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Lacey still faces about 30 other charges related to prostitution facilitation and money laundering. | Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images

Michael Lacey, a founder of the defunct classified site Backpage.com, received a five-year prison sentence on Wednesday and was fined $3 million. Lacey was found guilty of money laundering last year in a sweeping case that alleged Backpage executives promoted and profited from prostitution.
Lacey was convicted on a single count of international concealment money laundering in November 2023 but was acquitted of 50 other charges related to prostitution facilitation and money laundering due to insufficient evidence. He still faces about 30 related charges, according to the Associated Press. Two other Backpage executives — former chief financial officer John Brunst and executive vice president Scott Spear — received 10-year prison sentences on Wednesday after being convicted of money laundering and prostitution facilitation last year.
“The defendants and their conspirators obtained more than $500 million from operating an online forum that facilitated the sexual exploitation of countless victims,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri in a Department of Justice press release. “The defendants thought they could hide their illicit proceeds by laundering the funds through shell companies in foreign countries. But they were wrong.”
The case is one of many that Backpage has faced regarding sexual exploitation over the last decade, having shuttered its “Adult Services” ads section in 2017 in response to pressure from lawmakers and critics. All three men have been ordered to turn themselves in by September 11th to begin serving their sentences. According to The New York Times, both Lacey and Brunst are planning to appeal the sentencing.

Lacey still faces about 30 other charges related to prostitution facilitation and money laundering. | Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images

Michael Lacey, a founder of the defunct classified site Backpage.com, received a five-year prison sentence on Wednesday and was fined $3 million. Lacey was found guilty of money laundering last year in a sweeping case that alleged Backpage executives promoted and profited from prostitution.

Lacey was convicted on a single count of international concealment money laundering in November 2023 but was acquitted of 50 other charges related to prostitution facilitation and money laundering due to insufficient evidence. He still faces about 30 related charges, according to the Associated Press. Two other Backpage executives — former chief financial officer John Brunst and executive vice president Scott Spear — received 10-year prison sentences on Wednesday after being convicted of money laundering and prostitution facilitation last year.

“The defendants and their conspirators obtained more than $500 million from operating an online forum that facilitated the sexual exploitation of countless victims,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri in a Department of Justice press release. “The defendants thought they could hide their illicit proceeds by laundering the funds through shell companies in foreign countries. But they were wrong.”

The case is one of many that Backpage has faced regarding sexual exploitation over the last decade, having shuttered its “Adult Services” ads section in 2017 in response to pressure from lawmakers and critics. All three men have been ordered to turn themselves in by September 11th to begin serving their sentences. According to The New York Times, both Lacey and Brunst are planning to appeal the sentencing.

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Hyundai N Vision 74 Concept shown along with the Pony Coupe Concept from 1974 | Image: Hyundai

The N Vision 74 coupe was a slick embodiment of Hyundai’s “high-performance vision of electrification” two years ago that we have hoped to see as a real vehicle. That seems way more likely now that it got namechecked in Hyundai’s plan to launch 21 fully electric models by 2030. This slide (below) is from the company’s 2024 CEO Investor Day presentation, explaining the range of vehicles the company will launch and listing the Vision 74 and the Genesis Magma concept.
The plan also includes affordable EVs like its Inster / Casper subcompact, the three-row Ioniq 9 that’s next up to launch in the US, luxury EVs from Genesis, and, finally, high-performance models.

Image: Hyundai
Hyundai EV Full Lineup slide

Executives didn’t directly mention the N Vision 74 as the slide was shown. In response to an inquiry from The Verge, PR director Michael Stewart pointed to the slides and video presentation as all of the information available at this time.

For the Vision 74, the company cites inspiration from Hyundai’s 1974 Pony Coupe concept that shared a designer with the DMC DeLorean and a virtual supercar, the Hyundai N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo from 2015.
The Vision 74’s link to that virtual supercar included a hybrid hydrogen fuel cell system. Still, this announcement wasn’t directly connected to Hyundai’s hybrid plans, so in whatever form the real car arrives, it may be very different than what we’ve seen so far. Of course, in other parts of the presentation, Hyundai talked up plans for extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) that use a gas engine to recharge the battery pack, with the company offering a range of powertrain options “including ICE, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, EVs and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.”

Hyundai N Vision 74 Concept shown along with the Pony Coupe Concept from 1974 | Image: Hyundai

The N Vision 74 coupe was a slick embodiment of Hyundai’s “high-performance vision of electrification” two years ago that we have hoped to see as a real vehicle. That seems way more likely now that it got namechecked in Hyundai’s plan to launch 21 fully electric models by 2030. This slide (below) is from the company’s 2024 CEO Investor Day presentation, explaining the range of vehicles the company will launch and listing the Vision 74 and the Genesis Magma concept.

The plan also includes affordable EVs like its Inster / Casper subcompact, the three-row Ioniq 9 that’s next up to launch in the US, luxury EVs from Genesis, and, finally, high-performance models.

Image: Hyundai
Hyundai EV Full Lineup slide

Executives didn’t directly mention the N Vision 74 as the slide was shown. In response to an inquiry from The Verge, PR director Michael Stewart pointed to the slides and video presentation as all of the information available at this time.

For the Vision 74, the company cites inspiration from Hyundai’s 1974 Pony Coupe concept that shared a designer with the DMC DeLorean and a virtual supercar, the Hyundai N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo from 2015.

The Vision 74’s link to that virtual supercar included a hybrid hydrogen fuel cell system. Still, this announcement wasn’t directly connected to Hyundai’s hybrid plans, so in whatever form the real car arrives, it may be very different than what we’ve seen so far. Of course, in other parts of the presentation, Hyundai talked up plans for extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) that use a gas engine to recharge the battery pack, with the company offering a range of powertrain options “including ICE, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, EVs and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.”

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google recently started letting you use its Gemini AI chatbot to ask questions about your Gmail inbox on the web, and now, that feature is coming to mobile. The company says its Gmail Q&A feature is starting to roll out on Android and that the feature will be “coming soon” to iOS.
Using Gmail Q&A, “you can ask Gemini questions about your inbox or to do things like find specific details in your emails, show you unread messages, view messages from a specific sender, or summarize emails about a topic in your inbox,” according to Google’s blog post. Google previewed Gmail Q&A earlier this year at its I/O conference.

Gmail Q&A could be a potentially useful way to sift through your email or find something that might be buried in the depths of your inbox. But note that the feature isn’t available to all users: you’ll need to subscribe to Google One AI Premium or be on a Google Workspace plan with the Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, or Education Premium add-ons.
As with many generative AI tools, you should also always double-check that Gemini doesn’t hallucinate anything that it pulls up.
Gmail Q&A is starting to roll out as of Thursday, and Google says it could take up to 15 days to show up for you.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google recently started letting you use its Gemini AI chatbot to ask questions about your Gmail inbox on the web, and now, that feature is coming to mobile. The company says its Gmail Q&A feature is starting to roll out on Android and that the feature will be “coming soon” to iOS.

Using Gmail Q&A, “you can ask Gemini questions about your inbox or to do things like find specific details in your emails, show you unread messages, view messages from a specific sender, or summarize emails about a topic in your inbox,” according to Google’s blog post. Google previewed Gmail Q&A earlier this year at its I/O conference.

Gmail Q&A could be a potentially useful way to sift through your email or find something that might be buried in the depths of your inbox. But note that the feature isn’t available to all users: you’ll need to subscribe to Google One AI Premium or be on a Google Workspace plan with the Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, or Education Premium add-ons.

As with many generative AI tools, you should also always double-check that Gemini doesn’t hallucinate anything that it pulls up.

Gmail Q&A is starting to roll out as of Thursday, and Google says it could take up to 15 days to show up for you.

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Image: Sonos

Sonos is still trying to clean up from the mess from the messy rollout of its new app, and to help give users a better idea of what fixes are in the pipeline, the company has shared a public Trello board detailing fixes that it’s working on.
“All the cards here are sourced from various posts and release notes communications (Future Feature Update, for example), including communications from [CEO Patrick Spence] directly,” says Reddit user KeithFromSonos, who is a Sonos employee. “What we are hearing and working on is sourced from you — the Community at large and our acknowledgment of that area of opportunity.”
Sonos launched its new app in May, and shortly after, bad feedback rolled in over things like missing features and the app taking a step back in accessibility. The company has been releasing updates to patch things up, but Spence still posted a public apology in July that included a roadmap of features Sonos was planning to add to the app over the coming months. Sonos also delayed two product launches as it focused on fixing the app. (The company considered relaunching the old app, but Spence said that would have made things worse.)

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

A screenshot of Sonos’ Trello board as of August 29th, 2024.

KeithFromSonos says that the Trello board isn’t “an exhaustive list of every item on our internal roadmap” or a view of every known issue, but it is “a live document that will be updated with information as soon as it is made available to me.” In a section on the board titled “On The Roadmap,” for example, there are entries for “Full Queue Editing / Management” and “Playlist Editing.” The “Coming Soon” section has entries for things like “Search and Browse Latency Fixes” and “Improved Volume Responsiveness.”
Sonos isn’t the only company to launch a public Trello board to give users transparency into what it’s working on. Epic Games has Trello boards for Fortnite and the Epic Games Store, while EA offers a Trello board for Apex Legends.

Image: Sonos

Sonos is still trying to clean up from the mess from the messy rollout of its new app, and to help give users a better idea of what fixes are in the pipeline, the company has shared a public Trello board detailing fixes that it’s working on.

“All the cards here are sourced from various posts and release notes communications (Future Feature Update, for example), including communications from [CEO Patrick Spence] directly,” says Reddit user KeithFromSonos, who is a Sonos employee. “What we are hearing and working on is sourced from you — the Community at large and our acknowledgment of that area of opportunity.”

Sonos launched its new app in May, and shortly after, bad feedback rolled in over things like missing features and the app taking a step back in accessibility. The company has been releasing updates to patch things up, but Spence still posted a public apology in July that included a roadmap of features Sonos was planning to add to the app over the coming months. Sonos also delayed two product launches as it focused on fixing the app. (The company considered relaunching the old app, but Spence said that would have made things worse.)

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

A screenshot of Sonos’ Trello board as of August 29th, 2024.

KeithFromSonos says that the Trello board isn’t “an exhaustive list of every item on our internal roadmap” or a view of every known issue, but it is “a live document that will be updated with information as soon as it is made available to me.” In a section on the board titled “On The Roadmap,” for example, there are entries for “Full Queue Editing / Management” and “Playlist Editing.” The “Coming Soon” section has entries for things like “Search and Browse Latency Fixes” and “Improved Volume Responsiveness.”

Sonos isn’t the only company to launch a public Trello board to give users transparency into what it’s working on. Epic Games has Trello boards for Fortnite and the Epic Games Store, while EA offers a Trello board for Apex Legends.

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Illustration: The Verge

OpenAI says that more than 200 million people use ChatGPT each week, as first reported by Axios. OpenAI spokesperson Taya Christianson confirmed the number to The Verge, which is now double the 100 million weekly active users OpenAI reported last November.
Additionally, Christianson says that 92 percent of Fortune 500 companies are using OpenAI’s products, while API usage has doubled following the release of the company’s cheaper and smarter model GPT-4o Mini.
Since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, Google, Microsoft, and Meta have also launched AI chat interfaces of their own, but OpenAI’s user base continues to grow. Today, The Information reported that Meta’s AI assistant has at least 400 million monthly active users and 40 million daily active users.
Earlier today, the US AI Safety Institute also announced that OpenAI and Anthropic have agreed to let the government evaluate major AI models before being launched to the public. Reports are also circulating that Apple and Nvidia could be among OpenAI’s next round of investors.

Illustration: The Verge

OpenAI says that more than 200 million people use ChatGPT each week, as first reported by Axios. OpenAI spokesperson Taya Christianson confirmed the number to The Verge, which is now double the 100 million weekly active users OpenAI reported last November.

Additionally, Christianson says that 92 percent of Fortune 500 companies are using OpenAI’s products, while API usage has doubled following the release of the company’s cheaper and smarter model GPT-4o Mini.

Since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, Google, Microsoft, and Meta have also launched AI chat interfaces of their own, but OpenAI’s user base continues to grow. Today, The Information reported that Meta’s AI assistant has at least 400 million monthly active users and 40 million daily active users.

Earlier today, the US AI Safety Institute also announced that OpenAI and Anthropic have agreed to let the government evaluate major AI models before being launched to the public. Reports are also circulating that Apple and Nvidia could be among OpenAI’s next round of investors.

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Looks like a Dreamcast. Needs more arrows. | Image: EmuDeck

Valve once dreamt of building Linux-based game consoles called Steam Machines. They flopped — but the dream eventually became reality as the handheld Steam Deck instead. Now, a particularly noteworthy Steam Deck enthusiast is reviving the idea of a console-sized Steam Box, one with his own retro gaming twist.
Rodrigo Sedano is the founder of EmuDeck, a program beloved by the Steam Deck community. It automatically installs, configures, and enhances emulators for Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and other retro consoles so they work beautifully on Valve’s handheld.
Now, he wants to make it even easier. He’s preparing to sell you a console-shaped custom gaming PC preloaded with that entire Steam + EmuDeck experience, plus a wireless controller, all ready to go.
He’s calling them EmuDeck Machines, and he’s currently crowdfunding the idea on Indiegogo for prices starting at around $400 — with an incredibly ambitious promise to ship them in December of this year, just four months from now.
They’ll house (weak) Intel N97 or (stronger) AMD 8600G chips in a Sega Dreamcast-inspired shell, with four USB ports around front for additional wired controllers or peripherals. By overclocking the AMD 8600G’s integrated Radeon 760M graphics, he claims he can get what looks like Steam Deck-beating performance out of his pricier $700 model:

Image: EmuDeck
EmuDeck Machine configurations.

There are lots of reasons to wait before putting money down on a crowdfunding campaign, though. While I love EmuDeck, and he seems to have other software design, web design, and management experience, he admits to The Verge that he’s never shipped a hardware product like this before.
He says his US and EU partners are telling him that getting FCC and CE certifications should only take one month. His current prototype is just a Mini-ITX board in a wooden box, while he waits for his potential case manufacturing partners in Spain to deliver the Dreamcast-shaped console case he’s dreamt up. He’s planning to assemble the PCs himself, as a family business of sorts.

But I think it’s at least plausible because he says he’s not necessarily expecting to sell more than 100 of these as a side project — and because he says these PCs will use off-the-shelf parts. It’s a standard Mini-ITX desktop motherboard and chip, in an 8.66 x 8.66 x 2.55-inch chassis. (He tells me they will have an external 155W power supply.)
Sedano says he’s been building computers since he was 14 and sees this as a hobby, too, but he’s getting serious about it in a few ways. EmuDeck is now a registered limited liability company in Spain (we checked!), and he says he’s locked down several suppliers to make sure he’ll have the components. He’ll offer hardware support and a warranty, he claims.
He also may not need Valve’s support to make this a reality; the operating system he’s preloading is Bazzite, a promising fork of the SteamOS interface with a different underlying operating system (Fedora). I’ve loaded it on a Lenovo Legion Go and the ROG Ally X at this point, and I’ve been mostly impressed by how well it works. Bazzite founder Kyle Gospodnetich tells me his team gave EmuDeck their blessing, though Bazzite isn’t currently helping EmuDeck tweak the software.
It’s a little surprising we haven’t seen many Steam Boxes like this before, and Bazzite says it isn’t aware of any others in the works. Perhaps other companies have been waiting on Valve? The Steam Deck maker told us in late 2022 that it’s actually excited for other manufacturers to make small SteamOS PCs — after Valve releases a general image of SteamOS 3 for those manufacturers to use.
As of this month, there are signs that Valve’s getting closer.
If you’d rather tinker instead of looking for a turnkey console gaming experience, you could of course build your own Bazzite box with EmuDeck. Or, add an HDMI dock or hub to a handheld. Or, you could possibly even do what YouTuber ETA Prime did and turn an old Steam Deck into a mini PC.

Looks like a Dreamcast. Needs more arrows. | Image: EmuDeck

Valve once dreamt of building Linux-based game consoles called Steam Machines. They flopped — but the dream eventually became reality as the handheld Steam Deck instead. Now, a particularly noteworthy Steam Deck enthusiast is reviving the idea of a console-sized Steam Box, one with his own retro gaming twist.

Rodrigo Sedano is the founder of EmuDeck, a program beloved by the Steam Deck community. It automatically installs, configures, and enhances emulators for Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and other retro consoles so they work beautifully on Valve’s handheld.

Now, he wants to make it even easier. He’s preparing to sell you a console-shaped custom gaming PC preloaded with that entire Steam + EmuDeck experience, plus a wireless controller, all ready to go.

He’s calling them EmuDeck Machines, and he’s currently crowdfunding the idea on Indiegogo for prices starting at around $400 — with an incredibly ambitious promise to ship them in December of this year, just four months from now.

They’ll house (weak) Intel N97 or (stronger) AMD 8600G chips in a Sega Dreamcast-inspired shell, with four USB ports around front for additional wired controllers or peripherals. By overclocking the AMD 8600G’s integrated Radeon 760M graphics, he claims he can get what looks like Steam Deck-beating performance out of his pricier $700 model:

Image: EmuDeck
EmuDeck Machine configurations.

There are lots of reasons to wait before putting money down on a crowdfunding campaign, though. While I love EmuDeck, and he seems to have other software design, web design, and management experience, he admits to The Verge that he’s never shipped a hardware product like this before.

He says his US and EU partners are telling him that getting FCC and CE certifications should only take one month. His current prototype is just a Mini-ITX board in a wooden box, while he waits for his potential case manufacturing partners in Spain to deliver the Dreamcast-shaped console case he’s dreamt up. He’s planning to assemble the PCs himself, as a family business of sorts.

But I think it’s at least plausible because he says he’s not necessarily expecting to sell more than 100 of these as a side project — and because he says these PCs will use off-the-shelf parts. It’s a standard Mini-ITX desktop motherboard and chip, in an 8.66 x 8.66 x 2.55-inch chassis. (He tells me they will have an external 155W power supply.)

Sedano says he’s been building computers since he was 14 and sees this as a hobby, too, but he’s getting serious about it in a few ways. EmuDeck is now a registered limited liability company in Spain (we checked!), and he says he’s locked down several suppliers to make sure he’ll have the components. He’ll offer hardware support and a warranty, he claims.

He also may not need Valve’s support to make this a reality; the operating system he’s preloading is Bazzite, a promising fork of the SteamOS interface with a different underlying operating system (Fedora). I’ve loaded it on a Lenovo Legion Go and the ROG Ally X at this point, and I’ve been mostly impressed by how well it works. Bazzite founder Kyle Gospodnetich tells me his team gave EmuDeck their blessing, though Bazzite isn’t currently helping EmuDeck tweak the software.

It’s a little surprising we haven’t seen many Steam Boxes like this before, and Bazzite says it isn’t aware of any others in the works. Perhaps other companies have been waiting on Valve? The Steam Deck maker told us in late 2022 that it’s actually excited for other manufacturers to make small SteamOS PCs — after Valve releases a general image of SteamOS 3 for those manufacturers to use.

As of this month, there are signs that Valve’s getting closer.

If you’d rather tinker instead of looking for a turnkey console gaming experience, you could of course build your own Bazzite box with EmuDeck. Or, add an HDMI dock or hub to a handheld. Or, you could possibly even do what YouTuber ETA Prime did and turn an old Steam Deck into a mini PC.

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Image: The Verge

OpenAI is reportedly gearing up for a huge round of funding, and Apple and Nvidia might be among the investors.
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple, which is planning to integrate ChatGPT into iOS, is in talks to invest. Soon after, Bloomberg also reported that Apple is in talks but added that Nvidia “has discussed” joining the funding round as well. The round is reportedly being led by Thrive Capital and would value OpenAI at more than $100 billion.
It’s perhaps not too surprising that Apple and Nvidia might end up investing in OpenAI. Apple is set to integrate ChatGPT with Siri later this year, and it reportedly planned to have Phil Schiller join OpenAI’s board before apparently abandoning that plan. And Nvidia is a key supplier to OpenAI, which relies on Nvidia’s chips to help power its AI services.
Microsoft is also in talks to join the funding round, according to Bloomberg. The company invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and made a multibillion-dollar investment in 2023.
Apple and OpenAI didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. Nvidia and Microsoft declined to comment.

Image: The Verge

OpenAI is reportedly gearing up for a huge round of funding, and Apple and Nvidia might be among the investors.

On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple, which is planning to integrate ChatGPT into iOS, is in talks to invest. Soon after, Bloomberg also reported that Apple is in talks but added that Nvidia “has discussed” joining the funding round as well. The round is reportedly being led by Thrive Capital and would value OpenAI at more than $100 billion.

It’s perhaps not too surprising that Apple and Nvidia might end up investing in OpenAI. Apple is set to integrate ChatGPT with Siri later this year, and it reportedly planned to have Phil Schiller join OpenAI’s board before apparently abandoning that plan. And Nvidia is a key supplier to OpenAI, which relies on Nvidia’s chips to help power its AI services.

Microsoft is also in talks to join the funding round, according to Bloomberg. The company invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and made a multibillion-dollar investment in 2023.

Apple and OpenAI didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. Nvidia and Microsoft declined to comment.

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Image: Toei Animation

For years, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) has worked with Hollywood’s Motion Picture Association (MPA) to crack down on digital piracy, and this week, it seems like the organizations took a huge step toward reaching their goal.
Today, ACE — a coalition of over 50 major entertainment companies and production studios, including Amazon, Disney, and Warner Bros. — took partial credit for the shuttering of Fmovies, a popular network of streaming sites hosting pirated films and television shows. In a statement, ACE called Fmovies and its affiliated sites “the largest pirate streaming operation in the world,” and according to The Hollywood Reporter, two suspects have been arrested by Hanoi police because of their connection to the operation.
MPA CEO and ACE chairman Charles Rivkin described the takedown of Fmovies as “a stunning victory for casts, crews, writers, directors, studios, and the creative community across the globe.” The MPA’s chief content protection officer, Larissa Knapp, added that the organizations see this move as “sending a powerful deterrent message” to others currently running (or thinking about starting up) similar piracy sites streaming copyrighted material.
The shuttering of Fmovies, which launched back in 2016, comes as other illegal streaming sites like Aniwave and AnimeFlix have suddenly gone dark — sending their regular visitors into a panic. Along with an embed of Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again,” Aniwave’s website currently features a short message (presumably from its former operators) explaining that their goals with the site were “creating better products that provide an improved user experience and fostering competition to drive the market to enhance products.”
The message also ends with a specifically worded call to action: “If possible, please use legal paid services. It’s something we should do to show our respect for creators and content producers.”
ACE hasn’t claimed responsibility for Aniwave’s closure, but as the Los Angeles Times notes, the call to action’s verbiage matches statements posted on other sites that the anti-piracy trade organization has gone after.
For obvious reasons like lost revenue, studios have never been hot on the idea of people consuming their intellectual property without paying for it. But piracy has still thrived for reasons other than people not wanting to hand over their cash to watch the latest blockbuster. Pirating things (read: stealing) is cheaper, yes, but the sites’ value also stems from the way they tend to offer far larger catalogs of things to consume compared to their legal competition.
Whereas studio-owned streamers have gotten into the habit of disappearing their content or splitting it up amongst themselves in ways that make it both difficult and expensive to track down, piracy sites have essentially been big buckets users could dip into to find what they wanted with ease. And while copyright infringement is a crime, part of the reason that people do it is the simple fact studios haven’t made the legal option appealing enough for people to default to it.
That’s always been a challenge for studios, and it’s obviously become less of a priority as streamers have pivoted to price hikes. But at this point in the streaming wars and Hollywood’s larger push for financial profits, it’s not surprising that pirates are taking some hits.

Image: Toei Animation

For years, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) has worked with Hollywood’s Motion Picture Association (MPA) to crack down on digital piracy, and this week, it seems like the organizations took a huge step toward reaching their goal.

Today, ACE — a coalition of over 50 major entertainment companies and production studios, including Amazon, Disney, and Warner Bros. — took partial credit for the shuttering of Fmovies, a popular network of streaming sites hosting pirated films and television shows. In a statement, ACE called Fmovies and its affiliated sites “the largest pirate streaming operation in the world,” and according to The Hollywood Reporter, two suspects have been arrested by Hanoi police because of their connection to the operation.

MPA CEO and ACE chairman Charles Rivkin described the takedown of Fmovies as “a stunning victory for casts, crews, writers, directors, studios, and the creative community across the globe.” The MPA’s chief content protection officer, Larissa Knapp, added that the organizations see this move as “sending a powerful deterrent message” to others currently running (or thinking about starting up) similar piracy sites streaming copyrighted material.

The shuttering of Fmovies, which launched back in 2016, comes as other illegal streaming sites like Aniwave and AnimeFlix have suddenly gone dark — sending their regular visitors into a panic. Along with an embed of Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again,” Aniwave’s website currently features a short message (presumably from its former operators) explaining that their goals with the site were “creating better products that provide an improved user experience and fostering competition to drive the market to enhance products.”

The message also ends with a specifically worded call to action: “If possible, please use legal paid services. It’s something we should do to show our respect for creators and content producers.”

ACE hasn’t claimed responsibility for Aniwave’s closure, but as the Los Angeles Times notes, the call to action’s verbiage matches statements posted on other sites that the anti-piracy trade organization has gone after.

For obvious reasons like lost revenue, studios have never been hot on the idea of people consuming their intellectual property without paying for it. But piracy has still thrived for reasons other than people not wanting to hand over their cash to watch the latest blockbuster. Pirating things (read: stealing) is cheaper, yes, but the sites’ value also stems from the way they tend to offer far larger catalogs of things to consume compared to their legal competition.

Whereas studio-owned streamers have gotten into the habit of disappearing their content or splitting it up amongst themselves in ways that make it both difficult and expensive to track down, piracy sites have essentially been big buckets users could dip into to find what they wanted with ease. And while copyright infringement is a crime, part of the reason that people do it is the simple fact studios haven’t made the legal option appealing enough for people to default to it.

That’s always been a challenge for studios, and it’s obviously become less of a priority as streamers have pivoted to price hikes. But at this point in the streaming wars and Hollywood’s larger push for financial profits, it’s not surprising that pirates are taking some hits.

Read More 

The Nintendo Switch is still a good handheld, even if the Steam Deck and more powerful options exist. | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Nintendo recently confirmed it’ll announce a next-gen Nintendo Switch next year, but beyond that, the company hasn’t revealed much about the forthcoming console (including how much it will go for). If you’d rather not wait and see, the standard Nintendo Switch is currently receiving a rare discount at Amazon, where you can buy it with blue and red Joy-Con controllers for $267 ($33 off).

If you like to game on the go, the base Switch remains an excellent handheld, one that can last up to six hours on a single charge. It’s still limited to 32GB of built-in storage — unlike the larger, seven-inch Switch OLED — but its built-in microSD card slot means you can always invest in more external storage. That’ll come in handy because the Nintendo eShop is home to a vast library of both first- and third-party titles, particularly in its swan-song era, with many exciting games in the pipeline. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Mario & Luigi: Brothership are both launching in the fall, for example, along with Super Mario Party Jamboree, a remastered MySims, and much more.
Granted, the Switch 2 is rumored to feature an eight-inch screen, but the standard model’s 6.2-inch display is still spacious enough in most instances. Besides, if you crave more screen real estate, you can always play it on your TV while in docked mode, unlike the Switch Lite.

Read our original Nintendo Switch review.

If you’re looking for a piece of home decor to spruce up your home or office, few gadgets are as unique as Samsung’s new Music Frame. And right now, the capable speaker is down to a new low of around $297.99 ($100 off) at Amazon, B&H Photo, and Best Buy.

Samsung’s unique gadget looks like a traditional 12.9 x 12.9-inch picture frame — it even offers room in the front so you can add a physical photograph or art print (though you’ll only be able to use an 8 x 8-inch picture if you use the provided matte). You can hang the speaker on your wall or rest it on the included stand and even customize it with an optional white bezel ($59.99).
But what’s really neat is that the Music Frame also functions as a wired Bluetooth / Wi-Fi speaker, which is one of the reasons the gadget was one of our favorite audio products from CES 2024. It’s not going to sound as immersive as a high-end soundbar or a speaker with up-firing drivers like the Sonos Era 300, but it supports Dolby Atmos and can pair with select Samsung TVs or soundbars for surround sound. The art-inspired speaker is also compatible with Amazon Alexa and Samsung Bixby, allowing you to control it with just your voice.

A few more deals and discounts

You can currently pick up the wired Keychron C3 Pro at Amazon with either linear red or tactile brown switches for $24.99 ($25 off), which is a new low. The sturdy, tenkeyless mechanical keyboard features a basic design (sorry, not hot-swappable switches), but it does offer a few impressive features for the price, including red backlighting and the ability to toggle between Windows and macOS. Plus, you can also easily remap the keys using the ultra-sleek VIA app, thanks to the keyboard’s support for QMK firmware.
Solo Stove is discounting various fire pits as a part of its Labor Day sale through September 3rd. Right now, for instance, you can buy the Ranger Essential Bundle 2.0 for $254.99 ($70 off) when you apply promo code LABORDAY at checkout, which is one of the better prices we’ve seen. The smokeless, 15-inch fire pit comes with a handful of useful accessories, too, including a removable ashtray and a stand to protect the surface it’s sitting on. Solo Stove is also throwing in a carrying case, making it even more portable.

Star Wars Outlaws launches tomorrow, August 30th, but Best Buy is still offering a $10 gift card when you preorder the PS5 / Xbox game for $69.99 ahead of launch. Amazon and GameStop, meanwhile, are throwing in free in-game cosmetics with each preorder, which are typically reserved for the Ultimate Edition. My colleague Andrew Webster called the game an “incredible Star Wars simulator” in his review. It doesn’t offer the most innovative gameplay, but it’s an enjoyable title with impressive visuals and storylines that make you feel like you’re in a Star Wars movie.

The Nintendo Switch is still a good handheld, even if the Steam Deck and more powerful options exist. | Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Nintendo recently confirmed it’ll announce a next-gen Nintendo Switch next year, but beyond that, the company hasn’t revealed much about the forthcoming console (including how much it will go for). If you’d rather not wait and see, the standard Nintendo Switch is currently receiving a rare discount at Amazon, where you can buy it with blue and red Joy-Con controllers for $267 ($33 off).

If you like to game on the go, the base Switch remains an excellent handheld, one that can last up to six hours on a single charge. It’s still limited to 32GB of built-in storage — unlike the larger, seven-inch Switch OLED — but its built-in microSD card slot means you can always invest in more external storage. That’ll come in handy because the Nintendo eShop is home to a vast library of both first- and third-party titles, particularly in its swan-song era, with many exciting games in the pipeline. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Mario & Luigi: Brothership are both launching in the fall, for example, along with Super Mario Party Jamboree, a remastered MySims, and much more.

Granted, the Switch 2 is rumored to feature an eight-inch screen, but the standard model’s 6.2-inch display is still spacious enough in most instances. Besides, if you crave more screen real estate, you can always play it on your TV while in docked mode, unlike the Switch Lite.

Read our original Nintendo Switch review.

If you’re looking for a piece of home decor to spruce up your home or office, few gadgets are as unique as Samsung’s new Music Frame. And right now, the capable speaker is down to a new low of around $297.99 ($100 off) at Amazon, B&H Photo, and Best Buy.

Samsung’s unique gadget looks like a traditional 12.9 x 12.9-inch picture frame — it even offers room in the front so you can add a physical photograph or art print (though you’ll only be able to use an 8 x 8-inch picture if you use the provided matte). You can hang the speaker on your wall or rest it on the included stand and even customize it with an optional white bezel ($59.99).

But what’s really neat is that the Music Frame also functions as a wired Bluetooth / Wi-Fi speaker, which is one of the reasons the gadget was one of our favorite audio products from CES 2024. It’s not going to sound as immersive as a high-end soundbar or a speaker with up-firing drivers like the Sonos Era 300, but it supports Dolby Atmos and can pair with select Samsung TVs or soundbars for surround sound. The art-inspired speaker is also compatible with Amazon Alexa and Samsung Bixby, allowing you to control it with just your voice.

A few more deals and discounts

You can currently pick up the wired Keychron C3 Pro at Amazon with either linear red or tactile brown switches for $24.99 ($25 off), which is a new low. The sturdy, tenkeyless mechanical keyboard features a basic design (sorry, not hot-swappable switches), but it does offer a few impressive features for the price, including red backlighting and the ability to toggle between Windows and macOS. Plus, you can also easily remap the keys using the ultra-sleek VIA app, thanks to the keyboard’s support for QMK firmware.
Solo Stove is discounting various fire pits as a part of its Labor Day sale through September 3rd. Right now, for instance, you can buy the Ranger Essential Bundle 2.0 for $254.99 ($70 off) when you apply promo code LABORDAY at checkout, which is one of the better prices we’ve seen. The smokeless, 15-inch fire pit comes with a handful of useful accessories, too, including a removable ashtray and a stand to protect the surface it’s sitting on. Solo Stove is also throwing in a carrying case, making it even more portable.

Star Wars Outlaws launches tomorrow, August 30th, but Best Buy is still offering a $10 gift card when you preorder the PS5 / Xbox game for $69.99 ahead of launch. Amazon and GameStop, meanwhile, are throwing in free in-game cosmetics with each preorder, which are typically reserved for the Ultimate Edition. My colleague Andrew Webster called the game an “incredible Star Wars simulator” in his review. It doesn’t offer the most innovative gameplay, but it’s an enjoyable title with impressive visuals and storylines that make you feel like you’re in a Star Wars movie.

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Image: Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures has announced that Jurassic World Rebirth will come to theaters in 2025. The studio didn’t release any trailers to accompany the news, leaving us with production stills starring Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali.

Jurassic World Rebirth. In theaters July 2025. pic.twitter.com/CLUdLQPPfO— Jurassic World (@JurassicWorld) August 29, 2024

According to Variety, Jurassic World Rebirth takes place five years after the events of the previous film, Jurassic World Dominion, and climate change has forced the dinosaurs to relocate to more hospitable locations. Johansson’s character is tasked with leading a group of scientists on an expedition to recover biological samples from three of the biggest dinosaurs so it can be used to develop miracle drugs for humanity. Johansson’s party encounters a family marooned by dinosaurs while on vacation (stop me if you’ve heard that one before), and dinosaur-flavored shenanigans ensue.
Universal has brought in a pair of experts to lead the project. Gareth Edwards, who directed 2014’s Godzilla and has as a bit of experience working on dinosaur-like movies, has signed on to direct. Meanwhile, David Koepp, who wrote the script for the original 1993 film, has returned to write this film as well.
Michael Crichton penned his duology of cautionary tales about the dangers of genetically engineering extinct things with big, sharp teeth over 30 years ago. Since then, the Jurassic Park series has spawned an entertainment empire worth billions, making it one of the most successful movie franchises of all time.

Image: Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures has announced that Jurassic World Rebirth will come to theaters in 2025. The studio didn’t release any trailers to accompany the news, leaving us with production stills starring Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali.

According to Variety, Jurassic World Rebirth takes place five years after the events of the previous film, Jurassic World Dominion, and climate change has forced the dinosaurs to relocate to more hospitable locations. Johansson’s character is tasked with leading a group of scientists on an expedition to recover biological samples from three of the biggest dinosaurs so it can be used to develop miracle drugs for humanity. Johansson’s party encounters a family marooned by dinosaurs while on vacation (stop me if you’ve heard that one before), and dinosaur-flavored shenanigans ensue.

Universal has brought in a pair of experts to lead the project. Gareth Edwards, who directed 2014’s Godzilla and has as a bit of experience working on dinosaur-like movies, has signed on to direct. Meanwhile, David Koepp, who wrote the script for the original 1993 film, has returned to write this film as well.

Michael Crichton penned his duology of cautionary tales about the dangers of genetically engineering extinct things with big, sharp teeth over 30 years ago. Since then, the Jurassic Park series has spawned an entertainment empire worth billions, making it one of the most successful movie franchises of all time.

Read More