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Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Google has bought itself the title of “official AI sponsor for Team USA,” and when the 2024 Olympics broadcast starts on July 26th, you will be reminded of that frequently. NBCUniversal’s partnership with Google will put many of the company’s AI-powered features front and center during the event.
The broadcast will include Google Maps’ 3D views of venues like the Versailles, Stade Roland Garros, and the Aquatics Centre, as well as tidbits about what events will occur at each location. The imagery pulls from the Immersive Views added to Maps over the last few years that represent certain landmarks and areas of interest with photorealistic models.

Image: Google

Image: Google

As part of the deal to promote Gemini and Google’s other AI tools, announcers and commentators will squeeze Google Search AI Overviews into broadcast segments by trying to answer Olympic and Paralympic questions. Between this and the AI-generated Al Michaels recaps, hopefully, it all works better than the time it told us to add glue to our pizza or said that we should expose all of the film in a camera to fix a jam.
Beyond that, comedian Leslie Jones will ask Gemini to help her learn a new sport, amongst other scripted activities, while five Olympic and Paralympic athletes will pop up in “social videos and late-night promos” using Gemini, Google Lens, Circle to Search, and Google Maps Immersive View to explore Paris.
Disclosure: Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, is also an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Google has bought itself the title of “official AI sponsor for Team USA,” and when the 2024 Olympics broadcast starts on July 26th, you will be reminded of that frequently. NBCUniversal’s partnership with Google will put many of the company’s AI-powered features front and center during the event.

The broadcast will include Google Maps’ 3D views of venues like the Versailles, Stade Roland Garros, and the Aquatics Centre, as well as tidbits about what events will occur at each location. The imagery pulls from the Immersive Views added to Maps over the last few years that represent certain landmarks and areas of interest with photorealistic models.

As part of the deal to promote Gemini and Google’s other AI tools, announcers and commentators will squeeze Google Search AI Overviews into broadcast segments by trying to answer Olympic and Paralympic questions. Between this and the AI-generated Al Michaels recaps, hopefully, it all works better than the time it told us to add glue to our pizza or said that we should expose all of the film in a camera to fix a jam.

Beyond that, comedian Leslie Jones will ask Gemini to help her learn a new sport, amongst other scripted activities, while five Olympic and Paralympic athletes will pop up in “social videos and late-night promos” using Gemini, Google Lens, Circle to Search, and Google Maps Immersive View to explore Paris.

Disclosure: Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, is also an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.

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Photo by Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

The Federal Communications Commission wants to standardize the amount of time consumers have to wait to unlock their cell phones to be able to switch carriers.
The agency voted unanimously on Thursday to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to make mobile service providers unlock customers’ phones within 60 days of activation. The proposal is at an early stage — the notice of proposed rulemaking begins a public comment period before a lengthy process of drafting and revising the rule — but the FCC hopes it will boost consumer choice and competition among mobile service providers.
The commissioners are seeking comment on whether the proposed rule should apply to existing or future service contracts and how it could impact smaller mobile service providers and resellers if more phones become available on the secondary market.
Waiting periods and unlocking requirements vary between carriers, which the FCC said in a press release creates confusion for customers. AT&T, for example, says customers can unlock their phones within 60 days of activation if they’ve paid off their phone in full or completed their payment plan. Boost Mobile says it will unlock phones once a customer completes their payments for the phone.
The FCC also voted on several other initiatives during its July open meeting. Among them, it voted to approve final rules to let schools and libraries access federal E-Rate funds to loan Wi-Fi hotspots to students, school staff, and library patrons. This is part of Chair Jessica Rosenworcel’s efforts to close the digital divide by expanding the E-Rate program, which gives schools and libraries discounts on internet and telecommunications services.
The agency also approved rules to slash the cost of jail calls and prohibit certain fees that drive up prices for incarcerated people seeking to contact their loved ones. The price per minute of audio calls, for example, will be capped at 6 cents rather than 14 cents in prisons, and 7 cents versus 21 cents in medium-sized jails. It also sets video call rate caps ranging from 11 to 25 cents depending on the type or size of the jail or prison.

Photo by Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

The Federal Communications Commission wants to standardize the amount of time consumers have to wait to unlock their cell phones to be able to switch carriers.

The agency voted unanimously on Thursday to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to make mobile service providers unlock customers’ phones within 60 days of activation. The proposal is at an early stage — the notice of proposed rulemaking begins a public comment period before a lengthy process of drafting and revising the rule — but the FCC hopes it will boost consumer choice and competition among mobile service providers.

The commissioners are seeking comment on whether the proposed rule should apply to existing or future service contracts and how it could impact smaller mobile service providers and resellers if more phones become available on the secondary market.

Waiting periods and unlocking requirements vary between carriers, which the FCC said in a press release creates confusion for customers. AT&T, for example, says customers can unlock their phones within 60 days of activation if they’ve paid off their phone in full or completed their payment plan. Boost Mobile says it will unlock phones once a customer completes their payments for the phone.

The FCC also voted on several other initiatives during its July open meeting. Among them, it voted to approve final rules to let schools and libraries access federal E-Rate funds to loan Wi-Fi hotspots to students, school staff, and library patrons. This is part of Chair Jessica Rosenworcel’s efforts to close the digital divide by expanding the E-Rate program, which gives schools and libraries discounts on internet and telecommunications services.

The agency also approved rules to slash the cost of jail calls and prohibit certain fees that drive up prices for incarcerated people seeking to contact their loved ones. The price per minute of audio calls, for example, will be capped at 6 cents rather than 14 cents in prisons, and 7 cents versus 21 cents in medium-sized jails. It also sets video call rate caps ranging from 11 to 25 cents depending on the type or size of the jail or prison.

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Image: Google

Just hours after revealing the Pixel 9 Pro, Google is showing off the Pixel 9 Pro Fold with a brief, Gemini-linked teaser video. As is standard for Pixel phones, the devices have been leaked all over the internet already, but at least now we can end speculation about the look or name of Google’s next foldable Android phone.
Google’s teaser video clearly shows double-stacked lenses for the rear camera module as well as the outside screen and hinge.

Image: Google
Pixel 9 Pro Fold

For confirmation of other specs and details about upgrades from the first Fold, we may have to wait for Google’s hardware event on August 13th. There, we’ll see this phone, the 9 Pro, the Pixel Watch 3, and whatever else is left.
You can sign up for information about the Pixel 9 lineup from Google’s online store — the page earlier today just featured the Pro but now has the Pro Fold, too.

Image: Google

Just hours after revealing the Pixel 9 Pro, Google is showing off the Pixel 9 Pro Fold with a brief, Gemini-linked teaser video. As is standard for Pixel phones, the devices have been leaked all over the internet already, but at least now we can end speculation about the look or name of Google’s next foldable Android phone.

Google’s teaser video clearly shows double-stacked lenses for the rear camera module as well as the outside screen and hinge.

Image: Google
Pixel 9 Pro Fold

For confirmation of other specs and details about upgrades from the first Fold, we may have to wait for Google’s hardware event on August 13th. There, we’ll see this phone, the 9 Pro, the Pixel Watch 3, and whatever else is left.

You can sign up for information about the Pixel 9 lineup from Google’s online store — the page earlier today just featured the Pro but now has the Pro Fold, too.

Read More 

A painted woolly bat, or Kerivoula picta, roosts under a leaf in Indonesia. | Image: Abu Hamas / iNaturalist via UC Davis

Scientists are sounding the alarm about taxidermied bats commonly sold online in frames, jars, coffins, jewelry, and more. It’s a wild animal trade that has flown under the radar and that poses risks to the bats and potentially to the people who handle them, according to a study recently published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research.
While bats of all kinds are showing up for sale online, the study homes in on one particularly appealing species — Kerivoula picta, also called the painted woolly bat. They’re bright orange critters with striking black and orange wings. Their natural vibrancy might be what makes them in demand for Halloween decorations. The term “goth” also popped up in almost 15 percent of Kerivoula picta listings included in the study. But the bats are likely harvested illegally, the researchers write, which could lead to their populations dwindling in the wild.
Researchers combed through listings on Etsy, eBay, and Amazon and found bat carcasses used in even more unusual ways than they expected. There was a white lace garter adorned with a bat’s body, another bat hanging upside down from a choker necklace, and another bat affixed to a comb as a hair accessory.
“These bats were hunted.”
“It is disturbing,” says Nistara Randhawa, a colead author of the study and a data scientist and epidemiologist at the University of California, Davis. “They should not sell these bats online.”
Randhawa and her colleagues found 856 listings for products containing bat remains after searching for Kerivoula picta and related terms like “painted bat” or “orange bat” between October and December of 2022. They couldn’t determine exactly how many bats had actually been harvested or sold since sellers don’t necessarily share how many bats they have in stock and can replenish their inventories. In the end, the researchers believe their findings “vastly” underrepresent the problem.
Around a quarter of the listings they identified were of actual Kerivoula picta. They counted at least 284 individual bats from pictures in those listings. (Some items contained more than one bat.) The rest of the listings contained other kinds of bats. Buying any kind of taxidermied bat is harmful, even if the seller claims that they were harvested sustainably, the researchers contend in their paper:
We refute any assertion that the online bat trade is ethical. Again, statements that bats were captive-bred are absurd—bat farms are nonexistent—and it would be impossible for suppliers to find bats that have died naturally in the kind of condition and numbers needed to supply an ornamental trade. These bats were hunted.
They found the most bat listings on Etsy, 86 percent of the 856 listings. eBay and Amazon were each responsible for 13 and 1.6 percent of the listings, respectively. Etsy didn’t respond to The Verge by the time this story was published. Amazon asked for example listings to “investigate.” The Verge provided listings this morning, which still appeared to be up at the time of publication.
“We have strict policies and guidelines in place to regulate the listing of animal products on our platform and promote the protection of wildlife,” eBay spokesperson Scott Overland says in an email to The Verge. He says eBay prohibits the sale of all bats, “whether live, dead, or taxidermy.”
Sellers on Etsy and eBay shipped their products from 15 different countries, but more than 60 percent of them were shipped from the US. Painted woolly bats, however, make their homes across Asia. The species is listed as “near threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with trade suspected as one factor driving a decline in their numbers globally.
There is a small risk of spreading disease, a threat that entered the spotlight during the covid-19 pandemic. While it’s unlikely that the person purchasing a taxidermied bat would catch something, there’s greater risk for whoever harvested that bat in the wild.
The new study recommends including the species in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Fauna to more systematically monitor trade across borders. In the US, advocates have also started a legal petition to protect Kerivoula picta under the Endangered Species Act.

Image: UC Davis
This image used in a UC Davis and CUNY study are screenshots of eBay and Etsy listings featuring specimens of Kerivoula picta, or painted woolly bats, for sale. Scientists found specimens commonly mounted in (b) frames and (c) jars and on (d) necklaces, (e) haircombs, and (f) garters.

Unlike other species of bats that live in large groups, individual painted bats roost alone among leaves. They live relatively long, solitary lives (more than a decade), and are monogamous during breeding season. Like most other bats, they usually give birth to just one pup each year, which means poaching can pose an especially grave threat to conservation efforts. Among the decor sold online, the researchers could tell whether a female bat had a pup by recognizing signs in her body that she was lactating.
“Seeing that, I would imagine, ‘Well, here’s this female that was collected — where’s her pup? … It was probably crying for its mother,” says Joanna Coleman, colead author of the study and an assistant professor of biology at Queens College, CUNY. She found she could assess about 50 listings in a day and then “emotionally I was just done,” she says.
Working with bats in the wild, Randhawa fondly remembers them drinking mango juice before being released. “It was just lapping it up like a dog,” she says. (Painted woolly bats, on the other hand, eat insects.) “Maybe there’s a bit of a disconnect between the animal living in the wild versus seeing the animal in a frame. If there can just be that connection to realize that what you see and think is probably cool in front of you — there is a whole life that it was living.” Bats also play important roles in the wild, like dispersing seeds, pollinating plants, and controlling pest populations.
Conservation groups also ask well-meaning bat enthusiasts not to purchase any items containing real bats, bat parts, or skeletons. After all, there are also plenty of faux bats on the market to collect.

A painted woolly bat, or Kerivoula picta, roosts under a leaf in Indonesia. | Image: Abu Hamas / iNaturalist via UC Davis

Scientists are sounding the alarm about taxidermied bats commonly sold online in frames, jars, coffins, jewelry, and more. It’s a wild animal trade that has flown under the radar and that poses risks to the bats and potentially to the people who handle them, according to a study recently published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research.

While bats of all kinds are showing up for sale online, the study homes in on one particularly appealing species — Kerivoula picta, also called the painted woolly bat. They’re bright orange critters with striking black and orange wings. Their natural vibrancy might be what makes them in demand for Halloween decorations. The term “goth” also popped up in almost 15 percent of Kerivoula picta listings included in the study. But the bats are likely harvested illegally, the researchers write, which could lead to their populations dwindling in the wild.

Researchers combed through listings on Etsy, eBay, and Amazon and found bat carcasses used in even more unusual ways than they expected. There was a white lace garter adorned with a bat’s body, another bat hanging upside down from a choker necklace, and another bat affixed to a comb as a hair accessory.

“It is disturbing,” says Nistara Randhawa, a colead author of the study and a data scientist and epidemiologist at the University of California, Davis. “They should not sell these bats online.”

Randhawa and her colleagues found 856 listings for products containing bat remains after searching for Kerivoula picta and related terms like “painted bat” or “orange bat” between October and December of 2022. They couldn’t determine exactly how many bats had actually been harvested or sold since sellers don’t necessarily share how many bats they have in stock and can replenish their inventories. In the end, the researchers believe their findings “vastly” underrepresent the problem.

Around a quarter of the listings they identified were of actual Kerivoula picta. They counted at least 284 individual bats from pictures in those listings. (Some items contained more than one bat.) The rest of the listings contained other kinds of bats. Buying any kind of taxidermied bat is harmful, even if the seller claims that they were harvested sustainably, the researchers contend in their paper:

We refute any assertion that the online bat trade is ethical. Again, statements that bats were captive-bred are absurd—bat farms are nonexistent—and it would be impossible for suppliers to find bats that have died naturally in the kind of condition and numbers needed to supply an ornamental trade. These bats were hunted.

They found the most bat listings on Etsy, 86 percent of the 856 listings. eBay and Amazon were each responsible for 13 and 1.6 percent of the listings, respectively. Etsy didn’t respond to The Verge by the time this story was published. Amazon asked for example listings to “investigate.” The Verge provided listings this morning, which still appeared to be up at the time of publication.

“We have strict policies and guidelines in place to regulate the listing of animal products on our platform and promote the protection of wildlife,” eBay spokesperson Scott Overland says in an email to The Verge. He says eBay prohibits the sale of all bats, “whether live, dead, or taxidermy.”

Sellers on Etsy and eBay shipped their products from 15 different countries, but more than 60 percent of them were shipped from the US. Painted woolly bats, however, make their homes across Asia. The species is listed as “near threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with trade suspected as one factor driving a decline in their numbers globally.

There is a small risk of spreading disease, a threat that entered the spotlight during the covid-19 pandemic. While it’s unlikely that the person purchasing a taxidermied bat would catch something, there’s greater risk for whoever harvested that bat in the wild.

The new study recommends including the species in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Fauna to more systematically monitor trade across borders. In the US, advocates have also started a legal petition to protect Kerivoula picta under the Endangered Species Act.

Unlike other species of bats that live in large groups, individual painted bats roost alone among leaves. They live relatively long, solitary lives (more than a decade), and are monogamous during breeding season. Like most other bats, they usually give birth to just one pup each year, which means poaching can pose an especially grave threat to conservation efforts. Among the decor sold online, the researchers could tell whether a female bat had a pup by recognizing signs in her body that she was lactating.

“Seeing that, I would imagine, ‘Well, here’s this female that was collected — where’s her pup? … It was probably crying for its mother,” says Joanna Coleman, colead author of the study and an assistant professor of biology at Queens College, CUNY. She found she could assess about 50 listings in a day and then “emotionally I was just done,” she says.

Working with bats in the wild, Randhawa fondly remembers them drinking mango juice before being released. “It was just lapping it up like a dog,” she says. (Painted woolly bats, on the other hand, eat insects.) “Maybe there’s a bit of a disconnect between the animal living in the wild versus seeing the animal in a frame. If there can just be that connection to realize that what you see and think is probably cool in front of you — there is a whole life that it was living.” Bats also play important roles in the wild, like dispersing seeds, pollinating plants, and controlling pest populations.

Conservation groups also ask well-meaning bat enthusiasts not to purchase any items containing real bats, bat parts, or skeletons. After all, there are also plenty of faux bats on the market to collect.

Read More 

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

With Netflix raking in 8 million more global subscribers over the past few months, the streamer is turning its attention to its ad-supported plan — and for good reason. The budget-friendly tier now accounts for over 45 percent of all new signups in markets where ads are available, according to its second quarter earnings report results released on Thursday.
As part of its efforts to nudge subscribers to its ad plan, Netflix started phasing out its cheapest commercial-free plan for existing subscribers in Canada and the UK earlier this month. It plans on discontinuing the plan in the US and France next. Netflix has also started testing pause ads, which appear on your screen whenever you stop what you’re watching.

“Our ad revenue is growing nicely and is becoming a more meaningful contributor to our business,” the earnings report reads. “The near term challenge (and medium term opportunity) is that we’re scaling faster than our ability to monetize our growing ad inventory.”
Over the past few months, Netflix added the third season of Bridgerton, which is one of the platform’s biggest shows. It also has a slate of live content planned for this year, including a Joe Rogan comedy special, a hotdog-eating contest between Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi, the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight, and live NFL games, as well as WWE Monday Night Raw coming next year. Netflix will also launch its new Squid Game multiplayer game alongside the show’s second season later this year.
Starting next year, Netflix will make a fundamental change to the way it measures growth. Instead of revealing how many subscribers it added at the end of each quarter, it will only provide a breakdown of revenue by region. Netflix says the change “reflects the evolution of the business” as the streamer turns its attention to advertising and keeping subscribers.

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

With Netflix raking in 8 million more global subscribers over the past few months, the streamer is turning its attention to its ad-supported plan — and for good reason. The budget-friendly tier now accounts for over 45 percent of all new signups in markets where ads are available, according to its second quarter earnings report results released on Thursday.

As part of its efforts to nudge subscribers to its ad plan, Netflix started phasing out its cheapest commercial-free plan for existing subscribers in Canada and the UK earlier this month. It plans on discontinuing the plan in the US and France next. Netflix has also started testing pause ads, which appear on your screen whenever you stop what you’re watching.

“Our ad revenue is growing nicely and is becoming a more meaningful contributor to our business,” the earnings report reads. “The near term challenge (and medium term opportunity) is that we’re scaling faster than our ability to monetize our growing ad inventory.”

Over the past few months, Netflix added the third season of Bridgerton, which is one of the platform’s biggest shows. It also has a slate of live content planned for this year, including a Joe Rogan comedy special, a hotdog-eating contest between Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi, the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight, and live NFL games, as well as WWE Monday Night Raw coming next year. Netflix will also launch its new Squid Game multiplayer game alongside the show’s second season later this year.

Starting next year, Netflix will make a fundamental change to the way it measures growth. Instead of revealing how many subscribers it added at the end of each quarter, it will only provide a breakdown of revenue by region. Netflix says the change “reflects the evolution of the business” as the streamer turns its attention to advertising and keeping subscribers.

Read More 

Photo: Disney / Lucasfilm

Season 1 of The Acolyte was a master class in deepening Star Wars’ lore rather than just playing into its nostalgic past. Though Disney Plus’ older Star Wars series have sometimes been fantastic, recent seasons of shows like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka have felt like the products of a franchise unsure of how it wants to move forward. As another show set in Star Wars’ past, Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte seemed like it might similarly wind up being hamstrung by the tedium of lore and distracting nostalgia plays. But by embracing its identity as a story free from the burdens of having to connect with anything but itself, The Acolyte’s first season became one of the more promising signs of Star Wars’ future.
Even with its new time period and focus on the Dark side of the Force, The Acolyte’s twisting mystery about unusual twins torn about by an epic power struggle larger than themselves made it a quintessentially Star Wars narrative. In former Padawan Osha and Jedi-killing assassin Mae (Amandla Stenberg), you could plainly see The Acolyte interpolating aspects of the Skywalker saga’s biggest heroes and villains. But for all of the ways that The Acolyte echoed Star Wars stories that came before it, the series understood the importance of using those parallels as thematic texture to strengthen its own ideas, rather than points of fascination solely meant to keep viewers watching.
That became abundantly clear as The Acolyte introduced Jedi Masters Sol (Lee Jung-jae), Yord (Charlie Barnett), and Vernestra (Rebecca Henderson) as avatars of the High Republic era — a point in Star Wars history when the Order was much more part of the dominant power structure. As the first Star Wars series to really delve into life during the High Republic, The Acolyte was in a unique position to shine a light on how the Jedi’s institutional power allowed them to insert themselves into others’ affairs under the auspices of keeping balance in the Force.

Lucasfilm Ltd.

Sol genuinely believes he’s doing the right thing as he leads the charge to pull young Osha and Mae (Lauren and Leah Brady) away from Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) and her coven of Force-using witches in flashbacks scattered through the season. But the cavalierness with which he tries to assert his authority over the girls’ lives is precisely what leads to their home being destroyed — something Sol hides from Osha after Mae is presumed dead.
The Acolyte’s exploration of how a lack of oversight gave rise to deceit within the Jedi Order made its story feel like a nuanced (if unevenly paced) deepening of the Star Wars franchise’s larger ideas about how absolute power can corrupt those with the best intentions. What made the show a compelling watch early on, though, was the way it used characters like Mother Aniseya to present the Force as something almost too multifaceted to be defined by the traditional Light / Dark binary.
That kind of perspective is what gave The Acolyte a distinct air of freshness after years of Star Wars projects that have often felt unable to break free of simple, color-coded storytelling about good versus evil. Star Wars has always framed feelings like anger as vectors for darkness within its Force-wielding characters, and that very much seemed to be the case with Mae as she hunted down Jedi at the behest of her Sith master Qimir (Manny Jacinto). Similarly, The Acolyte repeatedly emphasized how Sol’s fear of the witches was part of what pushed him to try taking both twins away from their mothers despite other Jedi like Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) urging him to wait for guidance.
But as often as The Acolyte’s characters murdered and manipulated one another, what was fascinating about the show’s depiction of the Force wasn’t the idea that the Dark side was rising as its Light counterpart dimmed, but rather that neither the Jedi nor the Sith could comprehend the magnitude of what Mother Aniseya accomplished in creating her daughters. It’s never really clear whether the witches themselves fully understood what Osha and Mae are or what the coven’s plans for the pair were before Sol’s intervention. But the loss of what might have been — perhaps a different school of Force-sensitive thought well suited to balance out the Jedi — is one of the bigger tragedies The Acolyte leaves you to sit with as its story begins airing the truth out in its second half.

Lucasfilm Ltd.

The Acolyte’s approach to world-building and remixing established canon were strengths that made it feel much more akin to Star Wars: Visions’ shorts than the franchise’s other live-action shows. Sometimes, this meant that the first season unfolded with a sense of breathless urgency that left promising characters like Padawan Jecki (Dafne Keen) killed off just as their plotlines seemed to be gaining steam. But it also made the show feel focused on actually moving forward through this chapter of history instead of fleshing out the High Republic era in exhausting detail.
The Acolyte’s eponymous season 1 finale led with action and devastating catharsis as it brought its players together in a confrontation that laid bare how much pain and suffering the twins endured as a consequence of the Jedi’s actions. And yet as genuinely powerful as it was to see Sol own up to his (and arguably the entire Order’s) responsibility in hurting Osha and Mae, the finale could not resist the temptation to close out on a pair of cameos from characters whose presences portend an uncertain future for The Acolyte.
It’s obvious that Disney’s very interested in keeping The Acolyte around for more seasons that seem poised to introduce the twins to Yoda and Darth Plagueis as the show continues to close the gap between the High Republic Era and the events of The Phantom Menace (which is set just 100 years later). Bringing this group of characters together could lead to The Acolyte feeling too tidy and overly interested in making itself work as yet another avenue back to the Skywalker saga.
But this first season was an ambitious and ultimately successful exercise in proving that Star Wars can be so much more than nostalgia-addicted rehashes when Disney gives it a proper chance to be.

Photo: Disney / Lucasfilm

Season 1 of The Acolyte was a master class in deepening Star Wars’ lore rather than just playing into its nostalgic past.

Though Disney Plus’ older Star Wars series have sometimes been fantastic, recent seasons of shows like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka have felt like the products of a franchise unsure of how it wants to move forward. As another show set in Star Wars’ past, Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte seemed like it might similarly wind up being hamstrung by the tedium of lore and distracting nostalgia plays. But by embracing its identity as a story free from the burdens of having to connect with anything but itself, The Acolyte’s first season became one of the more promising signs of Star Wars’ future.

Even with its new time period and focus on the Dark side of the Force, The Acolyte’s twisting mystery about unusual twins torn about by an epic power struggle larger than themselves made it a quintessentially Star Wars narrative. In former Padawan Osha and Jedi-killing assassin Mae (Amandla Stenberg), you could plainly see The Acolyte interpolating aspects of the Skywalker saga’s biggest heroes and villains. But for all of the ways that The Acolyte echoed Star Wars stories that came before it, the series understood the importance of using those parallels as thematic texture to strengthen its own ideas, rather than points of fascination solely meant to keep viewers watching.

That became abundantly clear as The Acolyte introduced Jedi Masters Sol (Lee Jung-jae), Yord (Charlie Barnett), and Vernestra (Rebecca Henderson) as avatars of the High Republic era — a point in Star Wars history when the Order was much more part of the dominant power structure. As the first Star Wars series to really delve into life during the High Republic, The Acolyte was in a unique position to shine a light on how the Jedi’s institutional power allowed them to insert themselves into others’ affairs under the auspices of keeping balance in the Force.

Sol genuinely believes he’s doing the right thing as he leads the charge to pull young Osha and Mae (Lauren and Leah Brady) away from Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) and her coven of Force-using witches in flashbacks scattered through the season. But the cavalierness with which he tries to assert his authority over the girls’ lives is precisely what leads to their home being destroyed — something Sol hides from Osha after Mae is presumed dead.

The Acolyte’s exploration of how a lack of oversight gave rise to deceit within the Jedi Order made its story feel like a nuanced (if unevenly paced) deepening of the Star Wars franchise’s larger ideas about how absolute power can corrupt those with the best intentions. What made the show a compelling watch early on, though, was the way it used characters like Mother Aniseya to present the Force as something almost too multifaceted to be defined by the traditional Light / Dark binary.

That kind of perspective is what gave The Acolyte a distinct air of freshness after years of Star Wars projects that have often felt unable to break free of simple, color-coded storytelling about good versus evil. Star Wars has always framed feelings like anger as vectors for darkness within its Force-wielding characters, and that very much seemed to be the case with Mae as she hunted down Jedi at the behest of her Sith master Qimir (Manny Jacinto). Similarly, The Acolyte repeatedly emphasized how Sol’s fear of the witches was part of what pushed him to try taking both twins away from their mothers despite other Jedi like Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) urging him to wait for guidance.

But as often as The Acolyte’s characters murdered and manipulated one another, what was fascinating about the show’s depiction of the Force wasn’t the idea that the Dark side was rising as its Light counterpart dimmed, but rather that neither the Jedi nor the Sith could comprehend the magnitude of what Mother Aniseya accomplished in creating her daughters. It’s never really clear whether the witches themselves fully understood what Osha and Mae are or what the coven’s plans for the pair were before Sol’s intervention. But the loss of what might have been — perhaps a different school of Force-sensitive thought well suited to balance out the Jedi — is one of the bigger tragedies The Acolyte leaves you to sit with as its story begins airing the truth out in its second half.

Lucasfilm Ltd.

The Acolyte’s approach to world-building and remixing established canon were strengths that made it feel much more akin to Star Wars: Visions’ shorts than the franchise’s other live-action shows. Sometimes, this meant that the first season unfolded with a sense of breathless urgency that left promising characters like Padawan Jecki (Dafne Keen) killed off just as their plotlines seemed to be gaining steam. But it also made the show feel focused on actually moving forward through this chapter of history instead of fleshing out the High Republic era in exhausting detail.

The Acolyte’s eponymous season 1 finale led with action and devastating catharsis as it brought its players together in a confrontation that laid bare how much pain and suffering the twins endured as a consequence of the Jedi’s actions. And yet as genuinely powerful as it was to see Sol own up to his (and arguably the entire Order’s) responsibility in hurting Osha and Mae, the finale could not resist the temptation to close out on a pair of cameos from characters whose presences portend an uncertain future for The Acolyte.

It’s obvious that Disney’s very interested in keeping The Acolyte around for more seasons that seem poised to introduce the twins to Yoda and Darth Plagueis as the show continues to close the gap between the High Republic Era and the events of The Phantom Menace (which is set just 100 years later). Bringing this group of characters together could lead to The Acolyte feeling too tidy and overly interested in making itself work as yet another avenue back to the Skywalker saga.

But this first season was an ambitious and ultimately successful exercise in proving that Star Wars can be so much more than nostalgia-addicted rehashes when Disney gives it a proper chance to be.

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Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Figma recently pulled its “Make Designs” generative AI tool after a user discovered that asking it to design a weather app would spit out something suspiciously similar to Apple’s weather app — a result that could, among other things, land a user in legal trouble. This also suggested that Figma may have trained the feature on Apple’s designs, and while CEO Dylan Field was quick to say that the company didn’t train the tool on Figma content or app designs, the company has now released a full statement in a company blog post.
The statement says that Figma “carefully reviewed” the Make Designs’ underlying design systems during development and as part of a private beta. “But in the week leading up to Config, new components and example screens were added that we simply didn’t vet carefully enough,” writes Noah Levin, Figma VP of product design. “A few of those assets were similar to aspects of real world applications, and appeared in the output of the feature with certain prompts.”
Once Figma identified the issue with the design systems, “we removed the assets that were the source of the similarities from the design system and disabled the feature,” Levin says. The company is working through “an improved QA process” before bringing back Make Designs, though Levin did not provide a timeline. (In an interview with The Verge earlier this month, CTO Kris Rasmussen said the company expected to re-enable the feature “soon.”)

Figma launched Make Designs in a limited beta as part of its Config event announcements, but shortly after, the Apple-like mockups were posted on X. Figma pulled the feature, with Field taking responsibility for pushing the team to meet a deadline for Config. In our interview, Rasmussen said that Figma didn’t train the AI models powering the tool — which include OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Amazon’s Titan Image Generator G1 — at all.
In the blog post, Levin also went into some detail about the design systems powering the tool.

To give the model enough freedom to compose designs from a wide variety of domains, we commissioned two extensive design systems (one for mobile and one for desktop) with hundreds of components, as well as examples of different ways these components can be assembled to guide the output.
We feed metadata from these hand-crafted components and examples into the context window of the model along with the prompt the user enters describing their design goals. The model then effectively assembles a subset of these components, inspired by the examples, into fully parameterized designs. From there, Amazon Titan, a diffusion model, creates the images needed for the design. It’s more or less as simple as AI helping you identify, arrange, fill out, and theme small composable templates from a design system to give you a jumping off point.

Levin didn’t specify who Figma commissioned for the systems. The company declined to comment.

Image: Figma

Image: Figma
Figma’s caption: “Example components in our handmade design system.”

At Config, Figma announced other AI tools, like one that generates text for designs, and those features are still available. The company also laid out its AI training policies. Users have until August 15th to opt in or out of allowing Figma to train on their data for potential future models. (Users on Starter and Professional plans are opted in by default, and users Organization and Enterprise plans are opted out by default.)

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Figma recently pulled its “Make Designs” generative AI tool after a user discovered that asking it to design a weather app would spit out something suspiciously similar to Apple’s weather app — a result that could, among other things, land a user in legal trouble. This also suggested that Figma may have trained the feature on Apple’s designs, and while CEO Dylan Field was quick to say that the company didn’t train the tool on Figma content or app designs, the company has now released a full statement in a company blog post.

The statement says that Figma “carefully reviewed” the Make Designs’ underlying design systems during development and as part of a private beta. “But in the week leading up to Config, new components and example screens were added that we simply didn’t vet carefully enough,” writes Noah Levin, Figma VP of product design. “A few of those assets were similar to aspects of real world applications, and appeared in the output of the feature with certain prompts.”

Once Figma identified the issue with the design systems, “we removed the assets that were the source of the similarities from the design system and disabled the feature,” Levin says. The company is working through “an improved QA process” before bringing back Make Designs, though Levin did not provide a timeline. (In an interview with The Verge earlier this month, CTO Kris Rasmussen said the company expected to re-enable the feature “soon.”)

Figma launched Make Designs in a limited beta as part of its Config event announcements, but shortly after, the Apple-like mockups were posted on X. Figma pulled the feature, with Field taking responsibility for pushing the team to meet a deadline for Config. In our interview, Rasmussen said that Figma didn’t train the AI models powering the tool — which include OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Amazon’s Titan Image Generator G1 — at all.

In the blog post, Levin also went into some detail about the design systems powering the tool.

To give the model enough freedom to compose designs from a wide variety of domains, we commissioned two extensive design systems (one for mobile and one for desktop) with hundreds of components, as well as examples of different ways these components can be assembled to guide the output.

We feed metadata from these hand-crafted components and examples into the context window of the model along with the prompt the user enters describing their design goals. The model then effectively assembles a subset of these components, inspired by the examples, into fully parameterized designs. From there, Amazon Titan, a diffusion model, creates the images needed for the design. It’s more or less as simple as AI helping you identify, arrange, fill out, and theme small composable templates from a design system to give you a jumping off point.

Levin didn’t specify who Figma commissioned for the systems. The company declined to comment.

Image: Figma

Image: Figma
Figma’s caption: “Example components in our handmade design system.”

At Config, Figma announced other AI tools, like one that generates text for designs, and those features are still available. The company also laid out its AI training policies. Users have until August 15th to opt in or out of allowing Figma to train on their data for potential future models. (Users on Starter and Professional plans are opted in by default, and users Organization and Enterprise plans are opted out by default.)

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Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Intel, and other big names in AI are coming together to form the Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI), according to an announcement on Thursday. The initiative aims to address a “fragmented landscape of AI security” by providing access to open-source methodologies, frameworks, and tools.
We don’t know how much of an impact CoSAI will have on the AI industry, but concerns about leaking confidential information and automated discrimination come to mind as examples of questions about the security, privacy, and safety of generative AI technology.
Other companies joining CoSAI include IBM, PayPal, Cisco, and Anthropic. CoSAI will exist within the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), a nonprofit group that promotes the development of open standards. CoSAI will work on three goals to start: developing best practices for AI security; addressing challenges in AI; and securing AI applications.
“We’ve been using AI for many years and see the ongoing potential for defenders, but also recognize its opportunities for adversaries,” Heather Adkins, Google’s vice president of security, says in a statement. “CoSAI will help organizations, big and small, securely and responsibly integrate AI – helping them leverage its benefits while mitigating risks.”

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Intel, and other big names in AI are coming together to form the Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI), according to an announcement on Thursday. The initiative aims to address a “fragmented landscape of AI security” by providing access to open-source methodologies, frameworks, and tools.

We don’t know how much of an impact CoSAI will have on the AI industry, but concerns about leaking confidential information and automated discrimination come to mind as examples of questions about the security, privacy, and safety of generative AI technology.

Other companies joining CoSAI include IBM, PayPal, Cisco, and Anthropic. CoSAI will exist within the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), a nonprofit group that promotes the development of open standards. CoSAI will work on three goals to start: developing best practices for AI security; addressing challenges in AI; and securing AI applications.

“We’ve been using AI for many years and see the ongoing potential for defenders, but also recognize its opportunities for adversaries,” Heather Adkins, Google’s vice president of security, says in a statement. “CoSAI will help organizations, big and small, securely and responsibly integrate AI – helping them leverage its benefits while mitigating risks.”

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Initially available in silver, the Fiio DM13 will eventually be released in four additional colors. | Image: Fiio

It’s time to dig out those CD binders you refused to part with. Fiio, a Chinese audio gear maker, is releasing a $179 portable CD player in September that brings with it modern upgrades the Sony Discman never had — including support for the wireless headphones that didn’t exist in the Discman’s heyday.
Following vinyl’s resurgence in popularity, demand for audio cassettes and compact discs has increased in recent years. At CES 2024, Fiio debuted the CP13, an upgraded portable cassette player inspired by the iconic Sony Walkman. Half a year later, the Fiio DM13 gives portable CD players a similarly modern facelift.

Image: Fiio
The portable CD player will have a rechargeable battery good for eight hours of playback.

The most welcome upgrade on the DM13 is a Bluetooth connection supporting the aptX, aptX HD, aptX Low Latency, and SBC codecs allowing the player to connect to wireless headphones. For compact disc purists who don’t want to subject their ears to Bluetooth’s audio compression, the DM13 also includes a standard 3.5mm headphone jack plus a 4.4mm balanced headphone connection.
A rechargeable battery provides about eight hours of playback on the go, but the DM13 can also be integrated into a home stereo system. Analog, SPDIF, and USB audio connections are included, and the rechargeable battery can be bypassed while the CD player is in “desktop mode” and connected to a permanent power source.
Electronic shock protection can be activated to buffer music and prevent it from skipping while the DM13 is carried around, but it isn’t limited to only playing CDs. It’s also compatible with MP3, FLAC, WAV, AAC, and WMA audio files burned onto a CDR.

Image: Fiio
Eventually, five different color options for the portable CD player will be available.

At launch, the Fiio DM13 will only be available with a silver finish, but four additional colors will be introduced later, including red, blue, black, and titanium.

Initially available in silver, the Fiio DM13 will eventually be released in four additional colors. | Image: Fiio

It’s time to dig out those CD binders you refused to part with. Fiio, a Chinese audio gear maker, is releasing a $179 portable CD player in September that brings with it modern upgrades the Sony Discman never had — including support for the wireless headphones that didn’t exist in the Discman’s heyday.

Following vinyl’s resurgence in popularity, demand for audio cassettes and compact discs has increased in recent years. At CES 2024, Fiio debuted the CP13, an upgraded portable cassette player inspired by the iconic Sony Walkman. Half a year later, the Fiio DM13 gives portable CD players a similarly modern facelift.

Image: Fiio
The portable CD player will have a rechargeable battery good for eight hours of playback.

The most welcome upgrade on the DM13 is a Bluetooth connection supporting the aptX, aptX HD, aptX Low Latency, and SBC codecs allowing the player to connect to wireless headphones. For compact disc purists who don’t want to subject their ears to Bluetooth’s audio compression, the DM13 also includes a standard 3.5mm headphone jack plus a 4.4mm balanced headphone connection.

A rechargeable battery provides about eight hours of playback on the go, but the DM13 can also be integrated into a home stereo system. Analog, SPDIF, and USB audio connections are included, and the rechargeable battery can be bypassed while the CD player is in “desktop mode” and connected to a permanent power source.

Electronic shock protection can be activated to buffer music and prevent it from skipping while the DM13 is carried around, but it isn’t limited to only playing CDs. It’s also compatible with MP3, FLAC, WAV, AAC, and WMA audio files burned onto a CDR.

Image: Fiio
Eventually, five different color options for the portable CD player will be available.

At launch, the Fiio DM13 will only be available with a silver finish, but four additional colors will be introduced later, including red, blue, black, and titanium.

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The new Boost Mobile logo has the Infinite part included. | Image: Boost Mobile

Boost Mobile, the historically MVNO wireless carrier acquired by Disk Network (which rejoined EchoStar), has relaunched as an umbrella company that now includes Boost Infinite and combines all its pre- and post-paid services. Along with the rebranding, Boost Mobile is offering new deals, including an affordable $25 per month option with 5G speeds.
The key part of the $25 per month deal is that customers can get that price (with automatic payments) with only a single line, while other carriers usually require you to sign up for multiple lines to get to a lower price per line. For instance, Verizon’s Total Wireless recently launched a $30 per line per month offer, but you must have four lines to get the low price.

Image: Boost Mobile
You can get these prices with a single line.

Boost Mobile’s offering, however, is fairly barebones in comparison to rivals. The $25 per month deal includes up to 30GB of 5G speed data, with very slow speeds after (technically unlimited!). You also won’t get hotspot or included international roaming, but not everyone needs those services.
Boost Mobile’s new online site gives customers one destination for all of its services. However, as CNET reports, there could be confusion over how the retail stores work, as physical stores will still only be focused on the company’s prepaid business.

The new Boost Mobile logo has the Infinite part included. | Image: Boost Mobile

Boost Mobile, the historically MVNO wireless carrier acquired by Disk Network (which rejoined EchoStar), has relaunched as an umbrella company that now includes Boost Infinite and combines all its pre- and post-paid services. Along with the rebranding, Boost Mobile is offering new deals, including an affordable $25 per month option with 5G speeds.

The key part of the $25 per month deal is that customers can get that price (with automatic payments) with only a single line, while other carriers usually require you to sign up for multiple lines to get to a lower price per line. For instance, Verizon’s Total Wireless recently launched a $30 per line per month offer, but you must have four lines to get the low price.

Image: Boost Mobile
You can get these prices with a single line.

Boost Mobile’s offering, however, is fairly barebones in comparison to rivals. The $25 per month deal includes up to 30GB of 5G speed data, with very slow speeds after (technically unlimited!). You also won’t get hotspot or included international roaming, but not everyone needs those services.

Boost Mobile’s new online site gives customers one destination for all of its services. However, as CNET reports, there could be confusion over how the retail stores work, as physical stores will still only be focused on the company’s prepaid business.

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