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Union organizer Chris Smalls speaks following the April 1st, 2022, vote for the unionization of the Amazon Staten Island warehouse in New York. | Photo by ANDREA RENAULT / AFP via Getty Images

Amazon Labor Union (ALU) members voted to affiliate with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in a move they hope will bring new life to a yearslong struggle to secure union contracts for Amazon warehouse workers.
Amazon has tried to block various efforts to unionize across different branches of the company since at least 2000, but the movement to unionize warehouse workers only gained steam in the past few years. The Teamsters, founded in 1903, is one of the biggest labor unions in the US.
Employees at the Staten Island warehouse, known as JFK8, became the first Amazon workers to vote to unionize in 2022. They still don’t have a contract, as the union struggles to get Amazon to the bargaining table. Union members at JFK8 approved an affiliation agreement with the Teamsters after three days of voting, the groups announced today.
“We’re now stronger than ever before.”
That means that a new ALU-International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 1 will represent some 5,500 Amazon warehouse workers at JFK8. If any other Amazon warehouses in New York City vote to unionize, Local 1 would have jurisdiction for their workers as well.
Staten Island union organizers now have access to more financial resources thanks to the partnership. The Teamsters, meanwhile, have been trying to unionize Amazon warehouse workers across the US.
“On behalf of the Amazon Labor Union, I’m proud of our members choosing a path to victory. We’re now stronger than ever before,” ALU president Chris Smalls said in a press release. “Having the support of 1.3 million Teamsters to take on Amazon gives us tremendous worker power and the opportunities to demand better conditions for our members and, most importantly, to secure a contract at JFK8.”

JFK8 workers in particular have faced mounting obstacles since its historic vote to unionize in 2022. Amazon quickly objected to the results of the election and has yet to agree to bargain with the ALU, The New York Times reports. Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge.
Amazon workers at the company’s biggest US air cargo hub, KCVG in Kentucky, also voted to affiliate with the Teamsters earlier this month. But so far, JFK8 is still the only Amazon warehouse to have successfully voted to unionize.
The Teamsters secured a win with UPS warehouse workers in a new contract last year.
“The Teamsters set the standard with our agreement protecting 340,000 UPS warehouse workers and drivers in this industry. You can be certain that we will hold Amazon to these same standards, and not the other way around,” Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien said in the press release.

Union organizer Chris Smalls speaks following the April 1st, 2022, vote for the unionization of the Amazon Staten Island warehouse in New York. | Photo by ANDREA RENAULT / AFP via Getty Images

Amazon Labor Union (ALU) members voted to affiliate with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in a move they hope will bring new life to a yearslong struggle to secure union contracts for Amazon warehouse workers.

Amazon has tried to block various efforts to unionize across different branches of the company since at least 2000, but the movement to unionize warehouse workers only gained steam in the past few years. The Teamsters, founded in 1903, is one of the biggest labor unions in the US.

Employees at the Staten Island warehouse, known as JFK8, became the first Amazon workers to vote to unionize in 2022. They still don’t have a contract, as the union struggles to get Amazon to the bargaining table. Union members at JFK8 approved an affiliation agreement with the Teamsters after three days of voting, the groups announced today.

That means that a new ALU-International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 1 will represent some 5,500 Amazon warehouse workers at JFK8. If any other Amazon warehouses in New York City vote to unionize, Local 1 would have jurisdiction for their workers as well.

Staten Island union organizers now have access to more financial resources thanks to the partnership. The Teamsters, meanwhile, have been trying to unionize Amazon warehouse workers across the US.

“On behalf of the Amazon Labor Union, I’m proud of our members choosing a path to victory. We’re now stronger than ever before,” ALU president Chris Smalls said in a press release. “Having the support of 1.3 million Teamsters to take on Amazon gives us tremendous worker power and the opportunities to demand better conditions for our members and, most importantly, to secure a contract at JFK8.”

JFK8 workers in particular have faced mounting obstacles since its historic vote to unionize in 2022. Amazon quickly objected to the results of the election and has yet to agree to bargain with the ALU, The New York Times reports. Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge.

Amazon workers at the company’s biggest US air cargo hub, KCVG in Kentucky, also voted to affiliate with the Teamsters earlier this month. But so far, JFK8 is still the only Amazon warehouse to have successfully voted to unionize.

The Teamsters secured a win with UPS warehouse workers in a new contract last year.

“The Teamsters set the standard with our agreement protecting 340,000 UPS warehouse workers and drivers in this industry. You can be certain that we will hold Amazon to these same standards, and not the other way around,” Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien said in the press release.

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Hue’s new Twilight bedside lamp costs $280. | Image: Philips Hue

Following leaks last week, smart lighting company Philips Hue has confirmed it has a new sunrise lamp called Twilight. The company also announced several other new products, including a less expensive light strip, new decorative Lightguide bulbs, and the Datura ceiling light. The new products are available now, except the ceiling light, which is coming on September 10th.
The Philips Hue Twilight ($279.99 / €279.99) is the company’s first dedicated smart sunrise lamp — a light designed to help with falling asleep and waking up more naturally. At $280, it’s even more expensive than the very expensive Hatch Restore 2 (although it doesn’t require a subscription). It’s surprising that Hue hasn’t had a solid offering in this space to date. While, if connected to a Hue Bridge, you can use the Hue app to set its smart bulbs and lamps to simulate sunset and sunrise, the Twilight has some more specific features designed to aid you with a more peaceful slumber.

Image: Philips Hue
The Twilight has two light sources, an adjustable lamp and a back light that casts a colorful glow on your wall.

The Bluetooth and Zigbee-connected lamp includes two individually controllable light sources — an illumination head and a back light that can cast a colorful glow on your wall. Available in white and black, the lamp is 13 inches tall and has two buttons to control the light directly, plus you can use the Hue app to set wake-up automations that gradually brighten the lights.
The buttons are customizable, but by default, one cycles through six new light scenes, including “Arise” and “Sleepy.” The other button triggers a new “Sunset Go to Sleep” automation that Hue says simulates the light of a sunset. The company says the lamp also dims to 0.5 percent brightness — which is the lowest I’ve heard of.
HueBlog.com has the first hands-on with the product and reports that you can also angle the lamp’s head almost 180 degrees left and right.

Image: Philips Hue
Starting at $70, the new Solo light strip is the least expensive Hue light strip. It’s cuttable, so it’s good for using in places like bookshelves or closets.

Meanwhile, the new Philips Hue Solo light strip is the company’s cheapest light strip to date. It displays white light or a single color compared to Hue’s more expensive options that feature gradient or color ambiance lighting.
The Solo comes in three sizes — 10 foot ($69.99 / €69.99), 16 foot ($89.99 / €89.99), and 33 foot ($159.99 / €159.99) — and should be useful for adding light to spaces like closets and shelves without spending a fortune. The light strip has 1700 lumens and is cuttable.
The Philips Hue Datura is a frameless ceiling light with two individually controllable lights. It’s available in two sizes — 15 inches ($299.99 / €299.99) and 22.6 inches ($399.99 / €399.99) — and features white and color ambiance light with customizable color effects, plus the option to choose between task lighting or ambient lighting.

Image: Philips Hue
The Datura is a new dual light source ceiling light.

Hue is also finally expanding its decorative Lightguide line. The full-color and white statement bulbs launched in 2022, but several models were discontinued a few months later, citing quality issues. Now, in addition to the ellipse-shaped bulb, Hue is offering a small globe ($79.99 / €79.99), large globe ($99.99 / €99.99), Edison ($79.99 / $79.99), and triangle ($99.99 / €99.99).
Also new are 3D-printed Cone table lamp bases for the bulbs, which cost €60 and come in sage, sand, and black but aren’t available in the US.
Other EU-only products launching include the Tento ceiling light — a slimmer version of the Datura with only a single light source, available in white light, white ambiance, or white and ambiance color. The Tento also comes in three sizes, starting at €69.99 and going up to €199.99. There are new slim recessed ceiling lights, too, featuring 1120 lumens and starting at €89.99.

Image: Philips Hue
Three of the new Lightguide bulbs fitted into the new Cono lamp bases.

The company is upgrading its GU10 bulbs — and spot luminaires that use the GU10 — to 400 lumens at 4000 kelvins, compared to the previous generation’s 350 lumens. The new models have a longer lifespan of 25,000 hours with 50 percent lower standby power consumption.
Hue is also updating its recently launched Philips Hue Secure security system. This summer users will finally be able to have their lights flash and the alarm built into Hue’s new cameras go off automatically when a motion or contact sensor is triggered while the alarm is armed. Currently, you have to manually activate the alarm in the app. The system will also be able to be set to arm and disarm on a schedule.
While the new additions to Hue’s lineup feel largely incremental, they do help round out this mature smart lighting ecosystem. The less expensive light strips are particularly welcome. It always seemed a little crazy to have to spend over $100 to light up a closet just so you could control all your lights in the Hue app.
It’s very expensive, but the Twilight lamp is an interesting move. There aren’t many sunrise lamps that can also integrate with a smart home, and Hue has not had a great offering here. Its Hue Go Portable Table Lamp does in a pinch as a bedside lamp, but at 370 lumens is not bright enough. The Twilight reaches 1,380 lumens, so it should be more practical. I look forward to testing it out to see how it performs.

Hue’s new Twilight bedside lamp costs $280. | Image: Philips Hue

Following leaks last week, smart lighting company Philips Hue has confirmed it has a new sunrise lamp called Twilight. The company also announced several other new products, including a less expensive light strip, new decorative Lightguide bulbs, and the Datura ceiling light. The new products are available now, except the ceiling light, which is coming on September 10th.

The Philips Hue Twilight ($279.99 / €279.99) is the company’s first dedicated smart sunrise lamp — a light designed to help with falling asleep and waking up more naturally. At $280, it’s even more expensive than the very expensive Hatch Restore 2 (although it doesn’t require a subscription). It’s surprising that Hue hasn’t had a solid offering in this space to date. While, if connected to a Hue Bridge, you can use the Hue app to set its smart bulbs and lamps to simulate sunset and sunrise, the Twilight has some more specific features designed to aid you with a more peaceful slumber.

Image: Philips Hue
The Twilight has two light sources, an adjustable lamp and a back light that casts a colorful glow on your wall.

The Bluetooth and Zigbee-connected lamp includes two individually controllable light sources — an illumination head and a back light that can cast a colorful glow on your wall. Available in white and black, the lamp is 13 inches tall and has two buttons to control the light directly, plus you can use the Hue app to set wake-up automations that gradually brighten the lights.

The buttons are customizable, but by default, one cycles through six new light scenes, including “Arise” and “Sleepy.” The other button triggers a new “Sunset Go to Sleep” automation that Hue says simulates the light of a sunset. The company says the lamp also dims to 0.5 percent brightness — which is the lowest I’ve heard of.

HueBlog.com has the first hands-on with the product and reports that you can also angle the lamp’s head almost 180 degrees left and right.

Image: Philips Hue
Starting at $70, the new Solo light strip is the least expensive Hue light strip. It’s cuttable, so it’s good for using in places like bookshelves or closets.

Meanwhile, the new Philips Hue Solo light strip is the company’s cheapest light strip to date. It displays white light or a single color compared to Hue’s more expensive options that feature gradient or color ambiance lighting.

The Solo comes in three sizes — 10 foot ($69.99 / €69.99), 16 foot ($89.99 / €89.99), and 33 foot ($159.99 / €159.99) — and should be useful for adding light to spaces like closets and shelves without spending a fortune. The light strip has 1700 lumens and is cuttable.

The Philips Hue Datura is a frameless ceiling light with two individually controllable lights. It’s available in two sizes — 15 inches ($299.99 / €299.99) and 22.6 inches ($399.99 / €399.99) — and features white and color ambiance light with customizable color effects, plus the option to choose between task lighting or ambient lighting.

Image: Philips Hue
The Datura is a new dual light source ceiling light.

Hue is also finally expanding its decorative Lightguide line. The full-color and white statement bulbs launched in 2022, but several models were discontinued a few months later, citing quality issues. Now, in addition to the ellipse-shaped bulb, Hue is offering a small globe ($79.99 / €79.99), large globe ($99.99 / €99.99), Edison ($79.99 / $79.99), and triangle ($99.99 / €99.99).

Also new are 3D-printed Cone table lamp bases for the bulbs, which cost €60 and come in sage, sand, and black but aren’t available in the US.

Other EU-only products launching include the Tento ceiling light — a slimmer version of the Datura with only a single light source, available in white light, white ambiance, or white and ambiance color. The Tento also comes in three sizes, starting at €69.99 and going up to €199.99. There are new slim recessed ceiling lights, too, featuring 1120 lumens and starting at €89.99.

Image: Philips Hue
Three of the new Lightguide bulbs fitted into the new Cono lamp bases.

The company is upgrading its GU10 bulbs — and spot luminaires that use the GU10 — to 400 lumens at 4000 kelvins, compared to the previous generation’s 350 lumens. The new models have a longer lifespan of 25,000 hours with 50 percent lower standby power consumption.

Hue is also updating its recently launched Philips Hue Secure security system. This summer users will finally be able to have their lights flash and the alarm built into Hue’s new cameras go off automatically when a motion or contact sensor is triggered while the alarm is armed. Currently, you have to manually activate the alarm in the app. The system will also be able to be set to arm and disarm on a schedule.

While the new additions to Hue’s lineup feel largely incremental, they do help round out this mature smart lighting ecosystem. The less expensive light strips are particularly welcome. It always seemed a little crazy to have to spend over $100 to light up a closet just so you could control all your lights in the Hue app.

It’s very expensive, but the Twilight lamp is an interesting move. There aren’t many sunrise lamps that can also integrate with a smart home, and Hue has not had a great offering here. Its Hue Go Portable Table Lamp does in a pinch as a bedside lamp, but at 370 lumens is not bright enough. The Twilight reaches 1,380 lumens, so it should be more practical. I look forward to testing it out to see how it performs.

Read More 

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images

Don’t hold your breath for a resurgence of government internet subsidies. Republicans and Democrats can’t seem to agree on a way forward to fund the program, and passing such bills will only get more difficult as Election Day inches closer.
Democrats and Republicans have introduced dueling bills to reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission’s spectrum auctions, where the agency doles out access to frequencies that can be used to carry wireless signals. But the Democratic bill that has been repeatedly delayed in committee specifically seeks to fund a now-defunct internet subsidy program, while the Republican version does not. While some Republicans supported earlier efforts to extend the subsidy program, those efforts did not go through in time to keep it from ending.
The Senate Commerce Committee canceled a Tuesday morning markup meeting in which it was set to consider the Spectrum and National Security Act, led by committee chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA). When she introduced it in April, Cantwell said the bill would provide $7 billion to continue funding the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the pandemic-era internet subsidy for low-income Americans that officially ran out of money and ended at the end of May.
The main purpose of the bill is to reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to run auctions for spectrum. The proceeds from spectrum auctions are often used to fund other programs. In addition to the ACP, Cantwell’s bill would also fund programs including incentives for domestic chip manufacturing and a program that seeks to replace telecommunications systems that have been deemed national security concerns. The markup was already postponed several times before.
Cantwell blamed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, for standing in the way of the legislation. “We had a chance to secure affordable broadband for millions of Americans, but Senator Cruz said ‘no,’” Cantwell said in a statement late Monday. “He said ‘no’ to securing a lifeline for millions of Americans who rely on the Affordable Connectivity Program to speak to their doctors, do their homework, connect to their jobs, and stay in touch with loved ones — including more than one million Texas families.”
In remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Cantwell said her Republican colleagues on the committee offered amendments to limit the ACP funding in the bill. She said the ACP shouldn’t be a partisan issue and stressed the wide range of Americans who’ve relied on the program for high-speed connections, including elderly people living on fixed incomes and many military families. “I hope my colleagues will stop with obstructing and get back to negotiating on important legislation that will deliver these national security priorities and help Americans continue to have access to something as essential as affordable broadband,” she said.
Cruz has his own spectrum legislation with Sen. John Thune (R-SD) that would reauthorize the FCC’s spectrum auction authority, with a focus on expanding commercial access to mid-band spectrum, commonly used for 5G. But it doesn’t have the same ACP funding mechanism. Some large telecom industry players prefer Cruz’s bill, in part because it allows for exclusive licensing. Wireless communications trade group CTIA’s SVP of government affairs, Kelly Cole, told Fierce Network that the Cruz bill “is a better approach because it follows the historical precedent set by prior bipartisan legislation to extend the FCC’s auction authority.” But other tech groups like the Internet Technology Industry Council (ITI), which represents companies including Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta, support Cantwell’s bill, in part because of the programs it seeks to fund.
A spokesperson for Cruz did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment, but in a statement published by Roll Call, he responded to criticism from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who accused Cruz of supporting corporate interests over working Americans’. “In his shameless blame-game, Leader Schumer accidentally revealed what he and his party really think about taxpayers — that they are dupes who should be forced to give free internet to illegal aliens, millions to antisemitic universities, and billions to mega-corporations with no strings attached,” Cruz said in the statement to Roll Call.
The back-and-forth doesn’t bode well for the prospect of reviving the ACP. And with the presidential election inching closer, any bipartisan action will become even more difficult in the months to come.

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images

Don’t hold your breath for a resurgence of government internet subsidies. Republicans and Democrats can’t seem to agree on a way forward to fund the program, and passing such bills will only get more difficult as Election Day inches closer.

Democrats and Republicans have introduced dueling bills to reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission’s spectrum auctions, where the agency doles out access to frequencies that can be used to carry wireless signals. But the Democratic bill that has been repeatedly delayed in committee specifically seeks to fund a now-defunct internet subsidy program, while the Republican version does not. While some Republicans supported earlier efforts to extend the subsidy program, those efforts did not go through in time to keep it from ending.

The Senate Commerce Committee canceled a Tuesday morning markup meeting in which it was set to consider the Spectrum and National Security Act, led by committee chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA). When she introduced it in April, Cantwell said the bill would provide $7 billion to continue funding the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the pandemic-era internet subsidy for low-income Americans that officially ran out of money and ended at the end of May.

The main purpose of the bill is to reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to run auctions for spectrum. The proceeds from spectrum auctions are often used to fund other programs. In addition to the ACP, Cantwell’s bill would also fund programs including incentives for domestic chip manufacturing and a program that seeks to replace telecommunications systems that have been deemed national security concerns. The markup was already postponed several times before.

Cantwell blamed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, for standing in the way of the legislation. “We had a chance to secure affordable broadband for millions of Americans, but Senator Cruz said ‘no,’” Cantwell said in a statement late Monday. “He said ‘no’ to securing a lifeline for millions of Americans who rely on the Affordable Connectivity Program to speak to their doctors, do their homework, connect to their jobs, and stay in touch with loved ones — including more than one million Texas families.”

In remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Cantwell said her Republican colleagues on the committee offered amendments to limit the ACP funding in the bill. She said the ACP shouldn’t be a partisan issue and stressed the wide range of Americans who’ve relied on the program for high-speed connections, including elderly people living on fixed incomes and many military families. “I hope my colleagues will stop with obstructing and get back to negotiating on important legislation that will deliver these national security priorities and help Americans continue to have access to something as essential as affordable broadband,” she said.

Cruz has his own spectrum legislation with Sen. John Thune (R-SD) that would reauthorize the FCC’s spectrum auction authority, with a focus on expanding commercial access to mid-band spectrum, commonly used for 5G. But it doesn’t have the same ACP funding mechanism. Some large telecom industry players prefer Cruz’s bill, in part because it allows for exclusive licensing. Wireless communications trade group CTIA’s SVP of government affairs, Kelly Cole, told Fierce Network that the Cruz bill “is a better approach because it follows the historical precedent set by prior bipartisan legislation to extend the FCC’s auction authority.” But other tech groups like the Internet Technology Industry Council (ITI), which represents companies including Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta, support Cantwell’s bill, in part because of the programs it seeks to fund.

A spokesperson for Cruz did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment, but in a statement published by Roll Call, he responded to criticism from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who accused Cruz of supporting corporate interests over working Americans’. “In his shameless blame-game, Leader Schumer accidentally revealed what he and his party really think about taxpayers — that they are dupes who should be forced to give free internet to illegal aliens, millions to antisemitic universities, and billions to mega-corporations with no strings attached,” Cruz said in the statement to Roll Call.

The back-and-forth doesn’t bode well for the prospect of reviving the ACP. And with the presidential election inching closer, any bipartisan action will become even more difficult in the months to come.

Read More 

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

What if your laptop didn’t need a processor from an established brand like Intel or AMD? What if it didn’t even rely on proprietary paid architectures like Arm and x86? RISC-V is one of the answers to those questions — it’s free for anyone to use! — and modular computer company Framework has just decided to welcome RISC-V into its laptop lineup.
Specifically, Framework has partnered with DeepComputing, the company behind the very first RISC-V laptops, to build a mainboard for the Framework Laptop 13 as well. Framework already sells Intel and AMD mainboards that easily slot into its 13-inch chassis, and DeepComputing has now independently designed a new one you could drop into Framework’s laptop or even this $39 Cooler Master case that turns those boards into mini-desktops.

Image: DeepComputing
The “DC-ROMA RISC-V Modular Mini Mainboard” that’ll slot into a Framework, by DeepComputing.

While it’s exciting to see the open-source RISC-V become so accessible, you should know it’s pretty early days. Framework warns that the performance and features aren’t on par with Intel and AMD:
This Mainboard is extremely compelling, but we want to be clear that in this generation, it is focused primarily on enabling developers, tinkerers, and hobbyists to start testing and creating on RISC-V. The peripheral set and performance aren’t yet competitive with our Intel and AMD-powered Framework Laptop Mainboards. This board also has soldered memory and uses MicroSD cards and eMMC for storage, both of which are limitations of the processor. It is a great way to start playing with RISC-V though inside of a thin, light, refined laptop.
And when Framework says they “aren’t yet competitive,” that may be something of an understatement: Phoronix’s Michael Larabel points out that even a Raspberry Pi 4 mini-computer is likely faster than the quad-core 1.5GHz RISC-V StarFive JH7110 SoC you’re getting here.

But this is still an intriguing step in bringing more competition to the chip market, especially now that we no longer live in an age where “native” x86 chips and native Windows are required to run decades of legacy applications decently well. The Steam Deck, Apple Silicon, and now a wave of Qualcomm and Arm-powered Windows laptops are all here to prove that native isn’t always best and that we deserve more.
And RISC-V isn’t such an outlandish choice as all that: the “R” in Arm stands for “RISC,” after all, and RISC-V chips are already in use in embedded and server applications. The Framework Laptop 13 even technically already has a RISC-V chip — it’s in the fingerprint reader.
There’s no release date or price for the Framework RISC-V mainboard yet; it’s “in early development,” and you can sign up for updates here.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

What if your laptop didn’t need a processor from an established brand like Intel or AMD? What if it didn’t even rely on proprietary paid architectures like Arm and x86? RISC-V is one of the answers to those questions — it’s free for anyone to use! — and modular computer company Framework has just decided to welcome RISC-V into its laptop lineup.

Specifically, Framework has partnered with DeepComputing, the company behind the very first RISC-V laptops, to build a mainboard for the Framework Laptop 13 as well. Framework already sells Intel and AMD mainboards that easily slot into its 13-inch chassis, and DeepComputing has now independently designed a new one you could drop into Framework’s laptop or even this $39 Cooler Master case that turns those boards into mini-desktops.

Image: DeepComputing
The “DC-ROMA RISC-V Modular Mini Mainboard” that’ll slot into a Framework, by DeepComputing.

While it’s exciting to see the open-source RISC-V become so accessible, you should know it’s pretty early days. Framework warns that the performance and features aren’t on par with Intel and AMD:

This Mainboard is extremely compelling, but we want to be clear that in this generation, it is focused primarily on enabling developers, tinkerers, and hobbyists to start testing and creating on RISC-V. The peripheral set and performance aren’t yet competitive with our Intel and AMD-powered Framework Laptop Mainboards. This board also has soldered memory and uses MicroSD cards and eMMC for storage, both of which are limitations of the processor. It is a great way to start playing with RISC-V though inside of a thin, light, refined laptop.

And when Framework says they “aren’t yet competitive,” that may be something of an understatement: Phoronix’s Michael Larabel points out that even a Raspberry Pi 4 mini-computer is likely faster than the quad-core 1.5GHz RISC-V StarFive JH7110 SoC you’re getting here.

But this is still an intriguing step in bringing more competition to the chip market, especially now that we no longer live in an age where “native” x86 chips and native Windows are required to run decades of legacy applications decently well. The Steam Deck, Apple Silicon, and now a wave of Qualcomm and Arm-powered Windows laptops are all here to prove that native isn’t always best and that we deserve more.

And RISC-V isn’t such an outlandish choice as all that: the “R” in Arm stands for “RISC,” after all, and RISC-V chips are already in use in embedded and server applications. The Framework Laptop 13 even technically already has a RISC-V chip — it’s in the fingerprint reader.

There’s no release date or price for the Framework RISC-V mainboard yet; it’s “in early development,” and you can sign up for updates here.

Read More 

Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker. | Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images

Earlier today, Fisker finally did what has seemed inevitable these past few turbulent months: declared bankruptcy.
“Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently,” the company said in a statement. “After evaluating all options for our business, we determined that proceeding with a sale of our assets under Chapter 11 is the most viable path forward for the company.”
For anyone paying close attention, this isn’t that surprising. Fisker has been sounding the warning about its dwindling cash stockpile for months. It did all the things you’re supposed to do to rein in costs. It laid off over 15 percent of its workforce, slashed prices, and cast about for an investor who could possibly rescue the struggling EV company — but without success.
“We have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently”
In some respects, Fisker’s bankruptcy is a product of this particular moment, in which EV sales growth has slowed, and companies that have bet everything on pure battery-electric vehicles are finding themselves in a cash crunch.
But in another light, Fisker is an example of a company that tried to adhere to the Tesla playbook but still failed to replicate Elon Musk’s success. Henrik Fisker, who made his name as a designer for BMW before starting his own car company, certainly had more professional bona fides than Musk did when he first acquired Tesla. But Fisker lacked Musk’s showmanship, his ability to inspire people, and — most importantly — his ability to bullshit his way out of tough situations.
It’s not for lack of trying. In the early days of Fisker, Henrik proved to be very good at making wild-sounding promises that helped generate a lot of excitement and buzz about his company. In 2018, Henrik claimed to have solved one of the “holy grails” of EV production with the creation of a real solid-state battery. (These are batteries that don’t use liquid electrolytes to move energy around. Instead, the cells are made of solid and “dry” conductive material.)

Image: Fisker

Fisker said that his company was just a few months away from a final design of a solid-state battery. But it was clear almost right away that the company wouldn’t be able to deliver on its promise. By early 2019, the startup postponed a planned sports car that was based on the solid-state technology and pivoted to the Ocean SUV, which uses a more common lithium-ion battery. Two years later, Fisker completely abandoned its plan to develop a solid-state battery.
“It’s the kind of technology where, when you feel like you’re 90 percent there, you’re almost there, until you realize the last 10 percent is much more difficult than the first 90,” Fisker told former Verge reporter Sean O’Kane (who broke most of the stories about the company here at The Verge and has continued that streak now at TechCrunch) in 2021.
But if Fisker was chastened by his failed attempt to achieve a battery breakthrough, he didn’t show it. Months after admitting defeat, he announced a new fantastical project: an electric Popemobile made by his company. The CEO claimed to have had a “private audience” with Pope Francis and that his company would make a custom electric SUV to be used for official papal transport in late 2022.
What he didn’t say was that much of his story was completely embellished. Henrik had “presented” the idea of an electric Popemobile to Pope Francis as part of a meet and greet that lasted a little over a minute, and the Holy Father gave no indication of his approval.
The CEO claimed to have had a “private audience” with Pope Francis
There have been other half-baked ideas, including a manufacturing partnership with Volkswagen and a deal with iPhone maker Foxconn, neither of which came to fruition. And when Fisker finally got around to actually making cars, the first (and likely only) being the Ocean SUV, more issues seemed to surface every week. There have been a host of software and mechanical problems as well as internal issues around its nonexistent customer service division and inability to keep track of the money it made. YouTuber Marques Brownlee gave the Ocean one of his worst reviews ever.
All the while, Fisker kept sticking to the Tesla model in the hopes that it could replicate its success. It tried to sell its vehicles directly to consumers like Tesla does, eschewing the franchised dealership model used by most legacy automakers, but then had to backtrack after finding that its costs exceeded its projections.
But Henrik could never hold people’s attention the way that Musk does. And, according to TechCrunch, he had a much different idea of what constituted a “cool” design. For Musk, it was a minimalist design and a preponderance for extraneous software features, like video games, misnomered driver assist, and sophomoric sound effects. For Henrik Fisker, it was ticky-tacky stuff like wheel spacers, which just ended up mucking up the assembly process.
This is bankruptcy number two for Henrik Fisker. His first startup, Fisker Automotive, went out of business in 2013 based on many of the same problems: quality issues and financial mismanagement. Now, with two bankruptcies under his belt, it may be time to admit that the Tesla playbook isn’t exactly foolproof — especially when your name isn’t Elon Musk.

Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker. | Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images

Earlier today, Fisker finally did what has seemed inevitable these past few turbulent months: declared bankruptcy.

“Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently,” the company said in a statement. “After evaluating all options for our business, we determined that proceeding with a sale of our assets under Chapter 11 is the most viable path forward for the company.”

For anyone paying close attention, this isn’t that surprising. Fisker has been sounding the warning about its dwindling cash stockpile for months. It did all the things you’re supposed to do to rein in costs. It laid off over 15 percent of its workforce, slashed prices, and cast about for an investor who could possibly rescue the struggling EV company — but without success.

In some respects, Fisker’s bankruptcy is a product of this particular moment, in which EV sales growth has slowed, and companies that have bet everything on pure battery-electric vehicles are finding themselves in a cash crunch.

But in another light, Fisker is an example of a company that tried to adhere to the Tesla playbook but still failed to replicate Elon Musk’s success. Henrik Fisker, who made his name as a designer for BMW before starting his own car company, certainly had more professional bona fides than Musk did when he first acquired Tesla. But Fisker lacked Musk’s showmanship, his ability to inspire people, and — most importantly — his ability to bullshit his way out of tough situations.

It’s not for lack of trying. In the early days of Fisker, Henrik proved to be very good at making wild-sounding promises that helped generate a lot of excitement and buzz about his company. In 2018, Henrik claimed to have solved one of the “holy grails” of EV production with the creation of a real solid-state battery. (These are batteries that don’t use liquid electrolytes to move energy around. Instead, the cells are made of solid and “dry” conductive material.)

Image: Fisker

Fisker said that his company was just a few months away from a final design of a solid-state battery. But it was clear almost right away that the company wouldn’t be able to deliver on its promise. By early 2019, the startup postponed a planned sports car that was based on the solid-state technology and pivoted to the Ocean SUV, which uses a more common lithium-ion battery. Two years later, Fisker completely abandoned its plan to develop a solid-state battery.

“It’s the kind of technology where, when you feel like you’re 90 percent there, you’re almost there, until you realize the last 10 percent is much more difficult than the first 90,” Fisker told former Verge reporter Sean O’Kane (who broke most of the stories about the company here at The Verge and has continued that streak now at TechCrunch) in 2021.

But if Fisker was chastened by his failed attempt to achieve a battery breakthrough, he didn’t show it. Months after admitting defeat, he announced a new fantastical project: an electric Popemobile made by his company. The CEO claimed to have had a “private audience” with Pope Francis and that his company would make a custom electric SUV to be used for official papal transport in late 2022.

What he didn’t say was that much of his story was completely embellished. Henrik had “presented” the idea of an electric Popemobile to Pope Francis as part of a meet and greet that lasted a little over a minute, and the Holy Father gave no indication of his approval.

There have been other half-baked ideas, including a manufacturing partnership with Volkswagen and a deal with iPhone maker Foxconn, neither of which came to fruition. And when Fisker finally got around to actually making cars, the first (and likely only) being the Ocean SUV, more issues seemed to surface every week. There have been a host of software and mechanical problems as well as internal issues around its nonexistent customer service division and inability to keep track of the money it made. YouTuber Marques Brownlee gave the Ocean one of his worst reviews ever.

All the while, Fisker kept sticking to the Tesla model in the hopes that it could replicate its success. It tried to sell its vehicles directly to consumers like Tesla does, eschewing the franchised dealership model used by most legacy automakers, but then had to backtrack after finding that its costs exceeded its projections.

But Henrik could never hold people’s attention the way that Musk does. And, according to TechCrunch, he had a much different idea of what constituted a “cool” design. For Musk, it was a minimalist design and a preponderance for extraneous software features, like video games, misnomered driver assist, and sophomoric sound effects. For Henrik Fisker, it was ticky-tacky stuff like wheel spacers, which just ended up mucking up the assembly process.

This is bankruptcy number two for Henrik Fisker. His first startup, Fisker Automotive, went out of business in 2013 based on many of the same problems: quality issues and financial mismanagement. Now, with two bankruptcies under his belt, it may be time to admit that the Tesla playbook isn’t exactly foolproof — especially when your name isn’t Elon Musk.

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One step closer to a final release in the fall. | Image: The Verge / Android

It’s beta software season, baby. Google is releasing Android 15’s third beta today, taking it one step closer to its final release. With this update, it reaches platform stability, meaning that APIs are finalized and developers can start testing their apps with this near-final version. Not much appears to have changed since the last beta dropped, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few interesting tidbits to still uncover.
In a blog post announcing the new beta, Google highlights one significant change to the passkey UI. Now, using a passkey with biometric authentication happens in one step rather than two — the Google Password Manager prompt to use a passkey has been combined with the biometric input screen. There are also new fallback options you can access in the keyboard and text field drop-down menus if you accidentally tap past the passkey prompt. Handy!

Image: Google
One tap is better than two.

And apparently, there’s still more to uncover in Android 15 — even as it nears its final form. Android expert Mishaal Rahman discovered that it might be able to identify when a biometric model isn’t working well, automatically delete it, and then prompt you to reenroll. You could already do this manually, of course, but this would help people who don’t realize that a biometric redo could improve performance. As Rahman points out, there are a lot of factors that impact how well a biometric model will work, and reenrolling can often fix problems that result from a flaky model.
You can read up on all of the features coming in Android 15 or just go download it yourself. That’s a less risky proposition now that Android 15 is rounding third and heading for home. But if it’s a sense of living on the edge that you want, you could go ahead and download the iOS 18 developer beta, too, if you have an iPhone on hand. While Android is closing in on its final form, iOS 18 was only announced last week — beta season, indeed.

One step closer to a final release in the fall. | Image: The Verge / Android

It’s beta software season, baby. Google is releasing Android 15’s third beta today, taking it one step closer to its final release. With this update, it reaches platform stability, meaning that APIs are finalized and developers can start testing their apps with this near-final version. Not much appears to have changed since the last beta dropped, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few interesting tidbits to still uncover.

In a blog post announcing the new beta, Google highlights one significant change to the passkey UI. Now, using a passkey with biometric authentication happens in one step rather than two — the Google Password Manager prompt to use a passkey has been combined with the biometric input screen. There are also new fallback options you can access in the keyboard and text field drop-down menus if you accidentally tap past the passkey prompt. Handy!

Image: Google
One tap is better than two.

And apparently, there’s still more to uncover in Android 15 — even as it nears its final form. Android expert Mishaal Rahman discovered that it might be able to identify when a biometric model isn’t working well, automatically delete it, and then prompt you to reenroll. You could already do this manually, of course, but this would help people who don’t realize that a biometric redo could improve performance. As Rahman points out, there are a lot of factors that impact how well a biometric model will work, and reenrolling can often fix problems that result from a flaky model.

You can read up on all of the features coming in Android 15 or just go download it yourself. That’s a less risky proposition now that Android 15 is rounding third and heading for home. But if it’s a sense of living on the edge that you want, you could go ahead and download the iOS 18 developer beta, too, if you have an iPhone on hand. While Android is closing in on its final form, iOS 18 was only announced last week — beta season, indeed.

Read More 

The Sphero Bolt Plus’ new full-color screen can help kids troubleshoot their code. | Image: Sphero

Sphero has updated its RC Bolt robotic ball with a higher-resolution LCD screen, providing improved visual feedback that promises to make the new Bolt Plus a better STEM tool for teaching kids the fundamentals of programming.
Originally making a name for itself with a simple remote control ball that could be steered using a smartphone, Sphero eventually found massive success by leveraging its technology to create a miniature version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ BB-8 droid, which was the must-have toy during the 2015 holiday season.
Three years and several products later, Sphero ended its partnership with Disney in order to focus its efforts on the educational market and products like the original Bolt robot, which shipped with robust programming capabilities through a mobile app.
Although the Bolt and Bolt Plus look more or less the same — a waterproof plastic sphere with a rolling robot inside — the new version upgrades the original Bolt’s limited 8 x 8 LED matrix display to a full-color 128 x 128 LCD panel.

Image: Sphero
The Bolt Plus’ improved screen can display animations, graphics, and data from the robot’s sensors.

That’s not exactly mind-blowing when compared to the resolution of screens on modern smartphones, but it makes the Bolt Plus’ screen more entertaining and more useful. In addition to displaying “650+ vibrant graphics and playful animations,” the Bolt Plus can now display “real-time sensor data,” which will provide additional context about what the robot is doing to help kids troubleshoot their code that’s controlling it.

Other improvements include a new tool in the Sphero app allowing the robot to be programmed to roll to specific distances and a “Shake to Wake” feature that quickly brings the robot out of its power-saving mode and immediately reconnects it to a mobile device.
Bolt Plus is available for preorder now for $199 if you order just one, with shipping expected in August, but since the company now focuses its efforts on the educational market, there are discounts for schools that order enough for an entire classroom. There’s also a promotion for owners of the original Sphero Bolt, who can trade it in and receive a $70 discount on the new Bolt Plus.

The Sphero Bolt Plus’ new full-color screen can help kids troubleshoot their code. | Image: Sphero

Sphero has updated its RC Bolt robotic ball with a higher-resolution LCD screen, providing improved visual feedback that promises to make the new Bolt Plus a better STEM tool for teaching kids the fundamentals of programming.

Originally making a name for itself with a simple remote control ball that could be steered using a smartphone, Sphero eventually found massive success by leveraging its technology to create a miniature version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ BB-8 droid, which was the must-have toy during the 2015 holiday season.

Three years and several products later, Sphero ended its partnership with Disney in order to focus its efforts on the educational market and products like the original Bolt robot, which shipped with robust programming capabilities through a mobile app.

Although the Bolt and Bolt Plus look more or less the same — a waterproof plastic sphere with a rolling robot inside — the new version upgrades the original Bolt’s limited 8 x 8 LED matrix display to a full-color 128 x 128 LCD panel.

That’s not exactly mind-blowing when compared to the resolution of screens on modern smartphones, but it makes the Bolt Plus’ screen more entertaining and more useful. In addition to displaying “650+ vibrant graphics and playful animations,” the Bolt Plus can now display “real-time sensor data,” which will provide additional context about what the robot is doing to help kids troubleshoot their code that’s controlling it.

Other improvements include a new tool in the Sphero app allowing the robot to be programmed to roll to specific distances and a “Shake to Wake” feature that quickly brings the robot out of its power-saving mode and immediately reconnects it to a mobile device.

Bolt Plus is available for preorder now for $199 if you order just one, with shipping expected in August, but since the company now focuses its efforts on the educational market, there are discounts for schools that order enough for an entire classroom. There’s also a promotion for owners of the original Sphero Bolt, who can trade it in and receive a $70 discount on the new Bolt Plus.

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Image: TikTok

TikTok recently launched a new Instagram-like photo-sharing app called Whee, as spotted by Android Police and APKMirror founder Artem Russakovskii.
TikTok is explicitly positioning Whee as an app for sharing photos with only your closest friends. “Capture and share real-life photos that only your friends can see, allowing you to be your most authentic self,” according to Whee’s Google Play description. “Whee is the best place for close friends to share life moments.”
Screenshots of the app listing feature things like a photo viewfinder, a list of friends to message, and a feed — and many of the photo captions highlight how the features are for connecting with friends.

It seems that TikTok is still testing the waters with this new app. It’s currently available on Android in “more than a dozen countries,” but not the US, Android Police reports. I’m also not seeing it on the iOS App Store. TikTok and parent company ByteDance didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
This isn’t TikTok’s first app that appears to take some inspiration from Instagram: in April, the company started rolling out an image-sharing app called TikTok Notes.

Image: TikTok

TikTok recently launched a new Instagram-like photo-sharing app called Whee, as spotted by Android Police and APKMirror founder Artem Russakovskii.

TikTok is explicitly positioning Whee as an app for sharing photos with only your closest friends. “Capture and share real-life photos that only your friends can see, allowing you to be your most authentic self,” according to Whee’s Google Play description. “Whee is the best place for close friends to share life moments.”

Screenshots of the app listing feature things like a photo viewfinder, a list of friends to message, and a feed — and many of the photo captions highlight how the features are for connecting with friends.

It seems that TikTok is still testing the waters with this new app. It’s currently available on Android in “more than a dozen countries,” but not the US, Android Police reports. I’m also not seeing it on the iOS App Store. TikTok and parent company ByteDance didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

This isn’t TikTok’s first app that appears to take some inspiration from Instagram: in April, the company started rolling out an image-sharing app called TikTok Notes.

Read More 

Butterflies AI.

So far, generative AI has been mostly confined to chatbots like ChatGPT. Startups like Character.AI and Replika are seeing early traction by making chatbots more like companions. But what happens when you dump a bunch of AI characters into something that looks like Instagram and let them talk to each other?
That’s the idea behind Butterflies, one of the most provocative — and, at times, unsettling — takes on social media that I’ve seen in quite a while. After a private beta period with tens of thousands of users, the app is now available for free in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. There’s no short-term pressure on Butterflies to make money; the six-month-old startup just raised $4.8 million from tech investors Coatue, SV Angel, and others.
While the interface looks like Instagram, the app’s main twist is that, when signing up, you create an AI character, or Butterfly, that starts generating photos and interacting with other accounts on its own. There is no limit to the number of Butterflies you can create, and they are designed to coexist with human accounts that can also post to the feed and comment.

Image: The Verge
My Butterfly after I said to create “a world-class poker player who is also a professional ultimate Frisbee player.”

Observing AIs interact through photos and comments feels a bit off right now, like when an AI host on Westworld malfunctions. They generate weird things, like three human arms on a body, and the language they use can be repetitive and hollow.
CEO Vu Tran, a former engineering director at Snap, expects all of this to rapidly improve and says his team is focusing on making the AIs more lighthearted and funny. The startup is using a mix of fine-tuned open-source models and wants to add more immersive media formats, like video, over time.
Despite the weirdness of the AIs in Butterflies right now, I think the app represents a peek into an inevitable, somewhat dystopian future where AIs start invading our social media feeds. And this future is coming sooner than expected.

Image: The Verge
Two examples of parody Butterflies.

I know because Mark Zuckerberg told me so in an interview last September, when he first shared that Meta is building an AI Studio “that will make it so that anyone can build their own AIs, sort of like [how] you create your own content across social networks.” Then, there’s TikTok, which just started letting advertisers use AI avatars to help sell their products.
How Meta’s specific approach will differ from Butterflies remains to be seen, though I expect we’ll know more about Zuckerberg’s plans this fall. In our chat last year, he said he wanted to let people and businesses make AI replicas that can post and interact with people on their behalf. “I think that’s going to be really wild,” he told me at the time.
“Wild” is a good word to describe Butterflies as well. The app is decidedly laissez-faire with the kinds of AI characters it allows, though nudity and explicit content is prohibited. Butterflies can mimic public figures, though. Tran says the goal is to make it clear that they are parodies in the same way that Character.AI does. Eventually, he hopes to do licensing deals that bring in official Butterflies for characters like Harry Potter.
“As the capabilities get better, people will naturally roleplay less.”
Tran targeted power users of Character.AI for his beta testers and tells me that people have been spending hours a day in Butterflies during its private beta period. He acknowledges that the current state of the AI’s output quality, at least for now, requires a serious suspension of disbelief. “I feel like over time, as the capabilities get better, people will naturally roleplay less,” he says.
A bigger question I have for Tran is why something like Butterflies needs to exist. Won’t filling social media with AIs make humans less connected? Naturally, he doesn’t see it that way. “For me, it brings me joy,” he says of interacting with AIs. “And it doesn’t detract from the relationships I have within my life.”
I’m still not sure what it will mean for all of us when social media becomes less human. But it’s happening whether we want it to or not.

Butterflies AI.

So far, generative AI has been mostly confined to chatbots like ChatGPT. Startups like Character.AI and Replika are seeing early traction by making chatbots more like companions. But what happens when you dump a bunch of AI characters into something that looks like Instagram and let them talk to each other?

That’s the idea behind Butterflies, one of the most provocative — and, at times, unsettling — takes on social media that I’ve seen in quite a while. After a private beta period with tens of thousands of users, the app is now available for free in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. There’s no short-term pressure on Butterflies to make money; the six-month-old startup just raised $4.8 million from tech investors Coatue, SV Angel, and others.

While the interface looks like Instagram, the app’s main twist is that, when signing up, you create an AI character, or Butterfly, that starts generating photos and interacting with other accounts on its own. There is no limit to the number of Butterflies you can create, and they are designed to coexist with human accounts that can also post to the feed and comment.

Image: The Verge
My Butterfly after I said to create “a world-class poker player who is also a professional ultimate Frisbee player.”

Observing AIs interact through photos and comments feels a bit off right now, like when an AI host on Westworld malfunctions. They generate weird things, like three human arms on a body, and the language they use can be repetitive and hollow.

CEO Vu Tran, a former engineering director at Snap, expects all of this to rapidly improve and says his team is focusing on making the AIs more lighthearted and funny. The startup is using a mix of fine-tuned open-source models and wants to add more immersive media formats, like video, over time.

Despite the weirdness of the AIs in Butterflies right now, I think the app represents a peek into an inevitable, somewhat dystopian future where AIs start invading our social media feeds. And this future is coming sooner than expected.

Image: The Verge
Two examples of parody Butterflies.

I know because Mark Zuckerberg told me so in an interview last September, when he first shared that Meta is building an AI Studio “that will make it so that anyone can build their own AIs, sort of like [how] you create your own content across social networks.” Then, there’s TikTok, which just started letting advertisers use AI avatars to help sell their products.

How Meta’s specific approach will differ from Butterflies remains to be seen, though I expect we’ll know more about Zuckerberg’s plans this fall. In our chat last year, he said he wanted to let people and businesses make AI replicas that can post and interact with people on their behalf. “I think that’s going to be really wild,” he told me at the time.

“Wild” is a good word to describe Butterflies as well. The app is decidedly laissez-faire with the kinds of AI characters it allows, though nudity and explicit content is prohibited. Butterflies can mimic public figures, though. Tran says the goal is to make it clear that they are parodies in the same way that Character.AI does. Eventually, he hopes to do licensing deals that bring in official Butterflies for characters like Harry Potter.

Tran targeted power users of Character.AI for his beta testers and tells me that people have been spending hours a day in Butterflies during its private beta period. He acknowledges that the current state of the AI’s output quality, at least for now, requires a serious suspension of disbelief. “I feel like over time, as the capabilities get better, people will naturally roleplay less,” he says.

A bigger question I have for Tran is why something like Butterflies needs to exist. Won’t filling social media with AIs make humans less connected? Naturally, he doesn’t see it that way. “For me, it brings me joy,” he says of interacting with AIs. “And it doesn’t detract from the relationships I have within my life.”

I’m still not sure what it will mean for all of us when social media becomes less human. But it’s happening whether we want it to or not.

Read More 

The Portal is getting a very slow trickle of software updates. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

The PlayStation Portal is getting a couple of modest features it should have had in the first place. Sony announced on its PlayStation Blog that a software update for its handheld remote player will allow users to connect their devices to public Wi-Fi networks that require sign-in, like free ones found at hotels and cafes.
Also in this update are new visual cues when you tap or swipe the emulated touchpad areas on the Portal’s screen and the option to see a battery percentage indicator in the top-right status bar. Up until now, the battery level was only indicated by some fairly vague bars, and the actual battery percentage number only shows when the Portal is fully turned off and charging.

Image: PlayStation
A battery level: how novel! Now, how about adding multiuser support?

Just as the PlayStation Portal is useless on its own (you also need your PlayStation 5 to Remote Play the games from), the new Wi-Fi sign-in won’t work without a second device. Sony indicates the Portal will generate an onscreen QR code to scan with your phone to sign in to those public networks. But hey, it’s better than being stuck at a Target while you wait for your prescription to be filled and not being able to get in a round of Helldivers 2.
The thought of playing an online shooter like that on public Wi-Fi may sound like a lag nightmare, but Sony’s blog post also shed some light on the games people are playing on the Portal — and it includes twitchy multiplayer games like Fortnite and Rocket League in addition to PlayStation first-party staples like God of War Ragnarök and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

The PlayStation Blog also vaguely alluded to the Portal being a surprise hit, though no sales numbers were indicated. This new public Wi-Fi feature update is likely in response to users taking their Portals outside of the home networks the handhelds were designed to be used on. Additionally, the blog post claims that Portal owners are often discovering Remote Play for the first time and that their overall PS5 game time increased within the first couple of months of Portal ownership.
That sounds to me like there’s some validity to the Portal’s unofficial moniker as the “ParentStation” / “DadStation” (since freeing up the family TV for the kids makes it easier to get back to a long-dormant PS5). It’s also just further proof that handhelds really are so hot right now — everybody wants them.

The Portal is getting a very slow trickle of software updates. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

The PlayStation Portal is getting a couple of modest features it should have had in the first place. Sony announced on its PlayStation Blog that a software update for its handheld remote player will allow users to connect their devices to public Wi-Fi networks that require sign-in, like free ones found at hotels and cafes.

Also in this update are new visual cues when you tap or swipe the emulated touchpad areas on the Portal’s screen and the option to see a battery percentage indicator in the top-right status bar. Up until now, the battery level was only indicated by some fairly vague bars, and the actual battery percentage number only shows when the Portal is fully turned off and charging.

Image: PlayStation
A battery level: how novel! Now, how about adding multiuser support?

Just as the PlayStation Portal is useless on its own (you also need your PlayStation 5 to Remote Play the games from), the new Wi-Fi sign-in won’t work without a second device. Sony indicates the Portal will generate an onscreen QR code to scan with your phone to sign in to those public networks. But hey, it’s better than being stuck at a Target while you wait for your prescription to be filled and not being able to get in a round of Helldivers 2.

The thought of playing an online shooter like that on public Wi-Fi may sound like a lag nightmare, but Sony’s blog post also shed some light on the games people are playing on the Portal — and it includes twitchy multiplayer games like Fortnite and Rocket League in addition to PlayStation first-party staples like God of War Ragnarök and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

The PlayStation Blog also vaguely alluded to the Portal being a surprise hit, though no sales numbers were indicated. This new public Wi-Fi feature update is likely in response to users taking their Portals outside of the home networks the handhelds were designed to be used on. Additionally, the blog post claims that Portal owners are often discovering Remote Play for the first time and that their overall PS5 game time increased within the first couple of months of Portal ownership.

That sounds to me like there’s some validity to the Portal’s unofficial moniker as the “ParentStation” / “DadStation” (since freeing up the family TV for the kids makes it easier to get back to a long-dormant PS5). It’s also just further proof that handhelds really are so hot right now — everybody wants them.

Read More