verge-rss

Illustration: Beatrice Sala

Someone going by the name “ShinyHunters” has been advertising a 1.3TB cache of data allegedly containing personal data (names, email/home addresses, and phone numbers), credit card details, and other information about 560 million Ticketmaster customers for $500,000 in hacking forums all week.
Now, Ticketmaster parent Live Nation — the company that upset an army of Taylor Swift fans and is facing a federal antitrust lawsuit — publicly acknowledged a data breach in a regulatory filing late Friday evening.

On May 20, 2024, Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (the “Company” or “we”) identified unauthorized activity within a third-party cloud database environment containing Company data (primarily from its Ticketmaster L.L.C. subsidiary) and launched an investigation with industry-leading forensic investigators to understand what happened. On May 27, 2024, a criminal threat actor offered what it alleged to be Company user data for sale via the dark web. We are working to mitigate risk to our users and the Company, and have notified and are cooperating with law enforcement. As appropriate, we are also notifying regulatory authorities and users with respect to unauthorized access to personal information.
As of the date of this filing, the incident has not had, and we do not believe it is reasonably likely to have, a material impact on our overall business operations or on our financial condition or results of operations. We continue to evaluate the risks and our remediation efforts are ongoing.

The only official statement we’ve seen until now has been from the Australian Department of Home Affairs, which confirmed it was working with the company to understand a cybersecurity incident. As noted above, it says it became aware of unauthorized activity on May 20th — it’s now May 31st. Live Nation has not responded to requests for comment from The Verge.
Live Nation didn’t provide specific details about the breach, how many people are affected, or what it’s doing, but a report by the security firm Hudson Rock claims bad actors breached their Snowflake cloud storage account, as well as those of other companies.
However, Live Nation investors can perhaps feel comforted by executives saying they don’t believe this breach will have a material impact on its overall business, which makes sense if you believe the Department of Justice’s monopoly allegations. With the Live Nation-Ticketmaster conglomerate controlling more than 60 of the top 100 US amphitheaters, where else are people going to go?

Illustration: Beatrice Sala

Someone going by the name “ShinyHunters” has been advertising a 1.3TB cache of data allegedly containing personal data (names, email/home addresses, and phone numbers), credit card details, and other information about 560 million Ticketmaster customers for $500,000 in hacking forums all week.

Now, Ticketmaster parent Live Nation — the company that upset an army of Taylor Swift fans and is facing a federal antitrust lawsuit — publicly acknowledged a data breach in a regulatory filing late Friday evening.

On May 20, 2024, Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (the “Company” or “we”) identified unauthorized activity within a third-party cloud database environment containing Company data (primarily from its Ticketmaster L.L.C. subsidiary) and launched an investigation with industry-leading forensic investigators to understand what happened. On May 27, 2024, a criminal threat actor offered what it alleged to be Company user data for sale via the dark web. We are working to mitigate risk to our users and the Company, and have notified and are cooperating with law enforcement. As appropriate, we are also notifying regulatory authorities and users with respect to unauthorized access to personal information.

As of the date of this filing, the incident has not had, and we do not believe it is reasonably likely to have, a material impact on our overall business operations or on our financial condition or results of operations. We continue to evaluate the risks and our remediation efforts are ongoing.

The only official statement we’ve seen until now has been from the Australian Department of Home Affairs, which confirmed it was working with the company to understand a cybersecurity incident. As noted above, it says it became aware of unauthorized activity on May 20th — it’s now May 31st. Live Nation has not responded to requests for comment from The Verge.

Live Nation didn’t provide specific details about the breach, how many people are affected, or what it’s doing, but a report by the security firm Hudson Rock claims bad actors breached their Snowflake cloud storage account, as well as those of other companies.

However, Live Nation investors can perhaps feel comforted by executives saying they don’t believe this breach will have a material impact on its overall business, which makes sense if you believe the Department of Justice’s monopoly allegations. With the Live Nation-Ticketmaster conglomerate controlling more than 60 of the top 100 US amphitheaters, where else are people going to go?

Read More 

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Starting in July, you won’t be able to add items to lists on third-party apps like Todoist and AnyList with Alexa voice control through their existing Skills. A post on Amazon’s developer site says it’s shutting down access to Alexa Shopping and To-Do lists on July 1st.

List Skills and Alexa Shopping and To-Do Lists
Starting July 1, 2024, you will no longer be able to use List skills or the List Management REST API to access Alexa lists, i.e., the Alexa Shopping and To-Do lists, in your skills or apps. For other ways to build custom voice experiences, see Steps to Build a Custom Skill. Please contact us if you have any questions.

What this means is that unless developers choose to develop a new custom skill, their Alexa integrations will stop working, and you’ll have to rely on the Alexa app’s built-in list feature to use voice to add milk to your grocery list or put “take out the trash” on your to-do list.
Today, if you enable their Alexa Skills, third-party apps can sync with lists in the Alexa app and show that data in their app. I personally use this feature to add items to my shopping list in AnyList. But, as of July 1st, they’ll lose this ability and you’ll either need to use the Alexa app’s lists or hope the developer of your favorite list app builds a custom voice skill to manage lists in its apps.

Amazon told The Verge that developers can still integrate Alexa voice control of lists into their apps, they just can’t have access to Alexa lists anymore. “We are making some changes to the way that developers build lists,” said Sarah Zonouzi of Amazon PR. “Developers can integrate our custom voice interaction model into their skill to enable voice control and management of lists.”
She said this offers similar features to the existing options, with the main difference being the customer will be directly managing third-party lists with voice, not Alexa lists.
However, Todoist tells The Verge it is not planning to develop a new custom skill. “We’ve made the difficult decision to sunset our Alexa integration by July 1, 2024,” said Omar Samuels.
He said they don’t currently have plans to work on a replacement due to the short notice of the shutdown and the resources required. However, he did say “We will be reviewing what possibilities exist to fill any resulting gaps in the future.” I also reached out to AnyList and will update this post if I hear back,

Interestingly — a pop up in the shopping list section of the Alexa app says the company is also discontinuing its Alexa Shopping List Deals feature on July 10th, 2024. This is a program that connects you with deals on Amazon, Whole Foods, and other sources for items on your shopping list.
A shopping list feature is a clear monetization opportunity, so it’s likely Amazon is regrouping here. My guess is we may see a whole new shopping list experience coming to Alexa.
There are going to be a lot of annoyed Alexa users.
In the meantime, there are going to be a lot of annoyed Alexa users. Adding items to lists is one of the most popular uses for voice assistants, along with playing music, setting timers, and asking what time it is.
I find a dedicated list app like AnyList and Todoist much easier to use while pushing a grocery cart than the Alexa app’s list. While it has improved over time — you can now pin the shopping list to the Favorites section in the app, and there’s a homescreen widget — it’s just not as user-friendly as a dedicated list app.
Then there’s the fact that most third-party list apps have multiple ways of adding items to lists — including desktop apps and support for other voice assistants. That’s helpful if you’re in a multi-ecosystem household.
However, Google has also shut down its Google Home voice command integrations with list apps, breaking connections for AnyList and Any.Do users. Both these apps now only work with Apple’s Siri on an iPhone. Todoist, which also works with Siri, does support Google Assistant, but only on Android phones. As a result, it’s getting harder and harder to find a list app that works with more than one voice assistant, and across more than one family of devices.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Starting in July, you won’t be able to add items to lists on third-party apps like Todoist and AnyList with Alexa voice control through their existing Skills. A post on Amazon’s developer site says it’s shutting down access to Alexa Shopping and To-Do lists on July 1st.

List Skills and Alexa Shopping and To-Do Lists

Starting July 1, 2024, you will no longer be able to use List skills or the List Management REST API to access Alexa lists, i.e., the Alexa Shopping and To-Do lists, in your skills or apps. For other ways to build custom voice experiences, see Steps to Build a Custom Skill. Please contact us if you have any questions.

What this means is that unless developers choose to develop a new custom skill, their Alexa integrations will stop working, and you’ll have to rely on the Alexa app’s built-in list feature to use voice to add milk to your grocery list or put “take out the trash” on your to-do list.

Today, if you enable their Alexa Skills, third-party apps can sync with lists in the Alexa app and show that data in their app. I personally use this feature to add items to my shopping list in AnyList. But, as of July 1st, they’ll lose this ability and you’ll either need to use the Alexa app’s lists or hope the developer of your favorite list app builds a custom voice skill to manage lists in its apps.

Amazon told The Verge that developers can still integrate Alexa voice control of lists into their apps, they just can’t have access to Alexa lists anymore. “We are making some changes to the way that developers build lists,” said Sarah Zonouzi of Amazon PR. “Developers can integrate our custom voice interaction model into their skill to enable voice control and management of lists.”

She said this offers similar features to the existing options, with the main difference being the customer will be directly managing third-party lists with voice, not Alexa lists.

However, Todoist tells The Verge it is not planning to develop a new custom skill. “We’ve made the difficult decision to sunset our Alexa integration by July 1, 2024,” said Omar Samuels.

He said they don’t currently have plans to work on a replacement due to the short notice of the shutdown and the resources required. However, he did say “We will be reviewing what possibilities exist to fill any resulting gaps in the future.” I also reached out to AnyList and will update this post if I hear back,

Interestingly — a pop up in the shopping list section of the Alexa app says the company is also discontinuing its Alexa Shopping List Deals feature on July 10th, 2024. This is a program that connects you with deals on Amazon, Whole Foods, and other sources for items on your shopping list.

A shopping list feature is a clear monetization opportunity, so it’s likely Amazon is regrouping here. My guess is we may see a whole new shopping list experience coming to Alexa.

In the meantime, there are going to be a lot of annoyed Alexa users. Adding items to lists is one of the most popular uses for voice assistants, along with playing music, setting timers, and asking what time it is.

I find a dedicated list app like AnyList and Todoist much easier to use while pushing a grocery cart than the Alexa app’s list. While it has improved over time — you can now pin the shopping list to the Favorites section in the app, and there’s a homescreen widget — it’s just not as user-friendly as a dedicated list app.

Then there’s the fact that most third-party list apps have multiple ways of adding items to lists — including desktop apps and support for other voice assistants. That’s helpful if you’re in a multi-ecosystem household.

However, Google has also shut down its Google Home voice command integrations with list apps, breaking connections for AnyList and Any.Do users. Both these apps now only work with Apple’s Siri on an iPhone. Todoist, which also works with Siri, does support Google Assistant, but only on Android phones. As a result, it’s getting harder and harder to find a list app that works with more than one voice assistant, and across more than one family of devices.

Read More 

Mike Tyson, Nakisa Bidarian, and Jake Paul pose onstage during a press conference on May 16th, 2024 | Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images for Netflix

Netflix is increasingly getting into live events, with comedy specials, NFL games, and even the WWE, but live action means unpredictability, and today, the streamer announced that a planned July 20th boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson is being rescheduled. While Tyson recovers from an ulcer flare-up that required medical attention during a recent flight, he has been advised to do “minimal to light training” over the next few weeks.
Due to the interrupted training schedule for the officially sanctioned fight — Tyson’s first since 2005 —they’re now planning on a date later this year, which Netflix said will be announced by the end of next week.

“My body is in better overall shape than it has been since the 1990s and I will be back to my full training schedule soon. Jake Paul, this may have bought you some time, but in the end you will still be knocked out and out of boxing for good. I appreciate everyone’s patience and can’t wait to deliver an unforgettable performance later this year,” said Mike Tyson in a statement.
His rival, the YouTuber-turned-boxer, said, “My fans know I don’t want to face Iron Mike at anything but his best, but let there be no mistake — when he steps into the ring with me, I will be ready to claim my W with a sensational finish. Paul vs. Tyson will be one for the ages, and I promise to bring my best for this once-in-a-lifetime matchup.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Most Valuable Promotions (@mostvaluablepromotions)

Mike Tyson, Nakisa Bidarian, and Jake Paul pose onstage during a press conference on May 16th, 2024 | Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images for Netflix

Netflix is increasingly getting into live events, with comedy specials, NFL games, and even the WWE, but live action means unpredictability, and today, the streamer announced that a planned July 20th boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson is being rescheduled. While Tyson recovers from an ulcer flare-up that required medical attention during a recent flight, he has been advised to do “minimal to light training” over the next few weeks.

Due to the interrupted training schedule for the officially sanctioned fight — Tyson’s first since 2005 —they’re now planning on a date later this year, which Netflix said will be announced by the end of next week.

“My body is in better overall shape than it has been since the 1990s and I will be back to my full training schedule soon. Jake Paul, this may have bought you some time, but in the end you will still be knocked out and out of boxing for good. I appreciate everyone’s patience and can’t wait to deliver an unforgettable performance later this year,” said Mike Tyson in a statement.

His rival, the YouTuber-turned-boxer, said, “My fans know I don’t want to face Iron Mike at anything but his best, but let there be no mistake — when he steps into the ring with me, I will be ready to claim my W with a sensational finish. Paul vs. Tyson will be one for the ages, and I promise to bring my best for this once-in-a-lifetime matchup.”

Read More 

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

An alleged data breach potentially affecting as many as 560 million Ticketmaster accounts and a confirmed one for Santander Bank may have stemmed from attacks on the cloud storage accounts with a company called Snowflake. As spotted by Bleeping Computer, an investigation from cybersecurity firm Hudson Rock reports that a bad actor gained access to Ticketmaster and Santander by using the stolen credentials of a single Snowflake employee.
According to Hudson Rock, the hacker bypassed the authentication service Okta using these credentials and then generated session tokens to obtain a trove of information from Snowflake. In addition to Ticketmaster and Santander Bank, Hudson Rock suggests the hacker may have gained access to hundreds of other Snowflake customers. A few of the major brands that use the cloud storage service include AT&T, HP, Instacart, DoorDash, NBCUniversal, and Mastercard.

Today we spoke with multiple individuals privy to and involved in the alleged TicketMaster breach.Sometime in April an unidentified Threat Group was able to get access to TicketMaster AWS instances by pivoting from a Managed Service Provider. The TicketMaster breach was not…— vx-underground (@vxunderground) May 30, 2024

The threat actor involved appears to be a hacking group called ShinyHunters, which attempted to sell Ticketmaster’s data on the dark web for $500,000, according to Bleeping Computer. ShinyHunters also claimed responsibility for the Santander breach and put information said to belong to over 30 million customers up for sale.
Snowflake has seemingly disputed Hudson Rock’s findings in its most recent response, saying that while investigating “potentially unauthorized access to certain customer accounts,” it “observed increased threat activity beginning mid-April 2024 from a subset of IP addresses and suspicious clients we believe are related to unauthorized access.”
More details on those findings are available here, but the company says that while a bad actor accessed a “demo account” belonging to a former employee, it didn’t contain sensitive information. It claims that “To date, we do not believe this activity is caused by any vulnerability, misconfiguration, or malicious activity within the Snowflake product.”
Ticketmaster still has yet to confirm any breach, but malware tracker vx-underground says it can assert “with a high degree of confidence” that the leaked data is legitimate. It notes that some of the leaked information dates back to the mid-2000s and includes full names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, hashed credit card numbers, and more.
Earlier this month, Santander published a statement to confirm that “certain information” of customers in Chile, Spain, and Uruguay had been accessed. The Verge reached out to Ticketmaster and Santander with requests for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

An alleged data breach potentially affecting as many as 560 million Ticketmaster accounts and a confirmed one for Santander Bank may have stemmed from attacks on the cloud storage accounts with a company called Snowflake. As spotted by Bleeping Computer, an investigation from cybersecurity firm Hudson Rock reports that a bad actor gained access to Ticketmaster and Santander by using the stolen credentials of a single Snowflake employee.

According to Hudson Rock, the hacker bypassed the authentication service Okta using these credentials and then generated session tokens to obtain a trove of information from Snowflake. In addition to Ticketmaster and Santander Bank, Hudson Rock suggests the hacker may have gained access to hundreds of other Snowflake customers. A few of the major brands that use the cloud storage service include AT&T, HP, Instacart, DoorDash, NBCUniversal, and Mastercard.

The threat actor involved appears to be a hacking group called ShinyHunters, which attempted to sell Ticketmaster’s data on the dark web for $500,000, according to Bleeping Computer. ShinyHunters also claimed responsibility for the Santander breach and put information said to belong to over 30 million customers up for sale.

Snowflake has seemingly disputed Hudson Rock’s findings in its most recent response, saying that while investigating “potentially unauthorized access to certain customer accounts,” it “observed increased threat activity beginning mid-April 2024 from a subset of IP addresses and suspicious clients we believe are related to unauthorized access.”

More details on those findings are available here, but the company says that while a bad actor accessed a “demo account” belonging to a former employee, it didn’t contain sensitive information. It claims that “To date, we do not believe this activity is caused by any vulnerability, misconfiguration, or malicious activity within the Snowflake product.”

Ticketmaster still has yet to confirm any breach, but malware tracker vx-underground says it can assert “with a high degree of confidence” that the leaked data is legitimate. It notes that some of the leaked information dates back to the mid-2000s and includes full names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, hashed credit card numbers, and more.

Earlier this month, Santander published a statement to confirm that “certain information” of customers in Chile, Spain, and Uruguay had been accessed. The Verge reached out to Ticketmaster and Santander with requests for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

Read More 

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images

ElevenLabs already offers AI-generated versions of human voices and music. Now, it will let people create sound effects for podcasts, movies, or games, too. The new Sound Effects tool can generate up to 22 seconds of sounds based on user prompts that can be combined with the company’s voice and music platform, and it gives users at least four downloadable audio clip options.
The company says it worked with the stock media platform Shutterstock to build a library and train its model on its audio clips. Shutterstock has licensed its content libraries to many AI companies, including OpenAI, Meta, and Google.

pic.twitter.com/pxrJy3BPOB— ElevenLabs (@elevenlabsio) May 31, 2024

Sound Effects is free to use, but paid tiers can use the generated audio clips with commercial licenses, while free users “must attribute ElevenLabs by including ‘elevenlabs.io’ in the title.” ElevenLabs users have a set character count limit when writing prompts, with free users getting 10,000 characters per month. For Sound Effects, ElevenLabs says on its FAQs page that it will take 40 characters per second from the allotment if users set the audio clip duration themselves. If using the default audio duration, each prompt request will be charged 200 characters.
Libraries with sound effect clips already exist in the market for creators, filmmakers, and video game developers. But sometimes, these can be expensive or have trouble surfacing just the right type of sound. ElevenLabs says in its blog post that it designed Sound Effects “to generate rich and immersive soundscapes quickly, affordably and at scale.”
Other AI developers are also developing their own text-to-sound generators. Stability AI released Stable Audio last year, which creates audio clips of music and sound effects, and Meta’s AudioCraft models generate natural sound (think background noises like wind or traffic).

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images

ElevenLabs already offers AI-generated versions of human voices and music. Now, it will let people create sound effects for podcasts, movies, or games, too. The new Sound Effects tool can generate up to 22 seconds of sounds based on user prompts that can be combined with the company’s voice and music platform, and it gives users at least four downloadable audio clip options.

The company says it worked with the stock media platform Shutterstock to build a library and train its model on its audio clips. Shutterstock has licensed its content libraries to many AI companies, including OpenAI, Meta, and Google.

Sound Effects is free to use, but paid tiers can use the generated audio clips with commercial licenses, while free users “must attribute ElevenLabs by including ‘elevenlabs.io’ in the title.” ElevenLabs users have a set character count limit when writing prompts, with free users getting 10,000 characters per month. For Sound Effects, ElevenLabs says on its FAQs page that it will take 40 characters per second from the allotment if users set the audio clip duration themselves. If using the default audio duration, each prompt request will be charged 200 characters.

Libraries with sound effect clips already exist in the market for creators, filmmakers, and video game developers. But sometimes, these can be expensive or have trouble surfacing just the right type of sound. ElevenLabs says in its blog post that it designed Sound Effects “to generate rich and immersive soundscapes quickly, affordably and at scale.”

Other AI developers are also developing their own text-to-sound generators. Stability AI released Stable Audio last year, which creates audio clips of music and sound effects, and Meta’s AudioCraft models generate natural sound (think background noises like wind or traffic).

Read More 

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

If you’ve been on the Facebook app lately, you might’ve seen Meta’s AI inject itself into the comment section with summaries of what people say. Given how wild Facebook comment sections often become, it’s not hard to imagine how ridiculous some of these summaries turn out. (This isn’t the first time Meta’s AI has appeared in the comment section, by the way: 404 Media spotted it pretending to be a parent in a Facebook group.)
After seeing screenshots of the feature shared on Threads and Reddit, I decided to check the comment sections on my Facebook app. I found the AI summaries popping up on many of the posts I checked — unhinged responses and all. One AI summary on a post about a store closure said, “Some commenters attribute the closure to the store ‘going woke’ or having poor selection, while others point to the rise of online shopping.”

Image: The Verge

Another Facebook post from Vice about Mexican street wrestlers prompted a comment section summary that said some people were “less impressed” with the performance and referred to it as a “moronic way of panhandling.” The AI also picked up some of the more lighthearted jokes people made about a bobcat sighting in a Florida town. “Some admired the sighting, with one commenter hoping the bobcat remembered sunscreen.”
It’s still not clear how Meta chooses which posts to display comment summaries on, and the company didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
Either way, the summaries really don’t include anything that I found useful (unless you love vague notions about what random people have to say) — but it could help you identify posts where the comment section has gotten too toxic to bother scrolling.
The AI summaries have also prompted privacy concerns, as Meta is feeding user comments into its AI system to generate them. Over the past week or so, many Facebook and Instagram users in the European Union and the UK received a notification informing them that Meta will train its AI on their content. (Data protection laws in both regions require Meta to disclose this information.) Although Meta will let these users object to having their data used to train AI, the process isn’t that simple, and the company has rejected some users’ requests.
Here in the US, Meta’s privacy policy page says the company uses “information shared on Meta’s Products and services” to train AI, including posts, photos, and captions. Meta lets you submit a request to correct or delete personal information used to train its AI models, but it only applies to information from a third party. Everything else seems to be fair game.

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

If you’ve been on the Facebook app lately, you might’ve seen Meta’s AI inject itself into the comment section with summaries of what people say. Given how wild Facebook comment sections often become, it’s not hard to imagine how ridiculous some of these summaries turn out. (This isn’t the first time Meta’s AI has appeared in the comment section, by the way: 404 Media spotted it pretending to be a parent in a Facebook group.)

After seeing screenshots of the feature shared on Threads and Reddit, I decided to check the comment sections on my Facebook app. I found the AI summaries popping up on many of the posts I checked — unhinged responses and all. One AI summary on a post about a store closure said, “Some commenters attribute the closure to the store ‘going woke’ or having poor selection, while others point to the rise of online shopping.”

Image: The Verge

Another Facebook post from Vice about Mexican street wrestlers prompted a comment section summary that said some people were “less impressed” with the performance and referred to it as a “moronic way of panhandling.” The AI also picked up some of the more lighthearted jokes people made about a bobcat sighting in a Florida town. “Some admired the sighting, with one commenter hoping the bobcat remembered sunscreen.”

It’s still not clear how Meta chooses which posts to display comment summaries on, and the company didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

Either way, the summaries really don’t include anything that I found useful (unless you love vague notions about what random people have to say) — but it could help you identify posts where the comment section has gotten too toxic to bother scrolling.

The AI summaries have also prompted privacy concerns, as Meta is feeding user comments into its AI system to generate them. Over the past week or so, many Facebook and Instagram users in the European Union and the UK received a notification informing them that Meta will train its AI on their content. (Data protection laws in both regions require Meta to disclose this information.) Although Meta will let these users object to having their data used to train AI, the process isn’t that simple, and the company has rejected some users’ requests.

Here in the US, Meta’s privacy policy page says the company uses “information shared on Meta’s Products and services” to train AI, including posts, photos, and captions. Meta lets you submit a request to correct or delete personal information used to train its AI models, but it only applies to information from a third party. Everything else seems to be fair game.

Read More 

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images

May 31st marks the official last day of a covid-19 pandemic-era internet subsidy, the Affordable Connectivity Program.
The up to $30 monthly broadband discount (up to $75 for those on Tribal lands) helped 23 million low-income households in every county in the US access high-speed internet during a period when that connection became more vital than ever as businesses and schools shut their doors. The Federal Communications Commission and industry players have warned for months that the program would soon run out of money unless Congress found a way to fund it, but the money never materialized.
“Without Congressional action to extend funding for the program, millions of households are now at risk of losing their internet connections,” the White House said in a fact sheet announcing the final day of the program. “President Biden is once again calling on Congress to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program, so tens of millions of Americans can continue to access this essential benefit.”
The White House called out more than a dozen internet service providers, including AT&T, Comcast, Spectrum, and Verizon, that have voluntarily agreed to offer plans for $30 or less to low-income households through the end of the year. Those commitments will cover up to 10 million households eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program, according to the White House.
But it’s not a permanent solution. President Joe Biden is reiterating his call to Congress to provide $6 billion in funding to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program. Meanwhile, some advocates, like onetime FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, have urged the agency to look into other ways it could use its authority to expand internet access.
In a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) on Thursday, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said that in a survey, 77 percent of Affordable Connectivity Program households indicated the end of the program “would disrupt their service by making them change their plans or lead to them dropping internet service entirely.”
“It is not too late to save the Nation’s largest broadband affordability program,” Rosenworcel said in a note on the FCC website on Friday. “The ACP was too impactful and has too much support from both parties on Capitol Hill and across the country to just move on and say it was nice while it lasted. Bipartisan efforts to provide more funding for the ACP are ongoing, and the FCC is ready to resume the program as soon as any additional funding is provided.”
Disclosure: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images

May 31st marks the official last day of a covid-19 pandemic-era internet subsidy, the Affordable Connectivity Program.

The up to $30 monthly broadband discount (up to $75 for those on Tribal lands) helped 23 million low-income households in every county in the US access high-speed internet during a period when that connection became more vital than ever as businesses and schools shut their doors. The Federal Communications Commission and industry players have warned for months that the program would soon run out of money unless Congress found a way to fund it, but the money never materialized.

“Without Congressional action to extend funding for the program, millions of households are now at risk of losing their internet connections,” the White House said in a fact sheet announcing the final day of the program. “President Biden is once again calling on Congress to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program, so tens of millions of Americans can continue to access this essential benefit.”

The White House called out more than a dozen internet service providers, including AT&T, Comcast, Spectrum, and Verizon, that have voluntarily agreed to offer plans for $30 or less to low-income households through the end of the year. Those commitments will cover up to 10 million households eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program, according to the White House.

But it’s not a permanent solution. President Joe Biden is reiterating his call to Congress to provide $6 billion in funding to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program. Meanwhile, some advocates, like onetime FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, have urged the agency to look into other ways it could use its authority to expand internet access.

In a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) on Thursday, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said that in a survey, 77 percent of Affordable Connectivity Program households indicated the end of the program “would disrupt their service by making them change their plans or lead to them dropping internet service entirely.”

“It is not too late to save the Nation’s largest broadband affordability program,” Rosenworcel said in a note on the FCC website on Friday. “The ACP was too impactful and has too much support from both parties on Capitol Hill and across the country to just move on and say it was nice while it lasted. Bipartisan efforts to provide more funding for the ACP are ongoing, and the FCC is ready to resume the program as soon as any additional funding is provided.”

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

Read More 

Image: Stellantis

Earlier this week, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares took the stage at the Bernstein investor conference and threw down the gauntlet.
Tavares, who oversees companies like Fiat, Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and, most importantly, Jeep, said the launch of the new all-electric Jeep Wagoneer S would signal the start of an EV “offensive” that would take the US by storm, according to multiple reports. And part of that offensive would include a more affordable electric Jeep, priced somewhere in the range of $25,000.
For Jeep CEO Antonio Filosa, the announcement from his boss came as a bit of a shock.
“It’s a big challenge,” Filosa said Thursday, hours after unveiling the Wagoneer S in New York City. “And unexpected.”

Photo by Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images
Jeep CEO Antonio Filosa.

Unexpected — and perhaps also a little awkward. After all, the Wagoneer S, with its premium materials, high-tech components, and impressive performance capabilities, is very much not an affordable EV. The fully loaded First Launch edition will start at $71,995 — not exactly a price meant to spur mass adoption.
Still, Filosa says Jeep will rise to the challenge. But how long will it take? Timing is of the essence. EV sales are still growing but at a slower pace than previous years. Buyers are more discerning. They’re looking for vehicles that are fast charging with plenty of range but also priced in a way that’s affordable. Most experts have said a $25,000 EV could help that line graph turn from a gentle slope into a hockey stick. But when it comes to exact timetables, only Tavares seems to know for now.
“It’s a big challenge. And unexpected.”
“My boss says soon,” Filosa said with a smile. “Obviously, its an engineering [challenge], so we need to put people [in charge of] developing the car. We have good ideas, we already had our calculation, and we strongly believe that we can get there. Strongly believe.”
Obviously, the project is still in its very early stages. While announcing the Wagoneer S, Filosa said the Wrangler-esque Jeep Recon would be revealed later this year. After that, a third unnamed vehicle will be announced the following year — though Filosa wouldn’t say whether it would be a battery-electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid, or perhaps both. “It will be affordable,” Filosa said, calling it “a smaller Jeep,” but likely not the $25,000 model referenced by Tavares.

Image: Jeep

Battery-electric vehicles represent a significant shift for Jeep, which has largely been focused on plug-in hybrid vehicles in the US. The company’s 4xe (pronounced “four by e”) hybrids, like the Wrangler 4xe and Grand Cherokee 4xe, are extremely popular, with PHEV sales up 124 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year.
Jeep also sells a compact electric SUV, the Avenger, in Europe for around 35,000 euros, or about $37,800. The company’s cheapest model, the Jeep Compass, starts at $25,900.
Indeed, for the broader industry, the $25,000 EV has been somewhat elusive. Tesla reportedly canceled its plans for a more affordable “Model 2” vehicle at the behest of Elon Musk, who is in the process of shifting the company’s resources toward building a fully autonomous robotaxi. (Musk later recommitted to building “affordable” models while studiously avoiding referencing the $25,000 price point.)
“We strongly believe that we can get there.”
Ford, Volkswagen, and Kia have all said they plan on producing smaller, more affordable EVs in the hopes of stirring up more demand among price-conscious shoppers. GM is relaunching its affordable Bolt EV on a new platform, while Nissan hasn’t said what the future holds for its pioneering Leaf hatchback.
Meanwhile, the specter of dirt-cheap Chinese EVs flooding the market has many automakers nervous — Filosa included. Companies like BYD, Li Auto, and Nio have been exporting plug-in vehicles with aggressive pricing to Africa, South America, and Europe. The Biden administration thinks tariffs can stop them from coming to the US, but that just may delay the inevitable.
“I worry because the level of cost that they need is 20–25 percent lower than our costs,” Filosa said of BYD and other Chinese automakers. “Obviously, I’m talking of challenges coming, and it will challenge us to get better.”

Image: Stellantis

Earlier this week, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares took the stage at the Bernstein investor conference and threw down the gauntlet.

Tavares, who oversees companies like Fiat, Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and, most importantly, Jeep, said the launch of the new all-electric Jeep Wagoneer S would signal the start of an EV “offensive” that would take the US by storm, according to multiple reports. And part of that offensive would include a more affordable electric Jeep, priced somewhere in the range of $25,000.

For Jeep CEO Antonio Filosa, the announcement from his boss came as a bit of a shock.

“It’s a big challenge,” Filosa said Thursday, hours after unveiling the Wagoneer S in New York City. “And unexpected.”

Photo by Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images
Jeep CEO Antonio Filosa.

Unexpected — and perhaps also a little awkward. After all, the Wagoneer S, with its premium materials, high-tech components, and impressive performance capabilities, is very much not an affordable EV. The fully loaded First Launch edition will start at $71,995 — not exactly a price meant to spur mass adoption.

Still, Filosa says Jeep will rise to the challenge. But how long will it take? Timing is of the essence. EV sales are still growing but at a slower pace than previous years. Buyers are more discerning. They’re looking for vehicles that are fast charging with plenty of range but also priced in a way that’s affordable. Most experts have said a $25,000 EV could help that line graph turn from a gentle slope into a hockey stick. But when it comes to exact timetables, only Tavares seems to know for now.

“My boss says soon,” Filosa said with a smile. “Obviously, its an engineering [challenge], so we need to put people [in charge of] developing the car. We have good ideas, we already had our calculation, and we strongly believe that we can get there. Strongly believe.”

Obviously, the project is still in its very early stages. While announcing the Wagoneer S, Filosa said the Wrangler-esque Jeep Recon would be revealed later this year. After that, a third unnamed vehicle will be announced the following year — though Filosa wouldn’t say whether it would be a battery-electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid, or perhaps both. “It will be affordable,” Filosa said, calling it “a smaller Jeep,” but likely not the $25,000 model referenced by Tavares.

Image: Jeep

Battery-electric vehicles represent a significant shift for Jeep, which has largely been focused on plug-in hybrid vehicles in the US. The company’s 4xe (pronounced “four by e”) hybrids, like the Wrangler 4xe and Grand Cherokee 4xe, are extremely popular, with PHEV sales up 124 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year.

Jeep also sells a compact electric SUV, the Avenger, in Europe for around 35,000 euros, or about $37,800. The company’s cheapest model, the Jeep Compass, starts at $25,900.

Indeed, for the broader industry, the $25,000 EV has been somewhat elusive. Tesla reportedly canceled its plans for a more affordable “Model 2” vehicle at the behest of Elon Musk, who is in the process of shifting the company’s resources toward building a fully autonomous robotaxi. (Musk later recommitted to building “affordable” models while studiously avoiding referencing the $25,000 price point.)

Ford, Volkswagen, and Kia have all said they plan on producing smaller, more affordable EVs in the hopes of stirring up more demand among price-conscious shoppers. GM is relaunching its affordable Bolt EV on a new platform, while Nissan hasn’t said what the future holds for its pioneering Leaf hatchback.

Meanwhile, the specter of dirt-cheap Chinese EVs flooding the market has many automakers nervous — Filosa included. Companies like BYD, Li Auto, and Nio have been exporting plug-in vehicles with aggressive pricing to Africa, South America, and Europe. The Biden administration thinks tariffs can stop them from coming to the US, but that just may delay the inevitable.

“I worry because the level of cost that they need is 20–25 percent lower than our costs,” Filosa said of BYD and other Chinese automakers. “Obviously, I’m talking of challenges coming, and it will challenge us to get better.”

Read More 

The new PlayStation 5 “slim” is matching its all-time low of $449 ($50 off) for a limited time. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Sony’s recent State of Play showcase may have given us a brief glimpse into the company’s plans for 2024 and beyond, but that probably does little if you were hoping for something you can play right now. That’s where the Days of Play sale comes in. Now through June 12th, Sony is discounting dozens of PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 titles, as well as accompanying hardware, accessories, and subscriptions.

First things first, if you’re still looking to pick up a PS5 console, you can save $50 on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, which are available for as low as $449 (Amazon, Best Buy, PlayStation Direct) and $399 (Amazon, Best Buy, and PlayStation Direct), respectively. These match the lowest prices we’ve seen on the newer PS5 models, which are slightly slimmer than Sony’s original PS5 console. They also sport two front-facing USB-C ports and an expanded 1TB of built-in storage (up from 825GB), though keep in mind that only the disc-based version can play physical games and other Ultra HD Blu-ray discs.
As an added bonus, PlayStation Plus members who buy directly from PlayStation will receive 12 months of Netflix Premium, the streaming service’s most expensive tier.
Read our hands-on impressions of the PS5 “slim.”

Elsewhere on the hardware front, the PSVR 2 is on sale starting at $449 ($100 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the PlayStation Direct storefront. That’s the best price we’ve seen on the virtual reality headset, which, sadly, often costs more than the PS5 that’s required to play it.

The PSVR 2’s price reflects its underrealized potential. Its launch library wasn’t the greatest, but it’s slowly and steadily building its catalog with a diverse selection of made-for-VR titles. This includes Horizon Call of the Mountain, which you can currently purchase from Amazon, Best Buy, and PlayStation Direct with a PSVR 2 starting at $499 ($100 off). The latest Horizon title is probably one of the better showcases for what Sony’s PC-grade VR headset is capable of, though new VR modes in AAA games like Resident Evil 7 and Gran Turismo 7 are thrilling, to say the least.
Additionally, if you buy a PSVR 2 directly from Sony and subscribe to PlayStation Plus, you’ll also get 12 months of Netflix Premium for free, which saves you about $276 over the course of a year.

Read our PSVR 2 review.

Now through June 9th, you can also save up to 30 percent on a 12-month subscription to PlayStation Plus via the PlayStation Store, which is stackable with existing subscriptions. The exact amount varies based on which plan you choose; however, the Essential tier is 20 percent off ($63.99), the Extra tier is 25 percent off ($101.24), and the Premium tier is 30 percent off ($111.99).

The entry-level Essential plan allows you to download free PS Plus games monthly, which are accessible for as long as you’re a subscriber to PlayStation Plus. It also unlocks multiplayer access in games that require it, exclusive discounts, and advanced console features like cloud storage and Share Play. PS Plus Extra, meanwhile, offers the same set of perks as well as access to hundreds of titles that rotate regularly, including those that are part of Ubisoft Plus. If you step up to PS Plus Premium, you can add game trials, cloud streaming, and access to even more PlayStation classics and a selection of Sony Pictures films.

A PlayStation sale without discounted games would be odd, so it’s no shocker that hundreds of digital PS4 and PS5 games are currently on sale. Most are up to 60 percent off, but you’ll find opportunities to save as much as 85 percent on select titles during the various 24-hour flash sales that will be available throughout the event.

But if you happen to miss something juicy there, you can still find great prices on newer exclusives like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which is on sale starting at $49.69 (about $20 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the PlayStation Store. The digital deluxe edition is also available for $59.99 ($20 off) from the PlayStation Store, while the collector’s edition is down to $149.99 ($80 off) in the PlayStation Direct storefront. The latter includes physical extras like a steelbook case and a 19-inch Venom statue featuring Peter Parker and Miles Morales, plus two in-game suits and various skill unlocks.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is also worth a look, especially now that it’s on sale for $52.49 (about $18 off) in the PlayStation Store. The modern rendition of Square Enix’s classic JRPG is actually beating the price we recently called out for the physical copy, though you can also pick up the digital deluxe edition on sale for $67.49 (about $23 off).

Unsurprisingly, you can also find sales on third-party PS4 and PS5 titles spanning multiple genres. For example, sports gamers looking to crack a bat can pick up MLB The Show 24 starting at $49.69 (about $20 off) at Best Buy, Target, and the PlayStation Store.

If you’re not into baseball, there’s also WWE 2K24, which is easily 2K’s best wrestling game yet. It refines some of the more recent gameplay modes and adds new match types, including an ambulance match, a casket match, and a special guest referee. Right now, the base version is on sale for $52.49 (about $18 off) in the PlayStation Store.
The base game is great on its own, but if you’re looking to get the most out of it, I’d recommend grabbing the 40 Years of WrestleMania Edition for $89.99 ($30 off). It offers accelerators, boosters, and all five character packs planned for the game, including the new ECW Punk Pack that adds hardcore legends like CM Punk, The Dudley Boyz, Sandman, and Terry Funk.

A few more Days of Play highlights

Tekken 8 is one of the fiercest fighting games out, and you can start practicing for July’s Evo tournament with the Deluxe Edition, which is currently on sale for $69.99 ($30 off) in the PlayStation Store. You might as well buy this version if you don’t already have the base game, as it’s now the same cost and includes the Year 1 character pass, a Kinjin avatar skin, and a Character Costume pack that unlocks the all-gold suit for all compatible characters.

God of War Ragnarök is a must-play if you haven’t already chopped up baddies Viking-style as Kratos and his son, Atreus. The PS4 / PS5 bundle of the base game is going for around $39.89 (about $30 off) at Best Buy, Target, and the PlayStation Store, or you can grab the Digital Deluxe Edition for $49.59 ($30 off) to get bonus cosmetics, artbooks, soundtracks, and avatars and themes for your PS5 dashboard. Read our review.

Gran Turismo 7 for the PS4 and PS5 is on sale for around $39.89 (about $30 off) at Best Buy, Walmart, and the PlayStation Store. The seventh entrant in Sony’s legendary racing simulator has lifelike visuals and equally impressive driving physics, the effects of which you can feel with the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers. It comes with more than 400 cars and over 90 tracks and circuits spanning dozens of iconic locales. Read our review.
If you’re looking to add a pop of color to your PS5, Sony is selling various PS5 Console Covers for a limited time. Right now, you can pick up various covers for the original PS5 and the newer slim edition starting at $44.99 ($10 off). The same goes for the original PS5 Digital Edition and the latest digital-only model.

The new PlayStation 5 “slim” is matching its all-time low of $449 ($50 off) for a limited time. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Sony’s recent State of Play showcase may have given us a brief glimpse into the company’s plans for 2024 and beyond, but that probably does little if you were hoping for something you can play right now. That’s where the Days of Play sale comes in. Now through June 12th, Sony is discounting dozens of PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 titles, as well as accompanying hardware, accessories, and subscriptions.

First things first, if you’re still looking to pick up a PS5 console, you can save $50 on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, which are available for as low as $449 (Amazon, Best Buy, PlayStation Direct) and $399 (Amazon, Best Buy, and PlayStation Direct), respectively. These match the lowest prices we’ve seen on the newer PS5 models, which are slightly slimmer than Sony’s original PS5 console. They also sport two front-facing USB-C ports and an expanded 1TB of built-in storage (up from 825GB), though keep in mind that only the disc-based version can play physical games and other Ultra HD Blu-ray discs.

As an added bonus, PlayStation Plus members who buy directly from PlayStation will receive 12 months of Netflix Premium, the streaming service’s most expensive tier.

Read our hands-on impressions of the PS5 “slim.”

Elsewhere on the hardware front, the PSVR 2 is on sale starting at $449 ($100 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the PlayStation Direct storefront. That’s the best price we’ve seen on the virtual reality headset, which, sadly, often costs more than the PS5 that’s required to play it.

The PSVR 2’s price reflects its underrealized potential. Its launch library wasn’t the greatest, but it’s slowly and steadily building its catalog with a diverse selection of made-for-VR titles. This includes Horizon Call of the Mountain, which you can currently purchase from Amazon, Best Buy, and PlayStation Direct with a PSVR 2 starting at $499 ($100 off). The latest Horizon title is probably one of the better showcases for what Sony’s PC-grade VR headset is capable of, though new VR modes in AAA games like Resident Evil 7 and Gran Turismo 7 are thrilling, to say the least.

Additionally, if you buy a PSVR 2 directly from Sony and subscribe to PlayStation Plus, you’ll also get 12 months of Netflix Premium for free, which saves you about $276 over the course of a year.

Read our PSVR 2 review.

Now through June 9th, you can also save up to 30 percent on a 12-month subscription to PlayStation Plus via the PlayStation Store, which is stackable with existing subscriptions. The exact amount varies based on which plan you choose; however, the Essential tier is 20 percent off ($63.99), the Extra tier is 25 percent off ($101.24), and the Premium tier is 30 percent off ($111.99).

The entry-level Essential plan allows you to download free PS Plus games monthly, which are accessible for as long as you’re a subscriber to PlayStation Plus. It also unlocks multiplayer access in games that require it, exclusive discounts, and advanced console features like cloud storage and Share Play. PS Plus Extra, meanwhile, offers the same set of perks as well as access to hundreds of titles that rotate regularly, including those that are part of Ubisoft Plus. If you step up to PS Plus Premium, you can add game trials, cloud streaming, and access to even more PlayStation classics and a selection of Sony Pictures films.

A PlayStation sale without discounted games would be odd, so it’s no shocker that hundreds of digital PS4 and PS5 games are currently on sale. Most are up to 60 percent off, but you’ll find opportunities to save as much as 85 percent on select titles during the various 24-hour flash sales that will be available throughout the event.

But if you happen to miss something juicy there, you can still find great prices on newer exclusives like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which is on sale starting at $49.69 (about $20 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the PlayStation Store. The digital deluxe edition is also available for $59.99 ($20 off) from the PlayStation Store, while the collector’s edition is down to $149.99 ($80 off) in the PlayStation Direct storefront. The latter includes physical extras like a steelbook case and a 19-inch Venom statue featuring Peter Parker and Miles Morales, plus two in-game suits and various skill unlocks.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is also worth a look, especially now that it’s on sale for $52.49 (about $18 off) in the PlayStation Store. The modern rendition of Square Enix’s classic JRPG is actually beating the price we recently called out for the physical copy, though you can also pick up the digital deluxe edition on sale for $67.49 (about $23 off).

Unsurprisingly, you can also find sales on third-party PS4 and PS5 titles spanning multiple genres. For example, sports gamers looking to crack a bat can pick up MLB The Show 24 starting at $49.69 (about $20 off) at Best Buy, Target, and the PlayStation Store.

If you’re not into baseball, there’s also WWE 2K24, which is easily 2K’s best wrestling game yet. It refines some of the more recent gameplay modes and adds new match types, including an ambulance match, a casket match, and a special guest referee. Right now, the base version is on sale for $52.49 (about $18 off) in the PlayStation Store.

The base game is great on its own, but if you’re looking to get the most out of it, I’d recommend grabbing the 40 Years of WrestleMania Edition for $89.99 ($30 off). It offers accelerators, boosters, and all five character packs planned for the game, including the new ECW Punk Pack that adds hardcore legends like CM Punk, The Dudley Boyz, Sandman, and Terry Funk.

A few more Days of Play highlights

Tekken 8 is one of the fiercest fighting games out, and you can start practicing for July’s Evo tournament with the Deluxe Edition, which is currently on sale for $69.99 ($30 off) in the PlayStation Store. You might as well buy this version if you don’t already have the base game, as it’s now the same cost and includes the Year 1 character pass, a Kinjin avatar skin, and a Character Costume pack that unlocks the all-gold suit for all compatible characters.

God of War Ragnarök is a must-play if you haven’t already chopped up baddies Viking-style as Kratos and his son, Atreus. The PS4 / PS5 bundle of the base game is going for around $39.89 (about $30 off) at Best Buy, Target, and the PlayStation Store, or you can grab the Digital Deluxe Edition for $49.59 ($30 off) to get bonus cosmetics, artbooks, soundtracks, and avatars and themes for your PS5 dashboard. Read our review.

Gran Turismo 7 for the PS4 and PS5 is on sale for around $39.89 (about $30 off) at Best Buy, Walmart, and the PlayStation Store. The seventh entrant in Sony’s legendary racing simulator has lifelike visuals and equally impressive driving physics, the effects of which you can feel with the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers. It comes with more than 400 cars and over 90 tracks and circuits spanning dozens of iconic locales. Read our review.
If you’re looking to add a pop of color to your PS5, Sony is selling various PS5 Console Covers for a limited time. Right now, you can pick up various covers for the original PS5 and the newer slim edition starting at $44.99 ($10 off). The same goes for the original PS5 Digital Edition and the latest digital-only model.

Read More 

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft unveiled its new Copilot Plus PCs last week, designed to usher in a new wave of AI features in Windows that are exclusive to new laptops. Now, less than two weeks later, Windows enthusiasts have managed to crack Microsoft’s flagship AI-powered Recall feature to run on unsupported hardware.
Recall leverages local AI models on new Copilot Plus PCs to run in the background and take snapshots of anything you’ve done or seen on your PC. You then get a timeline you can scrub through and the ability to search for photos, documents, conversations, or anything else on your PC. Microsoft positioned Recall as needing the very latest neural processing units (NPU) on new PCs, but you can actually get it running on older Arm-powered hardware.
Windows watcher Albacore has created a tool called Amperage, which enables Recall on devices that have an older Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, Microsoft’s SQ processors, or an Ampere chipset. You need to have the latest Windows 11 24H2 update installed on one of these Windows on Arm devices, and then the tool will unlock and enable Recall.
This only works on older Windows on Arm hardware right now, but given Copilot Plus PCs are coming from AMD and Intel soon, we’ll likely see this unlocked a lot more broadly in the coming weeks or months. Microsoft has only published its AI components for the Windows on Arm platform now, the limiting factor in getting this running on Intel- and AMD-powered hardware.

here’s the first launch experience for Windows 11’s Recall feature. It can currently be unlocked to work on Windows on ARM devices without a dedicated NPU, so I’d expect we’ll see this unlocked on regular x64 devices soon too pic.twitter.com/YGvOlwVI5u— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) May 31, 2024

You can technically unlock Recall on x86 devices, but the app won’t do much until Microsoft publishes the x64 AI components required to get it up and running. Rumors suggest both AMD and Intel are close to announcing Copilot Plus PCs, so Microsoft’s AI components for those machines may well appear soon. I managed to get Recall running on an x64 Windows 11 virtual machine earlier today just to test out the initial first-run experience.
We may well see more of Microsoft’s Copilot Plus PC features backported to existing hardware soon, too. Recall being unlocked to run on much older Arm hardware will undoubtedly raise questions about why Microsoft is limiting this and many other AI-powered Windows features to new devices that have an NPU capable of more than 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS).
Microsoft will probably argue that the 40 TOPS requirement sets a baseline for future AI-powered experiences beyond Recall, Image Cocreator, and the other AI features Microsoft demonstrated last week. It also ensures these features are running on a separate NPU instead of taking over the CPU and GPU and killing laptop battery life. But the reality is that Copilot Plus PCs are also designed for Microsoft and its OEM partners to sell new hardware at a time when IDC estimates PC sales will grow this year thanks to the arrival of AI-capable PCs.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft unveiled its new Copilot Plus PCs last week, designed to usher in a new wave of AI features in Windows that are exclusive to new laptops. Now, less than two weeks later, Windows enthusiasts have managed to crack Microsoft’s flagship AI-powered Recall feature to run on unsupported hardware.

Recall leverages local AI models on new Copilot Plus PCs to run in the background and take snapshots of anything you’ve done or seen on your PC. You then get a timeline you can scrub through and the ability to search for photos, documents, conversations, or anything else on your PC. Microsoft positioned Recall as needing the very latest neural processing units (NPU) on new PCs, but you can actually get it running on older Arm-powered hardware.

Windows watcher Albacore has created a tool called Amperage, which enables Recall on devices that have an older Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, Microsoft’s SQ processors, or an Ampere chipset. You need to have the latest Windows 11 24H2 update installed on one of these Windows on Arm devices, and then the tool will unlock and enable Recall.

This only works on older Windows on Arm hardware right now, but given Copilot Plus PCs are coming from AMD and Intel soon, we’ll likely see this unlocked a lot more broadly in the coming weeks or months. Microsoft has only published its AI components for the Windows on Arm platform now, the limiting factor in getting this running on Intel- and AMD-powered hardware.

You can technically unlock Recall on x86 devices, but the app won’t do much until Microsoft publishes the x64 AI components required to get it up and running. Rumors suggest both AMD and Intel are close to announcing Copilot Plus PCs, so Microsoft’s AI components for those machines may well appear soon. I managed to get Recall running on an x64 Windows 11 virtual machine earlier today just to test out the initial first-run experience.

We may well see more of Microsoft’s Copilot Plus PC features backported to existing hardware soon, too. Recall being unlocked to run on much older Arm hardware will undoubtedly raise questions about why Microsoft is limiting this and many other AI-powered Windows features to new devices that have an NPU capable of more than 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS).

Microsoft will probably argue that the 40 TOPS requirement sets a baseline for future AI-powered experiences beyond Recall, Image Cocreator, and the other AI features Microsoft demonstrated last week. It also ensures these features are running on a separate NPU instead of taking over the CPU and GPU and killing laptop battery life. But the reality is that Copilot Plus PCs are also designed for Microsoft and its OEM partners to sell new hardware at a time when IDC estimates PC sales will grow this year thanks to the arrival of AI-capable PCs.

Read More