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Amazon is sweetening the Prime deal. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon Prime members are getting a new perk: extra savings at the pump. By linking your Amazon account with BP’s loyalty program, you’ll be able to save 10 cents a gallon whenever you fuel up at a participating BP or Amoco station. Incidentally, it’s a discount much like the one Walmart offers at Exxon stations through its Prime competitor program, Walmart Plus.
Naturally, you need to agree to let BP collect information about you to get your discount. But what’s the harm in joining just one more loyalty program? And so what if BP is walking back its carbon emission goals to maximize profits while the planet burns? Because there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, and also because everything is so god damn expensive lately, I went ahead and signed up for the discount. You link your Amazon Prime account with BP’s cringingly named Earnify rewards program by supplying your phone number. Agree to some terms and conditions and you’re all set.
It doesn’t appear that you necessarily need to download BP’s Earnify app to cash in on the discount, but I did, and by doing so I was rewarded yet again with enough points to earn a free BBQ Rib Sandwich at ampm. What a time to be alive.
Amazon says that in 2025, the discount program will expand to include savings for EV charging. For now, it looks like a move to help boost Prime’s appeal as subscription and streaming service prices keep climbing higher. The company also added free food delivery through Grubhub this summer. The strategy seems to be working — analysts at CIRP estimate that about three quarters of Amazon shoppers are Prime members, up from 50 percent in 2016.

Amazon is sweetening the Prime deal. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon Prime members are getting a new perk: extra savings at the pump. By linking your Amazon account with BP’s loyalty program, you’ll be able to save 10 cents a gallon whenever you fuel up at a participating BP or Amoco station. Incidentally, it’s a discount much like the one Walmart offers at Exxon stations through its Prime competitor program, Walmart Plus.

Naturally, you need to agree to let BP collect information about you to get your discount. But what’s the harm in joining just one more loyalty program? And so what if BP is walking back its carbon emission goals to maximize profits while the planet burns? Because there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, and also because everything is so god damn expensive lately, I went ahead and signed up for the discount. You link your Amazon Prime account with BP’s cringingly named Earnify rewards program by supplying your phone number. Agree to some terms and conditions and you’re all set.

It doesn’t appear that you necessarily need to download BP’s Earnify app to cash in on the discount, but I did, and by doing so I was rewarded yet again with enough points to earn a free BBQ Rib Sandwich at ampm. What a time to be alive.

Amazon says that in 2025, the discount program will expand to include savings for EV charging. For now, it looks like a move to help boost Prime’s appeal as subscription and streaming service prices keep climbing higher. The company also added free food delivery through Grubhub this summer. The strategy seems to be working — analysts at CIRP estimate that about three quarters of Amazon shoppers are Prime members, up from 50 percent in 2016.

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

An investigation conducted by a data privacy group has revealed a vast tracking network that can follow the movements of a person’s phone, according to reports from 404 Media and Krebs on Security. The people-tracking service, called Locate X, reportedly lets users follow a device using its mobile advertising identifier, a unique number assigned to phones.
The New Jersey-based Atlas Data Privacy Corp, which aims to help people remove their personal information from data brokers, found that the software is capable of showing the whereabouts of mobile phones on a map, allowing anyone with access to track someone’s precise location across state lines, according to 404 Media. The information could then be used to figure out a specific phone owner’s identity.
A screen recording of the software viewed by 404 Media and other media outlets showed a cluster of hundreds of mobile phones — represented by red dots on a map — over an abortion clinic. The software was then shown tracing a specific device as it went from place to place: going from a home in Alabama, to a Lowe’s, a church, and then to a Florida abortion clinic.
Abortion is illegal in Alabama, while Florida has implemented a ban after six weeks. After the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022, concerns surrounding law enforcement’s access to location data have grown, leading to companies like Google auto-deleting abortion clinic visits from a user’s location history.
The tool relies on the mobile advertising ID that Google and Apple assign to each phone to serve users targeted ads. Advertisers can then build a growing profile of information around that ID based on where it accesses services that deliver ads. That can also creates a network of locations that data brokers like Babel Street, which makes Locate X, can use to create tracking tools.

Access to Locate X is supposed to be limited — it’s previously been used by government agencies like the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security — but Atlas also found Babel Street’s sales team didn’t always comply with the company’s stated restrictions.
Atlas hired a private investigator to contact Babel Street. While under the guise of a prospective customer, the investigator said they were interested in purchasing information about home addresses in New Jersey, 404 Media reports. A Babel Street salesperson reportedly brought up Locate X, but said it’s only available to government officials or contractors. When the investigator said they were thinking about getting into government work, the salesperson said “that’s good enough” and “they don’t actually check,” as reported by 404 Media.
Atlas is currently suing Babel Street over its alleged violation of a New Jersey data privacy law.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

An investigation conducted by a data privacy group has revealed a vast tracking network that can follow the movements of a person’s phone, according to reports from 404 Media and Krebs on Security. The people-tracking service, called Locate X, reportedly lets users follow a device using its mobile advertising identifier, a unique number assigned to phones.

The New Jersey-based Atlas Data Privacy Corp, which aims to help people remove their personal information from data brokers, found that the software is capable of showing the whereabouts of mobile phones on a map, allowing anyone with access to track someone’s precise location across state lines, according to 404 Media. The information could then be used to figure out a specific phone owner’s identity.

A screen recording of the software viewed by 404 Media and other media outlets showed a cluster of hundreds of mobile phones — represented by red dots on a map — over an abortion clinic. The software was then shown tracing a specific device as it went from place to place: going from a home in Alabama, to a Lowe’s, a church, and then to a Florida abortion clinic.

Abortion is illegal in Alabama, while Florida has implemented a ban after six weeks. After the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022, concerns surrounding law enforcement’s access to location data have grown, leading to companies like Google auto-deleting abortion clinic visits from a user’s location history.

The tool relies on the mobile advertising ID that Google and Apple assign to each phone to serve users targeted ads. Advertisers can then build a growing profile of information around that ID based on where it accesses services that deliver ads. That can also creates a network of locations that data brokers like Babel Street, which makes Locate X, can use to create tracking tools.

Access to Locate X is supposed to be limited — it’s previously been used by government agencies like the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security — but Atlas also found Babel Street’s sales team didn’t always comply with the company’s stated restrictions.

Atlas hired a private investigator to contact Babel Street. While under the guise of a prospective customer, the investigator said they were interested in purchasing information about home addresses in New Jersey, 404 Media reports. A Babel Street salesperson reportedly brought up Locate X, but said it’s only available to government officials or contractors. When the investigator said they were thinking about getting into government work, the salesperson said “that’s good enough” and “they don’t actually check,” as reported by 404 Media.

Atlas is currently suing Babel Street over its alleged violation of a New Jersey data privacy law.

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Image: Apple

Apple is now letting developers try more Apple Intelligence features. The company has released the first developer beta of iOS 18.2, and it adds tools like the ability to generate emoji with Genmoji and images with Image Playground, more AI-powered writing features, integration with ChatGPT, Visual Intelligence to search with your camera on iPhone 16 phones, and more, according to 9to5Mac. With this beta, Apple Intelligence is now supported in more regions, too.
iOS 18.2 will bring the second batch of Apple Intelligence features to users. The first batch, including features like a slightly smarter Siri and notification summaries, is set to launch next week with the official release of iOS 18.1.
Apple debuted its planned Apple Intelligence features at WWDC 2024 in June, but at the time, it announced that the upgrades would be arriving in stages. One of the most impressive planned features is for Siri to understand what’s happening on your iPhone’s screen and take actions based on your requests, but that’s still not here even in iOS 18.2.
Apple has also released the first macOS Sequoia 15.2 developer beta with new Apple Intelligence tools as well, 9to5Mac reports. Genmoji apparently isn’t included in that beta.

Image: Apple

Apple is now letting developers try more Apple Intelligence features. The company has released the first developer beta of iOS 18.2, and it adds tools like the ability to generate emoji with Genmoji and images with Image Playground, more AI-powered writing features, integration with ChatGPT, Visual Intelligence to search with your camera on iPhone 16 phones, and more, according to 9to5Mac. With this beta, Apple Intelligence is now supported in more regions, too.

iOS 18.2 will bring the second batch of Apple Intelligence features to users. The first batch, including features like a slightly smarter Siri and notification summaries, is set to launch next week with the official release of iOS 18.1.

Apple debuted its planned Apple Intelligence features at WWDC 2024 in June, but at the time, it announced that the upgrades would be arriving in stages. One of the most impressive planned features is for Siri to understand what’s happening on your iPhone’s screen and take actions based on your requests, but that’s still not here even in iOS 18.2.

Apple has also released the first macOS Sequoia 15.2 developer beta with new Apple Intelligence tools as well, 9to5Mac reports. Genmoji apparently isn’t included in that beta.

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Illustration: The Verge

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced fines totaling $89 million against Apple and Goldman Sachs because the companies “illegally mishandled transaction disputes and misled iPhone purchasers about interest-free payment options” with the Apple Card. The CFPB says the issues affected “hundreds of thousands of Apple Card users.”
Apple didn’t send “tens of thousands” of Apple Card transaction disputes to Goldman Sachs, according to the CFPB. The CFPB says that Goldman Sachs didn’t complete timely inquires on disputes it received in accordance with federal law, either.
Cardholders were also led to believe that they would automatically get interest-free financing if they bought Apple devices using the Apple Card, but “many cardholders were unknowingly charged interest because they were not automatically enrolled as expected,” the CFPB says. The CFPB adds that for people shopping online, Apple only showed the interest-free financing option in Safari.
The CFPB says Apple will have to pay a $25 million civil money penalty that will go into the CFPB’s victims relief fund. Goldman Sachs will have to pay “at least” $19.8 million in redress, a $45 million civil money penalty, and cannot introduce a future credit card product before giving the CFPB “a credible plan for how the product will comply with the law.”
“Apple Card is one of the most consumer-friendly credit cards that has ever been offered,” Goldman Sachs’ Nick Carcaterra says in a statement to The Verge. “We worked diligently to address certain technological and operational challenges that we experienced after launch and have already handled them with impacted customers. We are pleased to have reached a resolution with the CFPB and are proud to have developed such an innovative and award-winning product alongside Apple.”
Apple didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. The company has reportedly attempted to end its partnership with Goldman Sachs to operate the Apple Card and has recently had discussions with JPMorgan about taking it over.

Illustration: The Verge

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced fines totaling $89 million against Apple and Goldman Sachs because the companies “illegally mishandled transaction disputes and misled iPhone purchasers about interest-free payment options” with the Apple Card. The CFPB says the issues affected “hundreds of thousands of Apple Card users.”

Apple didn’t send “tens of thousands” of Apple Card transaction disputes to Goldman Sachs, according to the CFPB. The CFPB says that Goldman Sachs didn’t complete timely inquires on disputes it received in accordance with federal law, either.

Cardholders were also led to believe that they would automatically get interest-free financing if they bought Apple devices using the Apple Card, but “many cardholders were unknowingly charged interest because they were not automatically enrolled as expected,” the CFPB says. The CFPB adds that for people shopping online, Apple only showed the interest-free financing option in Safari.

The CFPB says Apple will have to pay a $25 million civil money penalty that will go into the CFPB’s victims relief fund. Goldman Sachs will have to pay “at least” $19.8 million in redress, a $45 million civil money penalty, and cannot introduce a future credit card product before giving the CFPB “a credible plan for how the product will comply with the law.”

“Apple Card is one of the most consumer-friendly credit cards that has ever been offered,” Goldman Sachs’ Nick Carcaterra says in a statement to The Verge. “We worked diligently to address certain technological and operational challenges that we experienced after launch and have already handled them with impacted customers. We are pleased to have reached a resolution with the CFPB and are proud to have developed such an innovative and award-winning product alongside Apple.”

Apple didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. The company has reportedly attempted to end its partnership with Goldman Sachs to operate the Apple Card and has recently had discussions with JPMorgan about taking it over.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra, one of our favorite fitness trackers, is up to $150 off at Amazon right now. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 7 is a good Android smartwatch, especially if you’re already embedded in Samsung’s ecosystem, but it’s best suited for casual fitness tracking. If you’re the outdoorsy type or simply want the most full-featured Samsung smartwatch on the market, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra is the better choice — one that’s currently on sale at Amazon starting at a new low of $499.99 ($150 off).

Built for adventurous types, the Galaxy Watch Ultra offers features you won’t find in other Galaxy Watches, including an emergency siren, a multisport activity for triathletes, as well as a customizable shortcut button for quick access to the flashlight and workout app. The wearable also offers longer battery life than the Galaxy Watch 7 — up to three days, in fact — and is more durable than the standard Galaxy Watch 7, with 10ATM of water resistance, an IP68 rating, and a titanium case.
Samsung’s premium smartwatch shares a lot of welcome features with the Galaxy Watch 7, too. Both wearables feature a speedy Exynos W1000 chip and dual-frequency GPS, for example, the latter of which allows for more accurate tracking. And, like the Watch 7, the Watch Ultra includes a robust selection of third-party apps, something you won’t find on even the most hardcore Garmin watches.
Read our Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra review.

A few more deals and discounts

The last-gen, Wi-Fi-enabled iPad Mini is on sale at Amazon starting at $349.99 ($149 off), matching its all-time low. If you’re looking for a small, travel-friendly tablet and don’t care that it can’t run Apple Intelligence, the sixth-gen Mini remains an excellent option. It’s not as fast as Apple’s latest model, but otherwise, the 8.3-inch slate is not significantly different and remains snappy enough for reading books, watching YouTube, browsing the web, and taking notes with the second-gen Apple Pencil Pro. It’s too bad it doesn’t support the newer Apple Pencil Pro, though. Read our review.

Looking to decorate your home with smart lighting for Halloween or an upcoming holiday party? Govee’s Matter-ready LED Strip Light M1 is an affordable option that’s even cheaper now that it has returned to its all-time low of $39.99 ($20 off) at Amazon. The 6.56-foot (2m) light strip features colorful, tunable LEDs that can create all kinds of cool effects and even sync with your music. As it’s compatible with Matter, you can also can control it via a wide range of smart home platforms (including Alexa). Read our review.

8BitDo’s Pro 2 Wired Controller is on sale for $27.99 ($7 off) at Amazon, which is a new low for the G Classic colorway and $3 shy of the Gray Edition’s 2024 low. The wired model offers many of the same features as the wireless version — including a pair of back paddles, remappable buttons, and compatibility with the Nintendo Switch and a variety of platforms — but note that it doesn’t come with the drift-free Hall effect sticks found on newer models.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra, one of our favorite fitness trackers, is up to $150 off at Amazon right now. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 7 is a good Android smartwatch, especially if you’re already embedded in Samsung’s ecosystem, but it’s best suited for casual fitness tracking. If you’re the outdoorsy type or simply want the most full-featured Samsung smartwatch on the market, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra is the better choice — one that’s currently on sale at Amazon starting at a new low of $499.99 ($150 off).

Built for adventurous types, the Galaxy Watch Ultra offers features you won’t find in other Galaxy Watches, including an emergency siren, a multisport activity for triathletes, as well as a customizable shortcut button for quick access to the flashlight and workout app. The wearable also offers longer battery life than the Galaxy Watch 7 — up to three days, in fact — and is more durable than the standard Galaxy Watch 7, with 10ATM of water resistance, an IP68 rating, and a titanium case.

Samsung’s premium smartwatch shares a lot of welcome features with the Galaxy Watch 7, too. Both wearables feature a speedy Exynos W1000 chip and dual-frequency GPS, for example, the latter of which allows for more accurate tracking. And, like the Watch 7, the Watch Ultra includes a robust selection of third-party apps, something you won’t find on even the most hardcore Garmin watches.

Read our Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra review.

A few more deals and discounts

The last-gen, Wi-Fi-enabled iPad Mini is on sale at Amazon starting at $349.99 ($149 off), matching its all-time low. If you’re looking for a small, travel-friendly tablet and don’t care that it can’t run Apple Intelligence, the sixth-gen Mini remains an excellent option. It’s not as fast as Apple’s latest model, but otherwise, the 8.3-inch slate is not significantly different and remains snappy enough for reading books, watching YouTube, browsing the web, and taking notes with the second-gen Apple Pencil Pro. It’s too bad it doesn’t support the newer Apple Pencil Pro, though. Read our review.

Looking to decorate your home with smart lighting for Halloween or an upcoming holiday party? Govee’s Matter-ready LED Strip Light M1 is an affordable option that’s even cheaper now that it has returned to its all-time low of $39.99 ($20 off) at Amazon. The 6.56-foot (2m) light strip features colorful, tunable LEDs that can create all kinds of cool effects and even sync with your music. As it’s compatible with Matter, you can also can control it via a wide range of smart home platforms (including Alexa). Read our review.

8BitDo’s Pro 2 Wired Controller is on sale for $27.99 ($7 off) at Amazon, which is a new low for the G Classic colorway and $3 shy of the Gray Edition’s 2024 low. The wired model offers many of the same features as the wireless version — including a pair of back paddles, remappable buttons, and compatibility with the Nintendo Switch and a variety of platforms — but note that it doesn’t come with the drift-free Hall effect sticks found on newer models.

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The Lomo’Instant Wide Glass features a 90mm multi-coated glass lens for sharper instant prints. | Image: Lomography

Lomography has announced an upgraded version of its Lomo’Instant Wide Camera that swaps the original’s 90mm plastic lens for one made with multi-coated glass. The company says its new Lomo’Instant Wide Glass is the “sharpest instant camera on earth,” but while it probably outperforms other Lomography offerings, it’s up against instant alternatives like the Nons SL660 which is compatible with EF mount lenses. And in either case, it’s still going to be held back by the limitations of instant film.
Those upgraded optics come with a much steeper price tag. The Lomo’Instant Wide Glass is available now for $279, where as the all-plastic Lomo’Instant Wide Camera Black Edition is still $169. Fujifilm’s own Instax Wide 400 is even cheaper at $149.95, while Fujifilm’s Instax Wide film stock, which is what this new camera uses, is $18.99 for 20 exposures.

Image: Lomography
The Lomo’Instant Wide Glass includes a lens cap that doubles as a wireless shutter remote.

Due to the wide film stock it uses, the Lomo’Instant Wide Glass is a beefy camera measuring 7.3-inches across and weighing in at around two pounds, thanks in part to the glass hanging off the front. You’ll need to supply your own camera strap, but Lomography includes colored filters for the Lomo’Instant Wide Glass’ flash, a Splitzer lens attachment for creating experimental multi-exposure images, and a battery-powered lens cap that doubles as a remote shutter trigger.

Image: Lomography
A sample photo taken with the Lomo’Instant Wide Glass camera.

The Lomo’Instant Wide Glass’ lens offers four focus zones including an infinity position for landscape photography and a close-up option that can focus on subjects just 0.98-feet away. A metal focus ring does allow for adjustments in-between those preset zones, but since the camera uses a basic optical viewfinder that’s disconnected from the lens, you may want to break out the tape measure for accurate focus adjustments.
It’s far from being a fully manual shooter, but in addition to an automatic mode with shutter speeds ranging from 1/250-second to eight seconds and either an f/8 or f/22 aperture, the camera has a bulb mode for capturing motion blur, and can be forced into an f/22 aperture mode to maximize focus. It also offers basic +/- 1EV compensation, for when you know a scene is going to be especially bright or dark.
The Lomo’Instant Wide Glass is powered by four AA batteries contributing to its lo-fi aesthetic, but you can always opt for rechargeable AAs if you feel guilty about sending disposable batteries to landfills.

The Lomo’Instant Wide Glass features a 90mm multi-coated glass lens for sharper instant prints. | Image: Lomography

Lomography has announced an upgraded version of its Lomo’Instant Wide Camera that swaps the original’s 90mm plastic lens for one made with multi-coated glass. The company says its new Lomo’Instant Wide Glass is the “sharpest instant camera on earth,” but while it probably outperforms other Lomography offerings, it’s up against instant alternatives like the Nons SL660 which is compatible with EF mount lenses. And in either case, it’s still going to be held back by the limitations of instant film.

Those upgraded optics come with a much steeper price tag. The Lomo’Instant Wide Glass is available now for $279, where as the all-plastic Lomo’Instant Wide Camera Black Edition is still $169. Fujifilm’s own Instax Wide 400 is even cheaper at $149.95, while Fujifilm’s Instax Wide film stock, which is what this new camera uses, is $18.99 for 20 exposures.

Image: Lomography
The Lomo’Instant Wide Glass includes a lens cap that doubles as a wireless shutter remote.

Due to the wide film stock it uses, the Lomo’Instant Wide Glass is a beefy camera measuring 7.3-inches across and weighing in at around two pounds, thanks in part to the glass hanging off the front. You’ll need to supply your own camera strap, but Lomography includes colored filters for the Lomo’Instant Wide Glass’ flash, a Splitzer lens attachment for creating experimental multi-exposure images, and a battery-powered lens cap that doubles as a remote shutter trigger.

Image: Lomography
A sample photo taken with the Lomo’Instant Wide Glass camera.

The Lomo’Instant Wide Glass’ lens offers four focus zones including an infinity position for landscape photography and a close-up option that can focus on subjects just 0.98-feet away. A metal focus ring does allow for adjustments in-between those preset zones, but since the camera uses a basic optical viewfinder that’s disconnected from the lens, you may want to break out the tape measure for accurate focus adjustments.

It’s far from being a fully manual shooter, but in addition to an automatic mode with shutter speeds ranging from 1/250-second to eight seconds and either an f/8 or f/22 aperture, the camera has a bulb mode for capturing motion blur, and can be forced into an f/22 aperture mode to maximize focus. It also offers basic +/- 1EV compensation, for when you know a scene is going to be especially bright or dark.

The Lomo’Instant Wide Glass is powered by four AA batteries contributing to its lo-fi aesthetic, but you can always opt for rechargeable AAs if you feel guilty about sending disposable batteries to landfills.

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The Boox Palma looks slick in either black or white. | Image: Boox

Kindles and Kobos are relatively comfortable to use, but if those are too big and restrictive, the smartphone-like Boox Palma is a fantastic alternative that’s grown on us considerably. A new model is on its way, but if you don’t need the smoother performance it promises, you can save a bit on the original today. It’s down to $245.99 ($34 off) at Amazon, which is a new all-time low price.

The Palma’s hardware sheet and appearance resemble a smartphone, but it has neither calling capabilities nor a traditional display. It uses a 6.13-inch backlit E Ink Carta 1200 display instead, offering a crisp 300 ppi resolution. There’s a microphone and speaker, a microSD card slot for expanding its 128GB of internal storage, volume buttons that can double as page-turning buttons, and even a 16-megapixel camera with a flash for scanning documents and handwritten notes. Its pocket-stowable and one-handed form factor makes it more ideal for your everyday carry than a full-sized reader.

One big advantage of the Boox Palma compared to most ebook readers is that it runs Android 11 with Google Play, so you can supplement its built-in tools and apps by downloading anything else you like. That means you aren’t locked into any particular ebook ecosystem and don’t have to ditch your favorite sources. Missing your Amazon Kindle library? Just download the Kindle app — a much better proposition than manually sideloading everything. You can also use your preferred music streaming service and news apps.
However, the laggy user experience that befalls any E Ink device can be limiting outside of reading and perhaps some casual listening and productivity tasks (and even some New York Times’ crossword puzzles, The Verge’s David Pierce found). It’s fine if you’re just scrolling through pages of your monthly reads, but not ideal for social media deep-diving and other visually rich shenanigans.
The incoming Boox Palma 2 brings a faster octa-core chipset and an Android 13 upgrade (and adds a fingerprint sensor), but no one has tested it yet to find out whether those changes will translate to improved usability in a practical sense. If you’re looking to save a bit and start reading today, you may not miss much by staying a generation behind.

The Boox Palma looks slick in either black or white. | Image: Boox

Kindles and Kobos are relatively comfortable to use, but if those are too big and restrictive, the smartphone-like Boox Palma is a fantastic alternative that’s grown on us considerably. A new model is on its way, but if you don’t need the smoother performance it promises, you can save a bit on the original today. It’s down to $245.99 ($34 off) at Amazon, which is a new all-time low price.

The Palma’s hardware sheet and appearance resemble a smartphone, but it has neither calling capabilities nor a traditional display. It uses a 6.13-inch backlit E Ink Carta 1200 display instead, offering a crisp 300 ppi resolution. There’s a microphone and speaker, a microSD card slot for expanding its 128GB of internal storage, volume buttons that can double as page-turning buttons, and even a 16-megapixel camera with a flash for scanning documents and handwritten notes. Its pocket-stowable and one-handed form factor makes it more ideal for your everyday carry than a full-sized reader.

One big advantage of the Boox Palma compared to most ebook readers is that it runs Android 11 with Google Play, so you can supplement its built-in tools and apps by downloading anything else you like. That means you aren’t locked into any particular ebook ecosystem and don’t have to ditch your favorite sources. Missing your Amazon Kindle library? Just download the Kindle app — a much better proposition than manually sideloading everything. You can also use your preferred music streaming service and news apps.

However, the laggy user experience that befalls any E Ink device can be limiting outside of reading and perhaps some casual listening and productivity tasks (and even some New York Times’ crossword puzzles, The Verge’s David Pierce found). It’s fine if you’re just scrolling through pages of your monthly reads, but not ideal for social media deep-diving and other visually rich shenanigans.

The incoming Boox Palma 2 brings a faster octa-core chipset and an Android 13 upgrade (and adds a fingerprint sensor), but no one has tested it yet to find out whether those changes will translate to improved usability in a practical sense. If you’re looking to save a bit and start reading today, you may not miss much by staying a generation behind.

Read More 

The Climeworks AG Mammoth carbon removal plant in Hellisheidi, Iceland, on May 8th, 2024.  | Photo: Getty Images

Tech companies think they can reverse climate change with fancy new tools to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. But new research throws cold water on the idea that cooling the planet after it has already heated beyond a key turning point can avoid serious damage. Much of the toll climate change takes — from rising seas to lost homes — can’t be undone, recent research published in the journal Nature warns.
That makes it all the more urgent for governments and companies with climate goals to slash pollution from fossil fuels now, rather than offsetting or capturing their greenhouse gas emissions after the fact.
“Climate change comes with irreversible consequences.”
“Climate change comes with irreversible consequences. Every degree of warming, or every point of a degree of warming … comes with irreversible consequences,” Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, lead author of the paper and head of the integrated climate impacts research group at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, said in a call with reporters before the paper was published.
Startups are developing a whole suite of technologies to try to help big polluters capture their carbon dioxide emissions — from filtering CO2 out of the air or ocean to trapping CO2 in rocks or concrete. These technologies still have to prove whether they’ll be able to scale up to a level that would make a meaningful impact on climate change.
Tech giants like Microsoft and Google have been among the biggest supporters of these emerging carbon removal tactics. They’ve made commitments to eventually reach net zero or net negative emissions, but their carbon footprints have grown in recent years as they expand data centers for AI. And there isn’t enough renewable energy installed yet to run these companies’ operations without still generating greenhouse gas emissions. Increasingly, tech companies are inking carbon removal deals to try to reverse the impact their pollution has had on the climate.

Globally, emissions need to reach net zero around 2050 to keep the planet from heating up much more than it already has. Nearly every nation on Earth has signed onto the Paris climate agreement of stopping global average temperatures from exceeding roughly 1.5 degrees Celsius above temperatures before the Industrial Revolution. The world is quickly approaching that threshold — having warmed by around 1.2C already, which is supercharging climate-related disasters like monster storms and wildfires.
One of the hopes with carbon removal is that it can potentially reverse climate change, bringing temperatures back down if we overshoot that 1.5-degree target. But things won’t just go back to normal, the new research conducted by 30 scientists shows. Melting ice from glaciers would continue to raise sea levels “for centuries to millennia,” for example, a phenomenon that has already pushed people from their homes along vulnerable coastlines. And even if the globe’s average temperature comes back down, it’s hard to say exactly what outcome to expect from region to region.

The recent devastation caused by hurricanes Helene and Milton — disasters exacerbated by climate change — shows what’s at stake if we wait to take action. The number of lives and homes lost to these kinds of catastrophes keeps growing the longer we fail to stop climate change. And repeated disasters take a compounding toll on the communities that are most at risk. Florida barely had any time to recuperate from Hurricane Helene before Milton hit less than two weeks later.
Overshooting climate targets “entails deeply ethical questions of how much additional climate-related loss and damage people, especially those in low-income countries, would need to endure,” the paper says.
There’s also the possibility that the planet could heat up more than anticipated. Scientists calculate carbon “budgets” to figure out how much carbon dioxide humans can release before missing climate targets like holding warming at 1.5 degrees. But those estimates aren’t exact. The pollution “budget” we think we have left could, in reality, lead to more severe climate change than expected.
In that case, we might also need more carbon dioxide removal than expected to stabilize the climate. But scaling up carbon removal to that level might not be feasible. If greenhouse gas emissions raise temperatures higher than expected, it could take several hundred gigatons of carbon removal to prevent more severe climate impacts, according to the paper.
“Although this concept is interesting, it assumes that there will be a reserve of [carbon dioxide removal] capacity that can be deployed rapidly world-wide — an assumption that I would consider overly optimistic,” Nadine Mengis, a research group lead at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, writes in a separate Nature article commenting on the research.

Existing facilities that can filter carbon dioxide out of the air only have the capacity to capture 0.01 million metric tons of CO2 globally today, costing companies like Microsoft as much as $600 per ton of CO2. That’s very little capacity with a very high price tag.
“We cannot squander carbon dioxide removal on offsetting emissions we have the ability to avoid,” study coauthor Gaurav Ganti, a research analyst at Climate Analytics, said in a press release. The priority needs to be preventing pollution now instead of cleaning it up later.

The Climeworks AG Mammoth carbon removal plant in Hellisheidi, Iceland, on May 8th, 2024.  | Photo: Getty Images

Tech companies think they can reverse climate change with fancy new tools to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. But new research throws cold water on the idea that cooling the planet after it has already heated beyond a key turning point can avoid serious damage. Much of the toll climate change takes — from rising seas to lost homes — can’t be undone, recent research published in the journal Nature warns.

That makes it all the more urgent for governments and companies with climate goals to slash pollution from fossil fuels now, rather than offsetting or capturing their greenhouse gas emissions after the fact.

“Climate change comes with irreversible consequences. Every degree of warming, or every point of a degree of warming … comes with irreversible consequences,” Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, lead author of the paper and head of the integrated climate impacts research group at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, said in a call with reporters before the paper was published.

Startups are developing a whole suite of technologies to try to help big polluters capture their carbon dioxide emissions — from filtering CO2 out of the air or ocean to trapping CO2 in rocks or concrete. These technologies still have to prove whether they’ll be able to scale up to a level that would make a meaningful impact on climate change.

Tech giants like Microsoft and Google have been among the biggest supporters of these emerging carbon removal tactics. They’ve made commitments to eventually reach net zero or net negative emissions, but their carbon footprints have grown in recent years as they expand data centers for AI. And there isn’t enough renewable energy installed yet to run these companies’ operations without still generating greenhouse gas emissions. Increasingly, tech companies are inking carbon removal deals to try to reverse the impact their pollution has had on the climate.

Globally, emissions need to reach net zero around 2050 to keep the planet from heating up much more than it already has. Nearly every nation on Earth has signed onto the Paris climate agreement of stopping global average temperatures from exceeding roughly 1.5 degrees Celsius above temperatures before the Industrial Revolution. The world is quickly approaching that threshold — having warmed by around 1.2C already, which is supercharging climate-related disasters like monster storms and wildfires.

One of the hopes with carbon removal is that it can potentially reverse climate change, bringing temperatures back down if we overshoot that 1.5-degree target. But things won’t just go back to normal, the new research conducted by 30 scientists shows. Melting ice from glaciers would continue to raise sea levels “for centuries to millennia,” for example, a phenomenon that has already pushed people from their homes along vulnerable coastlines. And even if the globe’s average temperature comes back down, it’s hard to say exactly what outcome to expect from region to region.

The recent devastation caused by hurricanes Helene and Milton — disasters exacerbated by climate change — shows what’s at stake if we wait to take action. The number of lives and homes lost to these kinds of catastrophes keeps growing the longer we fail to stop climate change. And repeated disasters take a compounding toll on the communities that are most at risk. Florida barely had any time to recuperate from Hurricane Helene before Milton hit less than two weeks later.

Overshooting climate targets “entails deeply ethical questions of how much additional climate-related loss and damage people, especially those in low-income countries, would need to endure,” the paper says.

There’s also the possibility that the planet could heat up more than anticipated. Scientists calculate carbon “budgets” to figure out how much carbon dioxide humans can release before missing climate targets like holding warming at 1.5 degrees. But those estimates aren’t exact. The pollution “budget” we think we have left could, in reality, lead to more severe climate change than expected.

In that case, we might also need more carbon dioxide removal than expected to stabilize the climate. But scaling up carbon removal to that level might not be feasible. If greenhouse gas emissions raise temperatures higher than expected, it could take several hundred gigatons of carbon removal to prevent more severe climate impacts, according to the paper.

“Although this concept is interesting, it assumes that there will be a reserve of [carbon dioxide removal] capacity that can be deployed rapidly world-wide — an assumption that I would consider overly optimistic,” Nadine Mengis, a research group lead at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, writes in a separate Nature article commenting on the research.

Existing facilities that can filter carbon dioxide out of the air only have the capacity to capture 0.01 million metric tons of CO2 globally today, costing companies like Microsoft as much as $600 per ton of CO2. That’s very little capacity with a very high price tag.

“We cannot squander carbon dioxide removal on offsetting emissions we have the ability to avoid,” study coauthor Gaurav Ganti, a research analyst at Climate Analytics, said in a press release. The priority needs to be preventing pollution now instead of cleaning it up later.

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Image: Hello Games

The latest No Man’s Sky event will have players straddling the boundary between this world and the next. The Cursed expedition event runs for the next two weeks and features new bosses, new gear, a flying saucer, and a UFO players can make their own.
As with every new NMS event, the developers at Hello Games are changing up how the game works. The Cursed takes place in a new universe where the line between life and… unlife?? is perilously thin. The exosuit, which normally protects players from the harsh environs of space and alien planets, now comes with an “anomaly suppressor” that’ll keep them stable as reality shifts around them. Additionally, players won’t be able to warp between star systems, having to instead travel via a portal system (kinda like how guild navigators ferry everyone about in Dune — minus the all psychoactive drug use).
Speaking of celebrated figures in sci-fi, The Cursed also includes a new hub deemed the Boundary StarShip which according to the blog post takes its artistic inspiration from the works of H.R. Giger. Expect plenty of tubes, fleshy ridges, and wet stuff. The Cursed expedition starts today and lasts for the next two weeks. But if spooky stuff isn’t your jam, Hello Games is also planing something special that’s focused on the pending launch of the PS5 Pro.

Image: Hello Games

The latest No Man’s Sky event will have players straddling the boundary between this world and the next. The Cursed expedition event runs for the next two weeks and features new bosses, new gear, a flying saucer, and a UFO players can make their own.

As with every new NMS event, the developers at Hello Games are changing up how the game works. The Cursed takes place in a new universe where the line between life and… unlife?? is perilously thin. The exosuit, which normally protects players from the harsh environs of space and alien planets, now comes with an “anomaly suppressor” that’ll keep them stable as reality shifts around them. Additionally, players won’t be able to warp between star systems, having to instead travel via a portal system (kinda like how guild navigators ferry everyone about in Dune — minus the all psychoactive drug use).

Speaking of celebrated figures in sci-fi, The Cursed also includes a new hub deemed the Boundary StarShip which according to the blog post takes its artistic inspiration from the works of H.R. Giger. Expect plenty of tubes, fleshy ridges, and wet stuff. The Cursed expedition starts today and lasts for the next two weeks. But if spooky stuff isn’t your jam, Hello Games is also planing something special that’s focused on the pending launch of the PS5 Pro.

Read More 

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

A new report from The Information cites “multiple people” involved in making parts for Apple’s Vision Pro headset to say that production plans have been scaled back in recent months. This follows a Tim Cook interview published this weekend by WSJ. Magazine, where he said, “Obviously I’d like to sell more,” but acknowledged that “At $3,500, it’s not a mass-market product.”
That aligns with The Information’s previous report from this summer, saying Apple has shifted its strategy to focus on making a cheaper headset, which could ship as soon as next year.
According to the report, the company that does the final assembly of Vision Pro headsets has been warned production could wind down in November.

There are caveats, including that production could ramp up if demand increases for some reason, and that a future model could use some of the same parts but with an upgraded processor.
In April, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple had cut Vision Pro shipment estimates for 2024 to between 400,000 and 450,000 units. The Information cites an employee of the assembler, Luxshare, who said it has made between 500,000 to 600,000 headsets since production started last year, suggesting Apple may have enough parts and headsets stockpiled for now.
Tim Cook told the WSJ, “Right now, it’s an early-adopter product. People who want to have tomorrow’s technology today—that’s who it’s for,” but plenty of early adopters are probably waiting around for something a bit cheaper to land on store shelves.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

A new report from The Information cites “multiple people” involved in making parts for Apple’s Vision Pro headset to say that production plans have been scaled back in recent months. This follows a Tim Cook interview published this weekend by WSJ. Magazine, where he said, “Obviously I’d like to sell more,” but acknowledged that “At $3,500, it’s not a mass-market product.”

That aligns with The Information’s previous report from this summer, saying Apple has shifted its strategy to focus on making a cheaper headset, which could ship as soon as next year.

According to the report, the company that does the final assembly of Vision Pro headsets has been warned production could wind down in November.

There are caveats, including that production could ramp up if demand increases for some reason, and that a future model could use some of the same parts but with an upgraded processor.

In April, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple had cut Vision Pro shipment estimates for 2024 to between 400,000 and 450,000 units. The Information cites an employee of the assembler, Luxshare, who said it has made between 500,000 to 600,000 headsets since production started last year, suggesting Apple may have enough parts and headsets stockpiled for now.

Tim Cook told the WSJ, “Right now, it’s an early-adopter product. People who want to have tomorrow’s technology today—that’s who it’s for,” but plenty of early adopters are probably waiting around for something a bit cheaper to land on store shelves.

Read More