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Image: Cruise

General Motors is investing $850 million into Cruise to help cover the company’s operational costs after it was forced to shut down its robotaxi service when one of its driverless cars struck a pedestrian.
GM chief financial officer Paul Jacobson announced the investment onstage at Deutsche Bank’s Global Auto Industry Conference in New York City today. The money would be used to cover Cruise’s operational costs as it slowly resumes testing its autonomous vehicles in several US cities. The company says it is also looking for new external investors to help bolster its financial situation.
Cruise was a big money loser for GM, even prior to the incident last year in which one of its driverless vehicles dragged a pedestrian 20 feet in San Francisco after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver. The automaker has lost $8.2 billion on Cruise since 2017, with $3.48 billion lost in 2023 alone. Cruise recently agreed to pay at least $8 million in a settlement with the woman who was injured in the October 2nd incident.
Cruise was a big money loser for GM
In the aftermath of the incident, Cruise grounded its vehicles and launched a comprehensive safety review. The company hired two outside law firms to review its safety protocols and determine whether Cruise purposefully withheld video footage from the California DMV of its driverless vehicle dragging the hit-and-run victim to the side of the road. (The law firm concluded that the footage was inadvertently withheld.) The company issued a voluntary recall of all 950 Cruise vehicles last year to update the software and prevent similar incidents in the future.
Several top executives resigned, including co-founders Kyle Vogt and Dan Kan. And a quarter of the company’s staff was laid off. Several GM executives stepped in to right the ship, including general counsel Craig Glidden as Cruise’s co-president, alongside Mo Elshenawy, who will also become chief technology officer. Former Tesla president Jon McNeill, who’s been a board member at GM for several years, was named vice chair of the Cruise board alongside GM CEO Mary Barra.

Last year, GM’s Jacobson told investors that the automaker would reduce its spending on Cruise by “hundreds of millions” of dollars. But rather than completely cut ties with GM, like Ford and Volkswagen did with Argo AI, GM has said it remains committed to the struggling robotaxi company in the hopes that it will eventually see a return on its massive investment.
Meanwhile, Cruise has been slowly deploying more cars on the road, though still with human safety drivers behind the wheel. The latest city to host its vehicles is Houston, where the company says it will begin with human-driven vehicles. In the coming weeks, Cruise says it will transition to supervised autonomous driving with safety drivers ready to take over if needed. The company is also operating vehicles in Phoenix and Dallas.

Image: Cruise

General Motors is investing $850 million into Cruise to help cover the company’s operational costs after it was forced to shut down its robotaxi service when one of its driverless cars struck a pedestrian.

GM chief financial officer Paul Jacobson announced the investment onstage at Deutsche Bank’s Global Auto Industry Conference in New York City today. The money would be used to cover Cruise’s operational costs as it slowly resumes testing its autonomous vehicles in several US cities. The company says it is also looking for new external investors to help bolster its financial situation.

Cruise was a big money loser for GM, even prior to the incident last year in which one of its driverless vehicles dragged a pedestrian 20 feet in San Francisco after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver. The automaker has lost $8.2 billion on Cruise since 2017, with $3.48 billion lost in 2023 alone. Cruise recently agreed to pay at least $8 million in a settlement with the woman who was injured in the October 2nd incident.

In the aftermath of the incident, Cruise grounded its vehicles and launched a comprehensive safety review. The company hired two outside law firms to review its safety protocols and determine whether Cruise purposefully withheld video footage from the California DMV of its driverless vehicle dragging the hit-and-run victim to the side of the road. (The law firm concluded that the footage was inadvertently withheld.) The company issued a voluntary recall of all 950 Cruise vehicles last year to update the software and prevent similar incidents in the future.

Several top executives resigned, including co-founders Kyle Vogt and Dan Kan. And a quarter of the company’s staff was laid off. Several GM executives stepped in to right the ship, including general counsel Craig Glidden as Cruise’s co-president, alongside Mo Elshenawy, who will also become chief technology officer. Former Tesla president Jon McNeill, who’s been a board member at GM for several years, was named vice chair of the Cruise board alongside GM CEO Mary Barra.

Last year, GM’s Jacobson told investors that the automaker would reduce its spending on Cruise by “hundreds of millions” of dollars. But rather than completely cut ties with GM, like Ford and Volkswagen did with Argo AI, GM has said it remains committed to the struggling robotaxi company in the hopes that it will eventually see a return on its massive investment.

Meanwhile, Cruise has been slowly deploying more cars on the road, though still with human safety drivers behind the wheel. The latest city to host its vehicles is Houston, where the company says it will begin with human-driven vehicles. In the coming weeks, Cruise says it will transition to supervised autonomous driving with safety drivers ready to take over if needed. The company is also operating vehicles in Phoenix and Dallas.

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The newer second-gen Backbone One looks much like the original (pictured here). | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

Apple talked about big-budget games coming to the iPhone at its recent WWDC 2024 keynote, but if you choose to play upcoming titles like Resident Evil 7 on your phone, you might want something better than touch controls — something much better. Thankfully, the second-gen Backbone One controller is currently discounted to $79.99 during Backbone’s Father’s Day sale, saving you $20 on your model of choice through June 16th. You can pick from the standard ABXY button layout with a USB-C port (Amazon / Best Buy / Backbone), the same style with the older iPhone Lightning connector (Amazon / Backbone), a white PlayStation layout with USB-C (Amazon / Best Buy / Backbone), or the PlayStation Edition with Lightning (Amazon / Backbone).

The second-gen Backbone One makes some iterative improvements on the original model we liked so much. It can now accommodate more phone sizes, even with some cases left on, and the D-pad and face buttons have stepped up build quality. But many of the excellent features that made the original so good are still here, like passthrough charging, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and not having to fuss with any wireless Bluetooth connections.
In addition to playing games directly on your phone, the Backbone also works great for cloud streaming or in-home remote play off of a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X / S console — allowing you to relinquish the TV to the rest of the family while still squeezing in a game session.

A few more game and non-game deals for you today

Some of the Nintendo Switch’s best-of games are on sale at Best Buy for their usual best-of prices. This includes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Super Mario Odyssey, each at $39.99 ($20 off), and Kirby and the Forgotten Land for $44.99 ($15 off). It’s wild to think some of these games are over seven years old, but each is still worth getting around to if you’ve been ignoring them all this time. I’m crossing my fingers so hard that next year’s Switch successor will be backward compatible with all of them.
The Ultimate Ears Megaboom 3 in blue, black, and purple are all selling for around $147 (about $53 off) at Amazon. The roughly nine-inch-tall Bluetooth speaker has a 20-hour battery life and some boomy bass (if you like that sort of thing). It’s great for pool parties and summer beach trips since it’s waterproof and even floats. Just don’t forget to pack a Micro USB charger on longer trips because this speaker originally came out in 2018 and still has the annoying old port.

One of our favorite reading lights, the Glocusent book light, is selling for $17.99 ($15 off) at Amazon. The flexible light hangs around your neck and has three color temperature settings for adapting to the ambient lighting even at night and six brightness levels. Plus, it recharges via USB-C when its claimed 80 hours of battery life have depleted.

The newer second-gen Backbone One looks much like the original (pictured here). | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

Apple talked about big-budget games coming to the iPhone at its recent WWDC 2024 keynote, but if you choose to play upcoming titles like Resident Evil 7 on your phone, you might want something better than touch controls — something much better. Thankfully, the second-gen Backbone One controller is currently discounted to $79.99 during Backbone’s Father’s Day sale, saving you $20 on your model of choice through June 16th. You can pick from the standard ABXY button layout with a USB-C port (Amazon / Best Buy / Backbone), the same style with the older iPhone Lightning connector (Amazon / Backbone), a white PlayStation layout with USB-C (Amazon / Best Buy / Backbone), or the PlayStation Edition with Lightning (Amazon / Backbone).

The second-gen Backbone One makes some iterative improvements on the original model we liked so much. It can now accommodate more phone sizes, even with some cases left on, and the D-pad and face buttons have stepped up build quality. But many of the excellent features that made the original so good are still here, like passthrough charging, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and not having to fuss with any wireless Bluetooth connections.

In addition to playing games directly on your phone, the Backbone also works great for cloud streaming or in-home remote play off of a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X / S console — allowing you to relinquish the TV to the rest of the family while still squeezing in a game session.

A few more game and non-game deals for you today

Some of the Nintendo Switch’s best-of games are on sale at Best Buy for their usual best-of prices. This includes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Super Mario Odyssey, each at $39.99 ($20 off), and Kirby and the Forgotten Land for $44.99 ($15 off). It’s wild to think some of these games are over seven years old, but each is still worth getting around to if you’ve been ignoring them all this time. I’m crossing my fingers so hard that next year’s Switch successor will be backward compatible with all of them.
The Ultimate Ears Megaboom 3 in blue, black, and purple are all selling for around $147 (about $53 off) at Amazon. The roughly nine-inch-tall Bluetooth speaker has a 20-hour battery life and some boomy bass (if you like that sort of thing). It’s great for pool parties and summer beach trips since it’s waterproof and even floats. Just don’t forget to pack a Micro USB charger on longer trips because this speaker originally came out in 2018 and still has the annoying old port.

One of our favorite reading lights, the Glocusent book light, is selling for $17.99 ($15 off) at Amazon. The flexible light hangs around your neck and has three color temperature settings for adapting to the ambient lighting even at night and six brightness levels. Plus, it recharges via USB-C when its claimed 80 hours of battery life have depleted.

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Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge

Late last year, seven automakers — BMW, Honda, General Motors, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis — announced plans for a joint venture to build easy-to-access public DC fast charging infrastructure in the US and Canada.
The resulting company, Ionna, announced today that its headquarters will be in Durham, North Carolina and feature what the company is calling a “Quarterback Lab,” designed to help each participating car company address charging issues following software updates, tackle customer issues closer to the source, and offer interoperability testing. It was a sign that the new venture was thinking critically about how to fix EV charging in the US.
The company also hinted at adding “new partners” to the Ionna consortium
The company also hinted at adding “new partners” to the Ionna consortium, but it’s unclear whether those will be additional automakers, local and state governments, utilities, or retail partners as the company builds out its offerings
There will be a total of seven of these labs all around the country, and Ionna plans to have a few DC fast chargers up and running by the end of 2024, with additional plans for more than 30,000 chargers in dense urban areas, along highway corridors, and along “vacation routes,” according to the company.
The company has promised to bring 203 jobs to the Durham area as part of the $10.1 million dollar investment. The site beat out a location in Texas.
A new model for charging
The leadership at Ionna says it’s rethinking the way that it tackles public fast charging, with a tighter focus on customer and driver needs. After all, charging has now become part of the product experience and one that is in dire need of attention from the automakers.
Ionna says it sees the process of electrification in four stages. The first was when the first EVs, like the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt, hit the market in the early aughts. The second was when companies like Tesla and EVGo began building out charging networks, both closed and open. The third, interestingly enough, they see as post-covid when automakers reported a softening of demand for EVs, and early adopters began to have issues with the reliability of the public charging infrastructure. IONNA says we’re currently in the fourth stage, where a robust network of chargers and amenities is necessary in order to fully electrify transportation.
That network will feature things like retail offerings, food, restrooms, and covered charging for EVs, an experience that will make charging more analogous to what most Americans are used to at more than 100,000 gas stations across the country.
A team from inside the industry and out
Ionna has spun up a team relatively quickly, and most employees, including the top brass, started just a few months ago. Most of the top leadership has a background in EV charging, automotive, and energy and infrastructure, and the company says it’s looking both inside and out for talent.
Ionna CEO Seth Cutler is no stranger to the EV charging industry
Ionna CEO Seth Cutler is no stranger to the EV charging industry. He started his career at GE Energy, where he worked on EV charging infrastructure during the days when the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt were the only electrified vehicles on the market. From there, he joined Electrify America, where he held the title of chief engineer and worked on product development and deployment of EA’s ultra-fast DC charging stations. He then joined EV Connect, where he was COO, and in February of this year, he became CEO at IONNA.
Chief product officer Ricardo Stamatti hails from the OEM side of the industry and is a founding member of Ionna. Prior to joining the company, he spent 10 years working through the layers of business units at Stellantis and spent a year as SVP and global head of Stellantis Energy. Other members of the C-suite include former BP CFO Derek Rush and Shankar Muthukumar, who comes from Mortenson, a builder, developer and provider of energy and engineering services.
Public funding and politics
When it first launched, Ionna said it would leverage federal funding to build out the network. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 allocated $7.5 billion for EV charging, $5 billion of which for building a “backbone” of high-speed chargers along America’s major roads and interstates through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program.
But NEVI has come under political fire recently, as only seven chargers have been deployed nationwide. NEVI funds are administered by the states, and critics point to that as one of the many factors delaying the rollout. Plans for Ionna to leverage NEVI funds have changed slightly, according to the company.
NEVI has come under political fire recently
The billions of federal dollars available through the NEVI program “will eventually find their way into charge points on the ground,” Stamatti told The Verge via email. “We are confident the process will adjust accordingly and be helped by the improved quality of new grant seekers stepping in like Ionna. Ionna will be there when that happens, still deploying to that 30K+ goal, but we are also fully funded to go ahead and deploy now without having to depend on NEVI.”
While Ionna leadership says it’s not concerned about the potential for upheaval in the November elections that could put a significant damper on EV adoption and infrastructure, the company is keeping a close eye on things. It says it’s fully committed to the future of EV adoption and building out infrastructure that offers amenities that EV drivers want, alongside a robust fast charging network that meets customers where they need it most.

Image: Hugo Herrera / The Verge

Late last year, seven automakers — BMW, Honda, General Motors, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis — announced plans for a joint venture to build easy-to-access public DC fast charging infrastructure in the US and Canada.

The resulting company, Ionna, announced today that its headquarters will be in Durham, North Carolina and feature what the company is calling a “Quarterback Lab,” designed to help each participating car company address charging issues following software updates, tackle customer issues closer to the source, and offer interoperability testing. It was a sign that the new venture was thinking critically about how to fix EV charging in the US.

The company also hinted at adding “new partners” to the Ionna consortium, but it’s unclear whether those will be additional automakers, local and state governments, utilities, or retail partners as the company builds out its offerings

There will be a total of seven of these labs all around the country, and Ionna plans to have a few DC fast chargers up and running by the end of 2024, with additional plans for more than 30,000 chargers in dense urban areas, along highway corridors, and along “vacation routes,” according to the company.

The company has promised to bring 203 jobs to the Durham area as part of the $10.1 million dollar investment. The site beat out a location in Texas.

A new model for charging

The leadership at Ionna says it’s rethinking the way that it tackles public fast charging, with a tighter focus on customer and driver needs. After all, charging has now become part of the product experience and one that is in dire need of attention from the automakers.

Ionna says it sees the process of electrification in four stages. The first was when the first EVs, like the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt, hit the market in the early aughts. The second was when companies like Tesla and EVGo began building out charging networks, both closed and open. The third, interestingly enough, they see as post-covid when automakers reported a softening of demand for EVs, and early adopters began to have issues with the reliability of the public charging infrastructure. IONNA says we’re currently in the fourth stage, where a robust network of chargers and amenities is necessary in order to fully electrify transportation.

That network will feature things like retail offerings, food, restrooms, and covered charging for EVs, an experience that will make charging more analogous to what most Americans are used to at more than 100,000 gas stations across the country.

A team from inside the industry and out

Ionna has spun up a team relatively quickly, and most employees, including the top brass, started just a few months ago. Most of the top leadership has a background in EV charging, automotive, and energy and infrastructure, and the company says it’s looking both inside and out for talent.

Ionna CEO Seth Cutler is no stranger to the EV charging industry. He started his career at GE Energy, where he worked on EV charging infrastructure during the days when the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt were the only electrified vehicles on the market. From there, he joined Electrify America, where he held the title of chief engineer and worked on product development and deployment of EA’s ultra-fast DC charging stations. He then joined EV Connect, where he was COO, and in February of this year, he became CEO at IONNA.

Chief product officer Ricardo Stamatti hails from the OEM side of the industry and is a founding member of Ionna. Prior to joining the company, he spent 10 years working through the layers of business units at Stellantis and spent a year as SVP and global head of Stellantis Energy. Other members of the C-suite include former BP CFO Derek Rush and Shankar Muthukumar, who comes from Mortenson, a builder, developer and provider of energy and engineering services.

Public funding and politics

When it first launched, Ionna said it would leverage federal funding to build out the network. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 allocated $7.5 billion for EV charging, $5 billion of which for building a “backbone” of high-speed chargers along America’s major roads and interstates through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program.

But NEVI has come under political fire recently, as only seven chargers have been deployed nationwide. NEVI funds are administered by the states, and critics point to that as one of the many factors delaying the rollout. Plans for Ionna to leverage NEVI funds have changed slightly, according to the company.

The billions of federal dollars available through the NEVI program “will eventually find their way into charge points on the ground,” Stamatti told The Verge via email. “We are confident the process will adjust accordingly and be helped by the improved quality of new grant seekers stepping in like Ionna. Ionna will be there when that happens, still deploying to that 30K+ goal, but we are also fully funded to go ahead and deploy now without having to depend on NEVI.”

While Ionna leadership says it’s not concerned about the potential for upheaval in the November elections that could put a significant damper on EV adoption and infrastructure, the company is keeping a close eye on things. It says it’s fully committed to the future of EV adoption and building out infrastructure that offers amenities that EV drivers want, alongside a robust fast charging network that meets customers where they need it most.

Read More 

Screenshot: Apple

Soon, you’ll be able to create you own emoji and generate custom images with new AI features on Apple devices. I hate to be the bearer of bad news (and I’m guilty of grossly overusing emoji myself) — but those images could have the biggest environmental impact of all of Apple’s new AI tools.
Generative AI is notoriously energy-hungry, which means it leads to a lot of planet heating greenhouse gas emissions. Image generation, in particular, is one of the worst offenders. The AI arms race has already started to grow some companies’ carbon footprints. Now, new fruit emoji varietals and sketches generated by AI are likely to add to the problem.
Image generation, in particular, is one of the worst offenders
Apple announced its new suite of AI features during WWDC 2024 yesterday under the banner “Apple Intelligence.” There are all sorts of ways Apple is injecting AI into everyday screen life, from sorting notifications and helping users write emails to making Siri smarter. Apple also launched a partnership with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to iOS, macOS, and iPadOS “later this year.” Its AI image features, Genmoji and Image Playground, are expected to come with iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to questions from The Verge about exactly how much energy it expects these new features to use or how this all jives with its climate goals. But each of those moves comes with energy and climate costs.
Data centers used to train and run AI models have an even more voracious appetite for electricity than other data centers used to send and store the world’s digital messages and cat photos. Research from AI firm Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University found that large image generation models used far more energy and created more than greenhouse gas pollution than others used to sort information or generate text. (The study didn’t include generative AI video models.) Creating a single image could use as much electricity as charging a smartphone to 50 percent capacity, it found. For comparison, a text generation model might use around 9 percent of a full smartphone charge for 1,000 inferences.

Imagine charging your cellphone after every couple of custom images you create in a text conversation, and you can see how the energy costs could add up quickly.
Apple managed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions last year after pushing its suppliers to use cleaner energy. The company has committed to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions for its products and supply chain by 2030. That gets harder to do if it starts burning through a lot more electricity fulfilling consumers’ prompts for AI-generated emoji and memes.

Screenshot: Apple

Soon, you’ll be able to create you own emoji and generate custom images with new AI features on Apple devices. I hate to be the bearer of bad news (and I’m guilty of grossly overusing emoji myself) — but those images could have the biggest environmental impact of all of Apple’s new AI tools.

Generative AI is notoriously energy-hungry, which means it leads to a lot of planet heating greenhouse gas emissions. Image generation, in particular, is one of the worst offenders. The AI arms race has already started to grow some companies’ carbon footprints. Now, new fruit emoji varietals and sketches generated by AI are likely to add to the problem.

Apple announced its new suite of AI features during WWDC 2024 yesterday under the banner “Apple Intelligence.” There are all sorts of ways Apple is injecting AI into everyday screen life, from sorting notifications and helping users write emails to making Siri smarter. Apple also launched a partnership with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to iOS, macOS, and iPadOS “later this year.” Its AI image features, Genmoji and Image Playground, are expected to come with iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.

Apple didn’t immediately respond to questions from The Verge about exactly how much energy it expects these new features to use or how this all jives with its climate goals. But each of those moves comes with energy and climate costs.

Data centers used to train and run AI models have an even more voracious appetite for electricity than other data centers used to send and store the world’s digital messages and cat photos. Research from AI firm Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University found that large image generation models used far more energy and created more than greenhouse gas pollution than others used to sort information or generate text. (The study didn’t include generative AI video models.) Creating a single image could use as much electricity as charging a smartphone to 50 percent capacity, it found. For comparison, a text generation model might use around 9 percent of a full smartphone charge for 1,000 inferences.

Imagine charging your cellphone after every couple of custom images you create in a text conversation, and you can see how the energy costs could add up quickly.

Apple managed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions last year after pushing its suppliers to use cleaner energy. The company has committed to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions for its products and supply chain by 2030. That gets harder to do if it starts burning through a lot more electricity fulfilling consumers’ prompts for AI-generated emoji and memes.

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Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Google’s latest feature drop for Pixel devices is a big one for people who want to run its AI tech on cheaper phones, folks who constantly misplace their phones, and photographers who want a little more control.
The latest update, which starts rolling out today, will make the mobile-ready Gemini Nano model that was already available to Pixel 8 Pro owners available as an option on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8A phones, too. Apple just announced a slew of new AI features for its platforms, but similar to Google’s initial announcement that it eventually walked back, Apple has restricted Apple Intelligence to people with the latest iPhone 15 Pro.

However, on those slightly lower-specced devices, you will have to go into the developer options to turn it on. In an interview on the Made by Google podcast, Google Devices & Services Software vice president Seang Chau described that toggle as a choice made to restrict it for people who understand the “potential impact to the user experience” of running an AI model on a device with less memory available to power features like Summarize in Recorder and Smart Reply.

Image: Google
Gemini Nano-created summary in the Recorder app.

If you’re using a Pixel 8 Pro or one of the other devices with the Gemini Nano enabled in developer settings, then you’ll also get access to “more detailed, downloadable summaries” of recorded conversations. Other features that are just for the Pixel 8 family in this set of updates include the availability of the Find My Device update that can locate your phone even when it’s off, or the battery is drained for “at least 23 hours” and support for Display Port output via the USB-C jack when you want to see your phone’s interface on a larger screen.

Image: Google

Image: Google

Some features are reaching older and cheaper Pixel phones, too, like a new shortcut in the call log that makes it easy to do a reverse phone number search and try to figure out who was calling in the first place. It will be available on the Pixel Fold, as well as on Pixel 6 and newer phones.
On Pixel 6 and newer devices and the Pixel Fold, there’s support for identifying the “best moment” in a photo in HDR Plus. However, you will need a pricier Pixel to take advantage of the ability to manually select which camera lens you want to use while taking a picture, which will apply to the Pixel Fold, as well as the Pro versions of the Pixel 6, 7, and 8 phones.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Google’s latest feature drop for Pixel devices is a big one for people who want to run its AI tech on cheaper phones, folks who constantly misplace their phones, and photographers who want a little more control.

The latest update, which starts rolling out today, will make the mobile-ready Gemini Nano model that was already available to Pixel 8 Pro owners available as an option on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8A phones, too. Apple just announced a slew of new AI features for its platforms, but similar to Google’s initial announcement that it eventually walked back, Apple has restricted Apple Intelligence to people with the latest iPhone 15 Pro.

However, on those slightly lower-specced devices, you will have to go into the developer options to turn it on. In an interview on the Made by Google podcast, Google Devices & Services Software vice president Seang Chau described that toggle as a choice made to restrict it for people who understand the “potential impact to the user experience” of running an AI model on a device with less memory available to power features like Summarize in Recorder and Smart Reply.

Image: Google
Gemini Nano-created summary in the Recorder app.

If you’re using a Pixel 8 Pro or one of the other devices with the Gemini Nano enabled in developer settings, then you’ll also get access to “more detailed, downloadable summaries” of recorded conversations. Other features that are just for the Pixel 8 family in this set of updates include the availability of the Find My Device update that can locate your phone even when it’s off, or the battery is drained for “at least 23 hours” and support for Display Port output via the USB-C jack when you want to see your phone’s interface on a larger screen.

Image: Google

Image: Google

Some features are reaching older and cheaper Pixel phones, too, like a new shortcut in the call log that makes it easy to do a reverse phone number search and try to figure out who was calling in the first place. It will be available on the Pixel Fold, as well as on Pixel 6 and newer phones.

On Pixel 6 and newer devices and the Pixel Fold, there’s support for identifying the “best moment” in a photo in HDR Plus. However, you will need a pricier Pixel to take advantage of the ability to manually select which camera lens you want to use while taking a picture, which will apply to the Pixel Fold, as well as the Pro versions of the Pixel 6, 7, and 8 phones.

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Car crash detection rolls out on the Pixel Watch 2 starting today. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Starting today, Google’s Pixel Watch lineup is getting some new and improved safety features. The Pixel Watch 2 will get car crash detection, while both Pixel Watches will get improved fall detection.
Car crash detection has been available on Pixel phones since 2019 and will work similarly on the Pixel Watch 2. Once the watch detects you’ve been in a severe car crash, the watch will check in to make sure you’re alright via an on-screen prompt. If you don’t respond, it’ll automatically call emergency services. Your emergency contacts will also be notified with your real-time location.
The Pixel Watch lineup has had fall detection for a while now, but today’s update is geared toward cyclists. Google didn’t get into much detail, but ostensibly, it’s tweaked the algorithm to better differentiate a hard fall while walking versus getting thrown from your bike.

Image: Google
Car crash detection is exclusive to the Pixel Watch 2.

Google is playing a bit of catch up here. Apple introduced fall detection for bikes with watchOS 8 in 2021 and crash detection on the Apple Watch Series 8 in 2022. That’s not a bad thing — the Pixel Watch didn’t launch until 2022. What’s more important is that, with these updates, Google is continuing to close the feature gap between the Apple Watch and Android smartwatches. Car crash detection, for example, is a feature we’ve yet to see on a Wear OS watch.
That said, these safety features have a few caveats. You have to have location enabled, LTE service, or an internet connection via your phone. Fall detection also isn’t available in every country just yet.
This month’s Pixel drop isn’t limited to safety features, however. Both Pixel Watches are also getting PayPal in Google Wallet. And as we reported earlier, all Wear OS 3 smartwatches will now get access to a revamped Google Home app that adds complications and Tiles.

Car crash detection rolls out on the Pixel Watch 2 starting today. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Starting today, Google’s Pixel Watch lineup is getting some new and improved safety features. The Pixel Watch 2 will get car crash detection, while both Pixel Watches will get improved fall detection.

Car crash detection has been available on Pixel phones since 2019 and will work similarly on the Pixel Watch 2. Once the watch detects you’ve been in a severe car crash, the watch will check in to make sure you’re alright via an on-screen prompt. If you don’t respond, it’ll automatically call emergency services. Your emergency contacts will also be notified with your real-time location.

The Pixel Watch lineup has had fall detection for a while now, but today’s update is geared toward cyclists. Google didn’t get into much detail, but ostensibly, it’s tweaked the algorithm to better differentiate a hard fall while walking versus getting thrown from your bike.

Image: Google
Car crash detection is exclusive to the Pixel Watch 2.

Google is playing a bit of catch up here. Apple introduced fall detection for bikes with watchOS 8 in 2021 and crash detection on the Apple Watch Series 8 in 2022. That’s not a bad thing — the Pixel Watch didn’t launch until 2022. What’s more important is that, with these updates, Google is continuing to close the feature gap between the Apple Watch and Android smartwatches. Car crash detection, for example, is a feature we’ve yet to see on a Wear OS watch.

That said, these safety features have a few caveats. You have to have location enabled, LTE service, or an internet connection via your phone. Fall detection also isn’t available in every country just yet.

This month’s Pixel drop isn’t limited to safety features, however. Both Pixel Watches are also getting PayPal in Google Wallet. And as we reported earlier, all Wear OS 3 smartwatches will now get access to a revamped Google Home app that adds complications and Tiles.

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Illustration: The Verge

Apple is rebranding Apple accounts from Apple ID to (the arguably more straightforward) Apple Account. “With the releases of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and watchOS 11, Apple ID is renamed to Apple Account for a consistent sign-in experience across Apple services and devices, and relies on a user’s existing credentials,” Apple wrote in a Tuesday post on its Newsroom.
The change doesn’t come as a total surprise, as it was rumored earlier this year. And even though Apple IDs have been around for a very long time, I’m personally fine with the change — “Apple Account” feels a lot clearer to me than “Apple ID.”
In its Tuesday post, Apple also detailed a few changes coming to other Apple services this fall. Apple Maps users can browse hikes in US national parks. You’ll be able to send and receive Apple Cash just by bringing two iPhones next to each other, meaning you can share money without swapping personal information like a phone number. And Fitness Plus is getting a redesign, including “For You” recommendations.

Illustration: The Verge

Apple is rebranding Apple accounts from Apple ID to (the arguably more straightforward) Apple Account. “With the releases of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and watchOS 11, Apple ID is renamed to Apple Account for a consistent sign-in experience across Apple services and devices, and relies on a user’s existing credentials,” Apple wrote in a Tuesday post on its Newsroom.

The change doesn’t come as a total surprise, as it was rumored earlier this year. And even though Apple IDs have been around for a very long time, I’m personally fine with the change — “Apple Account” feels a lot clearer to me than “Apple ID.”

In its Tuesday post, Apple also detailed a few changes coming to other Apple services this fall. Apple Maps users can browse hikes in US national parks. You’ll be able to send and receive Apple Cash just by bringing two iPhones next to each other, meaning you can share money without swapping personal information like a phone number. And Fitness Plus is getting a redesign, including “For You” recommendations.

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Some of the best features just got hints in the feature breakdown at the end. | Image: Apple

Apple mentioned a few new features coming to the Vision Pro during its WWDC 2024 keynote presentation on Monday, such as the ability to turn your 2D photos into 3D ones and support for using the headset on trains. But the company glossed right over some of the most sorely needed features that it’s adding to visionOS — and those quieter changes make for a much more exciting update.
After the update arrives this fall, you’ll be able to see a Magic Keyboard while you’re working in a virtual environment, use any Bluetooth mouse you want, and rearrange your homescreen icons — including putting iPad and iPhone apps where you want. These are all features that probably should have been there from the beginning, and they’ll improve the day-to-day experience of using the Vision Pro in meaningful ways.

Image: Apple
Fly, little keyboard, fly!

Apple says the Vision Pro will also start saving eye and hand setups for guest users for 30 days, too. It’s been nothing short of a pain to share a Vision Pro with anyone because each time you pop it in guest mode, that person has to go through setup all over again. That’s made it hard for me to get my partner to try out the headset. (I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s experienced that.) I’d rather be able to set up totally separate profiles, but this is at least a step in that direction.
Sports fans will be pleased to know that Apple is also adding five-screen multiview streaming in the Apple TV app, something the company added to its Apple TV streaming box last year. And you’ll be able to stream content via AirPlay to the Vision Pro from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac — which, depending on how well it works, could come in handy if you want to play a game in the Vision Pro that runs on a Mac but not on the headset.

GIF: Apple

Lastly, when you encounter a video on the web, you’ll be able to break it out into a free-floating video player — something Apple was bound to do since neither YouTube nor Netflix have built apps for the Vision Pro. Users may still prefer the dedicated third-party apps for the services, like Juno or Supercut, but being able to watch other online videos that way will be nice.
Those details all showed up somewhere in Apple’s press materials. But there’s even more in the release notes for the first visionOS 2 developer beta (which, by the way, is now available). Here’s a brief list of additional features it notes are on the way:

Placing app windows farther away than before.
Volumetric windows — which let you view an app’s content from all sides — will tilt to face you so you can use them while lying down (though developers can opt out of this if they want). You’ll also be able to resize them.
The ability to offload virtual environments — their icons will still be there, but if you’re sick of Mt. Hood, it doesn’t have to take up space anymore.
While watching full-screen videos in a virtual environment, you’ll be able to lie down and recenter them above you.

Apple may not have hit my entire wishlist during its WWDC keynote, but I was startled by how specifically it’s addressing things I want out of visionOS, like the ability to call up the homescreen with a single gesture. And to be fair, it really did highlight one big crowd-pleaser yesterday: a giant widescreen virtual display that wraps around your head. As a staunch three-monitor user, I couldn’t be more pleased with that news.

Some of the best features just got hints in the feature breakdown at the end. | Image: Apple

Apple mentioned a few new features coming to the Vision Pro during its WWDC 2024 keynote presentation on Monday, such as the ability to turn your 2D photos into 3D ones and support for using the headset on trains. But the company glossed right over some of the most sorely needed features that it’s adding to visionOS — and those quieter changes make for a much more exciting update.

After the update arrives this fall, you’ll be able to see a Magic Keyboard while you’re working in a virtual environment, use any Bluetooth mouse you want, and rearrange your homescreen icons — including putting iPad and iPhone apps where you want. These are all features that probably should have been there from the beginning, and they’ll improve the day-to-day experience of using the Vision Pro in meaningful ways.

Image: Apple
Fly, little keyboard, fly!

Apple says the Vision Pro will also start saving eye and hand setups for guest users for 30 days, too. It’s been nothing short of a pain to share a Vision Pro with anyone because each time you pop it in guest mode, that person has to go through setup all over again. That’s made it hard for me to get my partner to try out the headset. (I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s experienced that.) I’d rather be able to set up totally separate profiles, but this is at least a step in that direction.

Sports fans will be pleased to know that Apple is also adding five-screen multiview streaming in the Apple TV app, something the company added to its Apple TV streaming box last year. And you’ll be able to stream content via AirPlay to the Vision Pro from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac — which, depending on how well it works, could come in handy if you want to play a game in the Vision Pro that runs on a Mac but not on the headset.

GIF: Apple

Lastly, when you encounter a video on the web, you’ll be able to break it out into a free-floating video player — something Apple was bound to do since neither YouTube nor Netflix have built apps for the Vision Pro. Users may still prefer the dedicated third-party apps for the services, like Juno or Supercut, but being able to watch other online videos that way will be nice.

Those details all showed up somewhere in Apple’s press materials. But there’s even more in the release notes for the first visionOS 2 developer beta (which, by the way, is now available). Here’s a brief list of additional features it notes are on the way:

Placing app windows farther away than before.
Volumetric windows — which let you view an app’s content from all sides — will tilt to face you so you can use them while lying down (though developers can opt out of this if they want). You’ll also be able to resize them.
The ability to offload virtual environments — their icons will still be there, but if you’re sick of Mt. Hood, it doesn’t have to take up space anymore.
While watching full-screen videos in a virtual environment, you’ll be able to lie down and recenter them above you.

Apple may not have hit my entire wishlist during its WWDC keynote, but I was startled by how specifically it’s addressing things I want out of visionOS, like the ability to call up the homescreen with a single gesture. And to be fair, it really did highlight one big crowd-pleaser yesterday: a giant widescreen virtual display that wraps around your head. As a staunch three-monitor user, I couldn’t be more pleased with that news.

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Image: Netflix

After showing us a couple of brief teasers, Netflix has finally dropped a full trailer for the second and last season of Arcane. According to Netflix, the final chapter of the League of Legends adaptation sets up a “dire escalation” between the cities of Piltover and Zaun — and sisters Vi and Jinx.
Just because this is the final season, it doesn’t mean we won’t see any more League of Legends adaptations going forward. In a League Dev Update posted on Tuesday, the Arcane team says this is only the “first of many stories they will tell in Runeterra.”
“Arcane is just the beginning of our larger storytelling journey and partnership with the wonderful animation studio that is Fortiche,” Arcane producer Christian Linke says in a statement. “From the very beginning, since we started working on this project, we had a very specific ending in mind, which means the story of Arcane wraps up with this second season.”
The Arcane team says it’s currently working on new projects in both TV and film and that we can expect to hear an update by the end of this year. Arcane’s second season still doesn’t have an exact release date, but Netflix says it will arrive in November 2024.
The League of Legends adaptation made its debut on Netflix in 2021 in collaboration with developer Riot Games. It has won several awards and even became the first streaming series to win an Emmy for an outstanding animated program. The first season follows League champions Jinx and Vi — two sisters torn apart by a class conflict.

Image: Netflix

After showing us a couple of brief teasers, Netflix has finally dropped a full trailer for the second and last season of Arcane. According to Netflix, the final chapter of the League of Legends adaptation sets up a “dire escalation” between the cities of Piltover and Zaun — and sisters Vi and Jinx.

Just because this is the final season, it doesn’t mean we won’t see any more League of Legends adaptations going forward. In a League Dev Update posted on Tuesday, the Arcane team says this is only the “first of many stories they will tell in Runeterra.”

“Arcane is just the beginning of our larger storytelling journey and partnership with the wonderful animation studio that is Fortiche,” Arcane producer Christian Linke says in a statement. “From the very beginning, since we started working on this project, we had a very specific ending in mind, which means the story of Arcane wraps up with this second season.”

The Arcane team says it’s currently working on new projects in both TV and film and that we can expect to hear an update by the end of this year. Arcane’s second season still doesn’t have an exact release date, but Netflix says it will arrive in November 2024.

The League of Legends adaptation made its debut on Netflix in 2021 in collaboration with developer Riot Games. It has won several awards and even became the first streaming series to win an Emmy for an outstanding animated program. The first season follows League champions Jinx and Vi — two sisters torn apart by a class conflict.

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Image: BioWare

It has a new name and now a first gameplay trailer: here’s your first proper look at Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The clip was released as the final portion of Summer Game Fest and followed an announcement from BioWare that the next Dragon Age would no longer be called Dreadwolf. The studio says that the footage shown here, which includes around 15 minutes of actual gameplay, takes place during the “opening moments of the game,” and has been edited somewhat to avoid spoilers. It shows off some of the combat, conversations, and a handful of cutscenes.
Earlier during Summer Game Fest, the developer released a short trailer at the Xbox Games Showcase, which showed off a few of the new characters in the fantasy RPG:

It’s been a long time coming for Dragon Age fans. The next game in the series was first teased way back in 2018, and after some reassurances that everything was fine, it was eventually given the title Dreadwolf in 2022. A very brief teaser trailer came out last December.
It looks like the wait is almost over, though, as BioWare says The Veilguard will be launching this fall on Xbox, PC, and PlayStation. For more on the game, be sure to check out our interview with game director Corinne Busche.

Image: BioWare

It has a new name and now a first gameplay trailer: here’s your first proper look at Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The clip was released as the final portion of Summer Game Fest and followed an announcement from BioWare that the next Dragon Age would no longer be called Dreadwolf. The studio says that the footage shown here, which includes around 15 minutes of actual gameplay, takes place during the “opening moments of the game,” and has been edited somewhat to avoid spoilers. It shows off some of the combat, conversations, and a handful of cutscenes.

Earlier during Summer Game Fest, the developer released a short trailer at the Xbox Games Showcase, which showed off a few of the new characters in the fantasy RPG:

It’s been a long time coming for Dragon Age fans. The next game in the series was first teased way back in 2018, and after some reassurances that everything was fine, it was eventually given the title Dreadwolf in 2022. A very brief teaser trailer came out last December.

It looks like the wait is almost over, though, as BioWare says The Veilguard will be launching this fall on Xbox, PC, and PlayStation. For more on the game, be sure to check out our interview with game director Corinne Busche.

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