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Illustration: The Verge

This is not a joke: Google will now let you perform a “web” search. It’s rolling out “web” searches now, and in my early tests on desktop, it’s looking like it could be an incredibly popular change to Google’s search engine.
The optional setting filters out almost all the other blocks of content that Google crams into a search results page, leaving you with links and text — and Google confirms to The Verge that it will block the company’s new AI Overviews as well.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
This is the new Web button. You know, for all your Web searches.

“Isn’t every search a web search? What is Google Search if not the web?” you might rightfully ask.
But independent websites like HouseFresh and Retro Dodo have pointed out how their businesses have gotten “buried deep beneath sponsored posts, Quora advice from 2016, best-of lists from big media sites, and no less than 64 Google Shopping product listings,” in the words of HouseFresh managing editor Gisele Navarro.
Now, with one click, a bunch of those blockers seemingly disappear.
Search for “best home arcade cabinets,” one of Retro Dodo’s bread-and-butter queries, and it’s no longer buried — it appears on page 1. (Drag our image slider to see the difference.)

HouseFresh still doesn’t get page 1 billing for “best budget air purifiers” — but it’s higher up, and you’re no longer assaulted by an eye-popping number of Google Shopping results as you scroll:

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
Normal search on the left, “web” search on the right.

If you search for Wyze cameras, you’ll now get a hint about their lax security practices on page 2 instead of page 3:

Screenshots by Sean Hollister / The Verge
Again, normal on the left, “web” on the right.

I’m not sure it’s an improvement for every search, partly because Google’s modules can be useful, and partly because the company isn’t giving up on self-promotion just because you press the “web” button. Here, you can see Google still gives itself top billing for “Google AR glasses” either way, and its “Top stories” box is arguably a helpful addition:

Screenshots by Sean Hollister / The Verge
I suppose it’s convenient for Google to have zero references to the failed Google Glass on page one, though?

Which of these results helps you better learn about the Maui wildfires? I’m genuinely not sure:

Screenshots by Sean Hollister / The Verge
Regular “all” search definitely skews more recent.

And when you ask Google who wrote The Lord of the Rings, is there any reason you wouldn’t want Google’s full knowledge graph at your disposal?

Admittedly, it’s an answer that Google isn’t likely to get wrong.
As far as I can tell, the order of Google’s search results seem to be the same regardless of whether you pick “web” or “all.” It doesn’t block links to YouTube videos or Reddit posts or SEO factories… and I still saw (smaller!) sponsored ads from Amazon and Verkada and Wyze push down my search results:

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
Product searches still fundamentally favor a company to the point that bad news about them gets buried.

“Web” is just a filter that removes Google’s knowledge panels and featured snippets and Shopping modules — and Google’s new AI Overviews as well, Google spokesperson Ned Adriance confirms to The Verge. “AI Overviews are a feature in Search, just like a knowledge panel or a featured snippet, so they will not appear when someone uses the web filter for a search.”
It doesn’t magically fix some of the issues facing Google’s search engine. But it is a giant opt-out button for people who’ve been aggravated by some of the company’s seemingly self-serving moves, and a way to preserve the spirit of the 10 blue links even as Google’s AI efforts try to leave them behind.
Danny Sullivan, Google’s Public Liaison for Search, says he’s been asking for something like this for years:

Since I joined Google, I’ve just been a boy standing in front of the search group asking it to love a Web filter. So happy to see it’s arrived – congrats to the hard-working team on this project that through their own efforts made it a reality! https://t.co/pA0MLxh7Zz— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) May 14, 2024

As a next step, I’d like to see Google promote the button to make it more visible. Right now, the company warns that it may not always appear in the primary carousel on desktop at all — you may need to click “More” first and then select “Web.”
Here’s hoping this all works well on mobile, too; I’m not seeing it on my phone yet.

Illustration: The Verge

This is not a joke: Google will now let you perform a “web” search. It’s rolling out “web” searches now, and in my early tests on desktop, it’s looking like it could be an incredibly popular change to Google’s search engine.

The optional setting filters out almost all the other blocks of content that Google crams into a search results page, leaving you with links and text — and Google confirms to The Verge that it will block the company’s new AI Overviews as well.

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
This is the new Web button. You know, for all your Web searches.

“Isn’t every search a web search? What is Google Search if not the web?” you might rightfully ask.

But independent websites like HouseFresh and Retro Dodo have pointed out how their businesses have gotten “buried deep beneath sponsored posts, Quora advice from 2016, best-of lists from big media sites, and no less than 64 Google Shopping product listings,” in the words of HouseFresh managing editor Gisele Navarro.

Now, with one click, a bunch of those blockers seemingly disappear.

Search for “best home arcade cabinets,” one of Retro Dodo’s bread-and-butter queries, and it’s no longer buried — it appears on page 1. (Drag our image slider to see the difference.)

HouseFresh still doesn’t get page 1 billing for “best budget air purifiers” — but it’s higher up, and you’re no longer assaulted by an eye-popping number of Google Shopping results as you scroll:

If you search for Wyze cameras, you’ll now get a hint about their lax security practices on page 2 instead of page 3:

I’m not sure it’s an improvement for every search, partly because Google’s modules can be useful, and partly because the company isn’t giving up on self-promotion just because you press the “web” button. Here, you can see Google still gives itself top billing for “Google AR glasses” either way, and its “Top stories” box is arguably a helpful addition:

Which of these results helps you better learn about the Maui wildfires? I’m genuinely not sure:

And when you ask Google who wrote The Lord of the Rings, is there any reason you wouldn’t want Google’s full knowledge graph at your disposal?

Admittedly, it’s an answer that Google isn’t likely to get wrong.

As far as I can tell, the order of Google’s search results seem to be the same regardless of whether you pick “web” or “all.” It doesn’t block links to YouTube videos or Reddit posts or SEO factories… and I still saw (smaller!) sponsored ads from Amazon and Verkada and Wyze push down my search results:

“Web” is just a filter that removes Google’s knowledge panels and featured snippets and Shopping modules — and Google’s new AI Overviews as well, Google spokesperson Ned Adriance confirms to The Verge. “AI Overviews are a feature in Search, just like a knowledge panel or a featured snippet, so they will not appear when someone uses the web filter for a search.”

It doesn’t magically fix some of the issues facing Google’s search engine. But it is a giant opt-out button for people who’ve been aggravated by some of the company’s seemingly self-serving moves, and a way to preserve the spirit of the 10 blue links even as Google’s AI efforts try to leave them behind.

Danny Sullivan, Google’s Public Liaison for Search, says he’s been asking for something like this for years:

As a next step, I’d like to see Google promote the button to make it more visible. Right now, the company warns that it may not always appear in the primary carousel on desktop at all — you may need to click “More” first and then select “Web.”

Here’s hoping this all works well on mobile, too; I’m not seeing it on my phone yet.

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Illustration: The Verge

Ilya Sutskever, the OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist who helped lead the infamous failed coup against Sam Altman and then later changed his mind, is officially leaving the company.
Both Altman and Sutskever have farewell posts on X:

Ilya and OpenAI are going to part ways. This is very sad to me; Ilya is easily one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guiding light of our field, and a dear friend. His brilliance and vision are well known; his warmth and compassion are less well known but no less…— Sam Altman (@sama) May 14, 2024

After almost a decade, I have made the decision to leave OpenAI. The company’s trajectory has been nothing short of miraculous, and I’m confident that OpenAI will build AGI that is both safe and beneficial under the leadership of @sama, @gdb, @miramurati and now, under the…— Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) May 14, 2024

Here’s Altman’s full post for posterity (or if you don’t have an X login to expand the whole thing):

Ilya and OpenAI are going to part ways. This is very sad to me; Ilya is easily one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guiding light of our field, and a dear friend. His brilliance and vision are well known; his warmth and compassion are less well known but no less important.
OpenAI would not be what it is without him. Although he has something personally meaningful he is going to go work on, I am forever grateful for what he did here and committed to finishing the mission we started together. I am happy that for so long I got to be close to such genuinely remarkable genius, and someone so focused on getting to the best future for humanity.
Jakub is going to be our new Chief Scientist. Jakub is also easily one of the greatest minds of our generation; I am thrilled he is taking the baton here. He has run many of our most important projects, and I am very confident he will lead us to make rapid and safe progress towards our mission of ensuring that AGI benefits everyone.

Jakub refers to Jakub Pachocki, the company’s Director of Research, according to an OpenAI press release. It says he’d been “spearheading the development of GPT-4 and OpenAI Five, and fundamental research in large-scale RL and deep learning optimization.”
“I am excited for what comes next — a project that is very personally meaningful to me about which I will share details in due time,” Sutskever said in his statement on X.
If you want to read more about all of OpenAI’s drama, here’s our StoryStream about the attempted coup.

Illustration: The Verge

Ilya Sutskever, the OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist who helped lead the infamous failed coup against Sam Altman and then later changed his mind, is officially leaving the company.

Both Altman and Sutskever have farewell posts on X:

Here’s Altman’s full post for posterity (or if you don’t have an X login to expand the whole thing):

Ilya and OpenAI are going to part ways. This is very sad to me; Ilya is easily one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guiding light of our field, and a dear friend. His brilliance and vision are well known; his warmth and compassion are less well known but no less important.

OpenAI would not be what it is without him. Although he has something personally meaningful he is going to go work on, I am forever grateful for what he did here and committed to finishing the mission we started together. I am happy that for so long I got to be close to such genuinely remarkable genius, and someone so focused on getting to the best future for humanity.

Jakub is going to be our new Chief Scientist. Jakub is also easily one of the greatest minds of our generation; I am thrilled he is taking the baton here. He has run many of our most important projects, and I am very confident he will lead us to make rapid and safe progress towards our mission of ensuring that AGI benefits everyone.

Jakub refers to Jakub Pachocki, the company’s Director of Research, according to an OpenAI press release. It says he’d been “spearheading the development of GPT-4 and OpenAI Five, and fundamental research in large-scale RL and deep learning optimization.”

“I am excited for what comes next — a project that is very personally meaningful to me about which I will share details in due time,” Sutskever said in his statement on X.

If you want to read more about all of OpenAI’s drama, here’s our StoryStream about the attempted coup.

Read More 

Illustration: The Verge

Google has announced that the code for Project Gameface, its hands-free gaming ‘mouse’ that you control by making faces, is now available open-source to Android developers on Tuesday.
Developers can now integrate the accessibility feature into their apps, allowing users to control the cursor with facial gestures or by moving their heads. For example, they can open their mouth to move the cursor or raise their eyebrows to click and drag.

Announced during last year’s Google I/O for desktop, Project Gameface uses the device’s camera and a database of facial expressions from MediaPipe’s Face Landmarks Detection API to manipulate the cursor.
“Through the device’s camera, it seamlessly tracks facial expressions and head movements, translating them into intuitive and personalized control,” Google explained in its announcement. “Developers can now build applications where their users can configure their experience by customizing facial expressions, gesture sizes, cursor speed, and more.”
While Gameface was initially made for gamers, Google says it has also partnered with Incluzza — a social enterprise in India focused on accessibility — to see how they can expand it to other settings like work, school, and social situations.
Project Gameface was inspired by quadriplegic video game streamer Lance Carr, who has muscular dystrophy. Carr collaborated with Google on the project, with the aim of creating a more affordable and accessible alternative to expensive head-tracking systems.

Illustration: The Verge

Google has announced that the code for Project Gameface, its hands-free gaming ‘mouse’ that you control by making faces, is now available open-source to Android developers on Tuesday.

Developers can now integrate the accessibility feature into their apps, allowing users to control the cursor with facial gestures or by moving their heads. For example, they can open their mouth to move the cursor or raise their eyebrows to click and drag.

Announced during last year’s Google I/O for desktop, Project Gameface uses the device’s camera and a database of facial expressions from MediaPipe’s Face Landmarks Detection API to manipulate the cursor.

“Through the device’s camera, it seamlessly tracks facial expressions and head movements, translating them into intuitive and personalized control,” Google explained in its announcement. “Developers can now build applications where their users can configure their experience by customizing facial expressions, gesture sizes, cursor speed, and more.”

While Gameface was initially made for gamers, Google says it has also partnered with Incluzza — a social enterprise in India focused on accessibility — to see how they can expand it to other settings like work, school, and social situations.

Project Gameface was inspired by quadriplegic video game streamer Lance Carr, who has muscular dystrophy. Carr collaborated with Google on the project, with the aim of creating a more affordable and accessible alternative to expensive head-tracking systems.

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Meta is throwing in the towel on Workplace, its Facebook-based alternative to office communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams alternative, as reported earlier by TechCrunch. Meta spokesperson Ashley Zandy confirmed to The Verge that it will be available to customers for use through August 31st, 2025. Formerly known as Facebook @ Work, it was used internally for two years before its public launch in 2016, and according to Zandy, there won’t be any changes in terms of its internal use.
Meta will offer a 50 percent discount on the service starting in September, and it’s offered to work with customers on transitioning to the Zoom-owned Workvivo. After September 1st, 2025, Workplace will become read- and export-only until June 1st, 2026, when access will end and the data will be deleted.

TechCrunch reports that development slowed considerably after people returned to offices that had been empty due to the covid pandemic and after a number of key employees left. The shift popped the bubble for an increasingly crowded space for remote work tools. Stronger competition from Microsoft Teams, Google Workplace, and even new entrants like Zoom Workplace caused Meta to slow down after a decade of development.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Meta is throwing in the towel on Workplace, its Facebook-based alternative to office communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams alternative, as reported earlier by TechCrunch. Meta spokesperson Ashley Zandy confirmed to The Verge that it will be available to customers for use through August 31st, 2025. Formerly known as Facebook @ Work, it was used internally for two years before its public launch in 2016, and according to Zandy, there won’t be any changes in terms of its internal use.

Meta will offer a 50 percent discount on the service starting in September, and it’s offered to work with customers on transitioning to the Zoom-owned Workvivo. After September 1st, 2025, Workplace will become read- and export-only until June 1st, 2026, when access will end and the data will be deleted.

TechCrunch reports that development slowed considerably after people returned to offices that had been empty due to the covid pandemic and after a number of key employees left. The shift popped the bubble for an increasingly crowded space for remote work tools. Stronger competition from Microsoft Teams, Google Workplace, and even new entrants like Zoom Workplace caused Meta to slow down after a decade of development.

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Marvel

You can never be sure what to expect out of Disney’s upfront presentation, but this year’s showcase of the studio’s new projects brought a slew of news about Disney Plus’ upcoming WandaVision spinoff series.
While there’s been a bit of confusion about what the Agatha Harkness-focused series would ultimately be called, Kathryn Hahn, Patti Lupone, and Joe Locke revealed today that it will, in fact, be titled Agatha All Along, and its first two episodes will premiere on September 18th.

It was Agatha All Along Don’t miss the two-episode premiere of #AgathaAllAlong, September 18 on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/hwPSOeJFv6— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) May 14, 2024

A brief teaser for the series made it seem like Agatha All Along will find Harkness (Hahn) trapped in a yet another show-within-a-show reality before a number of other witches free her, and it becomes clear that she’s lost most of her magical abilities. Compared to WandaVision, which had a playful sitcom tone, Agatha All Along looks like it’s going for a darker, more horror-oriented vibe. It’s not clear how the show is meant to fit into the larger MCU, but if it’s anything like its predecessor, it’s going to be a gas.

Marvel

You can never be sure what to expect out of Disney’s upfront presentation, but this year’s showcase of the studio’s new projects brought a slew of news about Disney Plus’ upcoming WandaVision spinoff series.

While there’s been a bit of confusion about what the Agatha Harkness-focused series would ultimately be called, Kathryn Hahn, Patti Lupone, and Joe Locke revealed today that it will, in fact, be titled Agatha All Along, and its first two episodes will premiere on September 18th.

A brief teaser for the series made it seem like Agatha All Along will find Harkness (Hahn) trapped in a yet another show-within-a-show reality before a number of other witches free her, and it becomes clear that she’s lost most of her magical abilities. Compared to WandaVision, which had a playful sitcom tone, Agatha All Along looks like it’s going for a darker, more horror-oriented vibe. It’s not clear how the show is meant to fit into the larger MCU, but if it’s anything like its predecessor, it’s going to be a gas.

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The just-released iPad Pro and iPad Air have a new Battery Health menu option that includes an optimized charging option and provides more data about the battery. As reported by MacRumors, the new menu matches the settings introduced on iPhone 15, which lets users set their device to not charge past 80 percent, which can help extend the usable life of the battery.
You can get to the new menu on iPad by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Health, which will also provide datapoints for charge cycle count, the date the battery was manufactured, and when the battery was first charged. It was introduced in iPadOS 17.5, but isn’t available on older iPad models.

Image: David Pierce / The Verge
New battery health menu on iPad Pro.

MacBook users have had a similar battery health manager (now called Optimized Battery Charging) for years that helps keep them from fully charging too often. It’s common for people to keep their laptops plugged in at a desk, especially due to the work-from-home prevalence that stemmed from covid. Now iPad users, too, can keep their devices from charging over 80 percent, which is appropriate since they look more like MacBooks than ever.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The just-released iPad Pro and iPad Air have a new Battery Health menu option that includes an optimized charging option and provides more data about the battery. As reported by MacRumors, the new menu matches the settings introduced on iPhone 15, which lets users set their device to not charge past 80 percent, which can help extend the usable life of the battery.

You can get to the new menu on iPad by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Health, which will also provide datapoints for charge cycle count, the date the battery was manufactured, and when the battery was first charged. It was introduced in iPadOS 17.5, but isn’t available on older iPad models.

Image: David Pierce / The Verge
New battery health menu on iPad Pro.

MacBook users have had a similar battery health manager (now called Optimized Battery Charging) for years that helps keep them from fully charging too often. It’s common for people to keep their laptops plugged in at a desk, especially due to the work-from-home prevalence that stemmed from covid. Now iPad users, too, can keep their devices from charging over 80 percent, which is appropriate since they look more like MacBooks than ever.

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Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images

Eight TikTok creators are suing to stop a law that would ban the app unless its Chinese parent company divests it, arguing that the measure would strip them of their livelihoods and creative outlets.
The suit is similar to the company’s own challenge to the law in that it leans on First Amendment arguments, calls lawmakers’ concerns around the app speculative, and recalls that courts have blocked other methods of banning TikTok, including former President Donald Trump’s executive order and a Montana state law. But while the company’s suit details the alleged impracticality of separating TikTok from its owner ByteDance, the creators’ suit focuses squarely on how their own speech could be impacted if TikTok went away.
While the court is likely to take seriously the First Amendment challenges to the law, TikTok and its creators will also need to convince it that those issues should overshadow the national security concerns lawmakers expressed in passing the bill, and any deference it might be inclined to show for a law that passed overwhelmingly through Congress.
The creators — including rancher Brian Firebaugh, book reviewer Talia Cadet, and college football coach Timothy Martin — claim that TikTok is distinct from other social media platforms as a vehicle for expression, meaning that there’s no equivalent platform for creators to move to. They point to its recommendation algorithm and features like its green screen or duet capability as elements that make it stand out. “These characteristics—intrinsic to the medium and derived from the system TikTok uses to curate content for each user — give TikTok a distinct culture and identity,” the lawsuit says. “Creating videos on TikTok (‘TikToks’) is thus its own form of expression, and content expressed through TikTok may convey a different meaning than content expressed elsewhere.”
The complaint points out that even though all the creators participating in the lawsuit have used other platforms like Facebook and Instagram, their following on those sites is significantly lower. And, they say, they fear that an ownership change could drastically alter the experience, just like Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter (now X) did for that platform. “Petitioners thus have an interest not only in creating and accessing expression through TikTok, but an interest in creating and accessing expression as curated using TikTok’s current editorial practices,” the complaint says.
The case is filed in the federal Court of Appeals in DC, which has exclusive jurisdiction over challenges to the forced divestment law. The creators are asking the court to declare the law unconstitutional and stop it from being enforced.

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images

Eight TikTok creators are suing to stop a law that would ban the app unless its Chinese parent company divests it, arguing that the measure would strip them of their livelihoods and creative outlets.

The suit is similar to the company’s own challenge to the law in that it leans on First Amendment arguments, calls lawmakers’ concerns around the app speculative, and recalls that courts have blocked other methods of banning TikTok, including former President Donald Trump’s executive order and a Montana state law. But while the company’s suit details the alleged impracticality of separating TikTok from its owner ByteDance, the creators’ suit focuses squarely on how their own speech could be impacted if TikTok went away.

While the court is likely to take seriously the First Amendment challenges to the law, TikTok and its creators will also need to convince it that those issues should overshadow the national security concerns lawmakers expressed in passing the bill, and any deference it might be inclined to show for a law that passed overwhelmingly through Congress.

The creators — including rancher Brian Firebaugh, book reviewer Talia Cadet, and college football coach Timothy Martin — claim that TikTok is distinct from other social media platforms as a vehicle for expression, meaning that there’s no equivalent platform for creators to move to. They point to its recommendation algorithm and features like its green screen or duet capability as elements that make it stand out. “These characteristics—intrinsic to the medium and derived from the system TikTok uses to curate content for each user — give TikTok a distinct culture and identity,” the lawsuit says. “Creating videos on TikTok (‘TikToks’) is thus its own form of expression, and content expressed through TikTok may convey a different meaning than content expressed elsewhere.”

The complaint points out that even though all the creators participating in the lawsuit have used other platforms like Facebook and Instagram, their following on those sites is significantly lower. And, they say, they fear that an ownership change could drastically alter the experience, just like Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter (now X) did for that platform. “Petitioners thus have an interest not only in creating and accessing expression through TikTok, but an interest in creating and accessing expression as curated using TikTok’s current editorial practices,” the complaint says.

The case is filed in the federal Court of Appeals in DC, which has exclusive jurisdiction over challenges to the forced divestment law. The creators are asking the court to declare the law unconstitutional and stop it from being enforced.

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Photo: Sonos

A week after introducing a redesigned, sleeker app that omitted many core features, Sonos held an Ask Me Anything event on its forums today. The purpose was partly to make it clear that customer frustrations are being heard. But as has been the case since last week, the feedback skewed overwhelmingly negative. This company’s community remains pretty damn angry over losing software capabilities like local music search, sleep timers, and more with no warning.
Many participants asked Sonos why it released an app that was nowhere near on par with the previous version in terms of functionality — even after, as The Verge has learned, private beta testers raised concerns with the state that the software was in before launch. And they were often less than satisfied with the answers given by Sonos’ product team.
Let’s start with the big “why now” question. Tucker Severson, director of product management, attempted to address that with the following response:

An app is never finished!
It’s probably a good idea to give you some background. This is a new app – we started from an empty project file. As the project progressed, we stopped investing our time in the old app code. Over time we “cross-faded” our engineering attention into the new app. We need to make the new app be the app going forward so we stop splitting our attention.
We decided that now is the moment to bring you the new app. This is the beginning, and we will be continually iterating going forward. As I said – an app is never finished.

Granted, that doesn’t actually explain what was so pressing that the app needed to ship in early May — several weeks ahead of a rumored June release for the long-awaited Sonos Ace headphones, which will be reliant on the new app.
As for the motivation behind the big visual overhaul, senior director of software development Diane Roberts said “the refreshed UI design is rooted in the needs that we’ve been hearing from our listeners for years. We heard from users that the information architecture of the S2 app felt like work, particularly in navigating between multiple tabs to get core jobs done.”
Sonos believes the new app’s customizable home feed does a superior job putting the most useful content and controls “immediately within thumb’s reach.” And the software stack has been modernized to take advantage of newer APIs, hopefully ensuring smoother system performance long into the future.

Image: Sonos
Sonos has some rebuilding of trust to work on.

I don’t want to pile on here. As I’ve said from the start, depending on how you’ve always used the Sonos app, this new version indeed feels better to some people! But the poorly managed rollout is proving to be Sonos’ biggest unforced error yet. The S1 to S2 software transition was overblown by some; only the company’s very oldest products were left behind on the legacy platform. They still work! And the S1 app remains available to keep it that way.
But this situation has seriously shaken trust in the brand for those who regularly used now-missing features like local music search, sleep timers, and more. According to Sonos’ recent estimates, some of those capabilities won’t be coming back until June. It’s perfectly fair to question why there was never an open beta for this reworked Sonos app or a transition phase between old and new to prevent customers from suddenly losing functionality. The company’s emails advertising the new app didn’t mention any of these shortcomings.
The ability to create alarms only just returned with a system update today. But the explanation for that bug is really emblematic of this whole situation and suggests that the software wasn’t ready for prime time. Here’s how Roberts laid it out:

On the morning of the app launch, we discovered a data corruption error around the new Alarms APIs. The corruption could cause alarms to go off in the wrong room at the wrong volume with the wrong content! In order to save your alarms, we made the difficult decision to remotely disable the alarm settings feature and then completely lock it out. It allowed us to make sure your alarms stayed as they were – but at the steep cost of taking away your ability to change them yourself.
The team rallied to make sure we could turn this feature back on safely – and today we are so delighted to say that we have re-enabled alarm settings. To get this feature, you must do a full system update.
But that’s not how we expect to introduce features every time. We have built the new app to be able to update independently of the speaker firmware. As we go forward, you can expect us to bring out new features with smaller, less intrusive, updates.

iOS customers have no viable way of downgrading to the previous app experience. And while it’s technically possible to do so on Android, Sonos is now advising against it.
“Rolling back to the previous version of the Sonos app is likely to cause issues,” director of product management Tucker Severson wrote. “As Sonos continues to advance forward with new updates to the firmware, the old apps will fall out of compatibility quickly. Our priority is to release improvements to the Sonos app rapidly to address your needs.”
Any user experience makeover inevitably brings many questions, and shipping with a lengthy list of missing features was always going to cause consternation among longtime customers. So it’s completely understandable why many of Sonos’ loyal fans are annoyed by such a drastic shift and confused by the seeming urgency. What was the rush here?
But if you’re looking for a reason to have confidence that things will get better — and hopefully soon — remember that these people are all frequent users of the products themselves.
Here’s Diane Roberts again:

We have all been deeply invested in this project for a long time. We are all Sonos owners. Many people on the team had Sonos in their homes before they joined the team. We all use the experience every day.
Any time we change an experience or delay a feature, we know that some people will have negative sentiments. We also saw in our usability testing that people appreciated the new user interface, adaptability, and faster time to music.
We have been reading your posts and seeing your feedback.
Once the release went live, the mood could be described as “energized.” The activity on the team is high as people share what they’ve built for the next releases. We are excited that we can bring these continuous regular updates. It’s easier and faster now for us to share what we’ve built with you. That started with today’s release and will continue on May 21st with releases to follow.

Let’s hope so. If it’s any consolation, there are still improvements and new features coming amidst all this change: Sonos just today added support for lossless Apple Music tracks, giving customers another way of getting the most fidelity from its speakers. And the company is keenly aware that there’s more work to be done before it can put this ordeal behind it.
“What we learned this past week is that we should have communicated more openly with you about changes that may impact you,” Severson wrote. “Over the coming weeks and months, we seek to fix the issues that you have surfaced and earn back your trust.”

Photo: Sonos

A week after introducing a redesigned, sleeker app that omitted many core features, Sonos held an Ask Me Anything event on its forums today. The purpose was partly to make it clear that customer frustrations are being heard. But as has been the case since last week, the feedback skewed overwhelmingly negative. This company’s community remains pretty damn angry over losing software capabilities like local music search, sleep timers, and more with no warning.

Many participants asked Sonos why it released an app that was nowhere near on par with the previous version in terms of functionality — even after, as The Verge has learned, private beta testers raised concerns with the state that the software was in before launch. And they were often less than satisfied with the answers given by Sonos’ product team.

Let’s start with the big “why now” question. Tucker Severson, director of product management, attempted to address that with the following response:

An app is never finished!

It’s probably a good idea to give you some background. This is a new app – we started from an empty project file. As the project progressed, we stopped investing our time in the old app code. Over time we “cross-faded” our engineering attention into the new app. We need to make the new app be the app going forward so we stop splitting our attention.

We decided that now is the moment to bring you the new app. This is the beginning, and we will be continually iterating going forward. As I said – an app is never finished.

Granted, that doesn’t actually explain what was so pressing that the app needed to ship in early May — several weeks ahead of a rumored June release for the long-awaited Sonos Ace headphones, which will be reliant on the new app.

As for the motivation behind the big visual overhaul, senior director of software development Diane Roberts said “the refreshed UI design is rooted in the needs that we’ve been hearing from our listeners for years. We heard from users that the information architecture of the S2 app felt like work, particularly in navigating between multiple tabs to get core jobs done.”

Sonos believes the new app’s customizable home feed does a superior job putting the most useful content and controls “immediately within thumb’s reach.” And the software stack has been modernized to take advantage of newer APIs, hopefully ensuring smoother system performance long into the future.

Image: Sonos
Sonos has some rebuilding of trust to work on.

I don’t want to pile on here. As I’ve said from the start, depending on how you’ve always used the Sonos app, this new version indeed feels better to some people! But the poorly managed rollout is proving to be Sonos’ biggest unforced error yet. The S1 to S2 software transition was overblown by some; only the company’s very oldest products were left behind on the legacy platform. They still work! And the S1 app remains available to keep it that way.

But this situation has seriously shaken trust in the brand for those who regularly used now-missing features like local music search, sleep timers, and more. According to Sonos’ recent estimates, some of those capabilities won’t be coming back until June. It’s perfectly fair to question why there was never an open beta for this reworked Sonos app or a transition phase between old and new to prevent customers from suddenly losing functionality. The company’s emails advertising the new app didn’t mention any of these shortcomings.

The ability to create alarms only just returned with a system update today. But the explanation for that bug is really emblematic of this whole situation and suggests that the software wasn’t ready for prime time. Here’s how Roberts laid it out:

On the morning of the app launch, we discovered a data corruption error around the new Alarms APIs. The corruption could cause alarms to go off in the wrong room at the wrong volume with the wrong content! In order to save your alarms, we made the difficult decision to remotely disable the alarm settings feature and then completely lock it out. It allowed us to make sure your alarms stayed as they were – but at the steep cost of taking away your ability to change them yourself.

The team rallied to make sure we could turn this feature back on safely – and today we are so delighted to say that we have re-enabled alarm settings. To get this feature, you must do a full system update.

But that’s not how we expect to introduce features every time. We have built the new app to be able to update independently of the speaker firmware. As we go forward, you can expect us to bring out new features with smaller, less intrusive, updates.

iOS customers have no viable way of downgrading to the previous app experience. And while it’s technically possible to do so on Android, Sonos is now advising against it.

“Rolling back to the previous version of the Sonos app is likely to cause issues,” director of product management Tucker Severson wrote. “As Sonos continues to advance forward with new updates to the firmware, the old apps will fall out of compatibility quickly. Our priority is to release improvements to the Sonos app rapidly to address your needs.”

Any user experience makeover inevitably brings many questions, and shipping with a lengthy list of missing features was always going to cause consternation among longtime customers. So it’s completely understandable why many of Sonos’ loyal fans are annoyed by such a drastic shift and confused by the seeming urgency. What was the rush here?

But if you’re looking for a reason to have confidence that things will get better — and hopefully soon — remember that these people are all frequent users of the products themselves.

Here’s Diane Roberts again:

We have all been deeply invested in this project for a long time. We are all Sonos owners. Many people on the team had Sonos in their homes before they joined the team. We all use the experience every day.

Any time we change an experience or delay a feature, we know that some people will have negative sentiments. We also saw in our usability testing that people appreciated the new user interface, adaptability, and faster time to music.

We have been reading your posts and seeing your feedback.

Once the release went live, the mood could be described as “energized.” The activity on the team is high as people share what they’ve built for the next releases. We are excited that we can bring these continuous regular updates. It’s easier and faster now for us to share what we’ve built with you. That started with today’s release and will continue on May 21st with releases to follow.

Let’s hope so. If it’s any consolation, there are still improvements and new features coming amidst all this change: Sonos just today added support for lossless Apple Music tracks, giving customers another way of getting the most fidelity from its speakers. And the company is keenly aware that there’s more work to be done before it can put this ordeal behind it.

“What we learned this past week is that we should have communicated more openly with you about changes that may impact you,” Severson wrote. “Over the coming weeks and months, we seek to fix the issues that you have surfaced and earn back your trust.”

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Illustration: The Verge

Google says its new AI model, LearnLM, will help students with their homework.
LearnLM, a family of AI models based on Google’s other large language mode, Gemini, was built to be an expert in subjects, find and present examples in different ways like a photo or video, coach students while studying, and, in Google’s words, “inspire engagement.”
Google has already integrated LearnLM into its products, bundling it with other services like Google Search, Android, YouTube, and the Gemini chatbot. For example, customers can use Circle to Search on Android to highlight a math or physics word problem, and LearnLM will help solve the question. On YouTube, while watching a lecture video, viewers can ask questions about the video, and the model will respond with an explanation.
Some AI models, such as Microsoft’s Orca-Math AI model, can answer math questions pretty reliably — the ability to answer math questions is one of the benchmarks that measure LLM performance — and Google boasted that Gemini aced the math benchmark better than GPT-4.
Google says LearnLM was specifically “fine-tuned” to only respond and find answers based on educational research. In other words, LearnLM will not help someone plan a trip or find a restaurant.
Google says it’s working with educators in a new pilot program on Google Classroom so they can use LearnLM to simplify lesson planning. The company is also experimenting with Illuminate, a platform that will break down research papers into short audio clips with AI-generated voices. Ideally, this will help students understand complex information better.
Google also partnered with Columbia’s Teachers College, Arizona State University, NYU Tisch, and Khan Academy to provide feedback to LearnLM.

Illustration: The Verge

Google says its new AI model, LearnLM, will help students with their homework.

LearnLM, a family of AI models based on Google’s other large language mode, Gemini, was built to be an expert in subjects, find and present examples in different ways like a photo or video, coach students while studying, and, in Google’s words, “inspire engagement.”

Google has already integrated LearnLM into its products, bundling it with other services like Google Search, Android, YouTube, and the Gemini chatbot. For example, customers can use Circle to Search on Android to highlight a math or physics word problem, and LearnLM will help solve the question. On YouTube, while watching a lecture video, viewers can ask questions about the video, and the model will respond with an explanation.

Some AI models, such as Microsoft’s Orca-Math AI model, can answer math questions pretty reliably — the ability to answer math questions is one of the benchmarks that measure LLM performance — and Google boasted that Gemini aced the math benchmark better than GPT-4.

Google says LearnLM was specifically “fine-tuned” to only respond and find answers based on educational research. In other words, LearnLM will not help someone plan a trip or find a restaurant.

Google says it’s working with educators in a new pilot program on Google Classroom so they can use LearnLM to simplify lesson planning. The company is also experimenting with Illuminate, a platform that will break down research papers into short audio clips with AI-generated voices. Ideally, this will help students understand complex information better.

Google also partnered with Columbia’s Teachers College, Arizona State University, NYU Tisch, and Khan Academy to provide feedback to LearnLM.

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The billboard ads contained messages that seemingly mocked celibate women. | Image: The Verge

Dating app company Bumble has issued an apology for running an ad campaign that seemingly shamed women for not being sexually active and mocked people for choosing celibacy instead of dating.
After updating its app and brand design in April to try to attract new users who are “exhausted from the dating scene,” Bumble ran a series of billboard ads containing messages like “You know full well a vow of celibacy is not the answer,” and “Thou shalt not give up on dating and become a nun.” The company faced swift backlash across social media from users who condemned the ads for delegitimizing celibacy as a valid personal choice.
“We made a mistake,” the company said via an Instagram post on Monday. “Our ads referencing celibacy were an attempt to lean into a community frustrated by modern dating, and instead of bringing joy and humor, we unintentionally did the opposite.”

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A post shared by Bumble (@bumble)

The company said it’s removing the ads and will be donating to the National Domestic Violence Hotline and other organizations that support women. The billboard spaces will also be offered to these organizations to display “an ad of their choice” for the remaining duration Bumble reserved them for.
Social media users accused the ad campaign of going against the founding principles of Bumble, which launched in 2014 with the aim of creating a more hospitable dating environment for women. Critics noted that the campaign is dismissive of people who choose celibacy, including Bumble’s asexual users and people who avoid sex due to trauma, and pointed out racist language differentials on ads depicting a Black woman.

@frombothsidesofthecouch Please tell me what’s best for me as if I don’t know myself best #bumble #bumblead #bumblebillboard #bumblecelibacy #celibacy #womensrights #4b ♬ original sound – Frombothsidesofthecouch

Women have also started embracing celibacy as a means to protest rigid gender roles, sexism, and sexual violence, such as South Korea’s 4B feminist movement, which renounces sex with men, marriage, and having children.
This controversy follows an already rough period for Bumble. The company announced plans to lay off 350 employees back in February, and its share price has tumbled by roughly 45 percent since last July as young adults opt to make connections in person or via social media instead of through dating apps.

The billboard ads contained messages that seemingly mocked celibate women. | Image: The Verge

Dating app company Bumble has issued an apology for running an ad campaign that seemingly shamed women for not being sexually active and mocked people for choosing celibacy instead of dating.

After updating its app and brand design in April to try to attract new users who are “exhausted from the dating scene,” Bumble ran a series of billboard ads containing messages like “You know full well a vow of celibacy is not the answer,” and “Thou shalt not give up on dating and become a nun.” The company faced swift backlash across social media from users who condemned the ads for delegitimizing celibacy as a valid personal choice.

“We made a mistake,” the company said via an Instagram post on Monday. “Our ads referencing celibacy were an attempt to lean into a community frustrated by modern dating, and instead of bringing joy and humor, we unintentionally did the opposite.”

The company said it’s removing the ads and will be donating to the National Domestic Violence Hotline and other organizations that support women. The billboard spaces will also be offered to these organizations to display “an ad of their choice” for the remaining duration Bumble reserved them for.

Social media users accused the ad campaign of going against the founding principles of Bumble, which launched in 2014 with the aim of creating a more hospitable dating environment for women. Critics noted that the campaign is dismissive of people who choose celibacy, including Bumble’s asexual users and people who avoid sex due to trauma, and pointed out racist language differentials on ads depicting a Black woman.

Women have also started embracing celibacy as a means to protest rigid gender roles, sexism, and sexual violence, such as South Korea’s 4B feminist movement, which renounces sex with men, marriage, and having children.

This controversy follows an already rough period for Bumble. The company announced plans to lay off 350 employees back in February, and its share price has tumbled by roughly 45 percent since last July as young adults opt to make connections in person or via social media instead of through dating apps.

Read More