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Image: Max

Max is going way back in time for its upcoming Dune prequel show. The streamer just released the first trailer for the limited series — dubbed Dune: Prophecy — which is set 10,000 years before Paul Atreides set foot on Arrakis in the movies. The show is slated to start streaming later this fall, though it doesn’t have a specific date just yet.
The story is focused on the formation of the Bene Gesserit, the clandestine group that set many Dune universe-defining events in motion. Max says that the series “follows two Harkonnen sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind and establish the fabled sect that will become known as the Bene Gesserit.” It’s based on the novel Sisterhood of Dune.
The series will run six episodes when it does debut and joins an ever-growing cinematic universe for Frank Herbert’s sci-fi opus. Denis Villeneuve’s second Dune film hit theaters earlier this year (and starts streaming next week), and a third one is in the works as well.

Image: Max

Max is going way back in time for its upcoming Dune prequel show. The streamer just released the first trailer for the limited series — dubbed Dune: Prophecy — which is set 10,000 years before Paul Atreides set foot on Arrakis in the movies. The show is slated to start streaming later this fall, though it doesn’t have a specific date just yet.

The story is focused on the formation of the Bene Gesserit, the clandestine group that set many Dune universe-defining events in motion. Max says that the series “follows two Harkonnen sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind and establish the fabled sect that will become known as the Bene Gesserit.” It’s based on the novel Sisterhood of Dune.

The series will run six episodes when it does debut and joins an ever-growing cinematic universe for Frank Herbert’s sci-fi opus. Denis Villeneuve’s second Dune film hit theaters earlier this year (and starts streaming next week), and a third one is in the works as well.

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Mike Krieger has a long history in tech and AI. | Photo by Jerod Harris / Getty Images for Vox Media

As Anthropic tries to take on the AI giants, it has a new big-name executive on board: the company announced this morning that Mike Krieger is its new chief product officer. Krieger, of course, was one of the co-founders of Instagram and spent the last few years working on Artifact, an AI news-reading app that was recently acquired by Yahoo.
Krieger will oversee all of Anthropic’s product efforts going forward. It’s an important moment for the company to push hard on product, too: it recently released the Claude app for iOS, long after a bunch of its competitors were available on mobile, and just announced support for use in Spanish, French, Italian, and German. Anthropic, which was founded by ex-OpenAI employees, has been seemingly primarily focused on building out its core technology for the last few years but seems to understand that it needs to turn all that tech into products — and there’s no time to waste.
Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and seemingly everybody else is racing as fast as possible to put AI models in everything. The underlying tech is changing fast, and the products through which people use them are evolving even faster.
“Mike’s background in developing intuitive products and user experiences will be invaluable as we create new ways for people to interact with Claude, particularly in the workplace,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a statement announcing the hire. “We feel fortunate to add Mike’s vision and expertise to our leadership team.” That bit about the workplace is interesting: it sounds like Krieger’s job may be to find business-focused uses for Claude, at least at first.
Despite being a little slow, Anthropic is actually well positioned to make some noise in this space. The company has raised almost $8 billion, most of that just in the last 12 months, and recently told TechCrunch it’s in the process of raising even more. Amazon is one of its primary investors and partners, Google is also a huge investor, and there have been rumors about Anthropic partnering with Apple on its efforts as well.
The AI space is blisteringly hot right now, and there’s more new stuff and more noisy hype practically every day. Krieger built a massively successful company in a massively competitive landscape once before; the stakes might be even higher this time.

Mike Krieger has a long history in tech and AI. | Photo by Jerod Harris / Getty Images for Vox Media

As Anthropic tries to take on the AI giants, it has a new big-name executive on board: the company announced this morning that Mike Krieger is its new chief product officer. Krieger, of course, was one of the co-founders of Instagram and spent the last few years working on Artifact, an AI news-reading app that was recently acquired by Yahoo.

Krieger will oversee all of Anthropic’s product efforts going forward. It’s an important moment for the company to push hard on product, too: it recently released the Claude app for iOS, long after a bunch of its competitors were available on mobile, and just announced support for use in Spanish, French, Italian, and German. Anthropic, which was founded by ex-OpenAI employees, has been seemingly primarily focused on building out its core technology for the last few years but seems to understand that it needs to turn all that tech into products — and there’s no time to waste.

Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and seemingly everybody else is racing as fast as possible to put AI models in everything. The underlying tech is changing fast, and the products through which people use them are evolving even faster.

“Mike’s background in developing intuitive products and user experiences will be invaluable as we create new ways for people to interact with Claude, particularly in the workplace,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a statement announcing the hire. “We feel fortunate to add Mike’s vision and expertise to our leadership team.” That bit about the workplace is interesting: it sounds like Krieger’s job may be to find business-focused uses for Claude, at least at first.

Despite being a little slow, Anthropic is actually well positioned to make some noise in this space. The company has raised almost $8 billion, most of that just in the last 12 months, and recently told TechCrunch it’s in the process of raising even more. Amazon is one of its primary investors and partners, Google is also a huge investor, and there have been rumors about Anthropic partnering with Apple on its efforts as well.

The AI space is blisteringly hot right now, and there’s more new stuff and more noisy hype practically every day. Krieger built a massively successful company in a massively competitive landscape once before; the stakes might be even higher this time.

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Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

I’m excited to announce Notepad, a new weekly newsletter I’ll be writing at The Verge.
Notepad is an inside look at my notes on Microsoft, a company I’ve spent the past 20 years trying to make sense of through my reporting, scoops, and analyses. This newsletter is designed to uncover the secrets and strategy behind Microsoft’s era-defining bets on AI, gaming, and the future of computing.
Whether it’s Windows, a new AI Copilot, the next Xbox, or every Michael at Microsoft being added to a mysterious email list, Notepad is the place to get the very latest on all things Microsoft. Expect to read exclusives and analyses you won’t find elsewhere, interviews that go deeper on Microsoft’s big bets, and some gossip from inside the walls of Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington.
You can sign up here. New subscribers receive a one-month free trial with the option to pay $7 per month or $70 per year. Free subscribers will receive a collection of important Microsoft stories you might have missed, occasional previews of what full access gets you, and some of my Microsoft reporting for The Verge.
And check out our bundled plan, where you can get both Notepad and Command Line by Alex Heath for a discounted rate of $100 a year.

Sign up for Notepad by Tom Warren, a weekly newsletter uncovering the secrets and strategy behind Microsoft’s era-defining bets on AI, gaming, and computing. Subscribe to get the latest straight to your inbox.

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Over the past 20 years, I’ve broken thousands of stories on Microsoft. Some of my early important reporting included details on a Windows 2000 source code leak, thousands of Hotmail account passwords that were posted online, and regular scoops on Windows releases. I led the technology news site Neowin as editor-in-chief in the early 2000s, then went on to create WinRumors — my own blog all about Microsoft — in 2010.
I also spent more than a decade working at a variety of multinational investment banks, building up a strong background in software and Windows engineering before selling WinRumors to Vox Media and joining The Verge full time in 2012.
At The Verge, I’ve broken news on some of Microsoft’s biggest acquisitions, interviewed key executives at the company, and written crucial analyses on where Xbox and Microsoft’s design philosophy are heading next.
Notepad will continue my expertise in covering Microsoft, and I want it to feel like a direct connection to me and an important resource for you. I’ll be encouraging feedback on what you’d like to read more of and areas where I can go deeper in reporting about Microsoft.
Lastly, I want to thank all of my colleagues who helped make this newsletter possible, especially Thomas Ricker, Esther Cohen, Jake Kastrenakes, Kara Verlaney, Helen Havlak, Nilay Patel, Will Joel, Graham MacAree, and Cath Virginia.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

I’m excited to announce Notepad, a new weekly newsletter I’ll be writing at The Verge.

Notepad is an inside look at my notes on Microsoft, a company I’ve spent the past 20 years trying to make sense of through my reporting, scoops, and analyses. This newsletter is designed to uncover the secrets and strategy behind Microsoft’s era-defining bets on AI, gaming, and the future of computing.

Whether it’s Windows, a new AI Copilot, the next Xbox, or every Michael at Microsoft being added to a mysterious email list, Notepad is the place to get the very latest on all things Microsoft. Expect to read exclusives and analyses you won’t find elsewhere, interviews that go deeper on Microsoft’s big bets, and some gossip from inside the walls of Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington.

You can sign up here. New subscribers receive a one-month free trial with the option to pay $7 per month or $70 per year. Free subscribers will receive a collection of important Microsoft stories you might have missed, occasional previews of what full access gets you, and some of my Microsoft reporting for The Verge.

And check out our bundled plan, where you can get both Notepad and Command Line by Alex Heath for a discounted rate of $100 a year.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve broken thousands of stories on Microsoft. Some of my early important reporting included details on a Windows 2000 source code leak, thousands of Hotmail account passwords that were posted online, and regular scoops on Windows releases. I led the technology news site Neowin as editor-in-chief in the early 2000s, then went on to create WinRumors — my own blog all about Microsoft — in 2010.

I also spent more than a decade working at a variety of multinational investment banks, building up a strong background in software and Windows engineering before selling WinRumors to Vox Media and joining The Verge full time in 2012.

At The Verge, I’ve broken news on some of Microsoft’s biggest acquisitions, interviewed key executives at the company, and written crucial analyses on where Xbox and Microsoft’s design philosophy are heading next.

Notepad will continue my expertise in covering Microsoft, and I want it to feel like a direct connection to me and an important resource for you. I’ll be encouraging feedback on what you’d like to read more of and areas where I can go deeper in reporting about Microsoft.

Lastly, I want to thank all of my colleagues who helped make this newsletter possible, especially Thomas Ricker, Esther Cohen, Jake Kastrenakes, Kara Verlaney, Helen Havlak, Nilay Patel, Will Joel, Graham MacAree, and Cath Virginia.

Read More 

Image: Netflix

Netflix has finally named and dated its new anime series Terminator Zero, releasing worldwide on August 29th. If you recall your convoluted time-traveling, skin-wearing cyborg apocalypse history, you’ll realize that’s the 27th anniversary of the series’ Judgment Day, when the machines begin their conquest of humanity. Well, one of them, anyway.
The show is mainly set in 1997 Tokyo, and according to its writer, it won’t be ignoring the movies — any of them. The basic plot involves a soldier going back in time to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee who’s trying to create a benevolent AI system to fend off the bad one that’s going to destroy humanity, including his three kids. There are some slight differences from most of the movies (and a big one in its omission of the Connor family), but that’s still Terminator stuff.
Series writer Mattson Tomlin (The Batman Part II) told Entertainment Weekly that he had to be creative about weaponry after Production I.G, the studio handling the show’s animation, told him Japan doesn’t just have guns lying around. So, the outlet writes, it’s “more sword fights with a Terminator that has blades for arms.”

Tomlin told Entertainment Weekly that the show doesn’t “pretend the third movie didn’t happen” — or the sixth one. So Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator from Rise of the Machines did carry that casket, and an elder Sarah Connor did return in Dark Fate. He also explained that the show will be “an almost Godfather-like multi-generational saga” that tracks the scientist, Lee, and his three kids, and if there are multiple seasons, he wants to show the kids as adults.
Terminator Zero has some proven talent behind it. Masashi Kudō, who worked on Bleach, is its director, and Production I.G has excellent bona fides, like the 1995 Ghost in the Shell film and the anime series FLCL. (It’s also the studio that produced the anime sequence from Kill Bill: Volume 1.)
The series also continues to ramp up Netflix’s anime cred. The streamer has been investing heavily in the space, producing hit shows like Cyberpunk and adaptations like the upcoming Devil May Cry and Tomb Raider series. (It’s also going the other way, turning anime like Cowboy Bebop or Avatar into live action, but that hasn’t gone as well.)
Netflix didn’t name any of the voice actors in the upcoming show but did say that Terminator Zero will run for eight episodes when it hits later this year.

Image: Netflix

Netflix has finally named and dated its new anime series Terminator Zero, releasing worldwide on August 29th. If you recall your convoluted time-traveling, skin-wearing cyborg apocalypse history, you’ll realize that’s the 27th anniversary of the series’ Judgment Day, when the machines begin their conquest of humanity. Well, one of them, anyway.

The show is mainly set in 1997 Tokyo, and according to its writer, it won’t be ignoring the movies — any of them. The basic plot involves a soldier going back in time to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee who’s trying to create a benevolent AI system to fend off the bad one that’s going to destroy humanity, including his three kids. There are some slight differences from most of the movies (and a big one in its omission of the Connor family), but that’s still Terminator stuff.

Series writer Mattson Tomlin (The Batman Part II) told Entertainment Weekly that he had to be creative about weaponry after Production I.G, the studio handling the show’s animation, told him Japan doesn’t just have guns lying around. So, the outlet writes, it’s “more sword fights with a Terminator that has blades for arms.”

Tomlin told Entertainment Weekly that the show doesn’t “pretend the third movie didn’t happen” — or the sixth one. So Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator from Rise of the Machines did carry that casket, and an elder Sarah Connor did return in Dark Fate. He also explained that the show will be “an almost Godfather-like multi-generational saga” that tracks the scientist, Lee, and his three kids, and if there are multiple seasons, he wants to show the kids as adults.

Terminator Zero has some proven talent behind it. Masashi Kudō, who worked on Bleach, is its director, and Production I.G has excellent bona fides, like the 1995 Ghost in the Shell film and the anime series FLCL. (It’s also the studio that produced the anime sequence from Kill Bill: Volume 1.)

The series also continues to ramp up Netflix’s anime cred. The streamer has been investing heavily in the space, producing hit shows like Cyberpunk and adaptations like the upcoming Devil May Cry and Tomb Raider series. (It’s also going the other way, turning anime like Cowboy Bebop or Avatar into live action, but that hasn’t gone as well.)

Netflix didn’t name any of the voice actors in the upcoming show but did say that Terminator Zero will run for eight episodes when it hits later this year.

Read More 

Every Thursday, The Verge’s veteran Microsoft reporter will uncover the secrets and strategy behind the world’s biggest software company for paid subscribers The Verge today announced a new weekly paid newsletter, “Notepad,” uncovering the secrets and strategy behind Microsoft’s era-defining bets on AI, gaming, and computing. Led by veteran Microsoft reporter and senior editor Tom Warren, subscribers will receive top analysis of the week’s biggest Microsoft news, alongside all the news they might have missed. The first edition of “Notepad” is available Thursday, May 16th – subscribe here.
“Microsoft has been a leader in software and productivity for decades, and its aggressive entry into AI and big billion-dollar bets on gaming set Microsoft up for a very eventful and exciting next few years,” says Warren. “I’m looking forward to sharing my weekly analysis with readers who are equally as fascinated by Microsoft’s next era as I am.”
Since joining The Verge in 2012, Warren has established himself as a prolific Microsoft beat reporter on both scoops and news, garnering a social media following of over 300k, and was one of the most read reporters at The Verge last year. Warren has spent more than 20 years reporting on Microsoft extensively, breaking thousands of stories ranging from source code leaks to next-gen Xbox plans.
“Tom has long been the sharpest voice covering Microsoft, with keen insight into the company and its products,” says Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge. “I’m excited that he’ll be bringing that to Notepad subscribers in a way that brings his community together.”
Every Thursday, paid subscribers will receive new editions of “Notepad.” New subscribers will receive a one-month free trial followed by the pricing options of $7 per month or $70 per year. The bundle plan includes a subscription to Command Line by Alex Heath for $10/month or $100 per year for both newsletters. Free subscribers of Notepad will receive occasional previews of paid editions along with Warren’s other stories for The Verge.

Every Thursday, The Verge’s veteran Microsoft reporter will uncover the secrets and strategy behind the world’s biggest software company for paid subscribers

The Verge today announced a new weekly paid newsletter, “Notepad,” uncovering the secrets and strategy behind Microsoft’s era-defining bets on AI, gaming, and computing. Led by veteran Microsoft reporter and senior editor Tom Warren, subscribers will receive top analysis of the week’s biggest Microsoft news, alongside all the news they might have missed. The first edition of “Notepad” is available Thursday, May 16th – subscribe here.

“Microsoft has been a leader in software and productivity for decades, and its aggressive entry into AI and big billion-dollar bets on gaming set Microsoft up for a very eventful and exciting next few years,” says Warren. “I’m looking forward to sharing my weekly analysis with readers who are equally as fascinated by Microsoft’s next era as I am.”

Since joining The Verge in 2012, Warren has established himself as a prolific Microsoft beat reporter on both scoops and news, garnering a social media following of over 300k, and was one of the most read reporters at The Verge last year. Warren has spent more than 20 years reporting on Microsoft extensively, breaking thousands of stories ranging from source code leaks to next-gen Xbox plans.

“Tom has long been the sharpest voice covering Microsoft, with keen insight into the company and its products,” says Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge. “I’m excited that he’ll be bringing that to Notepad subscribers in a way that brings his community together.”

Every Thursday, paid subscribers will receive new editions of “Notepad.” New subscribers will receive a one-month free trial followed by the pricing options of $7 per month or $70 per year. The bundle plan includes a subscription to Command Line by Alex Heath for $10/month or $100 per year for both newsletters. Free subscribers of Notepad will receive occasional previews of paid editions along with Warren’s other stories for The Verge.

Read More 

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

Every Met Gala has some sort of controversy, whether it’s about the dress code and theme, the guest list, or a now-infamous brawl in an elevator at an afterparty. Because this is 2024, it’s only fitting that the outrage began this year because of a TikTok audio track.
In a now-deleted video, an influencer named Haley Kalil shows off her elaborate floral dress and headpiece as she prepares to host a pre-Met Gala red carpet event. Her misstep was using an audio snippet in the background taken from the 2006 film Marie Antoinette, in which the titular character smirks and delivers one of the most famous (and spurious) one-liners of history: “Let them eat cake.” The sound has been circulating on TikTok for months, mostly used in makeup tutorials, fashion videos, and things of that nature.
The backlash was swift and brutal. Audiences compared the event to The Hunger Games, a dystopia where the wealthy sit back as everyone else fights to the death. TikTok users flooded Kalil’s comments saying she was clueless, callous, or purposefully trying to manufacture outrage. Kalil insisted it was an honest mistake, but the optics were bad: as thousands die, starve, and are displaced in Gaza, reveling in opulence will inevitably rub some the wrong way.
For seven months, social media audiences have watched violence rain down on Palestinians in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7th attack in Israel. Instagram feeds have been inundated with infographics, charts, and gruesome images of death and destruction. TikTok — once an app primarily known for goofy dances — has become a battleground for shaping the public narrative around the long-standing Israel-Palestine conflict. For many — especially younger people — their entire exposure to the conflict has been on social media, as opposed to learning of it on a college campus, through family, or via traditional media. It only makes sense, then, that these same platforms have become an outlet for their responses, whether in the form of frustration, activism, or some combination thereof.

@blockout2024 #stitch with @SarahF You can also block artists on Spotify as well as news outlets ♬ original sound – blockout2024

At the same time that Kalil’s video was being debated and discussed, a seemingly unplanned grassroots movement dubbed “Blockout 2024” was picking up steam. Last week, a TikTok user shared a video about blocking celebrities on social media platforms in order to stymie their reach and, by extension, their earnings from ads or sponsored content. The video was in response to clips from the Met Gala interspersed with news footage of Gaza, and the intended message was clear: celebrities don’t care about what happens to everyone else. The least normal people could do is try to cut the powerful off however they can.
Since then, a litany of “block lists” have circulated, created by different people and for different reasons. The targets vary, but Kim Kardashian, Tom Brady, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Selena Gomez are frequently listed, along with many others. (Kalil, unsurprisingly, has also been mentioned.) It’s a diffuse movement with no established leadership or stated goals, but it’s clearly resonated: tens of thousands of posts have been made on TikTok and Instagram using related hashtags, and comment sections are filled with “#blockout” and pro-Palestine messages.

@erinhattamer #passthehat ♬ original sound – Erin Hattamer

The Blockout is coinciding with more direct forms of mutual aid, with pressure directed at celebrities and influencers to promote these efforts. Sending funds and other resources to Gaza has been difficult over the past several months due to the legal system, the collapse of infrastructure, and Israel’s physical blocking of aid going into Gaza. Some content creators have publicly called on celebrities to support organizations like Operation Olive Branch, a grassroots effort to directly fundraise for Palestinian families. Artists and creators like Lizzo and Hank Green have posted in support of the organizations, spurred in part by comedian Erin Hattamer’s call for fundraising.
Social media-based activism can be fleeting: followers lose interest; momentum dies down; and the reach of movements is limited by algorithms. To be fair, the Blockout is still in its early days, and it’s unclear if it will have a measurable impact. But for a conflict that’s unfolding via shortform videos, live selfie-style updates, and Instagram posts, this will likely not be the last we hear of it.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

Every Met Gala has some sort of controversy, whether it’s about the dress code and theme, the guest list, or a now-infamous brawl in an elevator at an afterparty. Because this is 2024, it’s only fitting that the outrage began this year because of a TikTok audio track.

In a now-deleted video, an influencer named Haley Kalil shows off her elaborate floral dress and headpiece as she prepares to host a pre-Met Gala red carpet event. Her misstep was using an audio snippet in the background taken from the 2006 film Marie Antoinette, in which the titular character smirks and delivers one of the most famous (and spurious) one-liners of history: “Let them eat cake.” The sound has been circulating on TikTok for months, mostly used in makeup tutorials, fashion videos, and things of that nature.

The backlash was swift and brutal. Audiences compared the event to The Hunger Games, a dystopia where the wealthy sit back as everyone else fights to the death. TikTok users flooded Kalil’s comments saying she was clueless, callous, or purposefully trying to manufacture outrage. Kalil insisted it was an honest mistake, but the optics were bad: as thousands die, starve, and are displaced in Gaza, reveling in opulence will inevitably rub some the wrong way.

For seven months, social media audiences have watched violence rain down on Palestinians in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7th attack in Israel. Instagram feeds have been inundated with infographics, charts, and gruesome images of death and destruction. TikTok — once an app primarily known for goofy dances — has become a battleground for shaping the public narrative around the long-standing Israel-Palestine conflict. For many — especially younger people — their entire exposure to the conflict has been on social media, as opposed to learning of it on a college campus, through family, or via traditional media. It only makes sense, then, that these same platforms have become an outlet for their responses, whether in the form of frustration, activism, or some combination thereof.

At the same time that Kalil’s video was being debated and discussed, a seemingly unplanned grassroots movement dubbed “Blockout 2024” was picking up steam. Last week, a TikTok user shared a video about blocking celebrities on social media platforms in order to stymie their reach and, by extension, their earnings from ads or sponsored content. The video was in response to clips from the Met Gala interspersed with news footage of Gaza, and the intended message was clear: celebrities don’t care about what happens to everyone else. The least normal people could do is try to cut the powerful off however they can.

Since then, a litany of “block lists” have circulated, created by different people and for different reasons. The targets vary, but Kim Kardashian, Tom Brady, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Selena Gomez are frequently listed, along with many others. (Kalil, unsurprisingly, has also been mentioned.) It’s a diffuse movement with no established leadership or stated goals, but it’s clearly resonated: tens of thousands of posts have been made on TikTok and Instagram using related hashtags, and comment sections are filled with “#blockout” and pro-Palestine messages.

The Blockout is coinciding with more direct forms of mutual aid, with pressure directed at celebrities and influencers to promote these efforts. Sending funds and other resources to Gaza has been difficult over the past several months due to the legal system, the collapse of infrastructure, and Israel’s physical blocking of aid going into Gaza. Some content creators have publicly called on celebrities to support organizations like Operation Olive Branch, a grassroots effort to directly fundraise for Palestinian families. Artists and creators like Lizzo and Hank Green have posted in support of the organizations, spurred in part by comedian Erin Hattamer’s call for fundraising.

Social media-based activism can be fleeting: followers lose interest; momentum dies down; and the reach of movements is limited by algorithms. To be fair, the Blockout is still in its early days, and it’s unclear if it will have a measurable impact. But for a conflict that’s unfolding via shortform videos, live selfie-style updates, and Instagram posts, this will likely not be the last we hear of it.

Read More 

Image: The Verge

Google I/O introduced an AI assistant that can see and hear the world, while OpenAI put its version of a Her-like chatbot into an iPhone. Next week, Microsoft will be hosting Build, where it’s sure to have some version of Copilot or Cortana that understands pivot tables. Then, a few weeks after that, Apple will host its own developer conference, and if the buzz is anything to go by, it’ll be talking about artificial intelligence, too. (Unclear if Siri will be mentioned.)
AI is here! It’s no longer conceptual. It’s taking jobs, making a few new ones, and helping millions of students avoid doing their homework. According to most of the major tech companies investing in AI, we appear to be at the start of experiencing one of those rare monumental shifts in technology. Think the Industrial Revolution or the creation of the internet or personal computer. All of Silicon Valley — of Big Tech — is focused on taking large language models and other forms of artificial intelligence and moving them from the laptops of researchers into the phones and computers of average people. Ideally, they will make a lot of money in the process.
But I can’t really care about that because Meta AI thinks I have a beard.
I want to be very clear: I am a cis woman and do not have a beard. But if I type “show me a picture of Alex Cranz” into the prompt window, Meta AI inevitably returns images of very pretty dark-haired men with beards. I am only some of those things!
Meta AI isn’t the only one to struggle with the minutiae of The Verge’s masthead. ChatGPT told me yesterday I don’t work at The Verge. Google’s Gemini didn’t know who I was (fair), but after telling me Nilay Patel was a founder of The Verge, it then apologized and corrected itself, saying he was not. (I assure you he was.)
When you ask these bots about things that actually matter they mess up, too. Meta’s 2022 launch of Galactica was so bad the company took the AI down after three days. Earlier this year, ChatGPT had a spell and started spouting absolute nonsense, but it also regularly makes up case law, leading to multiple lawyers getting into hot water with the courts.
The AI keeps screwing up because these computers are stupid. Extraordinary in their abilities and astonishing in their dimwittedness. I cannot get excited about the next turn in the AI revolution because that turn is into a place where computers cannot consistently maintain accuracy about even minor things.
I mean, they even screwed up during Google’s big AI keynote at I/O. In a commercial for Google’s new AI-ified search engine, someone asked how to fix a jammed film camera, and it suggested they “open the back door and gently remove the film.” That is the easiest way to destroy any photos you’ve already taken.

Screenshot: Google
Some of these suggestions are good! Some require A VERY DARK ROOM.

An AI’s difficult relationship with the truth is called “hallucinating.” In extremely simple terms: these machines are great at discovering patterns of information, but in their attempt to extrapolate and create, they occasionally get it wrong. They effectively “hallucinate” a new reality, and that new reality is often wrong. It’s a tricky problem, and every single person working on AI right now is aware of it.
One Google ex-researcher claimed it could be fixed within the next year (though he lamented that outcome), and Microsoft has a tool for some of its users that’s supposed to help detect them. Google’s head of Search, Liz Reid, told The Verge it’s aware of the challenge, too. “There’s a balance between creativity and factuality” with any language model, she told my colleague David Pierce. “We’re really going to skew it toward the factuality side.”
But notice how Reid said there was a balance? That’s because a lot of AI researchers don’t actually think hallucinations can be solved. A study out of the National University of Singapore suggested that hallucinations are an inevitable outcome of all large language models. Just as no person is 100 percent right all the time, neither are these computers.
And that’s probably why most of the major players in this field — the ones with real resources and financial incentive to make us all embrace AI — think you shouldn’t worry about it. During Google’s IO keynote, it added, in tiny gray font, the phrase “check responses for accuracy” to the screen below nearly every new AI tool it showed off — a helpful reminder that its tools can’t be trusted, but it also doesn’t think it’s a problem. ChatGPT operates similarly. In tiny font just below the prompt window, it says, “ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.”

Screenshot: Google
If you squint, you can see the tiny and oblique disclosure.

That’s not a disclaimer you want to see from tools that are supposed to change our whole lives in the very near future! And the people making these tools do not seem to care too much about fixing the problem beyond a small warning.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI who was briefly ousted for prioritizing profit over safety, went a step further and said anyone who had an issue with AI’s accuracy was naive. “If you just do the naive thing and say, ‘Never say anything that you’re not 100 percent sure about,’ you can get them all to do that. But it won’t have the magic that people like so much,” he told a crowd at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference last year.
This idea that there’s a kind of unquantifiable magic sauce in AI that will allow us to forgive its tenuous relationship with reality is brought up a lot by the people eager to hand-wave away accuracy concerns. Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, and plenty of other AI developers and researchers have dismissed hallucination as a small annoyance that should be forgiven because they’re on the path to making digital beings that might make our own lives easier.
But apologies to Sam and everyone else financially incentivized to get me excited about AI. I don’t come to computers for the inaccurate magic of human consciousness. I come to them because they are very accurate when humans are not. I don’t need my computer to be my friend; I need it to get my gender right when I ask and help me not accidentally expose film when fixing a busted camera. Lawyers, I assume, would like it to get the case law right.
I understand where Sam Altman and other AI evangelists are coming from. There is a possibility in some far future to create a real digital consciousness from ones and zeroes. Right now, the development of artificial intelligence is moving at an astounding speed that puts many previous technological revolutions to shame. There is genuine magic at work in Silicon Valley right now.
But the AI thinks I have a beard. It can’t consistently figure out the simplest tasks, and yet, it’s being foisted upon us with the expectation that we celebrate the incredible mediocrity of the services these AIs provide. While I can certainly marvel at the technological innovations happening, I would like my computers not to sacrifice accuracy just so I have a digital avatar to talk to. That is not a fair exchange — it’s only an interesting one.

Image: The Verge

Google I/O introduced an AI assistant that can see and hear the world, while OpenAI put its version of a Her-like chatbot into an iPhone. Next week, Microsoft will be hosting Build, where it’s sure to have some version of Copilot or Cortana that understands pivot tables. Then, a few weeks after that, Apple will host its own developer conference, and if the buzz is anything to go by, it’ll be talking about artificial intelligence, too. (Unclear if Siri will be mentioned.)

AI is here! It’s no longer conceptual. It’s taking jobs, making a few new ones, and helping millions of students avoid doing their homework. According to most of the major tech companies investing in AI, we appear to be at the start of experiencing one of those rare monumental shifts in technology. Think the Industrial Revolution or the creation of the internet or personal computer. All of Silicon Valley — of Big Tech — is focused on taking large language models and other forms of artificial intelligence and moving them from the laptops of researchers into the phones and computers of average people. Ideally, they will make a lot of money in the process.

But I can’t really care about that because Meta AI thinks I have a beard.

I want to be very clear: I am a cis woman and do not have a beard. But if I type “show me a picture of Alex Cranz” into the prompt window, Meta AI inevitably returns images of very pretty dark-haired men with beards. I am only some of those things!

Meta AI isn’t the only one to struggle with the minutiae of The Verge’s masthead. ChatGPT told me yesterday I don’t work at The Verge. Google’s Gemini didn’t know who I was (fair), but after telling me Nilay Patel was a founder of The Verge, it then apologized and corrected itself, saying he was not. (I assure you he was.)

When you ask these bots about things that actually matter they mess up, too. Meta’s 2022 launch of Galactica was so bad the company took the AI down after three days. Earlier this year, ChatGPT had a spell and started spouting absolute nonsense, but it also regularly makes up case law, leading to multiple lawyers getting into hot water with the courts.

The AI keeps screwing up because these computers are stupid. Extraordinary in their abilities and astonishing in their dimwittedness. I cannot get excited about the next turn in the AI revolution because that turn is into a place where computers cannot consistently maintain accuracy about even minor things.

I mean, they even screwed up during Google’s big AI keynote at I/O. In a commercial for Google’s new AI-ified search engine, someone asked how to fix a jammed film camera, and it suggested they “open the back door and gently remove the film.” That is the easiest way to destroy any photos you’ve already taken.

Screenshot: Google
Some of these suggestions are good! Some require A VERY DARK ROOM.

An AI’s difficult relationship with the truth is called “hallucinating.” In extremely simple terms: these machines are great at discovering patterns of information, but in their attempt to extrapolate and create, they occasionally get it wrong. They effectively “hallucinate” a new reality, and that new reality is often wrong. It’s a tricky problem, and every single person working on AI right now is aware of it.

One Google ex-researcher claimed it could be fixed within the next year (though he lamented that outcome), and Microsoft has a tool for some of its users that’s supposed to help detect them. Google’s head of Search, Liz Reid, told The Verge it’s aware of the challenge, too. “There’s a balance between creativity and factuality” with any language model, she told my colleague David Pierce. “We’re really going to skew it toward the factuality side.”

But notice how Reid said there was a balance? That’s because a lot of AI researchers don’t actually think hallucinations can be solved. A study out of the National University of Singapore suggested that hallucinations are an inevitable outcome of all large language models. Just as no person is 100 percent right all the time, neither are these computers.

And that’s probably why most of the major players in this field — the ones with real resources and financial incentive to make us all embrace AI — think you shouldn’t worry about it. During Google’s IO keynote, it added, in tiny gray font, the phrase “check responses for accuracy” to the screen below nearly every new AI tool it showed off — a helpful reminder that its tools can’t be trusted, but it also doesn’t think it’s a problem. ChatGPT operates similarly. In tiny font just below the prompt window, it says, “ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.”

Screenshot: Google
If you squint, you can see the tiny and oblique disclosure.

That’s not a disclaimer you want to see from tools that are supposed to change our whole lives in the very near future! And the people making these tools do not seem to care too much about fixing the problem beyond a small warning.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI who was briefly ousted for prioritizing profit over safety, went a step further and said anyone who had an issue with AI’s accuracy was naive. “If you just do the naive thing and say, ‘Never say anything that you’re not 100 percent sure about,’ you can get them all to do that. But it won’t have the magic that people like so much,” he told a crowd at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference last year.

This idea that there’s a kind of unquantifiable magic sauce in AI that will allow us to forgive its tenuous relationship with reality is brought up a lot by the people eager to hand-wave away accuracy concerns. Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, and plenty of other AI developers and researchers have dismissed hallucination as a small annoyance that should be forgiven because they’re on the path to making digital beings that might make our own lives easier.

But apologies to Sam and everyone else financially incentivized to get me excited about AI. I don’t come to computers for the inaccurate magic of human consciousness. I come to them because they are very accurate when humans are not. I don’t need my computer to be my friend; I need it to get my gender right when I ask and help me not accidentally expose film when fixing a busted camera. Lawyers, I assume, would like it to get the case law right.

I understand where Sam Altman and other AI evangelists are coming from. There is a possibility in some far future to create a real digital consciousness from ones and zeroes. Right now, the development of artificial intelligence is moving at an astounding speed that puts many previous technological revolutions to shame. There is genuine magic at work in Silicon Valley right now.

But the AI thinks I have a beard. It can’t consistently figure out the simplest tasks, and yet, it’s being foisted upon us with the expectation that we celebrate the incredible mediocrity of the services these AIs provide. While I can certainly marvel at the technological innovations happening, I would like my computers not to sacrifice accuracy just so I have a digital avatar to talk to. That is not a fair exchange — it’s only an interesting one.

Read More 

Every month, streaming looks more and more like cable. | Image: The Verge

Yet another streaming service bundle is on the horizon, this time courtesy of Comcast. Variety reports that the telecommunications giant is planning to launch a three-way bundle for Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV Plus later this month, which will be available to Comcast broadband and TV customers at a discounted rate compared to subscribing to each service separately.
Speaking at an industry conference on Tuesday, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the new “StreamSaver” package will “come at a vastly reduced price to anything in the market today.” The price of the bundle hasn’t been revealed yet, nor has the type of subscription tier — ad-free or ad-supported — users can expect. The deal will likely be competitive regardless, as Roberts says the goal for StreamSaver isn’t just to tempt consumers with a better value deal, but also to “take some of the dollars out of” rival offerings.

At what stage are these bundle deals basically cable? Perhaps when we start seeing four-way bundles?

The lowest monthly price for all three individual services is currently $22.97, which includes Netflix Basic with ads ($6.99 per month); Peacock’s deceptively named Premium tier which includes ads and current costs $5.99 per month; and the standard $9.99 Apple TV Plus plan.
Comcast’s bundle follows a similar three-way package between Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max announced last week as streaming bundles become more commonplace in an attempt to reduce cancellation rates after years of subscription fatigue.
Disclosure: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.

Every month, streaming looks more and more like cable. | Image: The Verge

Yet another streaming service bundle is on the horizon, this time courtesy of Comcast. Variety reports that the telecommunications giant is planning to launch a three-way bundle for Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV Plus later this month, which will be available to Comcast broadband and TV customers at a discounted rate compared to subscribing to each service separately.

Speaking at an industry conference on Tuesday, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the new “StreamSaver” package will “come at a vastly reduced price to anything in the market today.” The price of the bundle hasn’t been revealed yet, nor has the type of subscription tier — ad-free or ad-supported — users can expect. The deal will likely be competitive regardless, as Roberts says the goal for StreamSaver isn’t just to tempt consumers with a better value deal, but also to “take some of the dollars out of” rival offerings.

The lowest monthly price for all three individual services is currently $22.97, which includes Netflix Basic with ads ($6.99 per month); Peacock’s deceptively named Premium tier which includes ads and current costs $5.99 per month; and the standard $9.99 Apple TV Plus plan.

Comcast’s bundle follows a similar three-way package between Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max announced last week as streaming bundles become more commonplace in an attempt to reduce cancellation rates after years of subscription fatigue.

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

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Where the Blade comes ahead in performance, the Zephyrus wins on value. Fourteen-inch gaming laptops are the best gaming laptops. They can run most PC games over 60fps on high settings, but at under four pounds and less than an inch thick, they’re still easy to carry around. There are compromises: their size limits how much power they can handle before the components melt into goo, they have loud cooling fans, and they can’t match the battery life of thinner, lighter non-gaming laptops. But they’re the right compromises for a gaming laptop that can also be your lecture hall or coffee shop laptop.
The Razer Blade 14 and Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 are two of the most highly regarded 14-inch gaming laptops. The Zephyrus — one of our longtime favorites — has a redesigned chassis and new OLED panel, while the 2024 Blade 14 is a small spec bump over the previous generation. It made sense to pit them against each other in a benchmark brawl.

Just a nudge: Razer’s Blade 14 has better performance
The $2,700 Blade I tested comes with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS, RTX 4070, 32GB of memory, and 1TB of storage. I also tested two different configurations of the Zephyrus G14: one $2,200 version with the same hardware specs as the Blade 14 and a $1,700 version with an RTX 4060 and 16GB of memory. The Blade and higher-end Zephyrus have different memory and storage speeds but nothing that would produce a meaningful difference.

At 1080p on the highest presets, all three can push over 60fps in most games. Cyberpunk 2077 is an outlier if ray tracing is enabled and DLSS 3.5 is off — but turning DLSS on more than triples the frame rate.
The Blade outperformed the 4070 Zephyrus by between 9 and 18 percent in every benchmark, despite having the same CPU and GPU and the same amount of memory. Razer gives the RTX 4070 as much juice as the GPU can handle, up to 115W, or 140W with Dynamic Boost enabled. Asus caps the Zephyrus’ total graphics power at 65W, with Dynamic Boost up to 90W. The Blade 14 can generate more frames because it literally has more power.
Winner: Razer Blade 14
OH-LED-LA: the Zephyrus G14 has a better display
The Blade 14 uses that extra GPU power to drive its 2560 x 1600 IPS display as close as possible to its 240Hz refresh rate — useful if you’re playing competitive esports (or just like fast refresh rates). It reaches about 500 nits of brightness, so it can handle any normal lighting situation inside or outside with minimal glare.
But the Zephyrus has a 2880 x 1800 OLED display with visibly richer colors and bolder contrasts. Its 120Hz refresh rate balances nicely with its graphical capabilities for gaming and creative work. It only hits 400 nits, but that’s a nonissue indoors.

The Zephyrus G14’s LED strip can pulsate to music playing through the laptop speakers.

Both laptops hit 100 percent of sRGB and P3 color gamuts; the Zephyrus also covers 100 percent of AdobeRGB while the Blade only hits 89. (AdobeRGB matters more for print work, not gaming.)
The Zephyrus’ display is HDR500-certified and supports G-Sync; the Blade 14 does not have HDR, and even though the display supports AMD FreeSync Premium, it doesn’t work with the discrete GPU. Razer’s website says the Blade 14 supports G-Sync on external monitors, but that didn’t work in my testing.
Winner: Asus Rog Zephyrus G14
Design: one of them still looks like a MacBook
The Blade 14 has always looked like a MacBook Pro, and it looks even more like one in silver. (The Blade still comes in black, of course — but now, so does the MacBook Pro.) Its black keys have rounded edges that contrast with the clean, straight lines of the chassis. The keys feel a touch too small, and the silver gaps between them further accentuate how spaced out they are.
The Blade’s trackpad looks smoother than it feels; my fingertips sometimes caught and skipped. The Blade is also a little thicker and larger: 0.70 inches thick compared to the Pro’s 0.61 inches and 4.05 pounds compared to 3.4 pounds. But it comes with a treat: two slots for up to 96GB of socketed RAM; the Zephyrus’ memory is soldered to the board.

The Blade 14 supports USB4 Type-C, USB-A, and HDMI.

The Zephyrus G14 also supports USB4 Type-C, USB-A, and HDMI.

Monica Chin, The Verge’s former laptop reviewer, was worried that the new Zephyrus would look too much like a MacBook, but it pleases me to report that it doesn’t. Even though the dot matrix on the lid is gone, the diagonal LED strip still adds flair. It’s slimmer and lighter than the Blade 14, too: 12.76 x 8.66 x 0.70 inches, weighing 3.53 pounds, and it comes in either white or dark gray. The only MacBook-like thing about the Zephyrus G14 is its smooth trackpad.
Both versions of the Zephyrus I tested had good battery life for a gaming laptop — an average of 6.5 hours when used only for web browsing, word processing, and video streaming. It can last up to three hours while gaming, depending on the game and graphics settings. (On high graphics at 1080p, Cyberpunk 2077 drained the battery in an hour, while Botany Manor drained it in just under three.) As for the Blade 14, its battery lasts only up to four hours, even on simple tasks.
Winner: Asus Rog Zephyrus G14
Thermals: both handle the heat, but the Blade handles more
Small gaming laptops often have trouble cooling their components, but both the Blade 14 and Zephyrus G14 have a handle on their thermals. HWInfo reported no throttling on either during the Cinebench 2024 benchmark.
While not uncomfortable, the Blade 14’s S and D keys, and the left side of the spacebar, become noticeably warmer than the rest of the keyboard after gaming for two hours straight.

Sorry, Blade 14, but the black keys on silver chassis just isn’t doing it for me.

The Zephyrus G14 pulls off the uniform white look without feeling sterile.

But I’ll take that over the dozens of small vents that span the Zephyrus G14’s bottom chassis. I was fine using the Zephyrus in my lap to dash off a few emails or watch an episode of Shōgun, but gaming felt like getting blasted by hot desert air.
The Blade 14 handles a lot more GPU wattage in a chassis nearly the same size as the Zephyrus, with fewer vents on the bottom.
Winner: Razer Blade 14
The Blade is gaming-first, but the Zephyrus is better balanced
The Zephyrus G14 — with an RTX 4070 — is still the best 14-inch gaming laptop.
For $2,000 to $2,200, it maintains a fine balance between features, performance, and price. You get a quality OLED HDR display, commendable battery life, a fun but not too flashy design; and high frame rates despite the GPU power cap. The only true fault with this laptop are the friggin’ vents that span the entire bottom. The 90W TGP limit and soldered-in memory are disappointing, but I’m happy to accept those small concessions for everything else the Zephyrus G14 offers.
The similarly configured Razer Blade costs up to $700 more. It has a higher refresh rate but no HDR or G-Sync support, and its 9 to 17 percent higher frame rate at 1080p is barely noticeable. The Blade 14 is also a little heavier than the Zephyrus G14, its battery life is significantly shorter, and it looks even more like a MacBook with its new mercury colorway.
Winner: Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

Photography by Joanna Nelius / The Verge

Where the Blade comes ahead in performance, the Zephyrus wins on value.

Fourteen-inch gaming laptops are the best gaming laptops. They can run most PC games over 60fps on high settings, but at under four pounds and less than an inch thick, they’re still easy to carry around. There are compromises: their size limits how much power they can handle before the components melt into goo, they have loud cooling fans, and they can’t match the battery life of thinner, lighter non-gaming laptops. But they’re the right compromises for a gaming laptop that can also be your lecture hall or coffee shop laptop.

The Razer Blade 14 and Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 are two of the most highly regarded 14-inch gaming laptops. The Zephyrus — one of our longtime favorites — has a redesigned chassis and new OLED panel, while the 2024 Blade 14 is a small spec bump over the previous generation. It made sense to pit them against each other in a benchmark brawl.

Just a nudge: Razer’s Blade 14 has better performance

The $2,700 Blade I tested comes with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS, RTX 4070, 32GB of memory, and 1TB of storage. I also tested two different configurations of the Zephyrus G14: one $2,200 version with the same hardware specs as the Blade 14 and a $1,700 version with an RTX 4060 and 16GB of memory. The Blade and higher-end Zephyrus have different memory and storage speeds but nothing that would produce a meaningful difference.

At 1080p on the highest presets, all three can push over 60fps in most games. Cyberpunk 2077 is an outlier if ray tracing is enabled and DLSS 3.5 is off — but turning DLSS on more than triples the frame rate.

The Blade outperformed the 4070 Zephyrus by between 9 and 18 percent in every benchmark, despite having the same CPU and GPU and the same amount of memory. Razer gives the RTX 4070 as much juice as the GPU can handle, up to 115W, or 140W with Dynamic Boost enabled. Asus caps the Zephyrus’ total graphics power at 65W, with Dynamic Boost up to 90W. The Blade 14 can generate more frames because it literally has more power.

Winner: Razer Blade 14

OH-LED-LA: the Zephyrus G14 has a better display

The Blade 14 uses that extra GPU power to drive its 2560 x 1600 IPS display as close as possible to its 240Hz refresh rate — useful if you’re playing competitive esports (or just like fast refresh rates). It reaches about 500 nits of brightness, so it can handle any normal lighting situation inside or outside with minimal glare.

But the Zephyrus has a 2880 x 1800 OLED display with visibly richer colors and bolder contrasts. Its 120Hz refresh rate balances nicely with its graphical capabilities for gaming and creative work. It only hits 400 nits, but that’s a nonissue indoors.

The Zephyrus G14’s LED strip can pulsate to music playing through the laptop speakers.

Both laptops hit 100 percent of sRGB and P3 color gamuts; the Zephyrus also covers 100 percent of AdobeRGB while the Blade only hits 89. (AdobeRGB matters more for print work, not gaming.)

The Zephyrus’ display is HDR500-certified and supports G-Sync; the Blade 14 does not have HDR, and even though the display supports AMD FreeSync Premium, it doesn’t work with the discrete GPU. Razer’s website says the Blade 14 supports G-Sync on external monitors, but that didn’t work in my testing.

Winner: Asus Rog Zephyrus G14

Design: one of them still looks like a MacBook

The Blade 14 has always looked like a MacBook Pro, and it looks even more like one in silver. (The Blade still comes in black, of course — but now, so does the MacBook Pro.) Its black keys have rounded edges that contrast with the clean, straight lines of the chassis. The keys feel a touch too small, and the silver gaps between them further accentuate how spaced out they are.

The Blade’s trackpad looks smoother than it feels; my fingertips sometimes caught and skipped. The Blade is also a little thicker and larger: 0.70 inches thick compared to the Pro’s 0.61 inches and 4.05 pounds compared to 3.4 pounds. But it comes with a treat: two slots for up to 96GB of socketed RAM; the Zephyrus’ memory is soldered to the board.

Monica Chin, The Verge’s former laptop reviewer, was worried that the new Zephyrus would look too much like a MacBook, but it pleases me to report that it doesn’t. Even though the dot matrix on the lid is gone, the diagonal LED strip still adds flair. It’s slimmer and lighter than the Blade 14, too: 12.76 x 8.66 x 0.70 inches, weighing 3.53 pounds, and it comes in either white or dark gray. The only MacBook-like thing about the Zephyrus G14 is its smooth trackpad.

Both versions of the Zephyrus I tested had good battery life for a gaming laptop — an average of 6.5 hours when used only for web browsing, word processing, and video streaming. It can last up to three hours while gaming, depending on the game and graphics settings. (On high graphics at 1080p, Cyberpunk 2077 drained the battery in an hour, while Botany Manor drained it in just under three.) As for the Blade 14, its battery lasts only up to four hours, even on simple tasks.

Winner: Asus Rog Zephyrus G14

Thermals: both handle the heat, but the Blade handles more

Small gaming laptops often have trouble cooling their components, but both the Blade 14 and Zephyrus G14 have a handle on their thermals. HWInfo reported no throttling on either during the Cinebench 2024 benchmark.

While not uncomfortable, the Blade 14’s S and D keys, and the left side of the spacebar, become noticeably warmer than the rest of the keyboard after gaming for two hours straight.

But I’ll take that over the dozens of small vents that span the Zephyrus G14’s bottom chassis. I was fine using the Zephyrus in my lap to dash off a few emails or watch an episode of Shōgun, but gaming felt like getting blasted by hot desert air.

The Blade 14 handles a lot more GPU wattage in a chassis nearly the same size as the Zephyrus, with fewer vents on the bottom.

Winner: Razer Blade 14

The Blade is gaming-first, but the Zephyrus is better balanced

The Zephyrus G14 — with an RTX 4070 — is still the best 14-inch gaming laptop.

For $2,000 to $2,200, it maintains a fine balance between features, performance, and price. You get a quality OLED HDR display, commendable battery life, a fun but not too flashy design; and high frame rates despite the GPU power cap. The only true fault with this laptop are the friggin’ vents that span the entire bottom. The 90W TGP limit and soldered-in memory are disappointing, but I’m happy to accept those small concessions for everything else the Zephyrus G14 offers.

The similarly configured Razer Blade costs up to $700 more. It has a higher refresh rate but no HDR or G-Sync support, and its 9 to 17 percent higher frame rate at 1080p is barely noticeable. The Blade 14 is also a little heavier than the Zephyrus G14, its battery life is significantly shorter, and it looks even more like a MacBook with its new mercury colorway.

Winner: Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

Photography by Joanna Nelius / The Verge

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From left to right: Wireless Temperature Sensor X, Heat Pump Optimizer X, Thermostat X, and two Smart Radiator Thermostat X | Image: Tado

Tado just launched a new range of heating products — called Tado X — that supports the Matter smart home protocol. It joins Nest as being one of the few (only?) European smart heating control systems to support the new standard designed to improve interoperability between devices from any smart home ecosystem, and the first to run natively on a Thread mesh network.
The Tado X system is designed to replace traditional thermostats to control a boiler, underfloor heating, and radiator valves. It includes the Thermostat X, Smart Radiator Thermostat X, Wireless Temperature Sensor X, and Heat Pump Optimizer X which all promise to make your home’s heating system smart and easy to use. The optional new Bridge X acts as a Thread border router (for homes that don’t already have one) to connect the Tado X devices to your home’s Wi-Fi/Ethernet network. Both of the X thermostats and the new temperature sensor work with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple Home voice assistants.
The Heat Pump Optimizer X also acts as a Thread border router and interfaces with heat pumps made by Atlantic, Vaillant, Saunier Duval, and Fujitsu to enable control over per-room heating, while the new radiator thermostat features a new compact T-shaped design, an improved display, and USB-C rechargeable battery.
Unfortunately, Tado locks many of its advanced energy management features — and a few basic ones —behind a subscription and that’s also true with Tado X. The company is, however, offering 12-months of free Auto-Assist automations starting with today’s launch.
The Tado X range is available to buy now in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Sweden and Denmark, and is priced as follows:

Smart Thermostat X with Bridge X Starter Kit – €199.99
Smart Thermostat X – €134.99
Smart Radiator Thermostat X with Bridge X Starter Kit – €159.99
Smart Radiator Thermostat X – €99.99 / Smart Radiator Thermostat X Quattro pack – €369.99
Wireless Temperature Sensor X €99.99
Heat Pump Optimizer X €249.99
Bridge X – €69.99

From left to right: Wireless Temperature Sensor X, Heat Pump Optimizer X, Thermostat X, and two Smart Radiator Thermostat X | Image: Tado

Tado just launched a new range of heating products — called Tado X — that supports the Matter smart home protocol. It joins Nest as being one of the few (only?) European smart heating control systems to support the new standard designed to improve interoperability between devices from any smart home ecosystem, and the first to run natively on a Thread mesh network.

The Tado X system is designed to replace traditional thermostats to control a boiler, underfloor heating, and radiator valves. It includes the Thermostat X, Smart Radiator Thermostat X, Wireless Temperature Sensor X, and Heat Pump Optimizer X which all promise to make your home’s heating system smart and easy to use. The optional new Bridge X acts as a Thread border router (for homes that don’t already have one) to connect the Tado X devices to your home’s Wi-Fi/Ethernet network. Both of the X thermostats and the new temperature sensor work with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple Home voice assistants.

The Heat Pump Optimizer X also acts as a Thread border router and interfaces with heat pumps made by Atlantic, Vaillant, Saunier Duval, and Fujitsu to enable control over per-room heating, while the new radiator thermostat features a new compact T-shaped design, an improved display, and USB-C rechargeable battery.

Unfortunately, Tado locks many of its advanced energy management features — and a few basic ones —behind a subscription and that’s also true with Tado X. The company is, however, offering 12-months of free Auto-Assist automations starting with today’s launch.

The Tado X range is available to buy now in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Sweden and Denmark, and is priced as follows:

Smart Thermostat X with Bridge X Starter Kit – €199.99
Smart Thermostat X – €134.99
Smart Radiator Thermostat X with Bridge X Starter Kit – €159.99
Smart Radiator Thermostat X – €99.99 / Smart Radiator Thermostat X Quattro pack – €369.99
Wireless Temperature Sensor X €99.99
Heat Pump Optimizer X €249.99
Bridge X – €69.99

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