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In this NOAA image taken by the GOES satellite, Hurricane Lee crosses the Atlantic Ocean as it moves west on September 8th, 2023. | Image: Getty Images

The Atlantic Hurricane season starts on June 1st, and it’s forecast to be rough. A record number of strong storms could form with a shift from El Niño to La Niña this summer and unusually warm waters churning in the Atlantic Ocean.
There’s an 85 percent chance of an “above normal” season, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It forecasts between 17 to 25 storms strong enough to earn a name (reaching wind speeds of at least 39 miles per hour). It also predicts eight to 13 hurricanes and four to seven major hurricanes.
Those are big numbers — the most named storms, hurricanes, and major hurricanes NOAA has ever predicted in its May outlook. For comparison, there was an average of 14.4 named storms, 7.2 hurricanes, and 3.2 major hurricanes per season between 1991 and 2020.
“This season is looking to be an extraordinary one in a number of ways.”
“This season is looking to be an extraordinary one in a number of ways,” NOAA administrator Rick Spinrad said in a press briefing. “The key this year as in any year is to get prepared and stay prepared.”
An El Niño climate pattern is currently in play, which can usually tamp down the Atlantic hurricane season because it usually means increased vertical wind shear that can tear a storm apart as it tries to gain strength. But the current El Niño is weakening and is expected to come to a close in the next couple months.
There’s now a 77 percent chance of a La Niña pattern forming sometime between August and October. La Niña tends to have the opposite effect on the Atlantic hurricane season, reducing vertical wind shear and allowing storms to strengthen uninterrupted.
Rising temperatures with climate change are another risk factor. Hurricanes have grown more intense with global warming since storms draw strength from heat energy at the sea surface. Record high water temperatures have already been recorded across the tropical Atlantic recently, and that heat is expected to persist into the peak months of the Atlantic hurricane season between August and October.
Those high temperatures also allow storms to intensify rapidly, which gives communities less time to prepare for their impact. All of the strongest storms, Category 5 hurricanes, to make landfall in the US over the past 100 years in the US were much weaker tropical storms or less just three days prior, with an average lead time of just 50 hours.
“Big ones are fast,” Ken Graham, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service, said on the press call. “That’s why I’m saying this time they don’t care about our timelines. Preparedness is absolutely everything.”
Other forecasters have made similarly worrisome predictions for the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season. Penn State scientists forecast a record-breaking 33 named storms for the Atlantic. Colorado State University’s Tropical Weather and Climate Research group anticipates an “extremely active” season with 23 named storms, 11 hurricanes, and five major hurricanes.
NOAA also estimates the Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) for the season, a measure of overall storm activity. This year, it’s forecasting the second-highest ACE score it’s ever announced during its May outlook.
“In past years, when we’ve seen high ACE numbers, those have historically been the years with the most destructive hurricanes,” Spinrad said.

In this NOAA image taken by the GOES satellite, Hurricane Lee crosses the Atlantic Ocean as it moves west on September 8th, 2023. | Image: Getty Images

The Atlantic Hurricane season starts on June 1st, and it’s forecast to be rough. A record number of strong storms could form with a shift from El Niño to La Niña this summer and unusually warm waters churning in the Atlantic Ocean.

There’s an 85 percent chance of an “above normal” season, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It forecasts between 17 to 25 storms strong enough to earn a name (reaching wind speeds of at least 39 miles per hour). It also predicts eight to 13 hurricanes and four to seven major hurricanes.

Those are big numbers — the most named storms, hurricanes, and major hurricanes NOAA has ever predicted in its May outlook. For comparison, there was an average of 14.4 named storms, 7.2 hurricanes, and 3.2 major hurricanes per season between 1991 and 2020.

“This season is looking to be an extraordinary one in a number of ways,” NOAA administrator Rick Spinrad said in a press briefing. “The key this year as in any year is to get prepared and stay prepared.”

An El Niño climate pattern is currently in play, which can usually tamp down the Atlantic hurricane season because it usually means increased vertical wind shear that can tear a storm apart as it tries to gain strength. But the current El Niño is weakening and is expected to come to a close in the next couple months.

There’s now a 77 percent chance of a La Niña pattern forming sometime between August and October. La Niña tends to have the opposite effect on the Atlantic hurricane season, reducing vertical wind shear and allowing storms to strengthen uninterrupted.

Rising temperatures with climate change are another risk factor. Hurricanes have grown more intense with global warming since storms draw strength from heat energy at the sea surface. Record high water temperatures have already been recorded across the tropical Atlantic recently, and that heat is expected to persist into the peak months of the Atlantic hurricane season between August and October.

Those high temperatures also allow storms to intensify rapidly, which gives communities less time to prepare for their impact. All of the strongest storms, Category 5 hurricanes, to make landfall in the US over the past 100 years in the US were much weaker tropical storms or less just three days prior, with an average lead time of just 50 hours.

“Big ones are fast,” Ken Graham, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service, said on the press call. “That’s why I’m saying this time they don’t care about our timelines. Preparedness is absolutely everything.”

Other forecasters have made similarly worrisome predictions for the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season. Penn State scientists forecast a record-breaking 33 named storms for the Atlantic. Colorado State University’s Tropical Weather and Climate Research group anticipates an “extremely active” season with 23 named storms, 11 hurricanes, and five major hurricanes.

NOAA also estimates the Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) for the season, a measure of overall storm activity. This year, it’s forecasting the second-highest ACE score it’s ever announced during its May outlook.

“In past years, when we’ve seen high ACE numbers, those have historically been the years with the most destructive hurricanes,” Spinrad said.

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LG’s C3 OLED TV may not be as bright as its successor, but it’s still a top-notch gaming TV. | Image: LG

TVs have nothing to do with Memorial Day, but clearly, retailers never got the memo. Every year, almost like clockwork, they drop some excellent TV deals around the holiday, and 2024 is no exception. Right now, you can buy various LG C4 OLED TVs at all-time low prices starting at $1,299.99 ($100 off) for the 42-inch model (Best Buy, LG). If you want to save even more, its predecessor — LG’s C3 OLED TV — is even cheaper, starting at $735.99 at eBay when you use the promo code MEMORIALTWENTY through May 27th.

In truth, we think LG’s C3 is the better deal since LG’s C4 OLED TV offers minor updates. It’s brighter with better picture quality and more powerful AI processing, but otherwise, it offers many of the same impressive specs. No matter which you buy, you’ll get a lot of value for your money, with each TV boasting the stunning black levels and vivid picture quality that OLEDs have developed a reputation for. We also think they’re top-notch choices for gamers, with both offering support for Dolby Vision, AMD FreeSync Premium, and Nvidia G-Sync. True, the C4 boasts a higher 144Hz refresh rate, but LG C3’s 120Hz refresh rate is hardly slow. Besides, that’s also the max any gaming console can reach anyway.

A few more ways to save

Samsung’s Galaxy Buds FE are down to $74.99 ($25 off) at Amazon, which is $5 shy of their best price yet. For their price, the wireless earbuds offer an impressive set of features, which include good noise cancellation and sound quality along with multipoint connectivity and wireless charging. They even sport wing tips for a more secure fit while working out. Read our review.
Our readers can buy the original Google Pixel Watch for $169.99 ($110 off) from Wellbots when they apply the promo code VERGE110 at checkout. While it doesn’t support all-day battery life like its successor, the last-gen smartwatch is still an excellent and attractive Android wearable with Google Assistant, native Fitbit integration, and built-in GPS. Plus, it supports Wear OS 4, which lets you access features you couldn’t at launch — like Google Calendar. Read our review.
Now through May 26th, you can buy Tribit’s StormBox Micro 2 for $42.99 ($38 off) — one of its better prices to date — when you clip the on-page coupon at Amazon. With its built-in strap, you can attach the tiny Bluetooth speaker to objects like bicycle handlebars. It also delivers good sound for its size, even doubling as a portable power bank should you need to charge your phone while on the go.

LG’s C3 OLED TV may not be as bright as its successor, but it’s still a top-notch gaming TV. | Image: LG

TVs have nothing to do with Memorial Day, but clearly, retailers never got the memo. Every year, almost like clockwork, they drop some excellent TV deals around the holiday, and 2024 is no exception. Right now, you can buy various LG C4 OLED TVs at all-time low prices starting at $1,299.99 ($100 off) for the 42-inch model (Best Buy, LG). If you want to save even more, its predecessor — LG’s C3 OLED TV — is even cheaper, starting at $735.99 at eBay when you use the promo code MEMORIALTWENTY through May 27th.

In truth, we think LG’s C3 is the better deal since LG’s C4 OLED TV offers minor updates. It’s brighter with better picture quality and more powerful AI processing, but otherwise, it offers many of the same impressive specs. No matter which you buy, you’ll get a lot of value for your money, with each TV boasting the stunning black levels and vivid picture quality that OLEDs have developed a reputation for. We also think they’re top-notch choices for gamers, with both offering support for Dolby Vision, AMD FreeSync Premium, and Nvidia G-Sync. True, the C4 boasts a higher 144Hz refresh rate, but LG C3’s 120Hz refresh rate is hardly slow. Besides, that’s also the max any gaming console can reach anyway.

A few more ways to save

Samsung’s Galaxy Buds FE are down to $74.99 ($25 off) at Amazon, which is $5 shy of their best price yet. For their price, the wireless earbuds offer an impressive set of features, which include good noise cancellation and sound quality along with multipoint connectivity and wireless charging. They even sport wing tips for a more secure fit while working out. Read our review.
Our readers can buy the original Google Pixel Watch for $169.99 ($110 off) from Wellbots when they apply the promo code VERGE110 at checkout. While it doesn’t support all-day battery life like its successor, the last-gen smartwatch is still an excellent and attractive Android wearable with Google Assistant, native Fitbit integration, and built-in GPS. Plus, it supports Wear OS 4, which lets you access features you couldn’t at launch — like Google Calendar. Read our review.
Now through May 26th, you can buy Tribit’s StormBox Micro 2 for $42.99 ($38 off) — one of its better prices to date — when you clip the on-page coupon at Amazon. With its built-in strap, you can attach the tiny Bluetooth speaker to objects like bicycle handlebars. It also delivers good sound for its size, even doubling as a portable power bank should you need to charge your phone while on the go.

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Image: The Verge

More details have emerged about the MacBook-like foldable Apple has supposedly been working on. A new report from Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo estimates that Apple could ship more than 1 million devices with a 20-inch folding display in 2026, a shift from his previous projection that it would start shipping in 2027.
Even though past rumors suggest that Apple will go with a 20-inch display, Kuo says that Apple is also considering an 18.8-inch panel. When closed, the 20-inch version will reportedly look similar to a 14- to 15-inch MacBook, while the 18.8-inch device will look like a 13- to 14-inch MacBook.
Apple is working with LG Display to make the folding screen as “crease-free as possible,” Kuo says. The device will reportedly feature Apple’s M5 processor and could go into production as soon as the end of next year.
Supply chain analyst Ross Young first drew attention to Apple’s 20-inch foldable in 2022, a rumor Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman later backed up. At the time, Gurman said the iPad / MacBook hybrid could feature a dual-screen display without a physical keyboard and trackpad.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
The iPad Pro with an OLED display.

In 2022, the Korean publication The Elec also laid out a potential timeline for Apple’s rumored foldable work with Samsung-built displays. It reported Apple would likely start working on these devices after bringing an OLED display to the iPad or MacBook, and now we have the OLED iPad Pro, so maybe foldables are next up.
The folding MacBook isn’t the only foldable Apple is rumored to be working on. In February, a report from The Information revealed that Apple is still working on at least two folding iPhone prototypes that close horizontally. Rumors also indicate that Apple is developing a folding iPad, which Gurman said is still in its “early stages.” The company is reportedly focused on eliminating any visible crease in the folding iPad’s display, something Samsung is still trying to perfect.

Image: The Verge

More details have emerged about the MacBook-like foldable Apple has supposedly been working on. A new report from Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo estimates that Apple could ship more than 1 million devices with a 20-inch folding display in 2026, a shift from his previous projection that it would start shipping in 2027.

Even though past rumors suggest that Apple will go with a 20-inch display, Kuo says that Apple is also considering an 18.8-inch panel. When closed, the 20-inch version will reportedly look similar to a 14- to 15-inch MacBook, while the 18.8-inch device will look like a 13- to 14-inch MacBook.

Apple is working with LG Display to make the folding screen as “crease-free as possible,” Kuo says. The device will reportedly feature Apple’s M5 processor and could go into production as soon as the end of next year.

Supply chain analyst Ross Young first drew attention to Apple’s 20-inch foldable in 2022, a rumor Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman later backed up. At the time, Gurman said the iPad / MacBook hybrid could feature a dual-screen display without a physical keyboard and trackpad.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
The iPad Pro with an OLED display.

In 2022, the Korean publication The Elec also laid out a potential timeline for Apple’s rumored foldable work with Samsung-built displays. It reported Apple would likely start working on these devices after bringing an OLED display to the iPad or MacBook, and now we have the OLED iPad Pro, so maybe foldables are next up.

The folding MacBook isn’t the only foldable Apple is rumored to be working on. In February, a report from The Information revealed that Apple is still working on at least two folding iPhone prototypes that close horizontally. Rumors also indicate that Apple is developing a folding iPad, which Gurman said is still in its “early stages.” The company is reportedly focused on eliminating any visible crease in the folding iPad’s display, something Samsung is still trying to perfect.

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Image: Atari

Imagine if Nintendo woke up one day and decided to buy Sega — that’s essentially what’s happened today as Atari has announced it has acquired Intellivision, ending one of the longest company rivalries in the video game industry. According to the announcement, Atari will take over the Intellivision brand and over 200 games from its library.
“Atari will seek to expand digital and physical distribution of legacy Intellivision games, potentially create new games, and explore brand and licensing opportunities,” Atari wrote in the press release.
Interestingly, though, this deal doesn’t include the Intellivision Amico. Atari stated that Intellivision would rebrand itself and continue to work on developing the console project that was originally scheduled to launch in 2020 and was once headed up by “prolific” video game composer Tommy Tallarico. Atari said that the company formerly known as Intellivision would rebrand itself and that it would grant licensing rights to the new company permitting it to feature Intellivision games on the console.
“We look forward to our expanded collaboration and the prospect of bringing a broad array of new titles to the Amico family gaming platform,” said Intellivision CEO Phil Adam in the press release.
Atari and Intellivision competed against each other with their dueling Atari 2600 and Intellivision home consoles. Developed by Mattel Electronics and introduced in 1979, the Intellivision sold roughly 5 million units by 1990. Atari has established itself as a retro gaming-focused company, relaunching mini versions of its consoles, supporting the rerelease of its games on modern consoles, acquiring retro gaming developers like Digital Eclipse, and now buying its retro gaming peer.

Image: Atari

Imagine if Nintendo woke up one day and decided to buy Sega — that’s essentially what’s happened today as Atari has announced it has acquired Intellivision, ending one of the longest company rivalries in the video game industry. According to the announcement, Atari will take over the Intellivision brand and over 200 games from its library.

“Atari will seek to expand digital and physical distribution of legacy Intellivision games, potentially create new games, and explore brand and licensing opportunities,” Atari wrote in the press release.

Interestingly, though, this deal doesn’t include the Intellivision Amico. Atari stated that Intellivision would rebrand itself and continue to work on developing the console project that was originally scheduled to launch in 2020 and was once headed up by “prolific” video game composer Tommy Tallarico. Atari said that the company formerly known as Intellivision would rebrand itself and that it would grant licensing rights to the new company permitting it to feature Intellivision games on the console.

“We look forward to our expanded collaboration and the prospect of bringing a broad array of new titles to the Amico family gaming platform,” said Intellivision CEO Phil Adam in the press release.

Atari and Intellivision competed against each other with their dueling Atari 2600 and Intellivision home consoles. Developed by Mattel Electronics and introduced in 1979, the Intellivision sold roughly 5 million units by 1990. Atari has established itself as a retro gaming-focused company, relaunching mini versions of its consoles, supporting the rerelease of its games on modern consoles, acquiring retro gaming developers like Digital Eclipse, and now buying its retro gaming peer.

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A Samsung phone, opened up to suggest repair. | Image: Samsung

iFixit and Samsung are parting ways. Two years after they teamed up on one of the first direct-to-consumer phone repair programs, iFixit CEO and co-founder Kyle Wiens tells The Verge the two companies have failed to renegotiate a contract — and says Samsung is to blame.
“Samsung does not seem interested in enabling repair at scale,” Wiens tells me, even though similar deals are going well with Google, Motorola, and HMD.
He believes dropping Samsung shouldn’t actually affect iFixit customers all that much. Instead of being Samsung’s partner on genuine parts and approved repair manuals, iFixit will simply go it alone, the same way it’s always done with Apple’s iPhones.
While Wiens wouldn’t say who technically broke up with whom, he says price is the biggest reason the Samsung deal isn’t working: Samsung’s parts are priced so high, and its phones remain so difficult to repair, that customers just aren’t buying.
Most importantly, Samsung has only ever shipped batteries to iFixit that are preglued to an entire phone screen — making consumers pay over $160 even if they just want to replace a worn-out battery pack. That’s something Samsung doesn’t do with other vendors, according to Wiens. Meanwhile, iFixit’s iPhone and Pixel batteries cost more like $50.
iFixit says the Samsung deal wouldn’t let it help local repair shops, either, because the contract artificially limited iFixit to sell no more than seven parts per customer within a three-month period. “We haven’t been able to get parts moving at the volumes needed to move the environmental needle,” says Wiens.
Last but not least, iFixit simply hasn’t been able to get official parts for the newest Samsung devices — in fact, 2022’s Galaxy S22 lineup was the last time iFixit added genuine parts for new Samsung phones. (While Samsung did add the S23, Z Flip 5, and Z Fold 5 to its self-repair program in December, that was with a different provider, Encompass; iFixit says it was left out.)
Didn’t iFixit know about those restrictions going into the deal? Yes, says Wiens — and it’s not the first time an iFixit-Samsung deal has fallen apart. He says he can’t tell me if Samsung promised things would be any different this time around.

The company still plans to stock aftermarket Samsung parts and publish repair guides, and it still has a stockpile of existing genuine parts. iFixit actually thinks it’ll sell more Samsung parts in the end. But it’ll no longer work with Samsung directly on repair manuals, and iFixit’s manuals might be less detailed as a result.
Samsung and iFixit’s partnership officially ends on June 17th, according to Wiens, and he says he doesn’t believe Samsung will be in violation of any right-to-repair laws once it’s done. In California, for example, Samsung will legally have to provide repair tools, parts, software, and documentation for seven years when the law goes into effect on July 1st, 2024, for any device it sold after July 1st, 2021.
“We’ve been the ones publishing documents for them,” says Wiens, but I can see the Samsung Self Repair Services page at Encompass already has some official repair guides, if not all. Some of those guides also mention a Samsung Self Repair Assistant app, which is weirdly not available in either Google Play or the Galaxy Store and has to be sideloaded in the US. Here’s the downloadable APK from Encompass’s website.

Image: Samsung
A snippet from Samsung’s S22 repair manual; I’ve highlighted a line about the APK.

In a blog post titled “We’re Ending Our Samsung Collaboration” that iFixit will publish today, the company stops short of suggesting that Samsung is “repairwashing” or pursuing any other sort of malicious compliance strategy.
Instead, iFixit says:

We clearly didn’t learn our lesson the first time, and let them convince us they were serious about embracing repair.
We tried to make this work. Gosh, we tried. But with such divergent priorities, we’re no longer able to proceed.

Samsung did not reply to a request for comment for this story.

A Samsung phone, opened up to suggest repair. | Image: Samsung

iFixit and Samsung are parting ways. Two years after they teamed up on one of the first direct-to-consumer phone repair programs, iFixit CEO and co-founder Kyle Wiens tells The Verge the two companies have failed to renegotiate a contract — and says Samsung is to blame.

“Samsung does not seem interested in enabling repair at scale,” Wiens tells me, even though similar deals are going well with Google, Motorola, and HMD.

He believes dropping Samsung shouldn’t actually affect iFixit customers all that much. Instead of being Samsung’s partner on genuine parts and approved repair manuals, iFixit will simply go it alone, the same way it’s always done with Apple’s iPhones.

While Wiens wouldn’t say who technically broke up with whom, he says price is the biggest reason the Samsung deal isn’t working: Samsung’s parts are priced so high, and its phones remain so difficult to repair, that customers just aren’t buying.

Most importantly, Samsung has only ever shipped batteries to iFixit that are preglued to an entire phone screen — making consumers pay over $160 even if they just want to replace a worn-out battery pack. That’s something Samsung doesn’t do with other vendors, according to Wiens. Meanwhile, iFixit’s iPhone and Pixel batteries cost more like $50.

iFixit says the Samsung deal wouldn’t let it help local repair shops, either, because the contract artificially limited iFixit to sell no more than seven parts per customer within a three-month period. “We haven’t been able to get parts moving at the volumes needed to move the environmental needle,” says Wiens.

Last but not least, iFixit simply hasn’t been able to get official parts for the newest Samsung devices — in fact, 2022’s Galaxy S22 lineup was the last time iFixit added genuine parts for new Samsung phones. (While Samsung did add the S23, Z Flip 5, and Z Fold 5 to its self-repair program in December, that was with a different provider, Encompass; iFixit says it was left out.)

Didn’t iFixit know about those restrictions going into the deal? Yes, says Wiens — and it’s not the first time an iFixit-Samsung deal has fallen apart. He says he can’t tell me if Samsung promised things would be any different this time around.

The company still plans to stock aftermarket Samsung parts and publish repair guides, and it still has a stockpile of existing genuine parts. iFixit actually thinks it’ll sell more Samsung parts in the end. But it’ll no longer work with Samsung directly on repair manuals, and iFixit’s manuals might be less detailed as a result.

Samsung and iFixit’s partnership officially ends on June 17th, according to Wiens, and he says he doesn’t believe Samsung will be in violation of any right-to-repair laws once it’s done. In California, for example, Samsung will legally have to provide repair tools, parts, software, and documentation for seven years when the law goes into effect on July 1st, 2024, for any device it sold after July 1st, 2021.

“We’ve been the ones publishing documents for them,” says Wiens, but I can see the Samsung Self Repair Services page at Encompass already has some official repair guides, if not all. Some of those guides also mention a Samsung Self Repair Assistant app, which is weirdly not available in either Google Play or the Galaxy Store and has to be sideloaded in the US. Here’s the downloadable APK from Encompass’s website.

Image: Samsung
A snippet from Samsung’s S22 repair manual; I’ve highlighted a line about the APK.

In a blog post titled “We’re Ending Our Samsung Collaboration” that iFixit will publish today, the company stops short of suggesting that Samsung is “repairwashing” or pursuing any other sort of malicious compliance strategy.

Instead, iFixit says:

We clearly didn’t learn our lesson the first time, and let them convince us they were serious about embracing repair.

We tried to make this work. Gosh, we tried. But with such divergent priorities, we’re no longer able to proceed.

Samsung did not reply to a request for comment for this story.

Read More 

Illustration: The Verge

In yet another major shift, X, the social platform previously known as Twitter, is taking away the ability to see what posts other users have liked. It’s a change the company’s director of engineering, Haofei Wang, says is meant to protect users’ public image — because “many people feel discouraged” to like “edgy” content. MacRumors first reported that the change is coming after a flag was discovered in the iOS app that removes the Likes tab on all user profiles.
“Soon you’ll be able to like without worrying who might see it,” Wang says. It wasn’t initially clear if this would affect seeing who liked your own posts, but X senior software engineer Enrique Barragan chimed in to clarify:
– you will be able to see who liked your posts- you can see the like count for all posts / replies / etc- you cannot see the people who liked someone else’s post- you cannot see others “Liked” tab on their profile
The decision to make these changes comes after many high-profile users came under fire for liking various forms of NSFW or objectionable content. For instance, the official accounts of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming both liked pornographic content, while X Corp. CEO Elon Musk was found to like transphobic posts.
Musk has made many changes to Twitter since he took over, many based on what seem like whims, including the Premium subscription option that made hiding likes a paid feature. He’s also removed the ability to block users and stripped headlines out of news post previews.

Illustration: The Verge

In yet another major shift, X, the social platform previously known as Twitter, is taking away the ability to see what posts other users have liked. It’s a change the company’s director of engineering, Haofei Wang, says is meant to protect users’ public image — because “many people feel discouraged” to like “edgy” content. MacRumors first reported that the change is coming after a flag was discovered in the iOS app that removes the Likes tab on all user profiles.

“Soon you’ll be able to like without worrying who might see it,” Wang says. It wasn’t initially clear if this would affect seeing who liked your own posts, but X senior software engineer Enrique Barragan chimed in to clarify:

– you will be able to see who liked your posts
– you can see the like count for all posts / replies / etc
– you cannot see the people who liked someone else’s post
– you cannot see others “Liked” tab on their profile

The decision to make these changes comes after many high-profile users came under fire for liking various forms of NSFW or objectionable content. For instance, the official accounts of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming both liked pornographic content, while X Corp. CEO Elon Musk was found to like transphobic posts.

Musk has made many changes to Twitter since he took over, many based on what seem like whims, including the Premium subscription option that made hiding likes a paid feature. He’s also removed the ability to block users and stripped headlines out of news post previews.

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The DOJ alleges that Live Nation holds a monopoly over the ticketing industry. | Image: The Verge / Kenishirotie (via Getty)

The US Justice Department and 30 state and district attorneys general have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, alleging that it has a monopoly in the live ticketing industry that enables it to illegally suppress competition.
“It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
The DOJ alleges that Live Nation’s dominance — which spans ticket sales, promotion, artist management, and venue ownership — has given the company unfair commercial advantages over rivals. In particular, its alleged ticketing monopoly has reduced consumer choice, resulting in higher prices, according to the government. Live Nation owns or controls over 265 concert venues in North America, according to the DOJ, which includes more than 60 of the top 100 US amphitheaters.
A ruling in the government’s favor could eventually unwind the Ticketmaster merger
The government alleges that Live Nation and Ticketmaster engaged in anticompetitive practices to protect a cycle that feeds it revenue, which the company calls its “flywheel,” according to the DOJ. In that cycle, Live Nation-Ticketmaster allegedly “captures fees and revenue from concert fans and sponsorship, uses that revenue to lock up artists to exclusive promotion deals, and then uses its powerful cache of live content to sign venues into long term exclusive ticketing deals, thereby starting the cycle all over again,” according to the DOJ press release.
Live Nation, the self-proclaimed “largest live entertainment company in the world,” drew antitrust scrutiny when it merged with ticketing giant Ticketmaster in 2010. At the time, President Barack Obama’s Justice Department was criticized for allowing the merger despite concerns that it would give the unified companies too much control over the live entertainment industry. While the DOJ hasn’t said at this stage what exactly a breakup should look like, a ruling in the government’s favor could eventually result in an effective unwinding of the Ticketmaster merger.
In 2019, the DOJ and Live Nation agreed to update and extend the 2010 consent decree they entered when the government allowed the merger to go through without a challenge. That update clarified prohibitions on certain behaviors the government feared could harm competition, like threatening venues with withholding concerts if they chose a different ticketing platform. But senior DOJ officials told reporters from several publications on a background call Thursday that the conduct it alleges in its lawsuit is broader and more recent in scope and centers on violations of antimonopoly law rather than merger law.
Concerns over Live Nation’s dominance came to a head in November 2022 when Ticketmaster crashed due to “unprecedented demand,” preventing thousands of Taylor Swift fans from purchasing Eras Tour tickets. The DOJ’s antitrust investigation into Live Nation was reportedly opened shortly after this incident, according to The New York Times.
In the complaint, the DOJ details several methods that Live Nation-Ticketmaster allegedly used to lock up the market. For example, it alleges that the company “exploits” its relationship with “potential competitor-turned-partner” Oak View Group, which manages live events venues but has “avoided bidding against Live Nation for artist talent.” Live Nation-Ticketmaster has also “threatened financial retaliation” to keep new entrants out of the market, according to the government, and retaliated against venues that work with its rivals. The company also creates exclusionary contracts to keep venues from switching to rivals or using multiple ticketers, the government alleges.
Live Nation responded to the lawsuit in a blog post, saying that the government “ignores everything that is actually responsible for higher ticket prices, from increasing production costs to artist popularity, to 24/7 online ticket scalping that reveals the public’s willingness to pay far more than primary tickets cost.” Live Nation called it “absurd to claim that Live Nation and Ticketmaster are wielding monopoly power” since its service charges are often lower than other places and it isn’t even that profitable.
The government is demanding a jury for the trial, stemming from some of the claims under the states parties’ laws. The bipartisan group of states joining the lawsuit includes California, Colorado, Florida, and Texas.
The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, represents the third major tech anti-monopoly complaint filed under DOJ antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter within two years. Kanter’s division also filed suit against Google and Apple under Section 2 of the Sherman Act and just wrapped up another Google trial, which kicked off during the previous administration.

Update, May 23rd: This article has been updated to include comment from Live Nation.

The DOJ alleges that Live Nation holds a monopoly over the ticketing industry. | Image: The Verge / Kenishirotie (via Getty)

The US Justice Department and 30 state and district attorneys general have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, alleging that it has a monopoly in the live ticketing industry that enables it to illegally suppress competition.

“It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

The DOJ alleges that Live Nation’s dominance — which spans ticket sales, promotion, artist management, and venue ownership — has given the company unfair commercial advantages over rivals. In particular, its alleged ticketing monopoly has reduced consumer choice, resulting in higher prices, according to the government. Live Nation owns or controls over 265 concert venues in North America, according to the DOJ, which includes more than 60 of the top 100 US amphitheaters.

The government alleges that Live Nation and Ticketmaster engaged in anticompetitive practices to protect a cycle that feeds it revenue, which the company calls its “flywheel,” according to the DOJ. In that cycle, Live Nation-Ticketmaster allegedly “captures fees and revenue from concert fans and sponsorship, uses that revenue to lock up artists to exclusive promotion deals, and then uses its powerful cache of live content to sign venues into long term exclusive ticketing deals, thereby starting the cycle all over again,” according to the DOJ press release.

Live Nation, the self-proclaimed “largest live entertainment company in the world,” drew antitrust scrutiny when it merged with ticketing giant Ticketmaster in 2010. At the time, President Barack Obama’s Justice Department was criticized for allowing the merger despite concerns that it would give the unified companies too much control over the live entertainment industry. While the DOJ hasn’t said at this stage what exactly a breakup should look like, a ruling in the government’s favor could eventually result in an effective unwinding of the Ticketmaster merger.

In 2019, the DOJ and Live Nation agreed to update and extend the 2010 consent decree they entered when the government allowed the merger to go through without a challenge. That update clarified prohibitions on certain behaviors the government feared could harm competition, like threatening venues with withholding concerts if they chose a different ticketing platform. But senior DOJ officials told reporters from several publications on a background call Thursday that the conduct it alleges in its lawsuit is broader and more recent in scope and centers on violations of antimonopoly law rather than merger law.

Concerns over Live Nation’s dominance came to a head in November 2022 when Ticketmaster crashed due to “unprecedented demand,” preventing thousands of Taylor Swift fans from purchasing Eras Tour tickets. The DOJ’s antitrust investigation into Live Nation was reportedly opened shortly after this incident, according to The New York Times.

In the complaint, the DOJ details several methods that Live Nation-Ticketmaster allegedly used to lock up the market. For example, it alleges that the company “exploits” its relationship with “potential competitor-turned-partner” Oak View Group, which manages live events venues but has “avoided bidding against Live Nation for artist talent.” Live Nation-Ticketmaster has also “threatened financial retaliation” to keep new entrants out of the market, according to the government, and retaliated against venues that work with its rivals. The company also creates exclusionary contracts to keep venues from switching to rivals or using multiple ticketers, the government alleges.

Live Nation responded to the lawsuit in a blog post, saying that the government “ignores everything that is actually responsible for higher ticket prices, from increasing production costs to artist popularity, to 24/7 online ticket scalping that reveals the public’s willingness to pay far more than primary tickets cost.” Live Nation called it “absurd to claim that Live Nation and Ticketmaster are wielding monopoly power” since its service charges are often lower than other places and it isn’t even that profitable.

The government is demanding a jury for the trial, stemming from some of the claims under the states parties’ laws. The bipartisan group of states joining the lawsuit includes California, Colorado, Florida, and Texas.

The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, represents the third major tech anti-monopoly complaint filed under DOJ antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter within two years. Kanter’s division also filed suit against Google and Apple under Section 2 of the Sherman Act and just wrapped up another Google trial, which kicked off during the previous administration.

Update, May 23rd: This article has been updated to include comment from Live Nation.

Read More 

At $499 with all the essential features, Google’s Pixel phone starts making sense. Hear me out: out of Google’s entire Pixel lineup, the A-series budget phone makes the most sense.
Sure, the Pixel 8A misses out on the fancier stuff, like a telephoto lens or the very highest rating for water resistance. It doesn’t fold in half. But it has two things working in its favor: time and money.
The Pixel 8A arrives six months after the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, which works to its advantage. That’s enough time to let some of the early bugs shake out on the new OS and the dust settle on issues like “Which of these phones get on-device AI and which don’t?” Google eventually arrived at the correct answer a few months ago, which is all of them — Pixel 8A included.
As for the money, the Pixel 8A starts at only $499 in the time of $1,000 flagship phones. When you consider that it has almost all of the core features of the $799 Pixel 8, it starts looking like even more of a bargain. And with seven years of software updates promised? It’s hard to beat that kind of ROI.

The Pixel 8A comes with a sturdy aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass 3 on the front panel, like the 7A. The plastic back panel has a frosty matte finish, and I have great news about the new aloe color option: it rules. The 8A is rated IP67, meaning it’s totally dustproof and resistant to a brief dip in shallow water. That’s not too common in this class, and it’s a cut above the OnePlus 12R’s mere splash resistance.
I spent a few busy travel days using the Pixel 8A and never once had to think about the battery. Even with a lot more social media scrolling than usual, plus navigation and Uber rides, the battery still had plenty in the tank by the end of the day. Like its predecessor, the 8A comes with Qi wireless charging. I love to drop my phone onto a charging stand at the end of the day, and most budget phones won’t let you do this.
This year’s screen has been upgraded to a top refresh rate of 120Hz, matching the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. Motion on the screen like scrolling and animations looks much smoother than on a standard 60Hz or even the 90Hz screen on the 7A, so this feels like an update with real impact. It’s a 6.1-inch 1080p OLED, and it’s not the very best screen in the class — that belongs to the OnePlus 12R. But the 8A’s display feels at least good enough in the era of high refresh rate screens.

The Pixel 8A uses Google’s Tensor G3 chipset, as seen in the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, coupled with 8GB of RAM — the same as the Pixel 8. That’s apparently enough to run Gemini Nano, Google’s mobile-optimized AI model, on-device, though you’ll have to switch it on as a developer preview option. Google limited this capability to the Pixel 8 Pro at first but later corrected course.
Right now, Gemini Nano lets a couple of AI features happen on-device, meaning you don’t need an internet connection and your data remains private. Right now, it’s limited to summaries for recordings and Magic Compose in Messages to change the tone of your writing.
Not very impressive at the moment, but Google claims it will expand on-device capabilities with Gemini Nano later this year, including a feature that alerts you when a caller might be trying to scam you. Better to have it than not, and the Pixel 8A will be one of the least expensive phones with on-device AI capabilities when that option becomes available. In the meantime, the Pixel 8A handled all of my day-to-day tasks without any problems.

The 8A is ready for on-device AI.

I’m happy to see that the Pixel 8A comes with one of the best quality-of-life updates from the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro: the ability to use face unlock for mobile payments and password managers. On previous Pixel phones, you could unlock your phone with your face, but if you wanted to pay for a latte, you’d have to verify again with your fingerprint.
It sounds like I’m making a lot out of a little thing, and maybe I am, but it just makes using the phone feel much more seamless. I don’t have to readjust my grip or set down whatever I’m holding in my other hand to verify my password manager; it just happens, and I appreciate it.

For day-to-day use, I think you’d have a hard time telling the Pixel 8A apart from the 8 or 8 Pro, but the differences are easier to spot when you switch to the camera app. There are two rear cameras, both carried over from the Pixel 7A, and for a budget phone, they’re quite good.
The main 64-megapixel camera offers optical image stabilization to help fend off blur from low-light shots, and there’s a capable 13-megapixel ultrawide. You don’t get a video portrait mode or macro mode, and you definitely don’t get a dedicated telephoto camera — those are scarce on budget phones, anyway.

But what you do get is really darn good for a budget phone. The Pixel 8 Pro produced cleaner night mode photos when the aurora borealis made a rare appearance over Seattle, but overall, the 8A offers very good night and portrait modes. Plus, you get all of the helpful photo processing tricks Pixel phones have been doing for years (face unblur is a godsend for toddler photos).
There’s the new stuff, too, like Magic Editor and Best Take, if you really want to mess with the time / space continuum and use generative AI to mix and match expressions in your photos or replace the sky. I thought I’d use Best Take more often than I do in reality — I considered swapping my son’s facial expression with one from another photo, but I felt too weird about the results. They were just not quite right, and I’d have to live with the knowledge that it was a photo of a moment that technically never happened. Anyway, it’s there, and you can use it if you’re less queasy about that kind of thing.

A budget phone with great long-term prospects.

It feels like faint praise to call the Pixel 8A “good enough,” but when you’re measuring a budget phone against its much pricier peers, “good enough” is actually pretty darn good. The camera keeps up well enough even in some very tricky scenarios. The screen is smooth enough in a world of high refresh rate displays. You can certainly buy a $500 phone with a better screen or spend a bit more and get some worthwhile upgrades — especially in terms of camera hardware.
But the Pixel 8A really does stand alone in its combination of good enough features, price, and seven years of promised OS updates. There’s nothing essential missing, and what it lacks in flashy features, it makes up for in sheer ROI. And for someone who wants to get the most mileage out of a budget phone, it makes a lot of sense.
Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge

At $499 with all the essential features, Google’s Pixel phone starts making sense.

Hear me out: out of Google’s entire Pixel lineup, the A-series budget phone makes the most sense.

Sure, the Pixel 8A misses out on the fancier stuff, like a telephoto lens or the very highest rating for water resistance. It doesn’t fold in half. But it has two things working in its favor: time and money.

The Pixel 8A arrives six months after the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, which works to its advantage. That’s enough time to let some of the early bugs shake out on the new OS and the dust settle on issues like “Which of these phones get on-device AI and which don’t?” Google eventually arrived at the correct answer a few months ago, which is all of them — Pixel 8A included.

As for the money, the Pixel 8A starts at only $499 in the time of $1,000 flagship phones. When you consider that it has almost all of the core features of the $799 Pixel 8, it starts looking like even more of a bargain. And with seven years of software updates promised? It’s hard to beat that kind of ROI.

The Pixel 8A comes with a sturdy aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass 3 on the front panel, like the 7A. The plastic back panel has a frosty matte finish, and I have great news about the new aloe color option: it rules. The 8A is rated IP67, meaning it’s totally dustproof and resistant to a brief dip in shallow water. That’s not too common in this class, and it’s a cut above the OnePlus 12R’s mere splash resistance.

I spent a few busy travel days using the Pixel 8A and never once had to think about the battery. Even with a lot more social media scrolling than usual, plus navigation and Uber rides, the battery still had plenty in the tank by the end of the day. Like its predecessor, the 8A comes with Qi wireless charging. I love to drop my phone onto a charging stand at the end of the day, and most budget phones won’t let you do this.

This year’s screen has been upgraded to a top refresh rate of 120Hz, matching the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. Motion on the screen like scrolling and animations looks much smoother than on a standard 60Hz or even the 90Hz screen on the 7A, so this feels like an update with real impact. It’s a 6.1-inch 1080p OLED, and it’s not the very best screen in the class — that belongs to the OnePlus 12R. But the 8A’s display feels at least good enough in the era of high refresh rate screens.

The Pixel 8A uses Google’s Tensor G3 chipset, as seen in the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, coupled with 8GB of RAM — the same as the Pixel 8. That’s apparently enough to run Gemini Nano, Google’s mobile-optimized AI model, on-device, though you’ll have to switch it on as a developer preview option. Google limited this capability to the Pixel 8 Pro at first but later corrected course.

Right now, Gemini Nano lets a couple of AI features happen on-device, meaning you don’t need an internet connection and your data remains private. Right now, it’s limited to summaries for recordings and Magic Compose in Messages to change the tone of your writing.

Not very impressive at the moment, but Google claims it will expand on-device capabilities with Gemini Nano later this year, including a feature that alerts you when a caller might be trying to scam you. Better to have it than not, and the Pixel 8A will be one of the least expensive phones with on-device AI capabilities when that option becomes available. In the meantime, the Pixel 8A handled all of my day-to-day tasks without any problems.

I’m happy to see that the Pixel 8A comes with one of the best quality-of-life updates from the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro: the ability to use face unlock for mobile payments and password managers. On previous Pixel phones, you could unlock your phone with your face, but if you wanted to pay for a latte, you’d have to verify again with your fingerprint.

It sounds like I’m making a lot out of a little thing, and maybe I am, but it just makes using the phone feel much more seamless. I don’t have to readjust my grip or set down whatever I’m holding in my other hand to verify my password manager; it just happens, and I appreciate it.

For day-to-day use, I think you’d have a hard time telling the Pixel 8A apart from the 8 or 8 Pro, but the differences are easier to spot when you switch to the camera app. There are two rear cameras, both carried over from the Pixel 7A, and for a budget phone, they’re quite good.

The main 64-megapixel camera offers optical image stabilization to help fend off blur from low-light shots, and there’s a capable 13-megapixel ultrawide. You don’t get a video portrait mode or macro mode, and you definitely don’t get a dedicated telephoto camera — those are scarce on budget phones, anyway.

But what you do get is really darn good for a budget phone. The Pixel 8 Pro produced cleaner night mode photos when the aurora borealis made a rare appearance over Seattle, but overall, the 8A offers very good night and portrait modes. Plus, you get all of the helpful photo processing tricks Pixel phones have been doing for years (face unblur is a godsend for toddler photos).

There’s the new stuff, too, like Magic Editor and Best Take, if you really want to mess with the time / space continuum and use generative AI to mix and match expressions in your photos or replace the sky. I thought I’d use Best Take more often than I do in reality — I considered swapping my son’s facial expression with one from another photo, but I felt too weird about the results. They were just not quite right, and I’d have to live with the knowledge that it was a photo of a moment that technically never happened. Anyway, it’s there, and you can use it if you’re less queasy about that kind of thing.

It feels like faint praise to call the Pixel 8A “good enough,” but when you’re measuring a budget phone against its much pricier peers, “good enough” is actually pretty darn good. The camera keeps up well enough even in some very tricky scenarios. The screen is smooth enough in a world of high refresh rate displays. You can certainly buy a $500 phone with a better screen or spend a bit more and get some worthwhile upgrades — especially in terms of camera hardware.

But the Pixel 8A really does stand alone in its combination of good enough features, price, and seven years of promised OS updates. There’s nothing essential missing, and what it lacks in flashy features, it makes up for in sheer ROI. And for someone who wants to get the most mileage out of a budget phone, it makes a lot of sense.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Read More 

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Pavan Davuluri hasn’t even been the head of Windows for two months, but he’s already been tasked with announcing Microsoft’s transition to Arm-powered chips and its big AI-powered PC ambitions. There’s a lot riding on this moment, and Davuluri now has to lead both the Surface and Windows teams through an AI era that has the potential to upend how we use computers.
I sat down with the new Windows chief at the company’s Build developer conference this week to better understand what his vision is for Windows and Surface, whether Microsoft will still experiment with hardware, and if we should expect to see an end to the ads that are ruining the Windows experience.
Microsoft unveiled a lot of new AI features for its new Copilot Plus PCs, setting the stage for years of Windows transformation. “I think we have a world view of being able to deliver more value to Windows customers writ large, by infusing AI across the operating system,” says Davuluri in an interview with The Verge.

Image: Microsoft
The new Recall feature in Windows 11.

Some of that fusion of AI is already on the way with features like Recall — the ability to search and retrieve anything you’ve done on your PC — and an image creator that can see your drawings and reimagine your sketches. But that’s only a start.
Microsoft wants its Copilot AI to anticipate your needs when performing repetitive or common Windows tasks. “If we can find a way of having those moments be more productive and moving through things by understanding your intent and where you see value, we can make the Copilot have context and make it be sort of in the flow of what you do and how you do things,” says Davuluri.
AI is also going to have a big impact on how apps are built, Davuluri says. “The signal that we get over and over is that people are reimagining what their apps are on Windows,” he says.
Microsoft is counting on its Windows Copilot Runtime to help change how apps are built for Windows. This collection of tools gives developers the opportunity to take advantage of everything that Microsoft has built for its Copilot Plus PCs and the more than 40 AI models that are now built into the operating system.
“I think it will open up net new things, because you’ll start doing things in your apps that were otherwise not possible,” says Davuluri. “I think that’s one huge thrust for us in Windows, a platform through experiences.”
It’s still early days for this Windows Copilot Runtime, though. It’s designed exclusively for these new AI-powered PCs, of which Microsoft thinks there will be 50 million sold over the next year. That’s still only 20 percent of the 247 million PCs that IDC estimates were sold during 2023.

Image: Microsoft
The Windows 365 integration in Windows 11.

Beyond AI, Davuluri also sees a future for Windows being streamed to devices instead of running locally on them. Microsoft has been working toward this with its Windows 365 service. “We’re going to make Windows cloud native. We’re making a big push for Windows 365,” he says.
Microsoft shared an example of Windows being streamed to Meta Quest headsets during its Build keynote, with new “Windows Volumetric Apps” streaming HoloLens-like 3D apps and digital objects to a VR headset. This type of experience is designed for designers and people working with CAD drawings right now, but Davuluri sees a future where having Windows cloud native could change operating systems just as much as he thinks AI will.
“Windows and cloud is going to be a game changer for us in the arc of time,” says Davuluri. “It’s also going to change a lot of the compute paradigm because I believe that when the OS becomes cloud native… we’ll have near infinite scale for compute in the cloud. I think that will make us think differently about operating systems.”
Streaming Windows to future devices could even keep the OS relevant in a world where AI could reshape hardware as more companies experiment with AI-powered devices. This idea of hardware experimentation got me thinking about Microsoft’s own experiments with its Surface hardware over the years. Devices like the dual-screen Surface Neo and detaching Surface Book no longer exist, so will Microsoft still experiment with Surface hardware in the future?
“I think experimentation and iteration is the DNA for our team, so I think it’s vital that we continue to do it,” says Davuluri. While Surface may still push the boundaries yet, it sounds like Microsoft won’t be experimenting directly with customers. “I think the one difference will be the methods and tools we use for how we iterate and refine,” says Davuluri. “I think it will be within industry, within platform, within the company, and with partners. Perhaps less so with customers themselves.”

Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
The new Surface Pro and Flex Keyboard.

Microsoft’s new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard is an example of seeking more refinement, rather than just shipping an experiment to customers. The $450 keyboard includes a haptic trackpad and a way to use it over Bluetooth for the first time. “We could have shipped that keyboard sooner if we felt like it, but the Surface team was on this kind of relentless march that it has to be really perfect,” says Davuluri.
As a 23-year veteran at Microsoft, Davuluri has been instrumental to the company’s silicon work for Windows, helping the company make Windows on Arm a reality. Now, he has the tricky balance of working with AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm during an Arm transition, and the many PC manufacturers that all compete against each other.
“Arm has certainly been a big conversation point, but really the bigger thing for me is a modernization of the platform,” says Davuluri. “Truthfully, modernizing the SoC platform is as true with AMD or with Intel as it is with Qualcomm. It has really required us to think about the silicon and the OS more deeply as a system together, and that has been an evolution in our own thinking and an evolution for our silicon partners. We were not entirely sure how we were going to navigate ourselves together, so that was kind of a paradigm shift in how we worked together, but it has been fantastic.”
All of this modernization means very little if Microsoft is going to continue to ruin the Windows experience with malware-like Bing prompts and ads. I’ve been particularly vocal about this, and it sounds like Microsoft might be listening. “I think that’s an ongoing journey for us. It is front and center for me, making sure we are winning Windows customers through great experiences at the end of the day,” says Davuluri. “We want them to enjoy Windows, we want them to want it. So I hear you on it.”

This is the free edition of Notepad, our newsletter uncovering Microsoft’s era-defining bets in AI, gaming, and computing.
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Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Pavan Davuluri hasn’t even been the head of Windows for two months, but he’s already been tasked with announcing Microsoft’s transition to Arm-powered chips and its big AI-powered PC ambitions. There’s a lot riding on this moment, and Davuluri now has to lead both the Surface and Windows teams through an AI era that has the potential to upend how we use computers.

I sat down with the new Windows chief at the company’s Build developer conference this week to better understand what his vision is for Windows and Surface, whether Microsoft will still experiment with hardware, and if we should expect to see an end to the ads that are ruining the Windows experience.

Microsoft unveiled a lot of new AI features for its new Copilot Plus PCs, setting the stage for years of Windows transformation. “I think we have a world view of being able to deliver more value to Windows customers writ large, by infusing AI across the operating system,” says Davuluri in an interview with The Verge.

Image: Microsoft
The new Recall feature in Windows 11.

Some of that fusion of AI is already on the way with features like Recall — the ability to search and retrieve anything you’ve done on your PC — and an image creator that can see your drawings and reimagine your sketches. But that’s only a start.

Microsoft wants its Copilot AI to anticipate your needs when performing repetitive or common Windows tasks. “If we can find a way of having those moments be more productive and moving through things by understanding your intent and where you see value, we can make the Copilot have context and make it be sort of in the flow of what you do and how you do things,” says Davuluri.

AI is also going to have a big impact on how apps are built, Davuluri says. “The signal that we get over and over is that people are reimagining what their apps are on Windows,” he says.

Microsoft is counting on its Windows Copilot Runtime to help change how apps are built for Windows. This collection of tools gives developers the opportunity to take advantage of everything that Microsoft has built for its Copilot Plus PCs and the more than 40 AI models that are now built into the operating system.

“I think it will open up net new things, because you’ll start doing things in your apps that were otherwise not possible,” says Davuluri. “I think that’s one huge thrust for us in Windows, a platform through experiences.”

It’s still early days for this Windows Copilot Runtime, though. It’s designed exclusively for these new AI-powered PCs, of which Microsoft thinks there will be 50 million sold over the next year. That’s still only 20 percent of the 247 million PCs that IDC estimates were sold during 2023.

Image: Microsoft
The Windows 365 integration in Windows 11.

Beyond AI, Davuluri also sees a future for Windows being streamed to devices instead of running locally on them. Microsoft has been working toward this with its Windows 365 service. “We’re going to make Windows cloud native. We’re making a big push for Windows 365,” he says.

Microsoft shared an example of Windows being streamed to Meta Quest headsets during its Build keynote, with new “Windows Volumetric Apps” streaming HoloLens-like 3D apps and digital objects to a VR headset. This type of experience is designed for designers and people working with CAD drawings right now, but Davuluri sees a future where having Windows cloud native could change operating systems just as much as he thinks AI will.

“Windows and cloud is going to be a game changer for us in the arc of time,” says Davuluri. “It’s also going to change a lot of the compute paradigm because I believe that when the OS becomes cloud native… we’ll have near infinite scale for compute in the cloud. I think that will make us think differently about operating systems.”

Streaming Windows to future devices could even keep the OS relevant in a world where AI could reshape hardware as more companies experiment with AI-powered devices. This idea of hardware experimentation got me thinking about Microsoft’s own experiments with its Surface hardware over the years. Devices like the dual-screen Surface Neo and detaching Surface Book no longer exist, so will Microsoft still experiment with Surface hardware in the future?

“I think experimentation and iteration is the DNA for our team, so I think it’s vital that we continue to do it,” says Davuluri. While Surface may still push the boundaries yet, it sounds like Microsoft won’t be experimenting directly with customers. “I think the one difference will be the methods and tools we use for how we iterate and refine,” says Davuluri. “I think it will be within industry, within platform, within the company, and with partners. Perhaps less so with customers themselves.”

Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
The new Surface Pro and Flex Keyboard.

Microsoft’s new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard is an example of seeking more refinement, rather than just shipping an experiment to customers. The $450 keyboard includes a haptic trackpad and a way to use it over Bluetooth for the first time. “We could have shipped that keyboard sooner if we felt like it, but the Surface team was on this kind of relentless march that it has to be really perfect,” says Davuluri.

As a 23-year veteran at Microsoft, Davuluri has been instrumental to the company’s silicon work for Windows, helping the company make Windows on Arm a reality. Now, he has the tricky balance of working with AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm during an Arm transition, and the many PC manufacturers that all compete against each other.

“Arm has certainly been a big conversation point, but really the bigger thing for me is a modernization of the platform,” says Davuluri. “Truthfully, modernizing the SoC platform is as true with AMD or with Intel as it is with Qualcomm. It has really required us to think about the silicon and the OS more deeply as a system together, and that has been an evolution in our own thinking and an evolution for our silicon partners. We were not entirely sure how we were going to navigate ourselves together, so that was kind of a paradigm shift in how we worked together, but it has been fantastic.”

All of this modernization means very little if Microsoft is going to continue to ruin the Windows experience with malware-like Bing prompts and ads. I’ve been particularly vocal about this, and it sounds like Microsoft might be listening. “I think that’s an ongoing journey for us. It is front and center for me, making sure we are winning Windows customers through great experiences at the end of the day,” says Davuluri. “We want them to enjoy Windows, we want them to want it. So I hear you on it.”

Read More 

Leica’s new D-Lux 8 point-and-shoot camera. | Image: Leica

Leica has a new $1,595 compact digital camera called D-Lux 8 — a follow-up to the discontinued D-Lux 7 launched way back in 2018 for $1,195. There are a lot of similarities between the two despite that price increase: they both house a non-detachable Leica 24-75mm zoom lens, contain a 21-megapixel four-thirds CMOS sensor, and have a similar design. But now, there’s new software under the hood and changes in controls — more on that later.
Many of Leica’s flagship products come at premium prices (exhibit A: the SL3 for $7,000). But with the D-Lux 8, the company is continuing its line of “budget-friendly” point and shoots. The new model comes at a time when classy, easy-to-use cameras with film-style image quality, like the Fujifilm X100VI and Ricoh GR III, are increasing in popularity.
Right now, products like the new Panasonic Lumix S9 are taking straight aim at Fujifilm’s $1,599 X100VI camera, and the new D-Lux 8 seems to be joining the brawl now that it’s just as expensive. With its fixed prime lens and desirable film simulations, the X100V has become a TikTok sensation that has garnered lots of attention from novice and hobbyist camera users who might also want cool vintage-looking shooters.

At first glance, the D-Lux 8 looks just like the 7, but with an all-black finish and the leathery wrap of Leica’s pricey full-frame Q line of cameras. Leica is also selling new accessories in multiple colors for the D-Lux 8, including a hand grip, carrying straps, wrist straps, and leather protectors. It comes with a flash attachment in the box, like its predecessor. It also seems to have the same three-inch screen and Panasonic-sourced image sensor and likely supports the same 4K / 30p video recording.

Image: Leica

Leica says the D-Lux 8 now has a software interface that’s “inspired” by the more expensive Q line. Plus, there’s now support for the DNG format (a RAW file) — a first for the D-Lux line. But along with the software change comes fewer buttons, many of them now unlabeled, and a plain dial compared to the 7. The mechanical on / off switch is gone, too.
Camera companies are seeing value in building cheaper cameras that are easier to use, and it looks like D-Lux 8 is Leica’s move on that budget trend (as long as your budget is over $1,000). You can get the D-Lux 8 at Leica stores, Leica’s website, and authorized dealers starting on July 2nd, and you can also register to be notified of availability.

Leica’s new D-Lux 8 point-and-shoot camera. | Image: Leica

Leica has a new $1,595 compact digital camera called D-Lux 8 — a follow-up to the discontinued D-Lux 7 launched way back in 2018 for $1,195. There are a lot of similarities between the two despite that price increase: they both house a non-detachable Leica 24-75mm zoom lens, contain a 21-megapixel four-thirds CMOS sensor, and have a similar design. But now, there’s new software under the hood and changes in controls — more on that later.

Many of Leica’s flagship products come at premium prices (exhibit A: the SL3 for $7,000). But with the D-Lux 8, the company is continuing its line of “budget-friendly” point and shoots. The new model comes at a time when classy, easy-to-use cameras with film-style image quality, like the Fujifilm X100VI and Ricoh GR III, are increasing in popularity.

Right now, products like the new Panasonic Lumix S9 are taking straight aim at Fujifilm’s $1,599 X100VI camera, and the new D-Lux 8 seems to be joining the brawl now that it’s just as expensive. With its fixed prime lens and desirable film simulations, the X100V has become a TikTok sensation that has garnered lots of attention from novice and hobbyist camera users who might also want cool vintage-looking shooters.

At first glance, the D-Lux 8 looks just like the 7, but with an all-black finish and the leathery wrap of Leica’s pricey full-frame Q line of cameras. Leica is also selling new accessories in multiple colors for the D-Lux 8, including a hand grip, carrying straps, wrist straps, and leather protectors. It comes with a flash attachment in the box, like its predecessor. It also seems to have the same three-inch screen and Panasonic-sourced image sensor and likely supports the same 4K / 30p video recording.

Image: Leica

Leica says the D-Lux 8 now has a software interface that’s “inspired” by the more expensive Q line. Plus, there’s now support for the DNG format (a RAW file) — a first for the D-Lux line. But along with the software change comes fewer buttons, many of them now unlabeled, and a plain dial compared to the 7. The mechanical on / off switch is gone, too.

Camera companies are seeing value in building cheaper cameras that are easier to use, and it looks like D-Lux 8 is Leica’s move on that budget trend (as long as your budget is over $1,000). You can get the D-Lux 8 at Leica stores, Leica’s website, and authorized dealers starting on July 2nd, and you can also register to be notified of availability.

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