has been and continues to be our number one priority.”
He goes on to lay out the company’s software roadmap from now through October. Sonos is currently updating and improving the app every two weeks and has most recently addressed issues with local library playback. But some much-requested features — like the ability to edit the song queue from within the Sonos app — aren’t expected to be available until the fall.
In hindsight, it’s painfully obvious that Sonos should have released the rebuilt app as a beta for early adopters of the Sonos Ace headphones, which aren’t compatible with the previous version, and kept the existing software in place while bringing the two to parity. But apparently there’s no putting the genie back in the bottle, so now the company is working as fast as it can to make the new app deliver on everything it was designed to do.
Here’s Spence’s letter in full:

We know that too many of you have experienced significant problems with our new app which rolled out on May 7, and I want to begin by personally apologizing for disappointing you. There isn’t an employee at Sonos who isn’t pained by having let you down, and I assure you that fixing the app for all of our customers and partners has been and continues to be our number one priority.
We developed the new app to create a better experience, with the ability to drive more innovation in the future, and with the knowledge that it would get better over time. However, since launch we have found a number of issues. Fixing these issues has delayed our prior plan to quickly incorporate missing features and functionality.
Since May 7, we have released new software updates approximately every two weeks, each making significant and meaningful improvements, adding features and fixing bugs. Please see the release notes for Sonos software updates for detailed information on what has been released to date.
While these software updates have enabled the majority of our customers to have a robust experience using the Sonos app, there is more work to be done. We have prioritized the following improvements in our next phase of software updates:
July and August:
Improving the stability when adding new products
Implementing Music Library configuration, browse, search, and play
August and September:
Improving Volume responsiveness
User interface improvements based on customer feedback
Improving overall system stability and error handling
September:
Improving Alarm consistency and reliability
September and October:
Restoring edit mode for Playlists and the Queue
Improving functionality in settings
We plan to continue releasing new software updates on a bi-weekly cadence. With each release, we will share detailed notes on what we’ve addressed and what we’re working on next in our community.
We deeply appreciate your patience as we address these issues. We know we have work to do to earn back your trust and are working hard to do just that. I am always open to your feedback, you can find me via email at ceo@sonos.com.
Sincerely,
Patrick Spence
CEO

Image: Sonos

The big Sonos app redesign was intended to make the company’s software more modern, customizable, and easier to use. But two months after its May release, it’s hard to look at this situation as anything but a colossal unforced error. Sonos has been steadily adding back missing features and functionality with frequent app updates, but the chorus of customer frustration isn’t going away.

To that end, CEO Patrick Spence today published a letter that covers the progress Sonos has made with the new app — and what customers can expect in the near future. It also contains Sonos’ first direct apology for the rough patch that “too many” users have gone through. Some customers have been waiting for that after the company’s initial responses (like saying the app overhaul took “courage”) came across as tone-deaf, given all the bugs and technical difficulties.

“I want to begin by personally apologizing for disappointing you,” Spence writes. “There isn’t an employee at Sonos who isn’t pained by having let you down, and I assure you that fixing the app for all of our customers and partners has been and continues to be our number one priority.”

He goes on to lay out the company’s software roadmap from now through October. Sonos is currently updating and improving the app every two weeks and has most recently addressed issues with local library playback. But some much-requested features — like the ability to edit the song queue from within the Sonos app — aren’t expected to be available until the fall.

In hindsight, it’s painfully obvious that Sonos should have released the rebuilt app as a beta for early adopters of the Sonos Ace headphones, which aren’t compatible with the previous version, and kept the existing software in place while bringing the two to parity. But apparently there’s no putting the genie back in the bottle, so now the company is working as fast as it can to make the new app deliver on everything it was designed to do.

Here’s Spence’s letter in full:

We know that too many of you have experienced significant problems with our new app which rolled out on May 7, and I want to begin by personally apologizing for disappointing you. There isn’t an employee at Sonos who isn’t pained by having let you down, and I assure you that fixing the app for all of our customers and partners has been and continues to be our number one priority.

We developed the new app to create a better experience, with the ability to drive more innovation in the future, and with the knowledge that it would get better over time. However, since launch we have found a number of issues. Fixing these issues has delayed our prior plan to quickly incorporate missing features and functionality.

Since May 7, we have released new software updates approximately every two weeks, each making significant and meaningful improvements, adding features and fixing bugs. Please see the release notes for Sonos software updates for detailed information on what has been released to date.

While these software updates have enabled the majority of our customers to have a robust experience using the Sonos app, there is more work to be done. We have prioritized the following improvements in our next phase of software updates:

July and August:

Improving the stability when adding new products

Implementing Music Library configuration, browse, search, and play

August and September:

Improving Volume responsiveness

User interface improvements based on customer feedback

Improving overall system stability and error handling

September:

Improving Alarm consistency and reliability

September and October:

Restoring edit mode for Playlists and the Queue

Improving functionality in settings

We plan to continue releasing new software updates on a bi-weekly cadence. With each release, we will share detailed notes on what we’ve addressed and what we’re working on next in our community.

We deeply appreciate your patience as we address these issues. We know we have work to do to earn back your trust and are working hard to do just that. I am always open to your feedback, you can find me via email at ceo@sonos.com.

Sincerely,

Patrick Spence

CEO

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