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The Profile Wireless microphones can be clipped or magnetically attached to clothing. | Image: Sennheiser

Sennheiser has announced a new portable wireless microphone kit designed to be an affordable and flexible all-in-one solution for content creators and videographers. The Profile Wireless system features a wireless receiver that can be connected to various devices, a pair of compact clip-on transmitters with built-in microphones that can also be used as handheld or tabletop mics, and a mobile charger.
The Sennheiser Profile Wireless kit isn’t expected to start shipping until late 2024 or early 2025, but it’s available for preorder starting today for $299. That’s cheaper than both the popular $349 DJI Mic 2 kit, which includes similar hardware, and the Shure MoveMic system, which is $499 when bundled with a wireless receiver. Rode’s Wireless Go II kit is also $299, but it doesn’t include an on-the-go charging solution.

Image: Sennheiser
The Profile Wireless’ charging bar features a 2,000mAh battery.

The Profile Wireless microphones are similar in size to the DJI Mic 2’s and can be attached to clothing using either a clip on the back or a magnet, which allows for more freedom with placement. If you want to use a higher-quality microphone or need a more discreet lav mic, the transmitter includes a lockable 3.5mm connector for attaching external mics.
The microphones come pre-paired to a two-channel receiver and communicate over a 2.4GHz wireless signal that has a range of just over 800 feet with a clear line of sight. If anybody gets in between the receiver and mic, the range drops to around 490 feet. Sennheiser says the battery life for the mics and wireless receiver is around seven hours, but all three can be recharged while away from a power outlet using the included charging bar that is equipped with a 2,000mAh battery.
Each microphone has 16GB of built-in storage with an optional “Backup Recording Mode” that will automatically start recording locally if the connection to the wireless receiver becomes unreliable. There’s also a “Safety Channel Mode” that will record a second copy of the audio at a lower level to help prevent louder sounds from being clipped or distorted.

Image: Sennheiser
The included wireless receiver connects to laptops, mobile devices, or cameras with a cable or charging port adapter.

Since the Profile Wireless system doesn’t use Bluetooth, capturing audio to another device requires the receiver to be connected using an included USB-C or Lightning adapter for mobile devices, a USB-C cable for computers, or an audio cable for cameras. The receiver itself includes an OLED screen that displays information like audio levels and the charge level of the mics; thanks to an included gyro sensor, the screen will automatically flip 180 degrees as needed.

Image: Sennheiser
Attach the wireless microphones to the included charging bar, and they become easier to use as handheld mics or on a desk.

Although wireless mic systems like this are becoming more popular because of their ease of use and convenient size, using a tiny clip-on mic in hand to conduct an impromptu interview can sometimes be challenging. Sennheiser’s solution to that problem has you attaching one of the microphones to the end of the included charging bar and then adding a foam windscreen.
This results in a larger microphone that’s easier to hold or use on a desk when connected to a microphone support or a tiny tripod. The larger microphone’s shape is a bit odd and may result in an extra question or two when sticking it in someone’s face, but it does bring some extra flexibility to an affordable microphone kit that already offers a lot of functionality.

The Profile Wireless microphones can be clipped or magnetically attached to clothing. | Image: Sennheiser

Sennheiser has announced a new portable wireless microphone kit designed to be an affordable and flexible all-in-one solution for content creators and videographers. The Profile Wireless system features a wireless receiver that can be connected to various devices, a pair of compact clip-on transmitters with built-in microphones that can also be used as handheld or tabletop mics, and a mobile charger.

The Sennheiser Profile Wireless kit isn’t expected to start shipping until late 2024 or early 2025, but it’s available for preorder starting today for $299. That’s cheaper than both the popular $349 DJI Mic 2 kit, which includes similar hardware, and the Shure MoveMic system, which is $499 when bundled with a wireless receiver. Rode’s Wireless Go II kit is also $299, but it doesn’t include an on-the-go charging solution.

Image: Sennheiser
The Profile Wireless’ charging bar features a 2,000mAh battery.

The Profile Wireless microphones are similar in size to the DJI Mic 2’s and can be attached to clothing using either a clip on the back or a magnet, which allows for more freedom with placement. If you want to use a higher-quality microphone or need a more discreet lav mic, the transmitter includes a lockable 3.5mm connector for attaching external mics.

The microphones come pre-paired to a two-channel receiver and communicate over a 2.4GHz wireless signal that has a range of just over 800 feet with a clear line of sight. If anybody gets in between the receiver and mic, the range drops to around 490 feet. Sennheiser says the battery life for the mics and wireless receiver is around seven hours, but all three can be recharged while away from a power outlet using the included charging bar that is equipped with a 2,000mAh battery.

Each microphone has 16GB of built-in storage with an optional “Backup Recording Mode” that will automatically start recording locally if the connection to the wireless receiver becomes unreliable. There’s also a “Safety Channel Mode” that will record a second copy of the audio at a lower level to help prevent louder sounds from being clipped or distorted.

Image: Sennheiser
The included wireless receiver connects to laptops, mobile devices, or cameras with a cable or charging port adapter.

Since the Profile Wireless system doesn’t use Bluetooth, capturing audio to another device requires the receiver to be connected using an included USB-C or Lightning adapter for mobile devices, a USB-C cable for computers, or an audio cable for cameras. The receiver itself includes an OLED screen that displays information like audio levels and the charge level of the mics; thanks to an included gyro sensor, the screen will automatically flip 180 degrees as needed.

Image: Sennheiser
Attach the wireless microphones to the included charging bar, and they become easier to use as handheld mics or on a desk.

Although wireless mic systems like this are becoming more popular because of their ease of use and convenient size, using a tiny clip-on mic in hand to conduct an impromptu interview can sometimes be challenging. Sennheiser’s solution to that problem has you attaching one of the microphones to the end of the included charging bar and then adding a foam windscreen.

This results in a larger microphone that’s easier to hold or use on a desk when connected to a microphone support or a tiny tripod. The larger microphone’s shape is a bit odd and may result in an extra question or two when sticking it in someone’s face, but it does bring some extra flexibility to an affordable microphone kit that already offers a lot of functionality.

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Canon’s budget-friendly VR lens will be available in November with an estimated retail price of $449.99. | Image: Canon

Canon has officially announced its new RF-S7.8mm F4 STM Dual lens, which features stereoscopic elements that have been squeezed into a body no larger than a traditional 2D camera lens. It was originally teased during the Apple WWDC 2024 keynote last June and is designed to work with a Canon EOS R7 as a more affordable tool for creators making 3D VR content for headsets like the Meta Quest 3 or spatial videos for the Apple Vision Pro.
The company hasn’t set a specific date for when the new 3D lens will be available, but it says it will be sometime in November 2024, with an “estimated retail price” of $449.99. That’s considerably cheaper than Canon’s existing dual-fisheye lenses designed to capture 3D video content, including the $1,999 RF5.2mm F2.8 L Dual and the $1,099 RF-S3.9mm F3.5 STM Dual.
Pairing Canon’s new 3D lens with the company’s 32.5MP EOS R7 digital camera — which itself starts at $1,299 — pushes the total price tag of the kit to over $1,700. However, that’s still cheaper than Canon’s higher-end 3D solutions, which start at $2,498 (and can go as high as $6,298) when paired with their requisite camera gear.

Image: Canon
The lens is designed to be easy to use, with minimal controls.

Canon’s new 3D lens has an aperture range of f/4.0 to f/16, supports autofocus, and features a button and a control wheel for making separate manual focus adjustments to the left and right sides. What makes it so much cheaper than Canon’s existing 3D lenses is its limited field of view. Canon’s pricier lenses are capable of capturing 180-degree video and images — close to what the human eye is capable of seeing — while the new RF-S7.8mm F4 STM Dual lens only takes in about a third of that at 63 degrees.

Image: Canon
The lenses on Canon’s new 3D lens are much smaller than the fisheye lenses on its pricier 3D lenses.

Using a standard Canon RF mount, the new lens has stereoscopic elements aligned in a straight optical path, resulting in its front lenses being positioned just 11.8mm apart compared to the 60mm gap between the dual-fisheye lenses on Canon’s existing 3D lenses. As a result, Canon says the strongest 3D effect will be experienced when capturing subjects or objects that are just 6 to 20 inches from the lens. When using it to capture something that’s farther away, the 3D effect will be less pronounced.
Images and videos captured using this lens need to be processed before they can be viewed using VR or AR headsets, either through the EOS VR plugin that’s available for Adobe Premiere Pro, or Canon’s own EOS VR Utility software, available for Macs and PCs. Both tools require a paid subscription but can generate 180-degree 3D, VR, or spatial video content.

Canon’s budget-friendly VR lens will be available in November with an estimated retail price of $449.99. | Image: Canon

Canon has officially announced its new RF-S7.8mm F4 STM Dual lens, which features stereoscopic elements that have been squeezed into a body no larger than a traditional 2D camera lens. It was originally teased during the Apple WWDC 2024 keynote last June and is designed to work with a Canon EOS R7 as a more affordable tool for creators making 3D VR content for headsets like the Meta Quest 3 or spatial videos for the Apple Vision Pro.

The company hasn’t set a specific date for when the new 3D lens will be available, but it says it will be sometime in November 2024, with an “estimated retail price” of $449.99. That’s considerably cheaper than Canon’s existing dual-fisheye lenses designed to capture 3D video content, including the $1,999 RF5.2mm F2.8 L Dual and the $1,099 RF-S3.9mm F3.5 STM Dual.

Pairing Canon’s new 3D lens with the company’s 32.5MP EOS R7 digital camera — which itself starts at $1,299 — pushes the total price tag of the kit to over $1,700. However, that’s still cheaper than Canon’s higher-end 3D solutions, which start at $2,498 (and can go as high as $6,298) when paired with their requisite camera gear.

Image: Canon
The lens is designed to be easy to use, with minimal controls.

Canon’s new 3D lens has an aperture range of f/4.0 to f/16, supports autofocus, and features a button and a control wheel for making separate manual focus adjustments to the left and right sides. What makes it so much cheaper than Canon’s existing 3D lenses is its limited field of view. Canon’s pricier lenses are capable of capturing 180-degree video and images — close to what the human eye is capable of seeing — while the new RF-S7.8mm F4 STM Dual lens only takes in about a third of that at 63 degrees.

Image: Canon
The lenses on Canon’s new 3D lens are much smaller than the fisheye lenses on its pricier 3D lenses.

Using a standard Canon RF mount, the new lens has stereoscopic elements aligned in a straight optical path, resulting in its front lenses being positioned just 11.8mm apart compared to the 60mm gap between the dual-fisheye lenses on Canon’s existing 3D lenses. As a result, Canon says the strongest 3D effect will be experienced when capturing subjects or objects that are just 6 to 20 inches from the lens. When using it to capture something that’s farther away, the 3D effect will be less pronounced.

Images and videos captured using this lens need to be processed before they can be viewed using VR or AR headsets, either through the EOS VR plugin that’s available for Adobe Premiere Pro, or Canon’s own EOS VR Utility software, available for Macs and PCs. Both tools require a paid subscription but can generate 180-degree 3D, VR, or spatial video content.

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An AMD Radeon GPU. | Image: AMD

AMD’s Q3 2024 earnings call today wasn’t bullish on gaming revenue overall, but it did confirm a hot new rumor on GPUs — specifically, the launch of AMD’s next-gen RDNA 4 parts early next year. “We are on track to launch the first RDNA4 GPUs in early 2025,” said AMD CEO Lisa Su, and the company confirmed to PCWorld that it’s the first time it’s shared those plans publicly.
“In addition to a strong increase in gaming performance, RDNA 4 delivers significantly higher ray tracing performance and adds new AI capabilities,” Su said on the call.
AMD confirming those chips might help lend credibility to other leaks, too. Earlier today, a Chiphell leaker rumored that AMD would announce its RDNA 4 graphics at CES 2025 in January, alongside its leaked Strix Halo and Fire Range gaming notebook parts, its confirmed Ryzen Z2 handheld gaming chips, and more.
AMD expects its gaming revenue to continue to decline this quarter, due in no small part to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles aging out, and it’s not exactly the company’s primary focus these days anyhow. On today’s call, Su pointed out how gaming only accounts for two percent of the company’s revenue, while data center is now well over half of the company’s business. She says that after spending 10 years turning AMD around, her next task is to “make AMD the end-to-end AI leader.”
The company had previously revealed it’s turning its back on flagship GPUs to chase AI first, so you shouldn’t expect new consumer RDNA 4 parts to compete with Nvidia’s best and priciest GPUs.

An AMD Radeon GPU. | Image: AMD

AMD’s Q3 2024 earnings call today wasn’t bullish on gaming revenue overall, but it did confirm a hot new rumor on GPUs — specifically, the launch of AMD’s next-gen RDNA 4 parts early next year. “We are on track to launch the first RDNA4 GPUs in early 2025,” said AMD CEO Lisa Su, and the company confirmed to PCWorld that it’s the first time it’s shared those plans publicly.

“In addition to a strong increase in gaming performance, RDNA 4 delivers significantly higher ray tracing performance and adds new AI capabilities,” Su said on the call.

AMD confirming those chips might help lend credibility to other leaks, too. Earlier today, a Chiphell leaker rumored that AMD would announce its RDNA 4 graphics at CES 2025 in January, alongside its leaked Strix Halo and Fire Range gaming notebook parts, its confirmed Ryzen Z2 handheld gaming chips, and more.

AMD expects its gaming revenue to continue to decline this quarter, due in no small part to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles aging out, and it’s not exactly the company’s primary focus these days anyhow. On today’s call, Su pointed out how gaming only accounts for two percent of the company’s revenue, while data center is now well over half of the company’s business. She says that after spending 10 years turning AMD around, her next task is to “make AMD the end-to-end AI leader.”

The company had previously revealed it’s turning its back on flagship GPUs to chase AI first, so you shouldn’t expect new consumer RDNA 4 parts to compete with Nvidia’s best and priciest GPUs.

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Image: The Verge

Reddit just turned a profit for the first time. As part of its third-quarter earnings results released on Tuesday, the company reported a profit of $29.9 million, along with $348.4 million in revenue — a 68 percent increase year over year.
The company hasn’t been profitable at any point in its nearly 20-year history. Since going public, Reddit lost $575 million during its first quarter on the market, but it decreased that loss to $10 million last quarter, and is now finally in the green.
Reddit also grew to 97.2 million daily users over the past few months, marking a 47 percent increase from the same time last year. That number exceeded 100 million users on some days during the quarter, Reddit says.
Reddit’s advertising revenue grew to $315.1 million, while “other” revenue reached $33.2 million on account of “data licensing agreements signed earlier this year.” Both Google and OpenAI have cut deals with Reddit to train their AI models on its posts.
In a letter to shareholders, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman attributed the recent increase in users to the platform’s AI-powered translation feature. Reddit started letting users translate posts into French last year before expanding it to Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and German. Now Huffman says Reddit plans to expand translation to over 30 countries through 2025.

“Reddit’s influence continues to grow across the broader internet,” Huffman wrote. “In 2024 so far, ‘Reddit’ was the sixth most Googled word in the U.S., underscoring that when people are looking for answers, advice, or community, they’re turning to Reddit.” The platform is also working to make its search feature “easier and more intuitive.”
Since going public earlier this year, Reddit has made a number of changes to generate more revenue, including inking advertising deals with professional sports leagues, upgrading its “ask me anything” posts, and cracking down on web crawlers attempting to scrape its content. Huffman has even weighed the idea of letting users create paid subreddits and even moved to prevent sitewide protests.

Image: The Verge

Reddit just turned a profit for the first time. As part of its third-quarter earnings results released on Tuesday, the company reported a profit of $29.9 million, along with $348.4 million in revenue — a 68 percent increase year over year.

The company hasn’t been profitable at any point in its nearly 20-year history. Since going public, Reddit lost $575 million during its first quarter on the market, but it decreased that loss to $10 million last quarter, and is now finally in the green.

Reddit also grew to 97.2 million daily users over the past few months, marking a 47 percent increase from the same time last year. That number exceeded 100 million users on some days during the quarter, Reddit says.

Reddit’s advertising revenue grew to $315.1 million, while “other” revenue reached $33.2 million on account of “data licensing agreements signed earlier this year.” Both Google and OpenAI have cut deals with Reddit to train their AI models on its posts.

In a letter to shareholders, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman attributed the recent increase in users to the platform’s AI-powered translation feature. Reddit started letting users translate posts into French last year before expanding it to Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and German. Now Huffman says Reddit plans to expand translation to over 30 countries through 2025.

“Reddit’s influence continues to grow across the broader internet,” Huffman wrote. “In 2024 so far, ‘Reddit’ was the sixth most Googled word in the U.S., underscoring that when people are looking for answers, advice, or community, they’re turning to Reddit.” The platform is also working to make its search feature “easier and more intuitive.”

Since going public earlier this year, Reddit has made a number of changes to generate more revenue, including inking advertising deals with professional sports leagues, upgrading its “ask me anything” posts, and cracking down on web crawlers attempting to scrape its content. Huffman has even weighed the idea of letting users create paid subreddits and even moved to prevent sitewide protests.

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Illustration: The Verge

Google is building a bunch of AI products, and it’s using AI quite a bit as part of building those products, too. “More than a quarter of all new code at Google is generated by AI, then reviewed and accepted by engineers,” CEO Sundar Pichai said on the company’s third quarter 2024 earnings call. It’s a big milestone that marks just how important AI is to the company.
AI is helping Google make money as well. Alphabet reported $88.3 billion in revenue for the quarter, with Google Services (which includes Search) revenue of $76.5 billion, up 13 percent year-over-year, and Google Cloud (which includes its AI infrastructure products for other companies) revenue of $11.4 billion, up 35 percent year-over-year.
Operating incomes were also strong. Google Services hit $30.9 billion, up from $23.9 billion last year, and Google Cloud hit $1.95 billion, significantly up from last year’s $270 million.
The results indicate that, while many people feel Google isn’t as reliable as it once was, the company continues to operate a very strong business. AI is a huge focus across Google, with the release of features like custom AI chatbots powered by Gemini (called “Gems”), automatic AI note-taking in Google Meet, and a bunch of generative AI tools to help YouTube creators. Google’s well-reviewed Pixel 9 lineup of smartphones were also packed with AI tools.
“In Search, our new AI features are expanding what people can search for and how they search for it,” CEO Sundar Pichai says in a statement. “In Cloud, our AI solutions are helping drive deeper product adoption with existing customers, attract new customers and win larger deals. And YouTube’s total ads and subscription revenues surpassed $50 billion over the past four quarters for the first time.”
Google is facing a potentially tough road ahead, however, following the August ruling that the company is a monopolist in the search and advertising markets. That case, brought by the US Department of Justice, is now in its remedies phase, and while there’s still a ways to go for the dust to settle, a Google breakup is on the table.

Illustration: The Verge

Google is building a bunch of AI products, and it’s using AI quite a bit as part of building those products, too. “More than a quarter of all new code at Google is generated by AI, then reviewed and accepted by engineers,” CEO Sundar Pichai said on the company’s third quarter 2024 earnings call. It’s a big milestone that marks just how important AI is to the company.

AI is helping Google make money as well. Alphabet reported $88.3 billion in revenue for the quarter, with Google Services (which includes Search) revenue of $76.5 billion, up 13 percent year-over-year, and Google Cloud (which includes its AI infrastructure products for other companies) revenue of $11.4 billion, up 35 percent year-over-year.

Operating incomes were also strong. Google Services hit $30.9 billion, up from $23.9 billion last year, and Google Cloud hit $1.95 billion, significantly up from last year’s $270 million.

The results indicate that, while many people feel Google isn’t as reliable as it once was, the company continues to operate a very strong business. AI is a huge focus across Google, with the release of features like custom AI chatbots powered by Gemini (called “Gems”), automatic AI note-taking in Google Meet, and a bunch of generative AI tools to help YouTube creators. Google’s well-reviewed Pixel 9 lineup of smartphones were also packed with AI tools.

“In Search, our new AI features are expanding what people can search for and how they search for it,” CEO Sundar Pichai says in a statement. “In Cloud, our AI solutions are helping drive deeper product adoption with existing customers, attract new customers and win larger deals. And YouTube’s total ads and subscription revenues surpassed $50 billion over the past four quarters for the first time.”

Google is facing a potentially tough road ahead, however, following the August ruling that the company is a monopolist in the search and advertising markets. That case, brought by the US Department of Justice, is now in its remedies phase, and while there’s still a ways to go for the dust to settle, a Google breakup is on the table.

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Illustration: The Verge

The Alphabet Workers Union filed a charge against Google with the National Labor Relations Board after Google management asked workers to “refrain” from talking about its ongoing Search antitrust case.
The union charges that Google issued an “overly broad directive” on discussing the case to employees, according to a copy of the charge filed in August and viewed by The Verge. On August 5th, just after US District Court Judge Amit Mehta issued his decision finding Google to have an illegal monopoly, president of global affairs Kent Walker sent an email (also reviewed by The Verge) directing employees to “please refrain from commenting on this case, both internally and externally.” Walker sent a similar message at the start of the trial last fall, Business Insider reported at the time.
That could be a problem for Google if the NLRB concludes that Walker’s directive might chill protected concerted activity: actions by two or more employees together that are protected by labor law, like discussing working conditions. “I could certainly imagine that there would be ways that the case would ultimately bear on working conditions,” says Charlotte Garden, a professor at the University of Minnesota who specializes in labor law. The DOJ has since suggested that remedying Google’s anticompetitive harms could mean something as drastic as a breakup of its Android and Chrome businesses — something that could plausibly result in significant changes for workers in those units.
“We respect Googlers’ rights to speak about their terms and conditions of employment”
Still, Garden says there are some discussions employees might have about the case that might not be protected, like pondering how management should respond to the government. The NLRB will also weigh Google’s legitimate business interests — perhaps including controlling the course of their own litigation or only authorizing specific spokespeople to speak on it on behalf of the company — and how likely management’s statements are to chill protected conversations between employees.
“We respect Googlers’ rights to speak about their terms and conditions of employment,” Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels said in a statement to The Verge. “As is standard practice, we’re simply asking that employees not speak about ongoing litigation on behalf of Google without prior approval.”
Even though Walker’s email did not include an outright prohibition on speaking about the antitrust case, the NLRB could still find it to be a violation if it concludes it would likely chill employee speech, says Garden. The board will evaluate how employees did and were likely to interpret the email — either as general guidance that wouldn’t be enforced or a line not to cross or risk getting in trouble or forgoing future opportunities, she says. To do that, Garden explains, the NLRB would look at employees’ own reactions and interpretations of the directives and how the company has responded when workers went against such guidance in the past.
“I think that the company does have a history of silencing or retaliating against workers who speak about their working conditions or raise complaints”
Stephen McMurtry, a senior software engineer at Google and communications chair of the Alphabet Workers Union, sees his employer’s past actions as a warning. “I think that the company does have a history of silencing or retaliating against workers who speak about their working conditions or raise complaints with the company with things that they believe are wrong or unethical. So even if the language is a kind of corporate ‘please refrain,’ I think we can all see what’s happened to some of our coworkers in the past who have raised concerns about different issues.”
McMurtry pointed to the massive 2018 walkout in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Two of the organizers claimed retaliation for their role in the demonstration (which Google denied) and ultimately left the company. Another former Google engineer told The Verge in 2019 that she was fired for creating a browser popup for employees letting them know of their labor protections. A Google spokesperson at the time did not confirm the employee’s termination, saying they had fired someone who “abused privileged access to modify an internal security tool” but that it wasn’t a matter of its contents. “It doesn’t seem so far fetched that it could happen in this situation,” McMurtry says.
McMurtry doesn’t really know what his coworkers think about the outcome of the case and what remedies could impact their jobs because he says it’s not really discussed. He doesn’t even have much of an opinion on the remedies the DOJ has suggested so far but says being able to talk through it with his coworkers would make it easier to reach an informed opinion about likely effects on workers.
The case could take a while to resolve, if the NLRB even decides to take it up. Garden says a regional office would first investigate the charge to determine whether to move forward with it — though many cases settle before that happens. NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado told The Verge that its Oakland office is investigating the charge, which was filed on August 15th. The NLRB says it typically takes seven to 14 weeks to determine the merits of a charge, which could kick off a case before an administrative law judge if the government chooses to pursue it. Meanwhile, Google and the Justice Department are set to return to court in April to argue about which remedies that judge should impose to fix Google’s anticompetitive effects.

Illustration: The Verge

The Alphabet Workers Union filed a charge against Google with the National Labor Relations Board after Google management asked workers to “refrain” from talking about its ongoing Search antitrust case.

The union charges that Google issued an “overly broad directive” on discussing the case to employees, according to a copy of the charge filed in August and viewed by The Verge. On August 5th, just after US District Court Judge Amit Mehta issued his decision finding Google to have an illegal monopoly, president of global affairs Kent Walker sent an email (also reviewed by The Verge) directing employees to “please refrain from commenting on this case, both internally and externally.” Walker sent a similar message at the start of the trial last fall, Business Insider reported at the time.

That could be a problem for Google if the NLRB concludes that Walker’s directive might chill protected concerted activity: actions by two or more employees together that are protected by labor law, like discussing working conditions. “I could certainly imagine that there would be ways that the case would ultimately bear on working conditions,” says Charlotte Garden, a professor at the University of Minnesota who specializes in labor law. The DOJ has since suggested that remedying Google’s anticompetitive harms could mean something as drastic as a breakup of its Android and Chrome businesses — something that could plausibly result in significant changes for workers in those units.

Still, Garden says there are some discussions employees might have about the case that might not be protected, like pondering how management should respond to the government. The NLRB will also weigh Google’s legitimate business interests — perhaps including controlling the course of their own litigation or only authorizing specific spokespeople to speak on it on behalf of the company — and how likely management’s statements are to chill protected conversations between employees.

“We respect Googlers’ rights to speak about their terms and conditions of employment,” Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels said in a statement to The Verge. “As is standard practice, we’re simply asking that employees not speak about ongoing litigation on behalf of Google without prior approval.”

Even though Walker’s email did not include an outright prohibition on speaking about the antitrust case, the NLRB could still find it to be a violation if it concludes it would likely chill employee speech, says Garden. The board will evaluate how employees did and were likely to interpret the email — either as general guidance that wouldn’t be enforced or a line not to cross or risk getting in trouble or forgoing future opportunities, she says. To do that, Garden explains, the NLRB would look at employees’ own reactions and interpretations of the directives and how the company has responded when workers went against such guidance in the past.

Stephen McMurtry, a senior software engineer at Google and communications chair of the Alphabet Workers Union, sees his employer’s past actions as a warning. “I think that the company does have a history of silencing or retaliating against workers who speak about their working conditions or raise complaints with the company with things that they believe are wrong or unethical. So even if the language is a kind of corporate ‘please refrain,’ I think we can all see what’s happened to some of our coworkers in the past who have raised concerns about different issues.”

McMurtry pointed to the massive 2018 walkout in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Two of the organizers claimed retaliation for their role in the demonstration (which Google denied) and ultimately left the company. Another former Google engineer told The Verge in 2019 that she was fired for creating a browser popup for employees letting them know of their labor protections. A Google spokesperson at the time did not confirm the employee’s termination, saying they had fired someone who “abused privileged access to modify an internal security tool” but that it wasn’t a matter of its contents. “It doesn’t seem so far fetched that it could happen in this situation,” McMurtry says.

McMurtry doesn’t really know what his coworkers think about the outcome of the case and what remedies could impact their jobs because he says it’s not really discussed. He doesn’t even have much of an opinion on the remedies the DOJ has suggested so far but says being able to talk through it with his coworkers would make it easier to reach an informed opinion about likely effects on workers.

The case could take a while to resolve, if the NLRB even decides to take it up. Garden says a regional office would first investigate the charge to determine whether to move forward with it — though many cases settle before that happens. NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado told The Verge that its Oakland office is investigating the charge, which was filed on August 15th. The NLRB says it typically takes seven to 14 weeks to determine the merits of a charge, which could kick off a case before an administrative law judge if the government chooses to pursue it. Meanwhile, Google and the Justice Department are set to return to court in April to argue about which remedies that judge should impose to fix Google’s anticompetitive effects.

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Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

If you’re a swing state voter, you may have seen ads claiming that vice president Kamala Harris wants to institute a mandatory gun buyback program and make it easier for undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses. These ostensibly pro-Harris ads are the product of Progress 2025, a campaign designed to look like the Democratic answer to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — but they’re actually funded by a group called Building America’s Future, a pro-Trump super PAC that is in turn funded by Elon Musk.
Building America’s Future is expanding an ad campaign targeted at undecided voters in swing states, 404 Media reports. Over the past week, the PAC spent over $300,000 on a dozen Facebook ads, which are sub-targeted to 819 different audience segments. “Imagine a world where the American Dream has no borders,” reads an ad featuring a photo of dozens of migrants at the US-Mexico border. Another ad says Harris “wasn’t just a supporter of the Green New Deal” and claims she supports “a world without gas-powered vehicles.”
The ads aren’t particularly subtle — they highlight and, at times, misrepresent Harris’s stance on controversial topics, including immigration.
According to documents obtained by OpenSecrets, Building America’s Future — which has reportedly received funding from Musk — registered to use Project 2028 as a “fictitious name” in late September. The group previously ran seemingly contradictory ads aimed at voters in different swing states. One ad, which was targeted at Muslim and Arab voters in Michigan, called Harris a steadfast ally of Israel and said her husband Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, is one of her advisers. Another ad targeted at Jewish voters in Pennsylvania claimed that “two-faced Kamala Harris stands with Palestine, not our ally Israel.”
Progress 2028 is one of the many ways Musk is using his fortune to influence the presidential election, especially in battleground states. Musk’s America PAC has been giving $1 million checks to randomly selected swing state voters, a stunt that several campaign finance experts say is illegal.
Musk personally distributed the first of these checks at a pro-Trump event in Pennsylvania and hasn’t let the Department of Justice’s warning that the lottery may be illegal — or a recent lawsuit filed by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner — stop him.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

If you’re a swing state voter, you may have seen ads claiming that vice president Kamala Harris wants to institute a mandatory gun buyback program and make it easier for undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses. These ostensibly pro-Harris ads are the product of Progress 2025, a campaign designed to look like the Democratic answer to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — but they’re actually funded by a group called Building America’s Future, a pro-Trump super PAC that is in turn funded by Elon Musk.

Building America’s Future is expanding an ad campaign targeted at undecided voters in swing states, 404 Media reports. Over the past week, the PAC spent over $300,000 on a dozen Facebook ads, which are sub-targeted to 819 different audience segments. “Imagine a world where the American Dream has no borders,” reads an ad featuring a photo of dozens of migrants at the US-Mexico border. Another ad says Harris “wasn’t just a supporter of the Green New Deal” and claims she supports “a world without gas-powered vehicles.”

The ads aren’t particularly subtle — they highlight and, at times, misrepresent Harris’s stance on controversial topics, including immigration.

According to documents obtained by OpenSecrets, Building America’s Future — which has reportedly received funding from Musk — registered to use Project 2028 as a “fictitious name” in late September. The group previously ran seemingly contradictory ads aimed at voters in different swing states. One ad, which was targeted at Muslim and Arab voters in Michigan, called Harris a steadfast ally of Israel and said her husband Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, is one of her advisers. Another ad targeted at Jewish voters in Pennsylvania claimed that “two-faced Kamala Harris stands with Palestine, not our ally Israel.”

Progress 2028 is one of the many ways Musk is using his fortune to influence the presidential election, especially in battleground states. Musk’s America PAC has been giving $1 million checks to randomly selected swing state voters, a stunt that several campaign finance experts say is illegal.

Musk personally distributed the first of these checks at a pro-Trump event in Pennsylvania and hasn’t let the Department of Justice’s warning that the lottery may be illegal — or a recent lawsuit filed by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner — stop him.

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Miramax is ready to put a new Scary Movie into theaters, and this time around, the studio is doing the sensible thing by keeping the Wayans brothers directly involved.
Deadline reports that Marlon, Shawn, and Keenen Ivory Wayans have signed on to co-write / co-produce a new Scary Movie reboot for Miramax that will, like earlier installments, spoof a variety of other horror films. Rick Alvarez (White Chicks, Little Man) is also set to co-write and produce.

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The Wayans brothers first created the Scary Movie franchise back in 2000, and in a statement about the new film, they expressed excitement about working with “the new Miramax to bring these laughs to theaters, where they belong.”
Miramax head Jonathan Glickman added that “the timing is perfect to bring back the series to the big screen,” and said that the studio is “lucky to have Keenen, Marlon and Shawn’s unique comedic vision bringing it to audiences around the world.”
Though the first two Scary Movies — which were directed by Keenan and starred Marlon and Shawn — were massively successful at the box office, the brothers left the series after contract talks for a third installment fell apart. In a 2021 appearance on the Comedy Gold Minds podcast, Marlon Wayans insisted that he and his brothers “didn’t walk away from a franchise,” but rather that Miramax under Harvey Weinstein’s leadership “didn’t want to make our deal, and they snatched it.”
The new Scary Movie is slated to begin production some time next year. There’s no word yet on who else might be returning from the franchise’s original cast or whether any newcomers might join the project.

Getty

Miramax is ready to put a new Scary Movie into theaters, and this time around, the studio is doing the sensible thing by keeping the Wayans brothers directly involved.

Deadline reports that Marlon, Shawn, and Keenen Ivory Wayans have signed on to co-write / co-produce a new Scary Movie reboot for Miramax that will, like earlier installments, spoof a variety of other horror films. Rick Alvarez (White Chicks, Little Man) is also set to co-write and produce.

The Wayans brothers first created the Scary Movie franchise back in 2000, and in a statement about the new film, they expressed excitement about working with “the new Miramax to bring these laughs to theaters, where they belong.”

Miramax head Jonathan Glickman added that “the timing is perfect to bring back the series to the big screen,” and said that the studio is “lucky to have Keenen, Marlon and Shawn’s unique comedic vision bringing it to audiences around the world.”

Though the first two Scary Movies — which were directed by Keenan and starred Marlon and Shawn — were massively successful at the box office, the brothers left the series after contract talks for a third installment fell apart. In a 2021 appearance on the Comedy Gold Minds podcast, Marlon Wayans insisted that he and his brothers “didn’t walk away from a franchise,” but rather that Miramax under Harvey Weinstein’s leadership “didn’t want to make our deal, and they snatched it.”

The new Scary Movie is slated to begin production some time next year. There’s no word yet on who else might be returning from the franchise’s original cast or whether any newcomers might join the project.

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Image: OpenAI

OpenAI is reportedly working with Broadcom to develop new custom silicon designed to handle its large AI workloads for inference and secured manufacturing capacity with TSMC, according to sources speaking to Reuters. OpenAI has reportedly built a chip development team of about 20 people, including lead engineers who previously worked on Google’s Tensor processors for AI.
Still, on its current timeline, the custom-designed hardware may not start production until 2026.

In the meantime, the sources also said OpenAI is incorporating AMD chips into its Microsoft Azure setup. AMD introduced its MI300 chips last year, which was a big part of the news this summer that its data center business has doubled in a single year as it chases market leader Nvidia.
The Information had reported in July that OpenAI was in discussion with Broadcom and other semiconductor designers about developing its own AI chip, and earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI was working to build its own network of foundries, but according to Reuters, those plans have been put on ice due to cost and time.
The reported strategy puts OpenAI on a similar track to the other tech companies trying to manage costs and access to AI server hardware with custom chip designs. But Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are all already a few generations down the road in their efforts, and OpenAI may need significantly more funding to become a true competitor.

Image: OpenAI

OpenAI is reportedly working with Broadcom to develop new custom silicon designed to handle its large AI workloads for inference and secured manufacturing capacity with TSMC, according to sources speaking to Reuters. OpenAI has reportedly built a chip development team of about 20 people, including lead engineers who previously worked on Google’s Tensor processors for AI.

Still, on its current timeline, the custom-designed hardware may not start production until 2026.

In the meantime, the sources also said OpenAI is incorporating AMD chips into its Microsoft Azure setup. AMD introduced its MI300 chips last year, which was a big part of the news this summer that its data center business has doubled in a single year as it chases market leader Nvidia.

The Information had reported in July that OpenAI was in discussion with Broadcom and other semiconductor designers about developing its own AI chip, and earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI was working to build its own network of foundries, but according to Reuters, those plans have been put on ice due to cost and time.

The reported strategy puts OpenAI on a similar track to the other tech companies trying to manage costs and access to AI server hardware with custom chip designs. But Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are all already a few generations down the road in their efforts, and OpenAI may need significantly more funding to become a true competitor.

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Illustration: The Verge

Google is rolling out some new Chrome memory management features aimed at helping you wrangle out-of-control tabs more easily. The updates include new “Performance issue alerts” and some tweaks to the existing Memory Saver mode, which already tries to free up the resources of inactive tabs in the background.
The new alerts appear when a new Performance Detection tool finds that one of your tabs is using more resources than it should. The notification appears next to your account thumbnail in Chrome’s toolbar as a tiny graphic that looks like a speedometer. (If I didn’t know about it already, I might think I’d accidentally added an Ookla Speedtest extension to my browser.) If you click the graphic, it will list the offending tabs and give you the option to “Dismiss” or “Fix now.”
Here’s what it looks like:

GIF: Google

Google also updated Memory Saver, a feature that the company introduced to Chrome in 2022 that snoozes tabs when they’re hogging your computer’s resources. The company writes that it’s now offering Standard, Balanced, and Advanced modes. According to Google, Standard interprets your system’s needs and manages tabs for you, Balanced operates based on system needs and your browsing habits, and Advanced will deactivate tabs the fastest after you stop using them.

To check out the new settings, simply click the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner of Chrome, click Settings, and click the “Performance” tab on the left. You should see a new “Performance issue alerts” toggle under General and updated Memory Saver options in Memory below that. Here are our screenshots, if you want to see what the Performance issue alert toggle looks like.

Screenshot: Chrome settings
It’s possible we don’t have the new Memory Saver yet, since the names on our modes are “Moderate,” “Balanced,” and “Maximum.”

Illustration: The Verge

Google is rolling out some new Chrome memory management features aimed at helping you wrangle out-of-control tabs more easily. The updates include new “Performance issue alerts” and some tweaks to the existing Memory Saver mode, which already tries to free up the resources of inactive tabs in the background.

The new alerts appear when a new Performance Detection tool finds that one of your tabs is using more resources than it should. The notification appears next to your account thumbnail in Chrome’s toolbar as a tiny graphic that looks like a speedometer. (If I didn’t know about it already, I might think I’d accidentally added an Ookla Speedtest extension to my browser.) If you click the graphic, it will list the offending tabs and give you the option to “Dismiss” or “Fix now.”

Here’s what it looks like:

GIF: Google

Google also updated Memory Saver, a feature that the company introduced to Chrome in 2022 that snoozes tabs when they’re hogging your computer’s resources. The company writes that it’s now offering Standard, Balanced, and Advanced modes. According to Google, Standard interprets your system’s needs and manages tabs for you, Balanced operates based on system needs and your browsing habits, and Advanced will deactivate tabs the fastest after you stop using them.

To check out the new settings, simply click the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner of Chrome, click Settings, and click the “Performance” tab on the left. You should see a new “Performance issue alerts” toggle under General and updated Memory Saver options in Memory below that. Here are our screenshots, if you want to see what the Performance issue alert toggle looks like.

Screenshot: Chrome settings
It’s possible we don’t have the new Memory Saver yet, since the names on our modes are “Moderate,” “Balanced,” and “Maximum.”

Read More