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Signing in is about to get more convenient in Android 15 and Wear OS 5. | Screenshot: Google

AI was the main focus of the Google I/O keynote this year, but there are still a bunch of new feature updates hidden in the various developer sessions. Case in point, 9to5Google spotted that Android 15 and Wear OS 5 are going to get some convenient passkey updates.
In its “Passkeys and identity best practices” dev session, Google announced that Android 15 is going to get a single-tap sign-in process. Instead of having two separate screens — one to select an account and another for a biometric prompt — Google will merge them into a single screen.

The end result is you’ll be able to just use your face, finger, or any other screen unlocking method to log in to an account. For devs, this will be automatically supported in new versions of Credential Manager on Android 15 or higher. Another update is that Autofill will also display Credential Manager results in Gboard. That includes passwords, passkeys, and Sign in with Google.

Screenshot: Google
Wear OS 5 will also get passkey support.

Another neat update is it’ll get easier to log back in to your apps if you buy a new device thanks to a new “Restore” passkey feature for phones and tablets. An app will be able to save a restore key to Credential Manager. That key is then stored locally on the device, and if cloud backups are enabled, it can be automatically transferred over to the new device. In a nutshell, users won’t have to log into each app one by one.
Passkeys are also coming to Wear OS 5 in a quarterly platform release. That will allow you to use either passkeys, passwords, or Sign in with Google straight from the wrist. Google says this capability will also work with third-party password managers, naming Dashlane as one example. The Apple Watch already has some of these authentication features, so it’s nice to see Google continue to even the playing field for Android smartwatch users.

Signing in is about to get more convenient in Android 15 and Wear OS 5. | Screenshot: Google

AI was the main focus of the Google I/O keynote this year, but there are still a bunch of new feature updates hidden in the various developer sessions. Case in point, 9to5Google spotted that Android 15 and Wear OS 5 are going to get some convenient passkey updates.

In its “Passkeys and identity best practices” dev session, Google announced that Android 15 is going to get a single-tap sign-in process. Instead of having two separate screens — one to select an account and another for a biometric prompt — Google will merge them into a single screen.

The end result is you’ll be able to just use your face, finger, or any other screen unlocking method to log in to an account. For devs, this will be automatically supported in new versions of Credential Manager on Android 15 or higher. Another update is that Autofill will also display Credential Manager results in Gboard. That includes passwords, passkeys, and Sign in with Google.

Screenshot: Google
Wear OS 5 will also get passkey support.

Another neat update is it’ll get easier to log back in to your apps if you buy a new device thanks to a new “Restore” passkey feature for phones and tablets. An app will be able to save a restore key to Credential Manager. That key is then stored locally on the device, and if cloud backups are enabled, it can be automatically transferred over to the new device. In a nutshell, users won’t have to log into each app one by one.

Passkeys are also coming to Wear OS 5 in a quarterly platform release. That will allow you to use either passkeys, passwords, or Sign in with Google straight from the wrist. Google says this capability will also work with third-party password managers, naming Dashlane as one example. The Apple Watch already has some of these authentication features, so it’s nice to see Google continue to even the playing field for Android smartwatch users.

Read More 

First we lost Sonic, now there goes Steam. | Image: Tesla

Tesla might be dropping Steam support on some new deliveries of Model X, according to a message from the company shared by a Reddit user who is expecting to take delivery of the long-range version of the electric SUV.
Tesla’s message alerts the customer that the company is “updating the gaming computer” in the Model X and says it’s “no longer capable of playing Steam games.” The message ends with a button for the customer to confirm they will proceed with the delivery.

There’s no indication that other Tesla models will be affected. And we’re not seeing any signs that the automaker plans to remove Steam from current owners’ vehicles through a software update. However, Tesla’s already seems to be leaning toward dropping Steam support for some other models.
Steam isn’t available in the Cybertruck, for example, and Tesla hasn’t said whether it plans on bringing the gaming platform to its bestselling Model Y and Model 3 vehicles, despite newer models sporting improved AMD Ryzen processors. The company has already removed some games over the years, including Sonic the Hedgehog.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk had hyped Steam as a selling point, advertising the new GPU as powerful with the ability to play top-tier games like Cyberpunk 2077. Steam launched in a revised 2022 version of the redesigned Model S and Model X. Initial 2021 models were not installed with sufficient RAM to support the advertised games, so Steam was not included. Musk has said a retrofit would be available, but it’s not free.
There’s speculation that Tesla might be backtracking on powerful gaming hardware in new Model S and X vehicles. Musk has been busy squeezing the company through hot-headed layoffs in an effort to make the company “absolutely hard core.” Tesla scaled back on what a new low-cost vehicle will look like and is going all in on building a robotaxi, which means games like The Witcher are no longer a priority.

First we lost Sonic, now there goes Steam. | Image: Tesla

Tesla might be dropping Steam support on some new deliveries of Model X, according to a message from the company shared by a Reddit user who is expecting to take delivery of the long-range version of the electric SUV.

Tesla’s message alerts the customer that the company is “updating the gaming computer” in the Model X and says it’s “no longer capable of playing Steam games.” The message ends with a button for the customer to confirm they will proceed with the delivery.

There’s no indication that other Tesla models will be affected. And we’re not seeing any signs that the automaker plans to remove Steam from current owners’ vehicles through a software update. However, Tesla’s already seems to be leaning toward dropping Steam support for some other models.

Steam isn’t available in the Cybertruck, for example, and Tesla hasn’t said whether it plans on bringing the gaming platform to its bestselling Model Y and Model 3 vehicles, despite newer models sporting improved AMD Ryzen processors. The company has already removed some games over the years, including Sonic the Hedgehog.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk had hyped Steam as a selling point, advertising the new GPU as powerful with the ability to play top-tier games like Cyberpunk 2077. Steam launched in a revised 2022 version of the redesigned Model S and Model X. Initial 2021 models were not installed with sufficient RAM to support the advertised games, so Steam was not included. Musk has said a retrofit would be available, but it’s not free.

There’s speculation that Tesla might be backtracking on powerful gaming hardware in new Model S and X vehicles. Musk has been busy squeezing the company through hot-headed layoffs in an effort to make the company “absolutely hard core.” Tesla scaled back on what a new low-cost vehicle will look like and is going all in on building a robotaxi, which means games like The Witcher are no longer a priority.

Read More 

Photo: Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Sony Music sent letters to hundreds of tech companies and warned them against using its content without permission, according to Bloomberg, which obtained a copy of the letter.
The letter was sent to more than 700 AI companies and streaming platforms and said that “unauthorized use” of Sony Music content for AI systems denies the label and artists “control and compensation” of their work. The letter, according to Bloomberg, calls out the “training, development or commercialization of AI systems” that use copyrighted material, including music, art, and lyrics. Sony Music artists include Doja Cat, Billy Joel, Celine Dion, and Lil Nas X, among many others. Sony Music didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The music industry has been particularly aggressive in its efforts to control how its copyrighted work is used when it comes to AI tools. On YouTube, where AI voice clones of musicians exploded last year, labels have brokered a strict set of rules that apply to the music industry (everyone else gets much looser protections). At the same time, the platform has introduced AI music tools like Dream Track, which generates songs in the style of a handful of artists based on text prompts.
Perhaps the most visible example of the fight over music copyright and AI has been on TikTok. In February, Universal Music Group pulled its entire roster of artists’ music from the platform after licensing negotiations fell apart. Viral videos fell silent as songs by artists like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande disappeared from the platform.
The absence, though, didn’t last long: in April, leading up to the release of her new album, Swift’s music silently returned to TikTok (gotta get that promo somehow). By early May, the stand-off had ended, and UMG artists were back on TikTok. The two companies say a deal was reached with more protections around AI and “new monetization opportunities” around e-commerce.
“TikTok and UMG will work together to ensure AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters,” a press release read.
Beyond copyright, AI-generated voice clones used to create new songs have raised questions around how much control a person has over their voice. AI companies have trained models on libraries of recordings — often without consent — and allowed the public to use the models to generate new material. But even claiming right of publicity and likeness could be challenging, given the patchwork of laws that vary state by state in the US.

Photo: Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Sony Music sent letters to hundreds of tech companies and warned them against using its content without permission, according to Bloomberg, which obtained a copy of the letter.

The letter was sent to more than 700 AI companies and streaming platforms and said that “unauthorized use” of Sony Music content for AI systems denies the label and artists “control and compensation” of their work. The letter, according to Bloomberg, calls out the “training, development or commercialization of AI systems” that use copyrighted material, including music, art, and lyrics. Sony Music artists include Doja Cat, Billy Joel, Celine Dion, and Lil Nas X, among many others. Sony Music didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The music industry has been particularly aggressive in its efforts to control how its copyrighted work is used when it comes to AI tools. On YouTube, where AI voice clones of musicians exploded last year, labels have brokered a strict set of rules that apply to the music industry (everyone else gets much looser protections). At the same time, the platform has introduced AI music tools like Dream Track, which generates songs in the style of a handful of artists based on text prompts.

Perhaps the most visible example of the fight over music copyright and AI has been on TikTok. In February, Universal Music Group pulled its entire roster of artists’ music from the platform after licensing negotiations fell apart. Viral videos fell silent as songs by artists like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande disappeared from the platform.

The absence, though, didn’t last long: in April, leading up to the release of her new album, Swift’s music silently returned to TikTok (gotta get that promo somehow). By early May, the stand-off had ended, and UMG artists were back on TikTok. The two companies say a deal was reached with more protections around AI and “new monetization opportunities” around e-commerce.

“TikTok and UMG will work together to ensure AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters,” a press release read.

Beyond copyright, AI-generated voice clones used to create new songs have raised questions around how much control a person has over their voice. AI companies have trained models on libraries of recordings — often without consent — and allowed the public to use the models to generate new material. But even claiming right of publicity and likeness could be challenging, given the patchwork of laws that vary state by state in the US.

Read More 

Image: Honda

Honda continues to place bets on hydrogen with the debut of a new Class 8 truck powered by the most abundant element in the universe. The concept vehicle joins the automaker’s hydrogen fuel cell SUV revealed earlier this year. And it comes at a time of skyrocketing fuel prices and a shaky outlook for hydrogen in the transportation space.
The truck runs on three of Honda’s new fuel cell systems, which are now in production at the company’s Fuel Cell System Manufacturing joint venture with General Motors in Brownstown, Michigan. Honda is positioning the fuel cell system, which has double the durability but two-thirds the costs of previous generations, as central to its hydrogen business strategy that was developed alongside GM over the last decade.
The truck runs on three of Honda’s new fuel cell systems
Hydrogen fuel cells use compressed hydrogen as their fuel, releasing water vapor as its only emission. A number of automakers have recently seized on the technology for its advantages in the development of heavy-duty vehicles and mobile power generators — and as a way to further transition away from polluting gas-powered vehicles and meet their own climate goals.
Hydrogen’s energy content by volume is low, which makes storing hydrogen a challenge because it requires high pressures, low temperatures, or chemical processes to be stored compactly. Overcoming this challenge is important for light-duty vehicles because they often have limited sizes and weight capacities for fuel storage.
But hydrogen is also an extremely risky investment, thanks to high prices and a weak refueling infrastructure. There are only a handful of hydrogen vehicles available for sale, with most of the market focused on California thanks to the state’s modest investment in fuel stations. But even that is looking pretty grim, with Shell announcing earlier this year that it was closing all seven of its hydrogen fueling stations in California.
According to the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership, a paltry 223 new hydrogen fuel cell cars were sold in the US in the first quarter of 2024 — a 70 percent drop from the same period a year ago.
Still, Honda remains bullish on hydrogen, especially with regard to commercial vehicles. And it has a ready partner in GM, which is also working on a number of applications for its fuel cell technology.

Image: Honda

Honda continues to place bets on hydrogen with the debut of a new Class 8 truck powered by the most abundant element in the universe. The concept vehicle joins the automaker’s hydrogen fuel cell SUV revealed earlier this year. And it comes at a time of skyrocketing fuel prices and a shaky outlook for hydrogen in the transportation space.

The truck runs on three of Honda’s new fuel cell systems, which are now in production at the company’s Fuel Cell System Manufacturing joint venture with General Motors in Brownstown, Michigan. Honda is positioning the fuel cell system, which has double the durability but two-thirds the costs of previous generations, as central to its hydrogen business strategy that was developed alongside GM over the last decade.

Hydrogen fuel cells use compressed hydrogen as their fuel, releasing water vapor as its only emission. A number of automakers have recently seized on the technology for its advantages in the development of heavy-duty vehicles and mobile power generators — and as a way to further transition away from polluting gas-powered vehicles and meet their own climate goals.

Hydrogen’s energy content by volume is low, which makes storing hydrogen a challenge because it requires high pressures, low temperatures, or chemical processes to be stored compactly. Overcoming this challenge is important for light-duty vehicles because they often have limited sizes and weight capacities for fuel storage.

But hydrogen is also an extremely risky investment, thanks to high prices and a weak refueling infrastructure. There are only a handful of hydrogen vehicles available for sale, with most of the market focused on California thanks to the state’s modest investment in fuel stations. But even that is looking pretty grim, with Shell announcing earlier this year that it was closing all seven of its hydrogen fueling stations in California.

According to the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership, a paltry 223 new hydrogen fuel cell cars were sold in the US in the first quarter of 2024 — a 70 percent drop from the same period a year ago.

Still, Honda remains bullish on hydrogen, especially with regard to commercial vehicles. And it has a ready partner in GM, which is also working on a number of applications for its fuel cell technology.

Read More 

Photo by Valerie Macon / AFP via Getty Images

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies says that bringing a bit more fantasy to the sci-fi show was key to making the new season feel fresh. Doctor Who — a show about a time-traveling alien traipsing through the cosmos in a ship that looks like a British police box — has always been whimsical. But in its newest season, the long-running sci-fi classic leads with a supernatural otherworldliness that makes it feel much more like a magical fantasy.
In the buildup to Doctor Who’s 14th series / season, showrunner Russell T. Davies let everyone know he planned to establish new lore meant to deepen our understanding of Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor. That wasn’t surprising coming from the man who complicated Doctor Who canon in a massive way back in 2005 by introducing the Time War — a conflict that left the Doctor as the sole survivor of his extraordinary race. But it was hard to imagine how Davies could successfully pull off even more massive Doctor Who twists after episodes like “The Timeless Children” (which gave the Doctor a whole new origin story) and “The Giggle” (which split the Doctor into two people) without ruffling some feathers.
When I spoke with Davies recently ahead of the new season’s premiere, he explained that he didn’t spend much time worrying about whether superfans would gripe about changes. As a fan himself, Davies trusted that his enjoyment of the new directions he wanted to take the Doctor was a sign to keep going. But he also felt that opening the season with big changes would be the perfect way to remind viewers how Doctor Who has always been a show about transformation.

Reactions to newer lore establishing the Doctor as both an orphan and an abandoned child were a bit polarizing because it reworked some core aspects of the series in a really unexpected way. What about stepping into this new era of Doctor Who and taking really big swings felt risky to you?
It never feels risky to me, to be honest. I’m the man who created Queer as Folk in 1999 — I live off risk. I love it. I think we can be unfair to fans sometimes when we say the viewers are polarized because there’s nothing fans love more than a good debate. Just go and talk to a bunch of football fans. There are no football fans saying, “Our team is perfect, we’re really happy, and we’ve got nothing to say.” They’re all arguing all the time, and that’s just what fandom is. If things are polarizing, I think we’re in a healthy position, but I also think we sometimes overstate the importance of discourse on Twitter, [now X].
That said, I’m a fan, and I’m not dismissing fan opinions at all, but I think that as long as I personally can find a good emotional path through the story, it’s in a good place. I’m not quite sure where I am when I’m talking about the history of the legend of the Timeless Child. That actually doesn’t mean much to me. But if you say to me, “The Doctor is a foundling” — an orphan who doesn’t know who his parents are — that sells it to me. Suddenly, I can listen to that man and empathize with him. That’s when you know you’re in really rich emotional territory, and I think that’s where Doctor Who is right now.
You’ve said that you wanted to see Doctor Who step into this kind of Marvel-esque era of prominence and production values and scale, and you can definitely see that in these first two episodes. But this is also a time when Marvel fatigue is at an all-time high. Is guarding against a larger sense of Marvel-ification something that you’ve given any consideration to?
I know what you mean, but I have no Marvel fatigue myself at all. What a privileged position to be in to be fatigued by that stuff. Doctor Who is unashamedly a smaller player, and its genius comes from the fact that it’s the cheeky kid at the back of the classroom. It’s not the superhero punching through walls — it’s the whiz kid in the back with the wisecracks being a bit sarcastic about things. Doctor Who has always had a very different glitter compared to other shows. My colleagues in the past always worked very hard to make it look lovely, but we have upgraded it for this new series, I think, and it looks even more lovely.
It’s not a vast budget. We’re not on a Marvel or Star Wars scale, which I’m glad about because I think Doctor Who thrives in ingenuity. We’ve gotten a bit more money for effects, but in this first episode, we haven’t spent it on 1,000 spaceships; we spent it on talking babies, you know? That’s very much in the nature of Doctor Who — to be inventive and a little bit sly that way — and it’s something I’m honestly not tired of.
Both the Christmas special and the season premiere put so much emphasis on children. Why is that?
I find the stories of foundlings fascinating in the modern world because now, of course, for the first time in history, DNA testing exists. These children need to be abandoned, and that was mostly the end of the story. But now they can actually trace their families through DNA. I was watching documentaries and stuff about that, and they started to feed me ideas.
I kind of thought, if you put this concept of modern foundlings into a science fiction setting, it really starts to come alive, and all of these ideas about The Doctor, Ruby, and being abandoned on a church doorstep on Christmas Eve began to chime with each other. We keep going back to that story about Ruby Road, and it’s not finished yet, but it has the most fascinating conclusion.

You’ve talked about the fan perception that Billie Piper’s Rose was treated exceptionally among Doctor Who’s companions but how you yourself never really were consciously trying to write her as being special. Donna Noble grew into being a very distinct companion, but with Ruby, there’s a textual uniqueness to her pretty much right from when we’re introduced to her. What’s been some of the thinking behind your approaching your evolving approach to fleshing out companions?
I think with Ruby, it’s not so much her character or her spirit but that she has a stronger story than I’ve ever given a companion before, and it unfolds in this huge way. But Rose, Donna, Martha, and now Ruby do have one thing in common, which is that I’m initially presenting them as the most ordinary people. That’s the joy of Doctor Who. I think one of the strengths of Star Trek — and I’m a very big Discovery fan — is you’ve got to be the best to be aboard the Enterprise. You are the elite. You are the best of the best of the best. Even the Lower Decks are very good. I think that’s true of American society, which is very aspirational.
Star Trek always feels very demotic and down to earth, but if I was alive in the 24th century, they wouldn’t let me on the ship. They’d say, “No, you’re banned. You’re a fire hazard. Get out.” But the joy of Doctor Who is that the TARDIS could land on a street corner and take anyone. That’s what I used to think when I was walking home from school every day — stepping into the TARDIS and escaping the ordinary. There was nothing wrong with my life and nothing to escape from, but who doesn’t want to go to those endless horizons? That’s what my companions have in common.
Ruby, bless her, turns out to be wonderful and brave and, yes, very special. But her actual life’s very small. She lives with her mum and her gran. She’s earning 50 pounds playing a keyboard in bars. She’s living a low-key life before she meets the Doctor, and it’s only after she embarks on these adventures that her specialness comes to the fore.
You weave The Maestro into Doctor Who’s mythos in such an organic way, but they are a somewhat kind of new presence for this series to a certain extent. Talk to me about what you wanted to do with characters like the Maestro that would set them apart from previous bigger bads in the series.
I wanted to increase the danger for the Doctor, really, and to shoot for a bigger, wider sense of imagination. When you have characters who can change the structure of reality, that’s the time that you can really start playing with the pictures — especially since we’ve gotten this bigger budget. In a science fiction setting, the Doctor is always two steps away from pressing the right button and saving the day.
But when you introduce a fantasy element to the equation — which is only in some episodes — it allows us to take away the buttons. There’s no computer or sonic screwdriver for him to immediately save the day with, and all rules are off, which means the Doctor has to think harder and fight harder than ever before, and I really enjoy that.

Photo by Valerie Macon / AFP via Getty Images

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies says that bringing a bit more fantasy to the sci-fi show was key to making the new season feel fresh.

Doctor Who — a show about a time-traveling alien traipsing through the cosmos in a ship that looks like a British police box — has always been whimsical. But in its newest season, the long-running sci-fi classic leads with a supernatural otherworldliness that makes it feel much more like a magical fantasy.

In the buildup to Doctor Who’s 14th series / season, showrunner Russell T. Davies let everyone know he planned to establish new lore meant to deepen our understanding of Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor. That wasn’t surprising coming from the man who complicated Doctor Who canon in a massive way back in 2005 by introducing the Time War — a conflict that left the Doctor as the sole survivor of his extraordinary race. But it was hard to imagine how Davies could successfully pull off even more massive Doctor Who twists after episodes like “The Timeless Children” (which gave the Doctor a whole new origin story) and “The Giggle” (which split the Doctor into two people) without ruffling some feathers.

When I spoke with Davies recently ahead of the new season’s premiere, he explained that he didn’t spend much time worrying about whether superfans would gripe about changes. As a fan himself, Davies trusted that his enjoyment of the new directions he wanted to take the Doctor was a sign to keep going. But he also felt that opening the season with big changes would be the perfect way to remind viewers how Doctor Who has always been a show about transformation.

Reactions to newer lore establishing the Doctor as both an orphan and an abandoned child were a bit polarizing because it reworked some core aspects of the series in a really unexpected way. What about stepping into this new era of Doctor Who and taking really big swings felt risky to you?

It never feels risky to me, to be honest. I’m the man who created Queer as Folk in 1999 — I live off risk. I love it. I think we can be unfair to fans sometimes when we say the viewers are polarized because there’s nothing fans love more than a good debate. Just go and talk to a bunch of football fans. There are no football fans saying, “Our team is perfect, we’re really happy, and we’ve got nothing to say.” They’re all arguing all the time, and that’s just what fandom is. If things are polarizing, I think we’re in a healthy position, but I also think we sometimes overstate the importance of discourse on Twitter, [now X].

That said, I’m a fan, and I’m not dismissing fan opinions at all, but I think that as long as I personally can find a good emotional path through the story, it’s in a good place. I’m not quite sure where I am when I’m talking about the history of the legend of the Timeless Child. That actually doesn’t mean much to me. But if you say to me, “The Doctor is a foundling” — an orphan who doesn’t know who his parents are — that sells it to me. Suddenly, I can listen to that man and empathize with him. That’s when you know you’re in really rich emotional territory, and I think that’s where Doctor Who is right now.

You’ve said that you wanted to see Doctor Who step into this kind of Marvel-esque era of prominence and production values and scale, and you can definitely see that in these first two episodes. But this is also a time when Marvel fatigue is at an all-time high. Is guarding against a larger sense of Marvel-ification something that you’ve given any consideration to?

I know what you mean, but I have no Marvel fatigue myself at all. What a privileged position to be in to be fatigued by that stuff. Doctor Who is unashamedly a smaller player, and its genius comes from the fact that it’s the cheeky kid at the back of the classroom. It’s not the superhero punching through walls — it’s the whiz kid in the back with the wisecracks being a bit sarcastic about things. Doctor Who has always had a very different glitter compared to other shows. My colleagues in the past always worked very hard to make it look lovely, but we have upgraded it for this new series, I think, and it looks even more lovely.

It’s not a vast budget. We’re not on a Marvel or Star Wars scale, which I’m glad about because I think Doctor Who thrives in ingenuity. We’ve gotten a bit more money for effects, but in this first episode, we haven’t spent it on 1,000 spaceships; we spent it on talking babies, you know? That’s very much in the nature of Doctor Who — to be inventive and a little bit sly that way — and it’s something I’m honestly not tired of.

Both the Christmas special and the season premiere put so much emphasis on children. Why is that?

I find the stories of foundlings fascinating in the modern world because now, of course, for the first time in history, DNA testing exists. These children need to be abandoned, and that was mostly the end of the story. But now they can actually trace their families through DNA. I was watching documentaries and stuff about that, and they started to feed me ideas.

I kind of thought, if you put this concept of modern foundlings into a science fiction setting, it really starts to come alive, and all of these ideas about The Doctor, Ruby, and being abandoned on a church doorstep on Christmas Eve began to chime with each other. We keep going back to that story about Ruby Road, and it’s not finished yet, but it has the most fascinating conclusion.

You’ve talked about the fan perception that Billie Piper’s Rose was treated exceptionally among Doctor Who’s companions but how you yourself never really were consciously trying to write her as being special. Donna Noble grew into being a very distinct companion, but with Ruby, there’s a textual uniqueness to her pretty much right from when we’re introduced to her. What’s been some of the thinking behind your approaching your evolving approach to fleshing out companions?

I think with Ruby, it’s not so much her character or her spirit but that she has a stronger story than I’ve ever given a companion before, and it unfolds in this huge way. But Rose, Donna, Martha, and now Ruby do have one thing in common, which is that I’m initially presenting them as the most ordinary people. That’s the joy of Doctor Who. I think one of the strengths of Star Trek — and I’m a very big Discovery fan — is you’ve got to be the best to be aboard the Enterprise. You are the elite. You are the best of the best of the best. Even the Lower Decks are very good. I think that’s true of American society, which is very aspirational.

Star Trek always feels very demotic and down to earth, but if I was alive in the 24th century, they wouldn’t let me on the ship. They’d say, “No, you’re banned. You’re a fire hazard. Get out.” But the joy of Doctor Who is that the TARDIS could land on a street corner and take anyone. That’s what I used to think when I was walking home from school every day — stepping into the TARDIS and escaping the ordinary. There was nothing wrong with my life and nothing to escape from, but who doesn’t want to go to those endless horizons? That’s what my companions have in common.

Ruby, bless her, turns out to be wonderful and brave and, yes, very special. But her actual life’s very small. She lives with her mum and her gran. She’s earning 50 pounds playing a keyboard in bars. She’s living a low-key life before she meets the Doctor, and it’s only after she embarks on these adventures that her specialness comes to the fore.

You weave The Maestro into Doctor Who’s mythos in such an organic way, but they are a somewhat kind of new presence for this series to a certain extent. Talk to me about what you wanted to do with characters like the Maestro that would set them apart from previous bigger bads in the series.

I wanted to increase the danger for the Doctor, really, and to shoot for a bigger, wider sense of imagination. When you have characters who can change the structure of reality, that’s the time that you can really start playing with the pictures — especially since we’ve gotten this bigger budget. In a science fiction setting, the Doctor is always two steps away from pressing the right button and saving the day.

But when you introduce a fantasy element to the equation — which is only in some episodes — it allows us to take away the buttons. There’s no computer or sonic screwdriver for him to immediately save the day with, and all rules are off, which means the Doctor has to think harder and fight harder than ever before, and I really enjoy that.

Read More 

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft has reportedly decided to add the next installment of Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass. The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft will announce that Call of Duty is coming to its game subscription service during the company’s Xbox showcase on June 9th.
I reported earlier this month that Microsoft had been debating whether to put new releases of Call of Duty into Game Pass, with concerns from some at the company that the revenue generated from typical Call of Duty sales would be undermined by Game Pass. Activision traditionally sells copies of Call of Duty for around $70 or more, selling more than 20 million copies on average.
The brief Wall Street Journal report doesn’t make it clear whether Microsoft plans to charge extra for Call of Duty inside Game Pass, nor whether the company will raise its Game Pass Ultimate subscription fee. I understand Microsoft has been considering raising the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate pricing again. Activision is currently targeting a late October release of the next Call of Duty, which is rumored to be set during the ’90s Gulf War.
Microsoft will hold its big Xbox summer showcase on June 9th, with a special Call of Duty direct after the main show ends. I understand Microsoft is currently planning to announce a new Gears of War game during the show. The showcase will also include a number of release dates for upcoming Xbox games like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Avowed, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft has reportedly decided to add the next installment of Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass. The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft will announce that Call of Duty is coming to its game subscription service during the company’s Xbox showcase on June 9th.

I reported earlier this month that Microsoft had been debating whether to put new releases of Call of Duty into Game Pass, with concerns from some at the company that the revenue generated from typical Call of Duty sales would be undermined by Game Pass. Activision traditionally sells copies of Call of Duty for around $70 or more, selling more than 20 million copies on average.

The brief Wall Street Journal report doesn’t make it clear whether Microsoft plans to charge extra for Call of Duty inside Game Pass, nor whether the company will raise its Game Pass Ultimate subscription fee. I understand Microsoft has been considering raising the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate pricing again. Activision is currently targeting a late October release of the next Call of Duty, which is rumored to be set during the ’90s Gulf War.

Microsoft will hold its big Xbox summer showcase on June 9th, with a special Call of Duty direct after the main show ends. I understand Microsoft is currently planning to announce a new Gears of War game during the show. The showcase will also include a number of release dates for upcoming Xbox games like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Avowed, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

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Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge

AI. AI? AI! AI… A. I. This has been a week filled with AI announcements from some of the biggest and most important companies in tech, all of whom seem totally convinced that we’re due for a revolution in virtual assistants. If Silicon Valley gets its way, you might never have to write an email, a line of code, or a joke ever again. All you’ll do is ask your all-knowing, ultra-helpful, maybe slightly too flirty virtual assistant, and it’ll get everything done for you.
On this episode of The Vergecast, we discuss all the AI assistant stuff OpenAI announced at its Spring Update event and the very similar stuff Google announced at its I/O developer conference the next day. Since the early days of Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa, the tech industry has been moving toward the same goal. Are flirty AI assistants really the future of computing?

After that, we talk about the rest of Google I/O, which was just the Gemini show all the way through. We try to make sense of the new AI Overviews and what they’ll do to the way the web works. They’re going to change things, there’s no question about it — the only thing left to find out is what’s on the other side.
Finally, in the lightning round, we talk about laptops and emulators and self-driving cars and iPads and the undeniable ways in which the app model is changing. With a bunch of developer conferences to come, too, there might be more change afoot.

If you want to know more about everything we discussed in this episode, here are a few links to get you started, beginning with OpenAI:

OpenAI releases GPT-4o, a faster model that’s free for all ChatGPT users
ChatGPT will be able to talk to you like Scarlett Johansson in Her
ChatGPT is getting a Mac app
OpenAI’s custom GPT Store is now open to all for free
Google and OpenAI race to build the feature of search
OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is officially leaving
We have to stop ignoring AI’s hallucination problem

And on Google Gemini:

Project Astra: the future of AI at Google is fast, multi-modal assistants like Gemini Live
Google’s Gemini AI is getting a chatty new voice mode
Google will let you create personalized AI chatbots

And on Google Search:

Google is redesigning its search engine — and it’s AI all the way down
Google now offers ‘web’ search — and an AI opt-out button

Gemini is about to get better at understanding what’s on your phone screen
Google’s Gemini video search makes factual error in demo

And on everything else from Google I/O:

Google I/O 2024: everything announced
Android apps will soon let you use your face to control your cursor
Android is getting an AI-powered scam call detection feature
Google Photos is getting its own ‘Ask Photos’ assistant this summer

And in the lightning round:

David Pierce’s pick: Dell leak details next-gen Windows on Arm chips, 29-hour laptops, and more

Alex Cranz’s pick: PPSSPP brings PSP emulation to the iPhone

Nilay Patel’s pick: For self-driving cars, the free ride is over

Nilay’s other pick: Apple iPad Pro (2024) review: the best kind of overkill

And don’t forget to subscribe to Notepad, Tom Warren’s newsletter on all things Microsoft!

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge

AI. AI? AI! AI… A. I. This has been a week filled with AI announcements from some of the biggest and most important companies in tech, all of whom seem totally convinced that we’re due for a revolution in virtual assistants. If Silicon Valley gets its way, you might never have to write an email, a line of code, or a joke ever again. All you’ll do is ask your all-knowing, ultra-helpful, maybe slightly too flirty virtual assistant, and it’ll get everything done for you.

On this episode of The Vergecast, we discuss all the AI assistant stuff OpenAI announced at its Spring Update event and the very similar stuff Google announced at its I/O developer conference the next day. Since the early days of Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa, the tech industry has been moving toward the same goal. Are flirty AI assistants really the future of computing?

After that, we talk about the rest of Google I/O, which was just the Gemini show all the way through. We try to make sense of the new AI Overviews and what they’ll do to the way the web works. They’re going to change things, there’s no question about it — the only thing left to find out is what’s on the other side.

Finally, in the lightning round, we talk about laptops and emulators and self-driving cars and iPads and the undeniable ways in which the app model is changing. With a bunch of developer conferences to come, too, there might be more change afoot.

If you want to know more about everything we discussed in this episode, here are a few links to get you started, beginning with OpenAI:

OpenAI releases GPT-4o, a faster model that’s free for all ChatGPT users
ChatGPT will be able to talk to you like Scarlett Johansson in Her
ChatGPT is getting a Mac app
OpenAI’s custom GPT Store is now open to all for free
Google and OpenAI race to build the feature of search
OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is officially leaving
We have to stop ignoring AI’s hallucination problem

And on Google Gemini:

Project Astra: the future of AI at Google is fast, multi-modal assistants like Gemini Live
Google’s Gemini AI is getting a chatty new voice mode
Google will let you create personalized AI chatbots

And on Google Search:

Google is redesigning its search engine — and it’s AI all the way down
Google now offers ‘web’ search — and an AI opt-out button

Gemini is about to get better at understanding what’s on your phone screen
Google’s Gemini video search makes factual error in demo

And on everything else from Google I/O:

Google I/O 2024: everything announced
Android apps will soon let you use your face to control your cursor
Android is getting an AI-powered scam call detection feature
Google Photos is getting its own ‘Ask Photos’ assistant this summer

And in the lightning round:

David Pierce’s pick: Dell leak details next-gen Windows on Arm chips, 29-hour laptops, and more

Alex Cranz’s pick: PPSSPP brings PSP emulation to the iPhone

Nilay Patel’s pick: For self-driving cars, the free ride is over

Nilay’s other pick: Apple iPad Pro (2024) review: the best kind of overkill

And don’t forget to subscribe to Notepad, Tom Warren’s newsletter on all things Microsoft!

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Reddit awards are (kinda) back — with a few notable changes. | Illustration: The Verge

Reddit is re-introducing a revised version of the awards system it phased out last year after acknowledging the golden upvote system had “missed the mark.”
“We tried something new, it wasn’t great (you called it),” Reddit said in its announcement post on Wednesday. “So we’re (re)launching awards, not-so-new but definitely improved. Rollout starts today on reddit.com and Reddit’s iOS and Android apps.”
Most of the previous award system mechanisms will remain the same, according to Reddit, with a few tweaks — such as an award button placed under eligible posts, an updated UI to minimize clutter, and an awards leaderboard that displays the top gold and awards earned for a comment or post. New safety features have been introduced to keep awards off sensitive or NSFW subreddits, and allow users to report when awards are being misused. The platform has also created new awards and updated some of the old award designs.

Image: Reddit
Reddit users can now tap the awards button on posts or comments to give an award and purchase gold.

Image: Reddit
There’s also a leaderboard feature now that displays the top awards and gold earned by a post or comment.

And then there’s coins — the tokens Reddit users previously needed to purchase with real money to buy awards. Reddit acknowledges it “did not adequately communicate” to users why coins were being phased out. As such, the platform is compensating users who had their coin balance removed with a “number of exclusive awards” that they can give out for free.

Image: Reddit
Here are some of the exclusive awards Reddit is giving to users who had their coins removed.

Notably, coins aren’t technically returning. Instead, users will now need to purchase gold, which starts at $1.79 (or $1.99 via mobile) for 100 gold, and was introduced as part of Reddit’s Contributor Program to award other users with “golden upvotes.” Reddit said the golden upvote “wasn’t as fun or expressive as legacy awards,” and will sunset the system now that the old awards program is back, though eligible creators can still use gold to earn money via its Contributor Program.
Unlike golden upvotes, Reddit says its Contributor Program has attracted plenty of interest and is now being expanded to cover 35 countries. The company acknowledged user concerns about the potential for the program to be abused for spam, fraud, and karma farming, but says it hasn’t seen an increase in such behavior since the system was introduced six months ago.
Reddit’s apologetic attempt to placate its users may have only created further tension. Some commenters on the announcement post have expressed confusion about how the revamped awards program functions, and many are displeased that some of its most beloved features — like the ability to “gild” posts by donating a Reddit Premium subscription — are not returning.
So, while awards are coming back, the phrase “thanks for the gold, kind stranger” is still effectively a retired piece of Reddit history.

Reddit awards are (kinda) back — with a few notable changes. | Illustration: The Verge

Reddit is re-introducing a revised version of the awards system it phased out last year after acknowledging the golden upvote system had “missed the mark.”

“We tried something new, it wasn’t great (you called it),” Reddit said in its announcement post on Wednesday. “So we’re (re)launching awards, not-so-new but definitely improved. Rollout starts today on reddit.com and Reddit’s iOS and Android apps.”

Most of the previous award system mechanisms will remain the same, according to Reddit, with a few tweaks — such as an award button placed under eligible posts, an updated UI to minimize clutter, and an awards leaderboard that displays the top gold and awards earned for a comment or post. New safety features have been introduced to keep awards off sensitive or NSFW subreddits, and allow users to report when awards are being misused. The platform has also created new awards and updated some of the old award designs.

And then there’s coins — the tokens Reddit users previously needed to purchase with real money to buy awards. Reddit acknowledges it “did not adequately communicate” to users why coins were being phased out. As such, the platform is compensating users who had their coin balance removed with a “number of exclusive awards” that they can give out for free.

Image: Reddit
Here are some of the exclusive awards Reddit is giving to users who had their coins removed.

Notably, coins aren’t technically returning. Instead, users will now need to purchase gold, which starts at $1.79 (or $1.99 via mobile) for 100 gold, and was introduced as part of Reddit’s Contributor Program to award other users with “golden upvotes.” Reddit said the golden upvote “wasn’t as fun or expressive as legacy awards,” and will sunset the system now that the old awards program is back, though eligible creators can still use gold to earn money via its Contributor Program.

Unlike golden upvotes, Reddit says its Contributor Program has attracted plenty of interest and is now being expanded to cover 35 countries. The company acknowledged user concerns about the potential for the program to be abused for spam, fraud, and karma farming, but says it hasn’t seen an increase in such behavior since the system was introduced six months ago.

Reddit’s apologetic attempt to placate its users may have only created further tension. Some commenters on the announcement post have expressed confusion about how the revamped awards program functions, and many are displeased that some of its most beloved features — like the ability to “gild” posts by donating a Reddit Premium subscription — are not returning.

So, while awards are coming back, the phrase “thanks for the gold, kind stranger” is still effectively a retired piece of Reddit history.

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Illustration: The Verge

On Thursday evening, a lot of iPhone owners (including some here at The Verge) are seeing the “not delivered” flag when trying to send texts via iMessage. Apple’s system status page hasn’t noted any issues as of 6:30PM ET, but reports across social media show something is going on. People have reported the problem across multiple wireless carriers (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile), countries, and even continents.
If you are having issues getting texts out, then attempting to resend them has worked in some cases, but for now, it’s unclear exactly what is behind the issue or when it will be resolved.

The Verge has reached out to Apple about the problem, and we will update this post once there’s more information available or the problems have gone away. However, if your international friends are all saying, “Just use WhatsApp!” there isn’t really anything we can do about that.

Illustration: The Verge

On Thursday evening, a lot of iPhone owners (including some here at The Verge) are seeing the “not delivered” flag when trying to send texts via iMessage. Apple’s system status page hasn’t noted any issues as of 6:30PM ET, but reports across social media show something is going on. People have reported the problem across multiple wireless carriers (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile), countries, and even continents.

If you are having issues getting texts out, then attempting to resend them has worked in some cases, but for now, it’s unclear exactly what is behind the issue or when it will be resolved.

The Verge has reached out to Apple about the problem, and we will update this post once there’s more information available or the problems have gone away. However, if your international friends are all saying, “Just use WhatsApp!” there isn’t really anything we can do about that.

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Illustration: The Verge

Google will soon offer schools access to Gemini AI — specifically for educators and students over the age of 18 — and promises not to use their data for AI model training or share it with anyone.
Google will include the extra Gemini data privacy protections on Workspace for Education accounts at no additional charge. However, it does mean relying on the older Gemini 1.0 Pro model instead of newer, more updated models like Gemini 1.5 Pro or Flash, which is designed to provide more accurate answers.
Gemini for Google Workspace launches on May 23rd and will come in two packages for institutions. The first is the lower-cost Gemini Education, which has a monthly usage limit, and the second tier is Education Premium, which opens full access to Workspace AI tools and has additional features like AI notes / summaries for Google Meet as well as data loss prevention.

Image: Google

Chromebooks, which are big sellers in education, are also getting new accessibility features that can help people with blindness or low vision. In the next few months, the Screen magnifier on Chromebooks will gain the ability to follow along with the words as you read things out loud when used in combination with Select to Speak. You can, additionally, make the cursor bigger and turn off the blinking text indicator.

Illustration: The Verge

Google will soon offer schools access to Gemini AI — specifically for educators and students over the age of 18 — and promises not to use their data for AI model training or share it with anyone.

Google will include the extra Gemini data privacy protections on Workspace for Education accounts at no additional charge. However, it does mean relying on the older Gemini 1.0 Pro model instead of newer, more updated models like Gemini 1.5 Pro or Flash, which is designed to provide more accurate answers.

Gemini for Google Workspace launches on May 23rd and will come in two packages for institutions. The first is the lower-cost Gemini Education, which has a monthly usage limit, and the second tier is Education Premium, which opens full access to Workspace AI tools and has additional features like AI notes / summaries for Google Meet as well as data loss prevention.

Image: Google

Chromebooks, which are big sellers in education, are also getting new accessibility features that can help people with blindness or low vision. In the next few months, the Screen magnifier on Chromebooks will gain the ability to follow along with the words as you read things out loud when used in combination with Select to Speak. You can, additionally, make the cursor bigger and turn off the blinking text indicator.

Read More