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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube is testing a new feature that will let creators use AI to “restyle” licensed songs for their shorts. The small group of creators with access can enter a prompt to change up different elements in a song, such as its mood or genre, and the expansion of YouTube’s Dream Track AI feature will generate a reworked 30-second soundtrack.
YouTube:

If you’re a creator in the experiment group, you can select an eligible song > describe how you want to restyle it > then generate a unique 30-second soundtrack to use in your Short.
These restyled soundtracks will have clear attribution to the original song through the Short itself and the Shorts audio pivot page, and will also clearly indicate that the track was restyled with AI

YouTube has said the Dream Track experiment allows creators to make songs using the AI-generated voices of artists who agreed to participate, including Charlie Puth, Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, and John Legend. We still don’t know which songs are available to restyle in this test or which music labels YouTube is partnering with. However, a June report from the Financial Times suggested YouTube approached major music labels with an offer to use their songs to train AI models.
The Verge reached out to YouTube with a request for more information but didn’t immediately hear back.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube is testing a new feature that will let creators use AI to “restyle” licensed songs for their shorts. The small group of creators with access can enter a prompt to change up different elements in a song, such as its mood or genre, and the expansion of YouTube’s Dream Track AI feature will generate a reworked 30-second soundtrack.

YouTube:

If you’re a creator in the experiment group, you can select an eligible song > describe how you want to restyle it > then generate a unique 30-second soundtrack to use in your Short.

These restyled soundtracks will have clear attribution to the original song through the Short itself and the Shorts audio pivot page, and will also clearly indicate that the track was restyled with AI

YouTube has said the Dream Track experiment allows creators to make songs using the AI-generated voices of artists who agreed to participate, including Charlie Puth, Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, and John Legend. We still don’t know which songs are available to restyle in this test or which music labels YouTube is partnering with. However, a June report from the Financial Times suggested YouTube approached major music labels with an offer to use their songs to train AI models.

The Verge reached out to YouTube with a request for more information but didn’t immediately hear back.

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Eufy’s new hardwired floodlight camera can record all day long. | Image: Eufy

Eufy’s new Floodlight Camera E30 attaches a 2K camera that can tilt and pan 360 degrees to a pair of 2,000-lumen LED floodlights and throws in local video capture without subscription fees. Although Eufy, the smart home brand of Anker, sells similar products with batteries and solar panels offering more flexibility on where they can be mounted, most homes already have a floodlight. That makes the hardwired E30 an easy replacement that is available now through the company’s website and Amazon for $149.99,
There are alternatives we currently recommend in our floodlight camera buyer’s guide, but for $150, the Eufy E30 offers several premium features without requiring ongoing fees to actually use them.
Being hardwired also means the E30, which has an IP65 dust and water resistance rating, can record all day and night no matter the weather. It accepts microSD cards up to 128GB in size, which Eufy says is large enough to store up to 144 hours, or six days, of video at the highest resolution. The E30 can also be wirelessly connected to Eufy’s $149.99 HomeBase S380, which can expand that storage to up to 16TB if you splurge on a larger hard drive.

Image: Eufy
The E30’s rotating camera can monitor an entire yard barring physical obstructions.

In addition to rotating a full 360 degrees, the E30’s camera has a vertical tilt range of 70 degrees. Using “AI-powered detection,” the camera can recognize vehicles and humans and automatically track their movements. Eufy says the E30 can also “track moving objects outside the camera’s current field of view” using motion sensors and then automatically pan the camera over to ensure they’re recorded.
Through the Eufy app, you can define detection zones that automatically trigger the floodlight and a 105db alarm. During the day, you can also take a quieter approach and use the E30’s two-way communication capabilities to converse with unexpected visitors through the mobile app.
After serious security and privacy incidents in 2022, Eufy enlisted cybersecurity expert Ralph Echemendia to “audit and enhance its proactive security governance, operations, and reactive security response.” The company also published an updated privacy commitment statement on its website, outlining its responsible data practices.

Eufy’s new hardwired floodlight camera can record all day long. | Image: Eufy

Eufy’s new Floodlight Camera E30 attaches a 2K camera that can tilt and pan 360 degrees to a pair of 2,000-lumen LED floodlights and throws in local video capture without subscription fees. Although Eufy, the smart home brand of Anker, sells similar products with batteries and solar panels offering more flexibility on where they can be mounted, most homes already have a floodlight. That makes the hardwired E30 an easy replacement that is available now through the company’s website and Amazon for $149.99,

There are alternatives we currently recommend in our floodlight camera buyer’s guide, but for $150, the Eufy E30 offers several premium features without requiring ongoing fees to actually use them.

Being hardwired also means the E30, which has an IP65 dust and water resistance rating, can record all day and night no matter the weather. It accepts microSD cards up to 128GB in size, which Eufy says is large enough to store up to 144 hours, or six days, of video at the highest resolution. The E30 can also be wirelessly connected to Eufy’s $149.99 HomeBase S380, which can expand that storage to up to 16TB if you splurge on a larger hard drive.

Image: Eufy
The E30’s rotating camera can monitor an entire yard barring physical obstructions.

In addition to rotating a full 360 degrees, the E30’s camera has a vertical tilt range of 70 degrees. Using “AI-powered detection,” the camera can recognize vehicles and humans and automatically track their movements. Eufy says the E30 can also “track moving objects outside the camera’s current field of view” using motion sensors and then automatically pan the camera over to ensure they’re recorded.

Through the Eufy app, you can define detection zones that automatically trigger the floodlight and a 105db alarm. During the day, you can also take a quieter approach and use the E30’s two-way communication capabilities to converse with unexpected visitors through the mobile app.

After serious security and privacy incidents in 2022, Eufy enlisted cybersecurity expert Ralph Echemendia to “audit and enhance its proactive security governance, operations, and reactive security response.” The company also published an updated privacy commitment statement on its website, outlining its responsible data practices.

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Image: Rivian

Volkswagen and Rivian have crossed all their T’s and dotted all their I’s in their new $5.8 billion joint venture, which officially kicks off its work on November 13th, the companies announced today.
Last June, VW said it would invest $5 billion in Rivian as part of a new joint venture that’s focused on developing a new electrical architecture and vehicle software for future models, including subcompact cars, with the first planned for 2027. The investment size has now increased to $5.8 billion.
“Rivian and VW Group Technology, LLC”
The new joint venture, dryly named “Rivian and VW Group Technology, LLC,” will be led by Rivian software chief Wassym Bensaid and VW Group chief technology engineer Carsten Helbing. Teams will be based in Palo Alto, California, initially, and three other sites are in development in North America and Europe. Developers and engineers from both companies will fill out the ranks of the new venture.

Image: Rivian
(Left to right) Oliver Blume, Carsten Helbing, Wassym Bensaid, and RJ Scaringe.

At the time, the new venture was seen as a big win for Rivian, which has lost over $1 billion each quarter for the past year and is still struggling to find its financial footing. The company recently said it expected to lose up to $2.88 billion in adjusted earnings for the year, up from the previous guidance of $2.7 billion in losses. And it has gone through several rounds of layoffs over the past two years.
Meanwhile, VW has been going through its own struggles around EVs. The company’s plug-in models are selling well, but its market share in North America is shrinking. Its financial struggles began to peak this year, forcing it to close at least three of its German factories and downsize its remaining plants. And its software has been plagued by bugs and customer complaints.
Developing…

Image: Rivian

Volkswagen and Rivian have crossed all their T’s and dotted all their I’s in their new $5.8 billion joint venture, which officially kicks off its work on November 13th, the companies announced today.

Last June, VW said it would invest $5 billion in Rivian as part of a new joint venture that’s focused on developing a new electrical architecture and vehicle software for future models, including subcompact cars, with the first planned for 2027. The investment size has now increased to $5.8 billion.

The new joint venture, dryly named “Rivian and VW Group Technology, LLC,” will be led by Rivian software chief Wassym Bensaid and VW Group chief technology engineer Carsten Helbing. Teams will be based in Palo Alto, California, initially, and three other sites are in development in North America and Europe. Developers and engineers from both companies will fill out the ranks of the new venture.

Image: Rivian
(Left to right) Oliver Blume, Carsten Helbing, Wassym Bensaid, and RJ Scaringe.

At the time, the new venture was seen as a big win for Rivian, which has lost over $1 billion each quarter for the past year and is still struggling to find its financial footing. The company recently said it expected to lose up to $2.88 billion in adjusted earnings for the year, up from the previous guidance of $2.7 billion in losses. And it has gone through several rounds of layoffs over the past two years.

Meanwhile, VW has been going through its own struggles around EVs. The company’s plug-in models are selling well, but its market share in North America is shrinking. Its financial struggles began to peak this year, forcing it to close at least three of its German factories and downsize its remaining plants. And its software has been plagued by bugs and customer complaints.

Developing…

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Image: BioWare

EA has shared a lengthy blog detailing all the technical work that went into rendering hair in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
While it used to be, and in some cases still is, a struggle to find a game with a character creator that included a diverse range of hairstyles, newer games are getting better at providing styles to represent folks on the kinky / curly hair spectrum where a lot of people of color reside. However, the new struggle is getting those hairstyles to look and act natural. I remember looking at all the hairstyles in Horizon Forbidden West and being bemused that the dreadlocks on Varl looked like they were made out of foam, while his beard was simply straight hair without an ounce of kink a Black man like him typically has. So it was refreshing to see that BioWare put so much effort into not only including diverse hairstyles but also ensuring that hair behaved authentically.
EA’s blog talked about how its Strand Hair technology, “combines physics with real-time rendering to simulate believable modeling of human hair.” According to the blog, Strand Hair technology was already in use for EA’s sports titles where rendering human hair correctly is important in order to accurately portray the real people represented in those games. But because Veilguard features characters running through waterfalls or surrounded by magic particles — activities you won’t see in Madden ‘25 — the Strand Hair tech needed further refinement.
“A major difference between Dragon Age: The Veilguard and existing Frostbite [EA’s in-house game engine] titles that have shipped with Strand Hair is the sheer variety and quantity of visual effects and transparent objects,” EA’s blog reads. “From magical spells to smoke, fire, and fog, the technology needed to blend seamlessly into the environment and magic of Thedas.” You can see Strand Hair in action in a video here.

The result is beautiful, luxurious-looking hair the likes of which I haven’t seen in any game I’ve played. I’m notoriously picky about hair in video games and I was suitably impressed by Veilguard’s offerings. I initially choose a cornrows / ponytail style for my Rook and was impressed that the choice came with styled baby hairs — a common component of Black and Latinx hairstyles that get frequently overlooked by all but the most dedicated of hairstyle modders. These developers really did their homework. But while the technology and variety was a refreshing change of pace, I do think the tech works a little too well.
Black hair moves, but not as much as it does in Veilguard. About midway through my playthrough, I decided to change up my hairstyle (which you can do at any time, so don’t worry if you have character regrets after starting the game). I went from cornrows to a short, slightly curly style kinda like Zoë Kravitz’s hair in The Batman.
In real life, short, close-cropped hair like that usually stays in place, but this style moved with literally every slight motion my character made. It was too goofy, like jiggle physics but with hair. I deeply respect and appreciate the amount of technical work that went rendering something as simple but deeply culturally significant as hair. It’s one of those little things that makes Veilguard a big improvement over previous Dragon Age games.

Image: BioWare

EA has shared a lengthy blog detailing all the technical work that went into rendering hair in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

While it used to be, and in some cases still is, a struggle to find a game with a character creator that included a diverse range of hairstyles, newer games are getting better at providing styles to represent folks on the kinky / curly hair spectrum where a lot of people of color reside. However, the new struggle is getting those hairstyles to look and act natural. I remember looking at all the hairstyles in Horizon Forbidden West and being bemused that the dreadlocks on Varl looked like they were made out of foam, while his beard was simply straight hair without an ounce of kink a Black man like him typically has. So it was refreshing to see that BioWare put so much effort into not only including diverse hairstyles but also ensuring that hair behaved authentically.

EA’s blog talked about how its Strand Hair technology, “combines physics with real-time rendering to simulate believable modeling of human hair.” According to the blog, Strand Hair technology was already in use for EA’s sports titles where rendering human hair correctly is important in order to accurately portray the real people represented in those games. But because Veilguard features characters running through waterfalls or surrounded by magic particles — activities you won’t see in Madden ‘25 — the Strand Hair tech needed further refinement.

“A major difference between Dragon Age: The Veilguard and existing Frostbite [EA’s in-house game engine] titles that have shipped with Strand Hair is the sheer variety and quantity of visual effects and transparent objects,” EA’s blog reads. “From magical spells to smoke, fire, and fog, the technology needed to blend seamlessly into the environment and magic of Thedas.” You can see Strand Hair in action in a video here.

The result is beautiful, luxurious-looking hair the likes of which I haven’t seen in any game I’ve played. I’m notoriously picky about hair in video games and I was suitably impressed by Veilguard’s offerings. I initially choose a cornrows / ponytail style for my Rook and was impressed that the choice came with styled baby hairs — a common component of Black and Latinx hairstyles that get frequently overlooked by all but the most dedicated of hairstyle modders. These developers really did their homework. But while the technology and variety was a refreshing change of pace, I do think the tech works a little too well.

Black hair moves, but not as much as it does in Veilguard. About midway through my playthrough, I decided to change up my hairstyle (which you can do at any time, so don’t worry if you have character regrets after starting the game). I went from cornrows to a short, slightly curly style kinda like Zoë Kravitz’s hair in The Batman.

In real life, short, close-cropped hair like that usually stays in place, but this style moved with literally every slight motion my character made. It was too goofy, like jiggle physics but with hair. I deeply respect and appreciate the amount of technical work that went rendering something as simple but deeply culturally significant as hair. It’s one of those little things that makes Veilguard a big improvement over previous Dragon Age games.

Read More 

Get your red cup delivered straight to your door. | Photo: Starbucks

A new way to spend $10 on a 12-ounce coffee just dropped. Starting today, Starbucks is accepting delivery orders right inside its app. Delivery is handled by DoorDash, and right now, it’s limited to “participating stores” in the US and Canada. But if you’re in the delivery area and willing to pay a small fortune in fees, getting your Starbucks order into your hands has never been easier.
Starbucks has been offering delivery through DoorDash in the US since early last year, but only within Doordash’s app. Previously, order ahead options in the Starbucks app were limited to in-store and drive-through pickup. Now, you can toggle between pickup and delivery. Placing a delivery order brings up an interface identical to the one on DoorDash’s app.

There’s a new delivery option in the Starbucks app.

You can still order Starbucks through the DoorDash app, too.

Whichever app you use, you can also expect to pay DoorDash’s service fees. There’s a $1.99 delivery fee, and if your order subtotal is under $10, you might see a $2.00 small order fee. There’s also a 15 percent service charge that goes to DoorDash, and where I live in Seattle, an additional $4.99 fee because the company decided to pass on the cost of paying drivers a living wage to customers. Add a $1 tip for the driver (and nothing for the barista making the drink, apparently), and my $6.55 12-ounce peppermint mocha now costs $19.23. Convenience doesn’t come cheap, unsurprisingly.
Depending on where you live, you probably won’t see such steep fees, and the delivery option is likely more practical if you’re ordering coffee for the whole office and not one person. Personally, I’m deleting that $20 mocha order from my cart. We have coffee at home.

Get your red cup delivered straight to your door. | Photo: Starbucks

A new way to spend $10 on a 12-ounce coffee just dropped. Starting today, Starbucks is accepting delivery orders right inside its app. Delivery is handled by DoorDash, and right now, it’s limited to “participating stores” in the US and Canada. But if you’re in the delivery area and willing to pay a small fortune in fees, getting your Starbucks order into your hands has never been easier.

Starbucks has been offering delivery through DoorDash in the US since early last year, but only within Doordash’s app. Previously, order ahead options in the Starbucks app were limited to in-store and drive-through pickup. Now, you can toggle between pickup and delivery. Placing a delivery order brings up an interface identical to the one on DoorDash’s app.

Whichever app you use, you can also expect to pay DoorDash’s service fees. There’s a $1.99 delivery fee, and if your order subtotal is under $10, you might see a $2.00 small order fee. There’s also a 15 percent service charge that goes to DoorDash, and where I live in Seattle, an additional $4.99 fee because the company decided to pass on the cost of paying drivers a living wage to customers. Add a $1 tip for the driver (and nothing for the barista making the drink, apparently), and my $6.55 12-ounce peppermint mocha now costs $19.23. Convenience doesn’t come cheap, unsurprisingly.

Depending on where you live, you probably won’t see such steep fees, and the delivery option is likely more practical if you’re ordering coffee for the whole office and not one person. Personally, I’m deleting that $20 mocha order from my cart. We have coffee at home.

Read More 

Image: Nintendo

Nintendo games rarely see big discounts, but the holiday shopping season always proves a good opportunity to save on some contemporary classics. After initially offering special holiday bundles of its Switch consoles, Nintendo has also announced a Black Friday sale on various games and controllers set to begin November 24th and run through the 30th.
Major Nintendo titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pikmin 4, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and more will be $20 off at retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Walmart once the sale commences. Additionally, Switch accessories like Joy-Con controllers and Nintendo’s Pro Controller will also be $20 off, along with a slick Tears of the Kingdom carrying case getting a $10 discount.

This is all likely to be the tip of the iceberg, as early Black Friday deals are already beginning and retailers will run sales on further games and hardware come the day-of. But while it’s common for retailers to be aggressive with the sale during Black Friday and Cyber Monday times, we don’t always see Nintendo extending as far-reaching of discounts. Since there’s a Switch successor poised to drop in the new year, it’s quite possible Nintendo is a little more sales-heavy this season to help retailers clear as much stock as possible before it’s inevitably replaced by updated hardware and accessories.

Image: Nintendo

While Nintendo recently came forward to clarify that the next Switch will be backwards compatible with original Switch games, we don’t yet know if that will include physical cartridge versions. I’m crossing my fingers that the next Switch will maintain a cartridge slot for all my physical games, but the tides have been shifting towards digital distribution for years. It’s just a matter of time until one of the big three console-makers release a new generation based solely around digital titles, and with the Switch successor looming Nintendo could continue the status quo for a bit longer or really upend things.

Image: Nintendo

Nintendo games rarely see big discounts, but the holiday shopping season always proves a good opportunity to save on some contemporary classics. After initially offering special holiday bundles of its Switch consoles, Nintendo has also announced a Black Friday sale on various games and controllers set to begin November 24th and run through the 30th.

Major Nintendo titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pikmin 4, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and more will be $20 off at retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Walmart once the sale commences. Additionally, Switch accessories like Joy-Con controllers and Nintendo’s Pro Controller will also be $20 off, along with a slick Tears of the Kingdom carrying case getting a $10 discount.

This is all likely to be the tip of the iceberg, as early Black Friday deals are already beginning and retailers will run sales on further games and hardware come the day-of. But while it’s common for retailers to be aggressive with the sale during Black Friday and Cyber Monday times, we don’t always see Nintendo extending as far-reaching of discounts. Since there’s a Switch successor poised to drop in the new year, it’s quite possible Nintendo is a little more sales-heavy this season to help retailers clear as much stock as possible before it’s inevitably replaced by updated hardware and accessories.

Image: Nintendo

While Nintendo recently came forward to clarify that the next Switch will be backwards compatible with original Switch games, we don’t yet know if that will include physical cartridge versions. I’m crossing my fingers that the next Switch will maintain a cartridge slot for all my physical games, but the tides have been shifting towards digital distribution for years. It’s just a matter of time until one of the big three console-makers release a new generation based solely around digital titles, and with the Switch successor looming Nintendo could continue the status quo for a bit longer or really upend things.

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The Zefiro is a tiny USB-C MIDI controller that can be played like a wind instrument. | Image: Kickstarter

An Italian startup called Artinoise has created an unusual USB-C accessory for mobile devices that turns them into playable musical instruments. The Zefiro looks like a flash drive or a tiny vape, but by gently blowing into one end, it can be used to play simulated instruments with even less skill than what was needed to play those plastic recorders in grade school.
The Zefiro is being made available through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign looking to raise just over $5,300 to fund production. According to the company, “We have been developing and manufacturing musical instruments for years; now we just need to collect pre-orders for our latest creation and kick off manufacturing!”
Those backing the campaign early can preorder a Zefiro for €22 (about $24), while full retail pricing is expected to be €42 (around $45), with shipping estimated to start in February 2025. There’s also a €39 (around $42) Pro version of the Zefiro with an added accelerometer for more expressive performances.

Image: Kickstarter
The Zefiro mobile app includes a customizable interface with playable buttons.

The Zefiro isn’t Artinoise’s first product. The company already sells a digital soprano recorder with features like touch-sensitive buttons and wireless connectivity. The Zefiro is a much smaller and simplified version of Artinoise’s Re.corder instrument. It strips away features like buttons so it’s small enough to carry on a keychain, but keeps the lip and air pressure sensors necessary to play.

A performer’s “breath power” is translated to an accompanying Zefiro mobile app that can simulate the sounds of various instruments, not just wind instruments like flutes or clarinets. The mobile app is available for iOS and Android devices and allows you to customize the position and responsiveness of on-screen buttons used to play notes. It also features optional background tracks to play along with, as well as recording and sharing capabilities for when you want to show off a particularly great performance.
The Zefiro also functions as a standard MIDI wind controller and is being offered for less than products like the $899 Hornberg MIDI Breath Station or Tecontrol’s USB solution that sells for over $150. You can connect it to desktops and laptops, and it should work with any music software compatible with the MIDI standard.
The company even sells an add-on “headset holder” for the Zefiro that looks similar to the contraptions used to hold harmonicas. When connected to a device with a USB-C extension cable, it allows hands-free Zefiro use so a performer can play another instrument, like a guitar or piano, at the same time.

The Zefiro is a tiny USB-C MIDI controller that can be played like a wind instrument. | Image: Kickstarter

An Italian startup called Artinoise has created an unusual USB-C accessory for mobile devices that turns them into playable musical instruments. The Zefiro looks like a flash drive or a tiny vape, but by gently blowing into one end, it can be used to play simulated instruments with even less skill than what was needed to play those plastic recorders in grade school.

The Zefiro is being made available through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign looking to raise just over $5,300 to fund production. According to the company, “We have been developing and manufacturing musical instruments for years; now we just need to collect pre-orders for our latest creation and kick off manufacturing!”

Those backing the campaign early can preorder a Zefiro for €22 (about $24), while full retail pricing is expected to be €42 (around $45), with shipping estimated to start in February 2025. There’s also a €39 (around $42) Pro version of the Zefiro with an added accelerometer for more expressive performances.

Image: Kickstarter
The Zefiro mobile app includes a customizable interface with playable buttons.

The Zefiro isn’t Artinoise’s first product. The company already sells a digital soprano recorder with features like touch-sensitive buttons and wireless connectivity. The Zefiro is a much smaller and simplified version of Artinoise’s Re.corder instrument. It strips away features like buttons so it’s small enough to carry on a keychain, but keeps the lip and air pressure sensors necessary to play.

A performer’s “breath power” is translated to an accompanying Zefiro mobile app that can simulate the sounds of various instruments, not just wind instruments like flutes or clarinets. The mobile app is available for iOS and Android devices and allows you to customize the position and responsiveness of on-screen buttons used to play notes. It also features optional background tracks to play along with, as well as recording and sharing capabilities for when you want to show off a particularly great performance.

The Zefiro also functions as a standard MIDI wind controller and is being offered for less than products like the $899 Hornberg MIDI Breath Station or Tecontrol’s USB solution that sells for over $150. You can connect it to desktops and laptops, and it should work with any music software compatible with the MIDI standard.

The company even sells an add-on “headset holder” for the Zefiro that looks similar to the contraptions used to hold harmonicas. When connected to a device with a USB-C extension cable, it allows hands-free Zefiro use so a performer can play another instrument, like a guitar or piano, at the same time.

Read More 

The “Pro” versions are no longer available for purchase. | Image: VMware

VMware made its Fusion and Workstation software that creates and manages virtual machines free for personal use earlier this year. Now, the company announced that as of Monday, it’s free for everyone, including commercial customers. Also, the Fusion (for Macs) and Workstation (for Windows and Linux) Pro versions are no longer available for purchase.
Broadcom’s $61 billion acquisition of VMware in 2022 was one of the biggest tech acquisitions ever. Since then, it has bundled the company’s products to “simplify its portfolio” and dropped many existing SKUs. It has already announced an end to offering VMware perpetual licensing for standalone offerings to push enterprises towards its Cloud Foundation or vSphere Foundation subscription products.
However, in this Business Insider report mentioned by Tom’s Hardware, some business customers claimed they’ve seen prices spike following the acquisition as the company focuses on subscriptions and its most lucrative customers to increase annual revenue. One unnamed corporate customer quoted by BI said their prices increased by 175 percent and compared the situation to being “held for ransom” because of the difficulty in possibly switching to something else.
Commercial contracts will remain in effect for businesses, and they will receive the same level of support through the end of their contracts. However, VMware is discontinuing its support ticketing for troubleshooting after that and says instead to use the community, documentation, and support articles available online.

The “Pro” versions are no longer available for purchase. | Image: VMware

VMware made its Fusion and Workstation software that creates and manages virtual machines free for personal use earlier this year. Now, the company announced that as of Monday, it’s free for everyone, including commercial customers. Also, the Fusion (for Macs) and Workstation (for Windows and Linux) Pro versions are no longer available for purchase.

Broadcom’s $61 billion acquisition of VMware in 2022 was one of the biggest tech acquisitions ever. Since then, it has bundled the company’s products to “simplify its portfolio” and dropped many existing SKUs. It has already announced an end to offering VMware perpetual licensing for standalone offerings to push enterprises towards its Cloud Foundation or vSphere Foundation subscription products.

However, in this Business Insider report mentioned by Tom’s Hardware, some business customers claimed they’ve seen prices spike following the acquisition as the company focuses on subscriptions and its most lucrative customers to increase annual revenue. One unnamed corporate customer quoted by BI said their prices increased by 175 percent and compared the situation to being “held for ransom” because of the difficulty in possibly switching to something else.

Commercial contracts will remain in effect for businesses, and they will receive the same level of support through the end of their contracts. However, VMware is discontinuing its support ticketing for troubleshooting after that and says instead to use the community, documentation, and support articles available online.

Read More 

Image: Sony

Sony is cutting the price of the “slim” PS5 digital edition by $70, making it more affordable for the holiday season. Typically, that PS5 model costs $449.99, but it will start at $379.99 through December 24th, according to a new ad.
This holiday deal brings the slim PS5 digital edition just under the original $399.99 price of the launch version of the PS5 digital console. The footnote at the end of the ad specifies that this price is only for the disc-free console, so it seems like the model with a disc drive already attached will still start at $499.99. But the holiday pricing also means that by buying a digital PS5 slim and one of Sony’s separate $79.99 PS5 disc drives, you can make your own PS5 with a disc drive and save about $40.
Another way to save money would be to opt for one of Sony’s refurbished PS5s: a digital refurb costs $349.99 while a model with a disc drive costs $399.99. But those refurbished consoles also come in the original design for the PS5 that’s larger (and arguably) uglier than the slimmer model.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sony offers the $699.99 PS5 Pro. But that doesn’t come with a disc drive, and whether it’s worth the higher cost might depend on how far away you sit from the screen.

Image: Sony

Sony is cutting the price of the “slim” PS5 digital edition by $70, making it more affordable for the holiday season. Typically, that PS5 model costs $449.99, but it will start at $379.99 through December 24th, according to a new ad.

This holiday deal brings the slim PS5 digital edition just under the original $399.99 price of the launch version of the PS5 digital console. The footnote at the end of the ad specifies that this price is only for the disc-free console, so it seems like the model with a disc drive already attached will still start at $499.99. But the holiday pricing also means that by buying a digital PS5 slim and one of Sony’s separate $79.99 PS5 disc drives, you can make your own PS5 with a disc drive and save about $40.

Another way to save money would be to opt for one of Sony’s refurbished PS5s: a digital refurb costs $349.99 while a model with a disc drive costs $399.99. But those refurbished consoles also come in the original design for the PS5 that’s larger (and arguably) uglier than the slimmer model.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sony offers the $699.99 PS5 Pro. But that doesn’t come with a disc drive, and whether it’s worth the higher cost might depend on how far away you sit from the screen.

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The interior of the Hyundai Ioniq 6. | Photo by Patrick George for The Verge

Hyundai, a company that has been just as guilty in the past of spreading the touchscreen scourge in cars as any other, has been course-correcting lately, putting more buttons and knobs into its cars. The reason isn’t surprising: people hate touchscreens, at least for certain essential controls like HVAC systems, and they told Hyundai so.
“As we were adding integrated [infotainment] screens in our vehicles, we also tried putting touchscreen-based controls, and people didn’t prefer that,” Hyundai Design North America VP Ha Hak-soo told Korea JoongAng Daily in an interview that InsideEVs spotted. He said Hyundai, which was as infatuated with touchscreens as the rest of the industry at first, found that in focus group testing people got “stressed, annoyed and steamed when they want to control something in a pinch but are unable to do so.”

You can see the result of those lessons in cars like the Hyundai Ioniq 6 — an EV that, yes, has big ol’ touchscreens. But it also features physical buttons and knobs for a lot of common controls (though it does still use touch-sensitive buttons for climate controls). Still, although Hyundai is prioritizing buttons now, HDNA head of interior design Kevin Kang told the outlet that self-driving cars could move the needle back towards non-button controls.
Not everyone is keen on restoring buttons to their rightful place. Last month, Rivian’s Wassym Bensaid suggested that the future is actually voice control. Maybe that will help with the safety issues presented by touchscreens, which will earn some touchscreen-heavy cars lower safety ratings in Europe starting in 2026. But will it be less frustrating to yell at an LLM over the noise of screaming kids, construction, cruddy roads, or rain? Color me skeptical. Just give us the buttons, y’all.

The interior of the Hyundai Ioniq 6. | Photo by Patrick George for The Verge

Hyundai, a company that has been just as guilty in the past of spreading the touchscreen scourge in cars as any other, has been course-correcting lately, putting more buttons and knobs into its cars. The reason isn’t surprising: people hate touchscreens, at least for certain essential controls like HVAC systems, and they told Hyundai so.

“As we were adding integrated [infotainment] screens in our vehicles, we also tried putting touchscreen-based controls, and people didn’t prefer that,” Hyundai Design North America VP Ha Hak-soo told Korea JoongAng Daily in an interview that InsideEVs spotted. He said Hyundai, which was as infatuated with touchscreens as the rest of the industry at first, found that in focus group testing people got “stressed, annoyed and steamed when they want to control something in a pinch but are unable to do so.”

You can see the result of those lessons in cars like the Hyundai Ioniq 6 — an EV that, yes, has big ol’ touchscreens. But it also features physical buttons and knobs for a lot of common controls (though it does still use touch-sensitive buttons for climate controls). Still, although Hyundai is prioritizing buttons now, HDNA head of interior design Kevin Kang told the outlet that self-driving cars could move the needle back towards non-button controls.

Not everyone is keen on restoring buttons to their rightful place. Last month, Rivian’s Wassym Bensaid suggested that the future is actually voice control. Maybe that will help with the safety issues presented by touchscreens, which will earn some touchscreen-heavy cars lower safety ratings in Europe starting in 2026. But will it be less frustrating to yell at an LLM over the noise of screaming kids, construction, cruddy roads, or rain? Color me skeptical. Just give us the buttons, y’all.

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