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Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Smart home company Ecobee launched a new feature for its thermostats today that will automatically adjust temperatures to save energy when there’s a risk of a power outage. And unlike some utilities’ energy saving programs, customers will always be able to opt out with Ecobee.
Sudden spikes in electricity demand, often triggered by people cranking up their air conditioning during a heatwave, can lead to power outages. One of the most effective tools utilities have to prevent outages are programs that ask customers to conserve energy during those demand peaks, say, by turning down their thermostats.
Many homes taking a small action adds up to a big impact on the grid
Ecobee’s new product update offers something similar to residents in places lacking such programs or who might not sign up for them. It’s an update to Ecobee’s Eco Plus Community Energy Savings feature that will respond to emergency event alerts issued by grid operators in North America.
With this update, customers will get a notification on their Ecobee smart thermostat and Ecobee mobile app telling them there’s a possibility of a blackout because of an energy supply shortage in the area. The thermostat will adjust a small amount, between one and four degrees, for no more than four hours. The feature is designed for customers who haven’t enrolled in a similar program with their utility.
The idea is that many homes taking a small action adds up to a big impact on the grid, smoothing out demand peaks and preempting a power outage. It’s a tactic called demand response that’s supposed to help power grids get more resilient to increasingly extreme weather.

Image: Ecobee

Ecobee allows customers to opt out at any time if they don’t want their thermostat to make the adjustment. Customers enrolled in their utility’s energy saving program don’t always have the same option. During severe energy supply shortages, some utilities don’t allow smart thermostats to override their emergency controls. That’s led to backlash in the past during events like a heatwave in 2022 when thousands of residents in Colorado found themselves locked out of their smart thermostats.

“Everyone has a role to play in conserving energy and helping ensure grid stability,” Kari Binley, Ecobee senior manager of energy partnerships, said in a press release. “This update helps communities take control of their energy savings and avoid potentially dangerous outages during high demand periods.”

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Smart home company Ecobee launched a new feature for its thermostats today that will automatically adjust temperatures to save energy when there’s a risk of a power outage. And unlike some utilities’ energy saving programs, customers will always be able to opt out with Ecobee.

Sudden spikes in electricity demand, often triggered by people cranking up their air conditioning during a heatwave, can lead to power outages. One of the most effective tools utilities have to prevent outages are programs that ask customers to conserve energy during those demand peaks, say, by turning down their thermostats.

Ecobee’s new product update offers something similar to residents in places lacking such programs or who might not sign up for them. It’s an update to Ecobee’s Eco Plus Community Energy Savings feature that will respond to emergency event alerts issued by grid operators in North America.

With this update, customers will get a notification on their Ecobee smart thermostat and Ecobee mobile app telling them there’s a possibility of a blackout because of an energy supply shortage in the area. The thermostat will adjust a small amount, between one and four degrees, for no more than four hours. The feature is designed for customers who haven’t enrolled in a similar program with their utility.

The idea is that many homes taking a small action adds up to a big impact on the grid, smoothing out demand peaks and preempting a power outage. It’s a tactic called demand response that’s supposed to help power grids get more resilient to increasingly extreme weather.

Image: Ecobee

Ecobee allows customers to opt out at any time if they don’t want their thermostat to make the adjustment. Customers enrolled in their utility’s energy saving program don’t always have the same option. During severe energy supply shortages, some utilities don’t allow smart thermostats to override their emergency controls. That’s led to backlash in the past during events like a heatwave in 2022 when thousands of residents in Colorado found themselves locked out of their smart thermostats.

“Everyone has a role to play in conserving energy and helping ensure grid stability,” Kari Binley, Ecobee senior manager of energy partnerships, said in a press release. “This update helps communities take control of their energy savings and avoid potentially dangerous outages during high demand periods.”

Read More 

Image: Microsoft

The last time Microsoft really needed Windows developers was when it asked them to build a new type of application that could work across phones, PCs, tablets, Xbox consoles, and headsets like the HoloLens. It was all part of a larger effort to transform Windows with a new interface for touch-friendly apps, designed to rival the iPad.
It failed miserably. Developers didn’t flock to universal Windows apps, and Microsoft eventually abandoned its touch-friendly UI in favor of a more traditional desktop in Windows 10. The cross-platform dream of the Windows 8 era didn’t last very long.
Now, Microsoft is trying something new, and it needs developers’ help again. It’s adding AI models and tools directly into Windows for this first generation of Copilot Plus PCs — laptops that have powerful neural processing unit (NPU) chips to accelerate AI tasks. I’ve written about how these new laptops will compete with the MacBook Air, transition Windows to Arm-powered chips, and set Windows up for an era of AI. The big selling points are better battery life, better performance, and the promise of AI features inside Windows and the apps you use every day.
But for all of this to work, Microsoft needs developers to adapt their apps again — and get people excited to use Windows.
AI was the talk of Microsoft Build, coming out of every speaker’s mouth and plastered on sign after sign on Microsoft’s campus. There were…

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Image: Microsoft

The last time Microsoft really needed Windows developers was when it asked them to build a new type of application that could work across phones, PCs, tablets, Xbox consoles, and headsets like the HoloLens. It was all part of a larger effort to transform Windows with a new interface for touch-friendly apps, designed to rival the iPad.

It failed miserably. Developers didn’t flock to universal Windows apps, and Microsoft eventually abandoned its touch-friendly UI in favor of a more traditional desktop in Windows 10. The cross-platform dream of the Windows 8 era didn’t last very long.

Now, Microsoft is trying something new, and it needs developers’ help again. It’s adding AI models and tools directly into Windows for this first generation of Copilot Plus PCs — laptops that have powerful neural processing unit (NPU) chips to accelerate AI tasks. I’ve written about how these new laptops will compete with the MacBook Air, transition Windows to Arm-powered chips, and set Windows up for an era of AI. The big selling points are better battery life, better performance, and the promise of AI features inside Windows and the apps you use every day.

But for all of this to work, Microsoft needs developers to adapt their apps again — and get people excited to use Windows.

AI was the talk of Microsoft Build, coming out of every speaker’s mouth and plastered on sign after sign on Microsoft’s campus. There were…

Read More 

A new interactive Google Home widget is coming to Android. | Image: Google

Quick access to smart home devices is coming to Android in the form of a new Google Home Favorites widget. This will let you control devices, actions, and automations directly from the homescreen of your phone. There’s also a new Favorites tile and complication coming to Wear OS for accessing frequently used devices right from your wrist.
The new Favorites widget lets you view and interact with the most-used devices directly on your homescreen, no need to open the Google Home app.
Currently, the easiest way to do this is to tap on the tile shortcut to the Home app, but this opens the full app. An interactive widget should be faster overall for doing something like turning on a light, locking a door, or checking the temperature.

Image: Google
The new Google Home Favorites widget lets you easily interact with smart home devices from the homescreen.

As with most widgets, its size is adjustable, so ideally you could just have a whole page of smart home controls (just me?). The widget is available to those signed up for the Google Home app’s public preview starting today, May 30th.
The new Wear OS Favorites tile and complication brings similar functionality to your wrist. The tile, which you access by swiping left, takes you to quick controls for up to five devices. Tapping on an icon takes you to the device’s controls in the Wear OS Home app, where you can unlock your door, dim the lights, or adjust your thermostat.

Image: Google
The Wear OS Google Home Favorites complication and tile.

The complication can be set to control a specific device right from the watch face, such as a fan or light, and that tapping on it will also take you directly to the control in the Home app.
The Google Home tile and complication for Wear OS is rolling out today, May 30th, on devices running Wear OS 3 or higher.
The widget, tile, and complication all pull from the Favorites section of the Google Home app, so you’ll need to set up the devices you want to access from them in the Home app first.

A new interactive Google Home widget is coming to Android. | Image: Google

Quick access to smart home devices is coming to Android in the form of a new Google Home Favorites widget. This will let you control devices, actions, and automations directly from the homescreen of your phone. There’s also a new Favorites tile and complication coming to Wear OS for accessing frequently used devices right from your wrist.

The new Favorites widget lets you view and interact with the most-used devices directly on your homescreen, no need to open the Google Home app.

Currently, the easiest way to do this is to tap on the tile shortcut to the Home app, but this opens the full app. An interactive widget should be faster overall for doing something like turning on a light, locking a door, or checking the temperature.

Image: Google
The new Google Home Favorites widget lets you easily interact with smart home devices from the homescreen.

As with most widgets, its size is adjustable, so ideally you could just have a whole page of smart home controls (just me?). The widget is available to those signed up for the Google Home app’s public preview starting today, May 30th.

The new Wear OS Favorites tile and complication brings similar functionality to your wrist. The tile, which you access by swiping left, takes you to quick controls for up to five devices. Tapping on an icon takes you to the device’s controls in the Wear OS Home app, where you can unlock your door, dim the lights, or adjust your thermostat.

Image: Google
The Wear OS Google Home Favorites complication and tile.

The complication can be set to control a specific device right from the watch face, such as a fan or light, and that tapping on it will also take you directly to the control in the Home app.

The Google Home tile and complication for Wear OS is rolling out today, May 30th, on devices running Wear OS 3 or higher.

The widget, tile, and complication all pull from the Favorites section of the Google Home app, so you’ll need to set up the devices you want to access from them in the Home app first.

Read More 

Google’s latest grab bag of Android updates is rolling out throughout May and June. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google is releasing seven new updates and features to make Android devices and services more useful. The most notable update is to Google Messages, which now lets users edit messages up to 15 minutes after they’ve been sent.
This is achieved by tapping and holding on sent RCS messages and then selecting the pencil icon that appears at the top of the screen. The feature has been expected since last year, when references to editing first appeared inside the Messages app code. The Google Messages update starts rolling out today for all phones running Android 8 or later. Similar editing features have already been added to rival messaging services like WhatsApp and iMessage.

Image: Google
Just tap and hold your sent message to correct typos or other required edits.

Image: Google
You can soon switch between connected devices while in the middle of a Google Meet call.

Google also announced improvements to instant hotspot, which will soon allow users to connect an Android tablet or Chromebook to their phone’s hotspot with a single tap — no password required. The update to instant hotspot also lets users switch between connected phones, tablets, or web browsers during Google Meet calls by tapping the Cast icon. These features all start rolling out to Android phones, foldables, and tablets running Android 11 or later on June 10th.
The Google Home Favorites widget, which allows users to quickly view and control their most-used smart home devices, is now available in public preview and can be added to the homescreen on Android phones. Starting today, smartwatches running Wear OS 3 or later can also run the Google Home Favorites tile, alongside a new PayPal option for Google Wallet in the US and Germany.

Image: Google
Updates to Wear OS make it easier to manage smart home devices when you’re away from your phone.

Emoji Kitchen is also getting some new sticker combinations on June 10th for users to share via Gboard. And lastly, digital car key support is being extended to cover additional vehicles, including select Mini, Mercedes-Benz, and Polestar models. The digital key update is available for Android 12 or later. Support for Mini vehicles, which is already available in the EU, started rolling out in the US on May 13th. Support for Mercedes-Benz will be available on June 10th, while Polestar support will roll out between June 17th and 21st.

Google’s latest grab bag of Android updates is rolling out throughout May and June. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google is releasing seven new updates and features to make Android devices and services more useful. The most notable update is to Google Messages, which now lets users edit messages up to 15 minutes after they’ve been sent.

This is achieved by tapping and holding on sent RCS messages and then selecting the pencil icon that appears at the top of the screen. The feature has been expected since last year, when references to editing first appeared inside the Messages app code. The Google Messages update starts rolling out today for all phones running Android 8 or later. Similar editing features have already been added to rival messaging services like WhatsApp and iMessage.

Google also announced improvements to instant hotspot, which will soon allow users to connect an Android tablet or Chromebook to their phone’s hotspot with a single tap — no password required. The update to instant hotspot also lets users switch between connected phones, tablets, or web browsers during Google Meet calls by tapping the Cast icon. These features all start rolling out to Android phones, foldables, and tablets running Android 11 or later on June 10th.

The Google Home Favorites widget, which allows users to quickly view and control their most-used smart home devices, is now available in public preview and can be added to the homescreen on Android phones. Starting today, smartwatches running Wear OS 3 or later can also run the Google Home Favorites tile, alongside a new PayPal option for Google Wallet in the US and Germany.

Image: Google
Updates to Wear OS make it easier to manage smart home devices when you’re away from your phone.

Emoji Kitchen is also getting some new sticker combinations on June 10th for users to share via Gboard. And lastly, digital car key support is being extended to cover additional vehicles, including select Mini, Mercedes-Benz, and Polestar models. The digital key update is available for Android 12 or later. Support for Mini vehicles, which is already available in the EU, started rolling out in the US on May 13th. Support for Mercedes-Benz will be available on June 10th, while Polestar support will roll out between June 17th and 21st.

Read More 

Image: The Verge

Anthropic is releasing a new feature for its AI chatbot Claude that will let anyone create an email assistant, a bot to purchase shoes, or other personalized solutions. It’s called “tool use” (or the nerdier “function calling”), and it hooks up to any external API of your choosing.
While I’m not a huge fan of the term “AI agents,” that’s essentially the game plan here. For instance, the tool can analyze data to create personalized product recommendations based on a user’s purchase history or provide quick responses to customer inquiries, such as tracking order status or offering real-time technical support. To spin up an assistant, all it needs is access to an API and someone who knows how to code.
Also, this tool can work with images, enabling applications that analyze visual data. An example Anthropic gave is that a virtual interior design consultant can use this tool to process room images and provide personalized decor suggestions.
This AI assistant will be available through Anthropic’s Messages API, Amazon Bedrock, and Google Vertex AI. Pricing is based on the volume of text Claude processes, measured in “tokens.” Typically, 1,000 tokens equate to about 750 words. During the beta phase, most users opted for Anthropic’s fastest and most affordable option, Haiku, which costs approximately 25 cents per million input tokens and $1.25 per million output tokens.
According to Dianne Penn, a project lead at Anthropic, the team has been beta testing the Claude tool since April with a few thousand customers. She anticipates some cool startup solutions: one of the spotlighted customers was Study Fetch, which used it to build a personalized AI tutor called Spark.E.
AI assistants or agents (or whatever you call them) seem to be where this technology is headed. At Google I/O, the search giant unveiled all sorts of ways to let Google do the shopping and searching for you using AI. At OpenAI, the company is working on a Her-like voice assistant that can respond in real time and observe the world around you (in a demo, it suggested a change of clothes before an important job interview).
Anthropic’s release of this new tool allows people to create various assistants to meet their needs, with or without Google and OpenAI.

Image: The Verge

Anthropic is releasing a new feature for its AI chatbot Claude that will let anyone create an email assistant, a bot to purchase shoes, or other personalized solutions. It’s called “tool use” (or the nerdier “function calling”), and it hooks up to any external API of your choosing.

While I’m not a huge fan of the term “AI agents,” that’s essentially the game plan here. For instance, the tool can analyze data to create personalized product recommendations based on a user’s purchase history or provide quick responses to customer inquiries, such as tracking order status or offering real-time technical support. To spin up an assistant, all it needs is access to an API and someone who knows how to code.

Also, this tool can work with images, enabling applications that analyze visual data. An example Anthropic gave is that a virtual interior design consultant can use this tool to process room images and provide personalized decor suggestions.

This AI assistant will be available through Anthropic’s Messages API, Amazon Bedrock, and Google Vertex AI. Pricing is based on the volume of text Claude processes, measured in “tokens.” Typically, 1,000 tokens equate to about 750 words. During the beta phase, most users opted for Anthropic’s fastest and most affordable option, Haiku, which costs approximately 25 cents per million input tokens and $1.25 per million output tokens.

According to Dianne Penn, a project lead at Anthropic, the team has been beta testing the Claude tool since April with a few thousand customers. She anticipates some cool startup solutions: one of the spotlighted customers was Study Fetch, which used it to build a personalized AI tutor called Spark.E.

AI assistants or agents (or whatever you call them) seem to be where this technology is headed. At Google I/O, the search giant unveiled all sorts of ways to let Google do the shopping and searching for you using AI. At OpenAI, the company is working on a Her-like voice assistant that can respond in real time and observe the world around you (in a demo, it suggested a change of clothes before an important job interview).

Anthropic’s release of this new tool allows people to create various assistants to meet their needs, with or without Google and OpenAI.

Read More 

Illustration: The Verge

We’ve been covering big changes to Google and Google Search very closely here on Decoder and The Verge. There’s a good reason for that: the entire business of the modern web is built around Google.
It’s a whole ecosystem. Websites get traffic from Google Search, they all get built to work in Google Chrome, and Google dominates the stack of advertising technologies that turn all of it into money. It’s honestly been challenging to explain just how Google operates as a platform, because it’s so large, pervasive, and dominant that it’s almost invisible.
But if you think about it another way — considering the relationship YouTubers have to YouTube or TikTokers have to the TikTok algorithm — it starts to become clear. The entire web is Google’s platform, and creators on the web are often building their entire businesses on that platform, just like any other.
I think about Decoder as a show for people who are trying to build things, and the number one question I have for people who build things on any platform is: what are you going to do when that platform changes the rules?

There’s a theory I’ve had for a long time that I’ve been calling “Google Zero” — my name for that moment when Google Search simply stops sending traffic outside of its search engine to third-party websites.
Regular Decoder listeners have heard me talk a lot about Google Zero in the last year or two. I asked Google CEO Sundar Pichai about it directly earlier this month. I’ve also asked big media executives, like The New York Times’ Meredith Kopit Levien and Fandom’s Perkins Miller, how it would affect them. Nobody has given me a good answer — and it seems like the media industry still thinks it can deal with it when the time comes. But for a lot of small businesses. Google Zero is now. It’s here, it’s happening, and it can feel insurmountable.
Earlier this year, a small site called HouseFresh, which is dedicated to reviewing air purifiers, published a blog post that really crystallized what was happening with Google and these smaller sites. HouseFresh managing editor Gisele Navarro titled the post “How Google is killing independent sites like ours,” and she had receipts. The post shared a whole lot of clear data showing what specifically had happened to HouseFresh’s search traffic — and how big players ruthlessly gaming SEO were benefiting at their expense.
I wanted to talk to Gisele about all of this, especially after she published an early May follow-up post with even more details about the shady world of SEO spam and how Google’s attempts to fight it have crushed her business.
I often joke that The Verge is the last website on Earth, but there’s a kernel of truth to it. Building an audience on the web is harder than ever, and that leaves us with one really big question: what’s next?
Folks like Gisele, who make all the content Google’s still hoovering up but not really serving to users anymore, have a plan.

Illustration: The Verge

We’ve been covering big changes to Google and Google Search very closely here on Decoder and The Verge. There’s a good reason for that: the entire business of the modern web is built around Google.

It’s a whole ecosystem. Websites get traffic from Google Search, they all get built to work in Google Chrome, and Google dominates the stack of advertising technologies that turn all of it into money. It’s honestly been challenging to explain just how Google operates as a platform, because it’s so large, pervasive, and dominant that it’s almost invisible.

But if you think about it another way — considering the relationship YouTubers have to YouTube or TikTokers have to the TikTok algorithm — it starts to become clear. The entire web is Google’s platform, and creators on the web are often building their entire businesses on that platform, just like any other.

I think about Decoder as a show for people who are trying to build things, and the number one question I have for people who build things on any platform is: what are you going to do when that platform changes the rules?

There’s a theory I’ve had for a long time that I’ve been calling “Google Zero” — my name for that moment when Google Search simply stops sending traffic outside of its search engine to third-party websites.

Regular Decoder listeners have heard me talk a lot about Google Zero in the last year or two. I asked Google CEO Sundar Pichai about it directly earlier this month. I’ve also asked big media executives, like The New York Times’ Meredith Kopit Levien and Fandom’s Perkins Miller, how it would affect them. Nobody has given me a good answer — and it seems like the media industry still thinks it can deal with it when the time comes. But for a lot of small businesses. Google Zero is now. It’s here, it’s happening, and it can feel insurmountable.

Earlier this year, a small site called HouseFresh, which is dedicated to reviewing air purifiers, published a blog post that really crystallized what was happening with Google and these smaller sites. HouseFresh managing editor Gisele Navarro titled the post “How Google is killing independent sites like ours,” and she had receipts. The post shared a whole lot of clear data showing what specifically had happened to HouseFresh’s search traffic — and how big players ruthlessly gaming SEO were benefiting at their expense.

I wanted to talk to Gisele about all of this, especially after she published an early May follow-up post with even more details about the shady world of SEO spam and how Google’s attempts to fight it have crushed her business.

I often joke that The Verge is the last website on Earth, but there’s a kernel of truth to it. Building an audience on the web is harder than ever, and that leaves us with one really big question: what’s next?

Folks like Gisele, who make all the content Google’s still hoovering up but not really serving to users anymore, have a plan.

Read More 

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

If you’re selling your Windows computer or passing it on to someone else, you’re going to want to first wipe everything. Or you may want to rid yourself of several years of data bloat and start again with a clean slate.
The good news is that wiping and reinstalling Windows is a lot easier than it used to be. I’m old enough to remember when it involved hours of file swapping, installation discs, and hours spent putting programs, emails, and files back in place. Thanks to the cloud and online apps, it can now be done in less than an hour.
Backing everything up beforehand is vital, though, even if you’re planning to leave your personal files in place (which Windows lets you do). When you’re planning a backup, besides your personal files, think about other data such as your local media libraries and saved games (if you’re a gamer). And while most applications can be simply downloaded again from the web, it’s worth double-checking what you’ve got installed to make sure they’re still available.
How to back up Windows
You’ve got a wealth of options for backing up data from Windows. In fact, the safest option is to have not one backup but two: otherwise, as soon as something happens to the original data, you’re then in the precarious position of only having one copy of your important files again.
A combination of cloud storage and local storage is usually a good bet. Whether you want to use Microsoft’s own OneDrive or third-party options such as Google Drive or Dropbox, you can set up important folders to be constantly synced with the web. As soon as you make changes on your PC, the synced files are updated online.
Syncing with OneDrive

Screenshot: Microsoft
Windows will suggest you use OneDrive for backup when you set up your PC.

You will have been asked if you want to sync your files with OneDrive when you first set the Windows operating system up. If you have opted to do that and want to make changes afterward:

Search for “OneDrive” from the Start menu, then select the top OneDrive result to see your OneDrive folder in File Explorer. You can also click on the OneDrive icon on the right side of your taskbar and select Open folder.
Right-click the OneDrive folder in the navigation pane on the left, then choose OneDrive > Settings.
Under Sync and backup, you can choose which parts of your system (such as the Desktop folder and saved screenshots) are managed by OneDrive.
If you don’t want to use OneDrive for your backups, click Account > Unlink this PC.

You can also go to the general Windows Settings page and click Accounts > Windows backup to choose which folders to back up and to include various Windows settings (such as the wallpaper you’ve set and your Wi-FI passwords) as well as files.
Syncing with Google Drive

Screenshot: Google
Google Drive is another backup option.

If you’d rather go with a third-party cloud storage backup option, the process will vary depending on your pick. In the case of Google Drive, for example, you can download the Windows client from here. Once you’ve signed in to your Google account, you can specify where on your system you want your Google Drive folder to be located and which files you’d like synced.
To configure your Google Drive backup, find the icon in the lower right of the Windows system tray. Right-click on the icon, then click the gear icon and Preferences.

Open My computer and click Add folder to pick folders on your system, outside of your designated Google Drive folder, to back up (such as the Windows desktop).
Open Google Drive to get to the Google Drive folder on your PC and to decide whether files are mirrored (always saved locally) or streamed (only downloaded as and when needed).
Click the gear icon (top right) to change the location of the Google Drive folder on your system and to manage settings such as screenshot backups.

Using local storage
Windows does still have a local storage backup option of its own, but it’s well hidden: search for “file history” from the Start menu to find it. The tool will help you move files from selected folders from your PC to an external drive on a regular basis — and if you buy an external hard drive or NAS drive, it’ll come with backup software included, too, giving you another option.
How to reset Windows

Screenshot: Microsoft
You can keep your files during a reset, if you want to.

There are two paths you can take when you’re resetting Windows: you can either choose to wipe everything and start again from scratch or reset the core operating system files and applications while leaving your personal files untouched.
The former is clearly more comprehensive, but the latter (assuming you’re keeping the computer) saves you the trouble of having to move back all your data afterward. If you’re troubleshooting an issue with your PC, try the “soft” reset first to see if it fixes your problem before going for the full reset.
Whichever path you take, there’s also another choice further on: download the latest version of Windows from Microsoft’s servers or use the installation files already on your PC. The cloud option typically takes longer because you’re waiting for 4GB of data to download, but it does mean you’ve got the latest version of Windows — you won’t need to then apply any further updates.
Here’s how to get started:

Open up Settings from the Start menu, then head to System.
Scroll down to and select Recovery > Reset PC.
This is where you choose between Keep my files or Remove everything.
After that, you get the screen for picking either Cloud download or Local reinstall.

Before you get to the final Reset option, which actually starts the reset proper, you’ll be able to review your choices: click Change settings if you want to do it differently. Note that if you’ve opted for Remove everything, selecting Change settings also lets you choose to Clean data, which isn’t done by default — if you want to enable this, flip the toggle from No to Yes.

Screenshot: Microsoft
A cloud-based reinstall gives you the latest version of Windows but takes longer.

This “cleaning” process means all existing data is overwritten, rather than just marked as deleted. It’s a security feature. With a normal reset, it’s very hard even for experts to recover any erased data, but when the drive is cleaned, it’s just about impossible. It takes longer (up to a couple of hours), but it’s worth doing if you’re selling or otherwise disposing of your computer.
With all that taken care of, the Windows reset process gets underway. How long it’ll take depends on how much storage your system has and how much of it needs wiping, so you might want to go and do something else for a while. When it’s done, you’ll be invited to log in to Windows or set up the operating system again.

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

If you’re selling your Windows computer or passing it on to someone else, you’re going to want to first wipe everything. Or you may want to rid yourself of several years of data bloat and start again with a clean slate.

The good news is that wiping and reinstalling Windows is a lot easier than it used to be. I’m old enough to remember when it involved hours of file swapping, installation discs, and hours spent putting programs, emails, and files back in place. Thanks to the cloud and online apps, it can now be done in less than an hour.

Backing everything up beforehand is vital, though, even if you’re planning to leave your personal files in place (which Windows lets you do). When you’re planning a backup, besides your personal files, think about other data such as your local media libraries and saved games (if you’re a gamer). And while most applications can be simply downloaded again from the web, it’s worth double-checking what you’ve got installed to make sure they’re still available.

How to back up Windows

You’ve got a wealth of options for backing up data from Windows. In fact, the safest option is to have not one backup but two: otherwise, as soon as something happens to the original data, you’re then in the precarious position of only having one copy of your important files again.

A combination of cloud storage and local storage is usually a good bet. Whether you want to use Microsoft’s own OneDrive or third-party options such as Google Drive or Dropbox, you can set up important folders to be constantly synced with the web. As soon as you make changes on your PC, the synced files are updated online.

Syncing with OneDrive

Screenshot: Microsoft
Windows will suggest you use OneDrive for backup when you set up your PC.

You will have been asked if you want to sync your files with OneDrive when you first set the Windows operating system up. If you have opted to do that and want to make changes afterward:

Search for “OneDrive” from the Start menu, then select the top OneDrive result to see your OneDrive folder in File Explorer. You can also click on the OneDrive icon on the right side of your taskbar and select Open folder.
Right-click the OneDrive folder in the navigation pane on the left, then choose OneDrive > Settings.
Under Sync and backup, you can choose which parts of your system (such as the Desktop folder and saved screenshots) are managed by OneDrive.
If you don’t want to use OneDrive for your backups, click Account > Unlink this PC.

You can also go to the general Windows Settings page and click Accounts > Windows backup to choose which folders to back up and to include various Windows settings (such as the wallpaper you’ve set and your Wi-FI passwords) as well as files.

Syncing with Google Drive

Screenshot: Google
Google Drive is another backup option.

If you’d rather go with a third-party cloud storage backup option, the process will vary depending on your pick. In the case of Google Drive, for example, you can download the Windows client from here. Once you’ve signed in to your Google account, you can specify where on your system you want your Google Drive folder to be located and which files you’d like synced.

To configure your Google Drive backup, find the icon in the lower right of the Windows system tray. Right-click on the icon, then click the gear icon and Preferences.

Open My computer and click Add folder to pick folders on your system, outside of your designated Google Drive folder, to back up (such as the Windows desktop).
Open Google Drive to get to the Google Drive folder on your PC and to decide whether files are mirrored (always saved locally) or streamed (only downloaded as and when needed).
Click the gear icon (top right) to change the location of the Google Drive folder on your system and to manage settings such as screenshot backups.

Using local storage

Windows does still have a local storage backup option of its own, but it’s well hidden: search for “file history” from the Start menu to find it. The tool will help you move files from selected folders from your PC to an external drive on a regular basis — and if you buy an external hard drive or NAS drive, it’ll come with backup software included, too, giving you another option.

How to reset Windows

Screenshot: Microsoft
You can keep your files during a reset, if you want to.

There are two paths you can take when you’re resetting Windows: you can either choose to wipe everything and start again from scratch or reset the core operating system files and applications while leaving your personal files untouched.

The former is clearly more comprehensive, but the latter (assuming you’re keeping the computer) saves you the trouble of having to move back all your data afterward. If you’re troubleshooting an issue with your PC, try the “soft” reset first to see if it fixes your problem before going for the full reset.

Whichever path you take, there’s also another choice further on: download the latest version of Windows from Microsoft’s servers or use the installation files already on your PC. The cloud option typically takes longer because you’re waiting for 4GB of data to download, but it does mean you’ve got the latest version of Windows — you won’t need to then apply any further updates.

Here’s how to get started:

Open up Settings from the Start menu, then head to System.
Scroll down to and select Recovery > Reset PC.
This is where you choose between Keep my files or Remove everything.
After that, you get the screen for picking either Cloud download or Local reinstall.

Before you get to the final Reset option, which actually starts the reset proper, you’ll be able to review your choices: click Change settings if you want to do it differently. Note that if you’ve opted for Remove everything, selecting Change settings also lets you choose to Clean data, which isn’t done by default — if you want to enable this, flip the toggle from No to Yes.

Screenshot: Microsoft
A cloud-based reinstall gives you the latest version of Windows but takes longer.

This “cleaning” process means all existing data is overwritten, rather than just marked as deleted. It’s a security feature. With a normal reset, it’s very hard even for experts to recover any erased data, but when the drive is cleaned, it’s just about impossible. It takes longer (up to a couple of hours), but it’s worth doing if you’re selling or otherwise disposing of your computer.

With all that taken care of, the Windows reset process gets underway. How long it’ll take depends on how much storage your system has and how much of it needs wiping, so you might want to go and do something else for a while. When it’s done, you’ll be invited to log in to Windows or set up the operating system again.

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

More than 40 people working on the YouTube Music content operations team were fired in February, about a year after going on strike. On Thursday, 46 Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) urging the agency to act quickly on cases filed by the YouTube contractors, who worked on approving music content, against Google.
The letter, signed by Congressional Labor Caucus co-chairs Donald Norcross (D-NJ) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Reps. Greg Casar (D-TX), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and 41 other members of Congress, says “we write to express our serious concern regarding alleged retaliation and other coercive actions” taken against the workers.
The letter also notes an incident last year with workers on the team training the Bard AI chatbot, saying, “This is not the first time that Google workers have been fired after attempting to organize their workplace. After Google Content Creation Operations workers took steps to unionize their workplace in June of 2023, Google fired 80 members of the 119 member team.”
The team said many of its workers were paid as little as $19 an hour and could not afford to follow Google’s return-to-office mandate, as going to the office would be expensive. The Alphabet Workers Union-CWA union representing the workers filed several unfair labor practice complaints against the subcontractor Cognizant and Google as joint employers. The NLRB resolved some of these complaints, though 12 cases remain pending.
Google had claimed the decision to lay off the contractors laid with Cognizant and that it didn’t have to negotiate with the workers since they were employed by a contractor. The NLRB ruled in March 2023 that Google controlled the workers’ benefits, hours of work, and direction of work, so the company could be considered a partial employer. Google appealed, but the NLRB upheld its ruling in January of this year.
“Employees at Cognizant, Google, and other companies across the United States must be protected from unfair retaliation for exercising their rights to organize. The NLRB’s response to the termination of YouTube Music workers and alleged labor practice complaints may set important precedent for workers and companies across America,” the letter notes.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

More than 40 people working on the YouTube Music content operations team were fired in February, about a year after going on strike. On Thursday, 46 Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) urging the agency to act quickly on cases filed by the YouTube contractors, who worked on approving music content, against Google.

The letter, signed by Congressional Labor Caucus co-chairs Donald Norcross (D-NJ) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Reps. Greg Casar (D-TX), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and 41 other members of Congress, says “we write to express our serious concern regarding alleged retaliation and other coercive actions” taken against the workers.

The letter also notes an incident last year with workers on the team training the Bard AI chatbot, saying, “This is not the first time that Google workers have been fired after attempting to organize their workplace. After Google Content Creation Operations workers took steps to unionize their workplace in June of 2023, Google fired 80 members of the 119 member team.”

The team said many of its workers were paid as little as $19 an hour and could not afford to follow Google’s return-to-office mandate, as going to the office would be expensive. The Alphabet Workers Union-CWA union representing the workers filed several unfair labor practice complaints against the subcontractor Cognizant and Google as joint employers. The NLRB resolved some of these complaints, though 12 cases remain pending.

Google had claimed the decision to lay off the contractors laid with Cognizant and that it didn’t have to negotiate with the workers since they were employed by a contractor. The NLRB ruled in March 2023 that Google controlled the workers’ benefits, hours of work, and direction of work, so the company could be considered a partial employer. Google appealed, but the NLRB upheld its ruling in January of this year.

“Employees at Cognizant, Google, and other companies across the United States must be protected from unfair retaliation for exercising their rights to organize. The NLRB’s response to the termination of YouTube Music workers and alleged labor practice complaints may set important precedent for workers and companies across America,” the letter notes.

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The Sonos Move 2 comes in an olive color as well as the standard white and black. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Sonos hype may be high right now thanks to the impending launch of the Ace headphones, but its tried-and-true speakers and soundbars are where the deals are at. Now through June 16th, you can save up to 25 percent off select Sonos soundbars and speakers — including some of the latest and greatest models in its Era and Move lines.

First up, the best deal is arguably on the Sonos Move 2, which launched in September and is now selling for a new low of $336 ($113 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Sonos. The beefy portable speaker offers up to 24 hours of stereo playback from its user-replaceable cell, which can also be used to charge external devices via USB-C. At 6.61 pounds, it may not be something you take with you everywhere, but the room-filling sound of the Move 2 makes it a great speaker to use around the house or for backyard parties. In addition to Sonos’ Wi-Fi-based multiroom ecosystem, you can connect to the Move 2 via Bluetooth for those times you don’t mind lugging it out of the house to somewhere like the park or beach.

If you prefer your portable speakers to be more, well, portable, the Sonos Roam SL is selling for $127 ($32 off) at Best Buy and Sonos. That’s a nice low price for the tiny combination Wi-Fi / Bluetooth speaker, which doesn’t have any microphones for those who don’t care for voice assistants. But the newer and seemingly much-improved Roam 2 now exists at $179 and our resident Sonos sleuth, Chris Welch, is working on his review, so I feel you should wait until that drops before buying the last-gen model (nice price or not).

Alternatively, if you want some home speakers that don’t need to travel, the Sonos Era 300 and Sonos Era 100 are on sale for $359 ($90 off at Amazon / Best Buy / Sonos) and $199 ($50 off at Amazon / Best Buy / Sonos), respectively. The Era 100 is the smaller model that fits in tighter spaces around the house but has impressive sound for its size. The Era 300 carries a more unique design that’s geared toward its support of spatial audio, making it an intriguing (though very premium) combination with the Arc soundbar. Both Era speakers also support line-in audio with Sonos’ optional USB-C adapter, meaning you can get a speaker that doubles as an amp for channeling your turntable into a whole-home wireless audio system; pretty nifty if that fits your needs.

If you’re looking for a soundbar instead of a standalone speaker, you can buy a Sonos soundbar on sale starting at $399 ($100 off at Sonos / Amazon / Best Buy) for the midrange second-gen Sonos Beam. If you don’t mind splurging, Sonos’ flagship soundbar — the Sonos Arc — is also on sale for $719 ($180 off at Sonos / Amazon / Best Buy). Both models put out some very good sound that’s much better than those tiny, tinny speakers on your TV, allowing you to better hear spoken dialogue and bringing a touch of rumble to climactic movie moments (especially in the big boy Arc). Plus, for any Ace early adopters, Sonos soundbars will support its slick handoff feature — allowing you to seamlessly switch audio from the bar to the headphones with one button. (The Arc will have this feature out of the gate, with the Beam and lower-end Ray supporting it later via software updates.)

The Beam is likely the right fit for most people, with HDMI eARC connectivity and Dolby Atmos support. The pricey Arc is for those who want the most features and the flexibility to pair it with more Sonos speakers for a surround sound experience.

The Sonos Move 2 comes in an olive color as well as the standard white and black. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Sonos hype may be high right now thanks to the impending launch of the Ace headphones, but its tried-and-true speakers and soundbars are where the deals are at. Now through June 16th, you can save up to 25 percent off select Sonos soundbars and speakers — including some of the latest and greatest models in its Era and Move lines.

First up, the best deal is arguably on the Sonos Move 2, which launched in September and is now selling for a new low of $336 ($113 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Sonos. The beefy portable speaker offers up to 24 hours of stereo playback from its user-replaceable cell, which can also be used to charge external devices via USB-C. At 6.61 pounds, it may not be something you take with you everywhere, but the room-filling sound of the Move 2 makes it a great speaker to use around the house or for backyard parties. In addition to Sonos’ Wi-Fi-based multiroom ecosystem, you can connect to the Move 2 via Bluetooth for those times you don’t mind lugging it out of the house to somewhere like the park or beach.

If you prefer your portable speakers to be more, well, portable, the Sonos Roam SL is selling for $127 ($32 off) at Best Buy and Sonos. That’s a nice low price for the tiny combination Wi-Fi / Bluetooth speaker, which doesn’t have any microphones for those who don’t care for voice assistants. But the newer and seemingly much-improved Roam 2 now exists at $179 and our resident Sonos sleuth, Chris Welch, is working on his review, so I feel you should wait until that drops before buying the last-gen model (nice price or not).

Alternatively, if you want some home speakers that don’t need to travel, the Sonos Era 300 and Sonos Era 100 are on sale for $359 ($90 off at Amazon / Best Buy / Sonos) and $199 ($50 off at Amazon / Best Buy / Sonos), respectively. The Era 100 is the smaller model that fits in tighter spaces around the house but has impressive sound for its size. The Era 300 carries a more unique design that’s geared toward its support of spatial audio, making it an intriguing (though very premium) combination with the Arc soundbar. Both Era speakers also support line-in audio with Sonos’ optional USB-C adapter, meaning you can get a speaker that doubles as an amp for channeling your turntable into a whole-home wireless audio system; pretty nifty if that fits your needs.

If you’re looking for a soundbar instead of a standalone speaker, you can buy a Sonos soundbar on sale starting at $399 ($100 off at Sonos / Amazon / Best Buy) for the midrange second-gen Sonos Beam. If you don’t mind splurging, Sonos’ flagship soundbar — the Sonos Arc — is also on sale for $719 ($180 off at Sonos / Amazon / Best Buy). Both models put out some very good sound that’s much better than those tiny, tinny speakers on your TV, allowing you to better hear spoken dialogue and bringing a touch of rumble to climactic movie moments (especially in the big boy Arc). Plus, for any Ace early adopters, Sonos soundbars will support its slick handoff feature — allowing you to seamlessly switch audio from the bar to the headphones with one button. (The Arc will have this feature out of the gate, with the Beam and lower-end Ray supporting it later via software updates.)

The Beam is likely the right fit for most people, with HDMI eARC connectivity and Dolby Atmos support. The pricey Arc is for those who want the most features and the flexibility to pair it with more Sonos speakers for a surround sound experience.

Read More 

Image: Amazon

Amazon is getting FAA approval to fly its Prime Air drones farther than ever before. The agency has granted Amazon permission to operate package delivery drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), which is farther than a human can see. It’s a milestone that could be a huge boon to the company’s long-running ambition to deliver products to customers in 30 minutes.
With the regulatory hurdle out of the way, Amazon is set to “immediately” scale its operations in College Station, Texas, so it can fly more drones and make deliveries in more densely populated areas that are farther out. The location’s expansion will make use of the company’s current MK27 drone, which can carry packages up to five pounds and is outfitted with onboard detect-and-avoid capabilities that the FAA has now blessed. Amazon is also working on a new lighter MK30 drone that can fly faster and through rain.
Amazon’s new FAA approval comes after it shut down its testing operations site in Lockeford, California, after a long approval process to get customer deliveries running. Amazon is now in the process of opening a new Prime Air location in Tolleson, Arizona. Amazon was granted BVLOS after other drone delivery operators had already received clearance, including UPS, Wing, FedEx, and Zipline.

Image: Amazon

Amazon is getting FAA approval to fly its Prime Air drones farther than ever before. The agency has granted Amazon permission to operate package delivery drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), which is farther than a human can see. It’s a milestone that could be a huge boon to the company’s long-running ambition to deliver products to customers in 30 minutes.

With the regulatory hurdle out of the way, Amazon is set to “immediately” scale its operations in College Station, Texas, so it can fly more drones and make deliveries in more densely populated areas that are farther out. The location’s expansion will make use of the company’s current MK27 drone, which can carry packages up to five pounds and is outfitted with onboard detect-and-avoid capabilities that the FAA has now blessed. Amazon is also working on a new lighter MK30 drone that can fly faster and through rain.

Amazon’s new FAA approval comes after it shut down its testing operations site in Lockeford, California, after a long approval process to get customer deliveries running. Amazon is now in the process of opening a new Prime Air location in Tolleson, Arizona. Amazon was granted BVLOS after other drone delivery operators had already received clearance, including UPS, Wing, FedEx, and Zipline.

Read More