verge-rss

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

National Public Data (NPD) confirmed last week that it suffered a security breach dating back to December last year. An alleged stolen NPD database containing 2.9 billion lines of data, including Social Security numbers, was advertised on the dark web in April by a hacker group known as USDoD for $3.5 million, and the stolen data has since been posted publicly in various locations.
Now, Krebs On Security reports a roughly identical website to NPD called recordscheck.net was found to be hosting an archive containing site logins as well as source code for some of the site’s tools in plaintext. That would’ve been enough information to access the same consumer records as NPD. The now-removed file contained email data belonging to NPD founder Salvatore Verini, an actor and retired sheriff’s deputy from Florida.

In an email exchange with Krebs On Security, Verini wrote that the file contained an old website version with “non-working code,” and the site will cease operations “in the next week or so.” Verini did not comment further, citing an “active investigation.” Krebs On Security also found that Verini wrote a positive testimonial for Creation Next, a web developer company mentioned in the archived source code.
Since the leak on the hacker forum last month, several websites like npdbreach.com, from Atlas Data Privacy Corp, and npd.pentester.com have popped up, saying they offer searches to find out if your information is included in the leak. Using these services, of course, means you need to put your name, birth year, and perhaps your SSN into someone’s form. As Krebs notes, given the many leaks that have already revealed similar information, the best course of action available may be to put a freeze on your credit report with the major bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) and take advantage of the free weekly credit reports you are entitled to.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

National Public Data (NPD) confirmed last week that it suffered a security breach dating back to December last year. An alleged stolen NPD database containing 2.9 billion lines of data, including Social Security numbers, was advertised on the dark web in April by a hacker group known as USDoD for $3.5 million, and the stolen data has since been posted publicly in various locations.

Now, Krebs On Security reports a roughly identical website to NPD called recordscheck.net was found to be hosting an archive containing site logins as well as source code for some of the site’s tools in plaintext. That would’ve been enough information to access the same consumer records as NPD. The now-removed file contained email data belonging to NPD founder Salvatore Verini, an actor and retired sheriff’s deputy from Florida.

In an email exchange with Krebs On Security, Verini wrote that the file contained an old website version with “non-working code,” and the site will cease operations “in the next week or so.” Verini did not comment further, citing an “active investigation.” Krebs On Security also found that Verini wrote a positive testimonial for Creation Next, a web developer company mentioned in the archived source code.

Since the leak on the hacker forum last month, several websites like npdbreach.com, from Atlas Data Privacy Corp, and npd.pentester.com have popped up, saying they offer searches to find out if your information is included in the leak. Using these services, of course, means you need to put your name, birth year, and perhaps your SSN into someone’s form. As Krebs notes, given the many leaks that have already revealed similar information, the best course of action available may be to put a freeze on your credit report with the major bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) and take advantage of the free weekly credit reports you are entitled to.

Read More 

Starting on August 21st, 2024, new Anova customers will have to pay a yearly or monthly fee to use the companion app. | Image: Anova

Starting on August 21st, 2024, Anova will be introducing a subscription fee for new users of its sous vide cookers who want to take advantage of additional features available through its mobile companion app, including controlling the appliance remotely.
Similar to the Snoo, a smart bassinet that recently locked previously free features behind a monthly subscription, Anova’s fees — $1.99 per month or $9.99 per year — will only apply to new users who create an account in the app starting on August 21st.
As explained in a blog post shared on the company’s website last week, existing users and those who purchase an Anova cooker before August 21st can still use all of the app’s features for free, but everyone will be required to create an account to do so. Previously, account creation was optional.
All three sous vide cookers currently offered by Anova can be used on their own without the app. The additional functionality the subscription adds “will vary from product to product,” according to the company. Most focus on convenience, including the ability to start a sous vide cook and adjust the temperature remotely, cooking status updates, and access to recipes, including bookmarking and sharing them with others.
Anova CEO Stephen Svajian explained that the subscription was a result of a growing user base. “As our community has grown, so have the demands on our resources. Our community has literally cooked 100s of millions of times with our app. Unfortunately, each connected cook costs us money.” The new fees will be used to “maintain and enhance the app.”
Although many users have shared their displeasure with the decision in the blog post’s comments, Anova is letting consumers choose if they want to pay more for the company’s products, instead of just increasing the price of its hardware, as Digital Trends points out.

Starting on August 21st, 2024, new Anova customers will have to pay a yearly or monthly fee to use the companion app. | Image: Anova

Starting on August 21st, 2024, Anova will be introducing a subscription fee for new users of its sous vide cookers who want to take advantage of additional features available through its mobile companion app, including controlling the appliance remotely.

Similar to the Snoo, a smart bassinet that recently locked previously free features behind a monthly subscription, Anova’s fees — $1.99 per month or $9.99 per year — will only apply to new users who create an account in the app starting on August 21st.

As explained in a blog post shared on the company’s website last week, existing users and those who purchase an Anova cooker before August 21st can still use all of the app’s features for free, but everyone will be required to create an account to do so. Previously, account creation was optional.

All three sous vide cookers currently offered by Anova can be used on their own without the app. The additional functionality the subscription adds “will vary from product to product,” according to the company. Most focus on convenience, including the ability to start a sous vide cook and adjust the temperature remotely, cooking status updates, and access to recipes, including bookmarking and sharing them with others.

Anova CEO Stephen Svajian explained that the subscription was a result of a growing user base. “As our community has grown, so have the demands on our resources. Our community has literally cooked 100s of millions of times with our app. Unfortunately, each connected cook costs us money.” The new fees will be used to “maintain and enhance the app.”

Although many users have shared their displeasure with the decision in the blog post’s comments, Anova is letting consumers choose if they want to pay more for the company’s products, instead of just increasing the price of its hardware, as Digital Trends points out.

Read More 

Image: Turtle Beach

Turtle Beach’s redesigned Stealth 700 Gen 3 wireless gaming headset is redefining #donglelife by including two USB transmitters, allowing it to quick-switch across consoles and PC / Steam Deck at the push of a button once it launches September 22nd — with preorders available now for $199.99.
This isn’t the first headset to try the one-button switching thing, but the new Stealth 700 goes a very different route than Logitech’s pricier Astro A50 X, which routed all audio and video through its charging dock’s HDMI passthrough. The Stealth 700 sounds a little more rudimentary than that (though also much less finicky), but its specs are pretty robust with 60mm drivers that are 10mm larger than the last-gen model, simultaneous Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity for phone / Discord use, spatial audio, a noise-canceling microphone (that apparently uses “AI”), and a claimed 80 hours of battery life.
The dedicated PC model offers higher 24-bit / 96kHz audio and a 16-bit / 32kHz mic, as the current consoles are limited to 16-bit / 48kHz for audio and 16-bit / 16kHz for mics.

Another strange connectivity anomaly is that the Xbox version is cross-compatible with PlayStation / PC, but the PlayStation and PC models don’t work with Xbox (yet the PlayStation model works with PC, and the PC one works on PS5 / PS4). likely plays a role in that bit of confusion — fun.

Nuanced compatibility restrictions aside, the new Stealth 700 sounds like a simple yet brute-force method for a multi-platform gamer to use one headset across systems without constantly moving around a USB receiver or re-pairing Bluetooth. It’s definitely a little more flexible than the Astro A50 X’s demand that your headset be the central hub for all your systems, especially if your console and PC setups are in different rooms.

Image: Turtle Beach

Turtle Beach’s redesigned Stealth 700 Gen 3 wireless gaming headset is redefining #donglelife by including two USB transmitters, allowing it to quick-switch across consoles and PC / Steam Deck at the push of a button once it launches September 22nd — with preorders available now for $199.99.

This isn’t the first headset to try the one-button switching thing, but the new Stealth 700 goes a very different route than Logitech’s pricier Astro A50 X, which routed all audio and video through its charging dock’s HDMI passthrough. The Stealth 700 sounds a little more rudimentary than that (though also much less finicky), but its specs are pretty robust with 60mm drivers that are 10mm larger than the last-gen model, simultaneous Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity for phone / Discord use, spatial audio, a noise-canceling microphone (that apparently uses “AI”), and a claimed 80 hours of battery life.

The dedicated PC model offers higher 24-bit / 96kHz audio and a 16-bit / 32kHz mic, as the current consoles are limited to 16-bit / 48kHz for audio and 16-bit / 16kHz for mics.

Another strange connectivity anomaly is that the Xbox version is cross-compatible with PlayStation / PC, but the PlayStation and PC models don’t work with Xbox (yet the PlayStation model works with PC, and the PC one works on PS5 / PS4). likely plays a role in that bit of confusion — fun.

Nuanced compatibility restrictions aside, the new Stealth 700 sounds like a simple yet brute-force method for a multi-platform gamer to use one headset across systems without constantly moving around a USB receiver or re-pairing Bluetooth. It’s definitely a little more flexible than the Astro A50 X’s demand that your headset be the central hub for all your systems, especially if your console and PC setups are in different rooms.

Read More 

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Starting tomorrow, August 20th, Paramount Plus’ latest price hike will go into effect, meaning today is your last day to subscribe at the current rate before prices increase on several plans. Right now, new customers can still lock in a subscription to Paramount Plus Essential for $5.99 a month before the price jumps to $7.99. What’s more, new and returning subscribers can still get a month of Paramount Plus Essential for free with promo code OGGMPZR3YBW.

Paramount Plus with Showtime will also increase $1 to $12.99 a month, but if you subscribe today, you can at least save until the next billing cycle, when the new price will go into effect. The same holds true for those on the legacy Limited Commercial plan, which is increasing to $7.99 a month. That said, new and returning subscribers can still get a month of Paramount Plus with Showtime for free using coupon code OGGMPZR3YBW, which effectively means you’ll be paying $12.99 for the first two months.
If you prefer a cheaper plan, Paramount Plus Essential is a relatively good value. The ad-supported plan lacks Showtime and doesn’t allow you to download content to your mobile device, but it provides access to the same library. For about half the price of Paramount Plus with Showtime, you can enjoy shows like Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Trek: Picard as well as the entire Yellowstone catalog and sketch comedies like Chappelle’s Show. The service also offers hundreds of movies, from Top Gun: Maverick to Bob Marley: One Love.
And, as if all that weren’t enough, the service also includes 24/7 live news with CBS News, NFL on CBS, and UEFA Champions League. That’s not bad for just $5.99 a month.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Starting tomorrow, August 20th, Paramount Plus’ latest price hike will go into effect, meaning today is your last day to subscribe at the current rate before prices increase on several plans. Right now, new customers can still lock in a subscription to Paramount Plus Essential for $5.99 a month before the price jumps to $7.99. What’s more, new and returning subscribers can still get a month of Paramount Plus Essential for free with promo code OGGMPZR3YBW.

Paramount Plus with Showtime will also increase $1 to $12.99 a month, but if you subscribe today, you can at least save until the next billing cycle, when the new price will go into effect. The same holds true for those on the legacy Limited Commercial plan, which is increasing to $7.99 a month. That said, new and returning subscribers can still get a month of Paramount Plus with Showtime for free using coupon code OGGMPZR3YBW, which effectively means you’ll be paying $12.99 for the first two months.

If you prefer a cheaper plan, Paramount Plus Essential is a relatively good value. The ad-supported plan lacks Showtime and doesn’t allow you to download content to your mobile device, but it provides access to the same library. For about half the price of Paramount Plus with Showtime, you can enjoy shows like Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Trek: Picard as well as the entire Yellowstone catalog and sketch comedies like Chappelle’s Show. The service also offers hundreds of movies, from Top Gun: Maverick to Bob Marley: One Love.

And, as if all that weren’t enough, the service also includes 24/7 live news with CBS News, NFL on CBS, and UEFA Champions League. That’s not bad for just $5.99 a month.

Read More 

President Joe Biden gives a speech at the Intel Ocotillo Campus on March 20th, 2024 in Chandler, Arizona.  | Photo by Rebecca Noble / Getty Images

The Biden administration has been on a funding spree for new computer chip factories. It needs to conduct more thorough environmental reviews of new facilities, advocates contend.  Having pumped billions of dollars into building the next generation of computer chip factories in the US, the Biden administration is facing new pressure over the health and safety risks those facilities could pose. Environmental reviews for the new projects need to be more thorough, advocates say. They lack transparency around what kinds of toxic substances factory workers might handle, and plans to keep hazardous waste like forever chemicals from leaching into the environment have been vague.
A coalition of influential labor unions and environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, have since submitted comments to the Department of Commerce on draft environmental assessments, saying that the assessments fall short. The coalition’s comments flag lists of potential issues at several projects in Arizona and Idaho, including how opaque the safety measures that manufacturers will take to protect both workers and nearby residents are.
“We aren’t objecting to the existence of these plants. We know that they’re going to have to use hazardous substances.”
The groups don’t want to stop the projects from moving forward, they say. Their aim is to make sure that the industry avoids missteps it made when the US used to make a lot more semiconductors. America’s first generation of semiconductor factories, or fabs, left Silicon Valley pockmarked with toxic Superfund sites that are still being cleaned up decades later. That’s why they say it’s crucial to assess the environmental risks now and give communities a chance to weigh in on new fabs springing up across the nation.
“We aren’t objecting to the existence of these plants. We know that they’re going to have to use hazardous substances. Obviously, we’re pushing for substitutes when they can, but one of our biggest problems is the lack of transparency,” says Lenny Siegel, executive director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight (CPEO).
Federal dollars come with strings attached
Siegel is part of CHIPS Communities United, a coalition that has formed over the past year working to hold semiconductor manufacturers accountable to communities where they set up shop. The group is also spearheaded by some big-name unions including Communications Workers of America, United Auto Workers, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
The coalition has formed at a pivotal time in the US. The CHIPS and Science Act, which passed in 2022, created $52.7 billion in funding for chip manufacturing. That’s supposed to help build up a domestic supply chain for computer chips in high demand for everything from cars and gaming to AI. As of June, more than half of that money had been distributed to eight companies building factories in 10 states. Private companies have committed an additional $395 billion to new semiconductor and electronics manufacturing in the US since 2021, according to the Biden administration.
If a company accepts federal funds, it can be subject to added environmental regulation on top of any local rules it has to follow at a construction site. A bedrock environmental policy in the US is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires federal agencies to conduct environmental reviews of major projects and share its findings with the public.
If NEPA applies, the agency will initially put together a document called an environmental assessment to determine if there could be “significant” environmental effects. If it finds no significant impact, then the review process ends. But if it deems there to be significant risks, it has to prepare a more detailed environmental impact statement and open up the process for more public engagement.
“There’s no guarantee”
So far, the Department of Commerce has released draft environmental assessments for three specific project sites: Micron’s plans in Boise, Idaho, as well as Intel’s and TSMC’s facilities in Arizona. All three drafts generally describe potential environmental effects as minor or stipulate that there would be “no significant effects” — as long as there are controls in place. (The jargon they use is “best management practices,” or BMP.)
CHIPS Communities United isn’t convinced. It submitted comments to the Department of Commerce calling on it to craft a more robust environmental impact statement for each of the projects. One of the key things they’re calling out is that there isn’t enough transparency on what those best management practices are and how they’d be monitored or enforced.
“These are huge projects, and they will have an environmental impact. The draft environmental assessments make assumptions about what is going to be done to mitigate those impacts, but there’s no guarantee that those mitigations will be carried out,” Siegel says.
Computer chips have a toxic history
A longtime activist, Siegel also served as mayor of Mountain View, California, in 2018 — where chip factories contaminated soil and water sources before manufacturing started to move abroad. Santa Clara County, where Mountain View is located, has more Superfund sites than any other county in the US. Arsenic, chloroform, and lead are just a few of the many hazardous substances that leached into groundwater and are still being cleaned up at old manufacturing sites.
Today, manufacturers use an ever-evolving chemical cocktail when making computer chips. The industry has taken strides to prevent pollution and replace certain substances that have been linked to miscarriages and other health risks. But toxicologists say the chemical mix is often changing faster than it takes to suss out the potential dangers. To make things harder, companies generally don’t like to share what kinds of chemicals they’re using, protecting them as trade secrets despite pressure from advocates to notify workers of the substances they’re handling.
“We also want to see workers empowered in the facilities, not just to know what they’re working with, but to have a voice in health and safety protocols, to have the right to stop production if things are dangerous,” says Judith Barish, coalition director for CHIPS Communities United. “And we want to know that workers won’t be retaliated against if they speak out.”
Forever chemicals have become a bigger concern lately with chip manufacturing. That encompasses thousands of different kinds of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that were used for years to make all kinds of products, from fabrics to nonstick pans, more durable. The US is just starting to craft regulations for the most common kinds of PFAS now, but there are still thousands of other forever chemicals for which there are no mandated exposure limits. Scientists are still scrambling to understand how exposure affects the human body, but there’s already evidence that high exposure can increase the risk of certain kinds of cancer, liver damage, high cholesterol, and some reproductive health issues. The semiconductor industry has also created its own PFAS consortium to study the chemicals and minimize pollution.
How to get rid of forever chemicals is another area of active research since they earned their name by being particularly hard to destroy. It’s no surprise that CHIPS Communities United is worried about how new semiconductor fabs will handle hazardous waste, including PFAS. All three draft assessments conclude that hazardous materials on-site pose “no significant effects” — but only if those so-called best management practices take place.

CHIPS Communities United wants to know how exactly those practices would be implemented. When it comes to forever chemicals, the assessments for TSMC and Intel say that the companies will separate PFAS from other waste streams and send it to off-site disposal facilities. What happens once those chemicals are off-site still worries the coalition. PFAS has been known to leak from landfills and even persist in the air after being incinerated.
A more detailed environmental impact statement for each of the proposed projects can help fill in the gaps, they contend. It’ll also give nearby communities more opportunities to weigh in on what kinds of solutions they’d like to see. Beyond that, they’d also like to see manufacturers enter into legally binding community benefits agreements. They also say that the Commerce Department should stipulate specific environmental and health protections in contracts with companies.
Those kinds of agreements can go a long way in the absence of up-to-date regulations. New federal rules for PFAS focus on drinking water rather than wastewater. And most chemical exposure limits set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) haven’t been updated since the 1970s. OSHA says on its website that its exposure limits “are outdated and inadequate for ensuring protection of worker health.” Attempts to update them have repeatedly faced quick backlash from industry leaders and lawmakers with a deregulatory agenda.
Proposed rules for cutting down greenhouse gas emissions are similarly in peril after several Supreme Court rulings and the prospect of another Donald Trump presidency. The coalition is also concerned about how these new fabs will keep their climate pollution in check. How much water these facilities will use is another point of contention, especially in places like Arizona that grapple with worsening drought. The comments CHIPS Communities United sent to the Department of Commerce for plants being built by Intel, Micron, and TSMC cover a range of issues, including climate change and air quality, hazardous substances and waste, and the cumulative effects of building multiple manufacturing facilities near each other.

“In the absence of enforceable, transparent requirements to address such impacts, the applicant’s promise to address the impacts does not eliminate them,” the coalition’s responses to Micron and Intel projects say.
Intel declined to provide an on-the-record response to The Verge. It’s building two new chip factories and updating an existing fab at its Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona. TSMC, which is building three new semiconductor fabs in Phoenix, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Micron is building a new 1.2-million-square-foot fab at its headquarters in Boise. In an email to The Verge, Micron said that questions regarding the draft environmental assessment should be directed to the CHIPS Program Office (CPO) within the Department of Commerce.
“We posted the draft [environmental assessments] for public comment to provide transparency and facilitate the public’s input in this process. CPO will carefully consider all public comments received during the comment period as we work to finalize the NEPA process,” CHIPS communications director, Geoff Burgan, said in a statement.
In other words, the Department of Commerce has to take all of these concerns into consideration as it finalizes its environmental reviews. That in itself is what makes federal review under NEPA a powerful tool. Last year, there was a failed attempt to exempt new chip factories from NEPA altogether.
“We believe that the people who work in the plants and live nearby have a right to know what they’re using,” Siegel says. So do others trying to figure out where to build a new home or childcare center, he adds. “People and planners need to have this information.”

President Joe Biden gives a speech at the Intel Ocotillo Campus on March 20th, 2024 in Chandler, Arizona.  | Photo by Rebecca Noble / Getty Images

The Biden administration has been on a funding spree for new computer chip factories. It needs to conduct more thorough environmental reviews of new facilities, advocates contend. 

Having pumped billions of dollars into building the next generation of computer chip factories in the US, the Biden administration is facing new pressure over the health and safety risks those facilities could pose. Environmental reviews for the new projects need to be more thorough, advocates say. They lack transparency around what kinds of toxic substances factory workers might handle, and plans to keep hazardous waste like forever chemicals from leaching into the environment have been vague.

A coalition of influential labor unions and environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, have since submitted comments to the Department of Commerce on draft environmental assessments, saying that the assessments fall short. The coalition’s comments flag lists of potential issues at several projects in Arizona and Idaho, including how opaque the safety measures that manufacturers will take to protect both workers and nearby residents are.

The groups don’t want to stop the projects from moving forward, they say. Their aim is to make sure that the industry avoids missteps it made when the US used to make a lot more semiconductors. America’s first generation of semiconductor factories, or fabs, left Silicon Valley pockmarked with toxic Superfund sites that are still being cleaned up decades later. That’s why they say it’s crucial to assess the environmental risks now and give communities a chance to weigh in on new fabs springing up across the nation.

“We aren’t objecting to the existence of these plants. We know that they’re going to have to use hazardous substances. Obviously, we’re pushing for substitutes when they can, but one of our biggest problems is the lack of transparency,” says Lenny Siegel, executive director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight (CPEO).

Federal dollars come with strings attached

Siegel is part of CHIPS Communities United, a coalition that has formed over the past year working to hold semiconductor manufacturers accountable to communities where they set up shop. The group is also spearheaded by some big-name unions including Communications Workers of America, United Auto Workers, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The coalition has formed at a pivotal time in the US. The CHIPS and Science Act, which passed in 2022, created $52.7 billion in funding for chip manufacturing. That’s supposed to help build up a domestic supply chain for computer chips in high demand for everything from cars and gaming to AI. As of June, more than half of that money had been distributed to eight companies building factories in 10 states. Private companies have committed an additional $395 billion to new semiconductor and electronics manufacturing in the US since 2021, according to the Biden administration.

If a company accepts federal funds, it can be subject to added environmental regulation on top of any local rules it has to follow at a construction site. A bedrock environmental policy in the US is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires federal agencies to conduct environmental reviews of major projects and share its findings with the public.

If NEPA applies, the agency will initially put together a document called an environmental assessment to determine if there could be “significant” environmental effects. If it finds no significant impact, then the review process ends. But if it deems there to be significant risks, it has to prepare a more detailed environmental impact statement and open up the process for more public engagement.

So far, the Department of Commerce has released draft environmental assessments for three specific project sites: Micron’s plans in Boise, Idaho, as well as Intel’s and TSMC’s facilities in Arizona. All three drafts generally describe potential environmental effects as minor or stipulate that there would be “no significant effects” — as long as there are controls in place. (The jargon they use is “best management practices,” or BMP.)

CHIPS Communities United isn’t convinced. It submitted comments to the Department of Commerce calling on it to craft a more robust environmental impact statement for each of the projects. One of the key things they’re calling out is that there isn’t enough transparency on what those best management practices are and how they’d be monitored or enforced.

“These are huge projects, and they will have an environmental impact. The draft environmental assessments make assumptions about what is going to be done to mitigate those impacts, but there’s no guarantee that those mitigations will be carried out,” Siegel says.

Computer chips have a toxic history

A longtime activist, Siegel also served as mayor of Mountain View, California, in 2018 — where chip factories contaminated soil and water sources before manufacturing started to move abroad. Santa Clara County, where Mountain View is located, has more Superfund sites than any other county in the US. Arsenic, chloroform, and lead are just a few of the many hazardous substances that leached into groundwater and are still being cleaned up at old manufacturing sites.

Today, manufacturers use an ever-evolving chemical cocktail when making computer chips. The industry has taken strides to prevent pollution and replace certain substances that have been linked to miscarriages and other health risks. But toxicologists say the chemical mix is often changing faster than it takes to suss out the potential dangers. To make things harder, companies generally don’t like to share what kinds of chemicals they’re using, protecting them as trade secrets despite pressure from advocates to notify workers of the substances they’re handling.

“We also want to see workers empowered in the facilities, not just to know what they’re working with, but to have a voice in health and safety protocols, to have the right to stop production if things are dangerous,” says Judith Barish, coalition director for CHIPS Communities United. “And we want to know that workers won’t be retaliated against if they speak out.”

Forever chemicals have become a bigger concern lately with chip manufacturing. That encompasses thousands of different kinds of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that were used for years to make all kinds of products, from fabrics to nonstick pans, more durable. The US is just starting to craft regulations for the most common kinds of PFAS now, but there are still thousands of other forever chemicals for which there are no mandated exposure limits. Scientists are still scrambling to understand how exposure affects the human body, but there’s already evidence that high exposure can increase the risk of certain kinds of cancer, liver damage, high cholesterol, and some reproductive health issues. The semiconductor industry has also created its own PFAS consortium to study the chemicals and minimize pollution.

How to get rid of forever chemicals is another area of active research since they earned their name by being particularly hard to destroy. It’s no surprise that CHIPS Communities United is worried about how new semiconductor fabs will handle hazardous waste, including PFAS. All three draft assessments conclude that hazardous materials on-site pose “no significant effects” — but only if those so-called best management practices take place.

CHIPS Communities United wants to know how exactly those practices would be implemented. When it comes to forever chemicals, the assessments for TSMC and Intel say that the companies will separate PFAS from other waste streams and send it to off-site disposal facilities. What happens once those chemicals are off-site still worries the coalition. PFAS has been known to leak from landfills and even persist in the air after being incinerated.

A more detailed environmental impact statement for each of the proposed projects can help fill in the gaps, they contend. It’ll also give nearby communities more opportunities to weigh in on what kinds of solutions they’d like to see. Beyond that, they’d also like to see manufacturers enter into legally binding community benefits agreements. They also say that the Commerce Department should stipulate specific environmental and health protections in contracts with companies.

Those kinds of agreements can go a long way in the absence of up-to-date regulations. New federal rules for PFAS focus on drinking water rather than wastewater. And most chemical exposure limits set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) haven’t been updated since the 1970s. OSHA says on its website that its exposure limits “are outdated and inadequate for ensuring protection of worker health.” Attempts to update them have repeatedly faced quick backlash from industry leaders and lawmakers with a deregulatory agenda.

Proposed rules for cutting down greenhouse gas emissions are similarly in peril after several Supreme Court rulings and the prospect of another Donald Trump presidency. The coalition is also concerned about how these new fabs will keep their climate pollution in check. How much water these facilities will use is another point of contention, especially in places like Arizona that grapple with worsening drought. The comments CHIPS Communities United sent to the Department of Commerce for plants being built by Intel, Micron, and TSMC cover a range of issues, including climate change and air quality, hazardous substances and waste, and the cumulative effects of building multiple manufacturing facilities near each other.

“In the absence of enforceable, transparent requirements to address such impacts, the applicant’s promise to address the impacts does not eliminate them,” the coalition’s responses to Micron and Intel projects say.

Intel declined to provide an on-the-record response to The Verge. It’s building two new chip factories and updating an existing fab at its Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona. TSMC, which is building three new semiconductor fabs in Phoenix, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Micron is building a new 1.2-million-square-foot fab at its headquarters in Boise. In an email to The Verge, Micron said that questions regarding the draft environmental assessment should be directed to the CHIPS Program Office (CPO) within the Department of Commerce.

“We posted the draft [environmental assessments] for public comment to provide transparency and facilitate the public’s input in this process. CPO will carefully consider all public comments received during the comment period as we work to finalize the NEPA process,” CHIPS communications director, Geoff Burgan, said in a statement.

In other words, the Department of Commerce has to take all of these concerns into consideration as it finalizes its environmental reviews. That in itself is what makes federal review under NEPA a powerful tool. Last year, there was a failed attempt to exempt new chip factories from NEPA altogether.

“We believe that the people who work in the plants and live nearby have a right to know what they’re using,” Siegel says. So do others trying to figure out where to build a new home or childcare center, he adds. “People and planners need to have this information.”

Read More 

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple has launched a web app for its Podcasts app, and you can access it right now at podcasts.apple.com. The app works on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, MacRumors reports.
If you’ve used the Podcasts app for Mac or iOS, the web app should feel pretty familiar: there are sections like a Browse tab where you can see featured podcasts, a Home tab where you can check out episodes from the shows you follow or that Apple thinks you might be interested in, a Top Charts tab, and more.
When I first visited the site, I signed into my Apple account, and all of the shows I follow on the Podcasts app on my iPhone were there. I can’t seem to find a way to speed up playback on the web app, which is a shame for 2x sickos like me, but I appreciate that the web app is an option, at least.
The new Podcasts web app follows the launch of an Apple Maps web app last month. Apple offers web apps for Apple Music and Apple TV as well.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Apple has launched a web app for its Podcasts app, and you can access it right now at podcasts.apple.com. The app works on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, MacRumors reports.

If you’ve used the Podcasts app for Mac or iOS, the web app should feel pretty familiar: there are sections like a Browse tab where you can see featured podcasts, a Home tab where you can check out episodes from the shows you follow or that Apple thinks you might be interested in, a Top Charts tab, and more.

When I first visited the site, I signed into my Apple account, and all of the shows I follow on the Podcasts app on my iPhone were there. I can’t seem to find a way to speed up playback on the web app, which is a shame for 2x sickos like me, but I appreciate that the web app is an option, at least.

The new Podcasts web app follows the launch of an Apple Maps web app last month. Apple offers web apps for Apple Music and Apple TV as well.

Read More 

Image: The Verge / Kenishirotie (via Getty)

The real intent of Ticketmaster’s push for nontransferable tickets was to make it harder for fans to use rival platforms like StubHub and SeatGeek, the newly updated complaint in the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, alleges. The complaint, which was amended on Monday after 10 states joined the DOJ’s lawsuit, cites internal Ticketmaster documents obtained during the legal process.
In 2019, Ticketmaster rolled out SafeTix, which replaced static barcodes on electronic tickets with encrypted barcodes that refresh every 15 seconds. Ticketmaster marketed SafeTix as a way of reducing ticket fraud, but the complaint claims reducing competition was “a primary motivation” for the new ticketing system.
A document from a 2014 executive meeting calls the “non-transferrable digital ticket” a “game-changer.” At a meeting three years later, the rotating barcode was described as a “product enhancement [ ] for market share” and an opportunity to “REDUCE TM’S ECONOMIC RISK,” according to the complaint.
The amended complaint includes new information about Ticketmaster’s dominance of the events market. One internal Live Nation document cited in the complaint notes that Ticketmaster is the primary ticketer for approximately 80 percent of arenas across the country that host NBA or NHL teams. As of 2022, Live Nation-promoted events accounted for 70 percent of all amphitheater shows across the country, according to internal Live Nation events mentioned in the complaint.
The DOJ alleges that because of Ticketmaster’s conduct, consumers have “paid more and continue to pay more for fees relating to tickets to live events than they would have paid in a free and open competitive market.” The exact amount of monetary harm is still unknown, the complaint claims, and will require discovery from Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s books, as well as from its third-party competitors.

Image: The Verge / Kenishirotie (via Getty)

The real intent of Ticketmaster’s push for nontransferable tickets was to make it harder for fans to use rival platforms like StubHub and SeatGeek, the newly updated complaint in the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, alleges. The complaint, which was amended on Monday after 10 states joined the DOJ’s lawsuit, cites internal Ticketmaster documents obtained during the legal process.

In 2019, Ticketmaster rolled out SafeTix, which replaced static barcodes on electronic tickets with encrypted barcodes that refresh every 15 seconds. Ticketmaster marketed SafeTix as a way of reducing ticket fraud, but the complaint claims reducing competition was “a primary motivation” for the new ticketing system.

A document from a 2014 executive meeting calls the “non-transferrable digital ticket” a “game-changer.” At a meeting three years later, the rotating barcode was described as a “product enhancement [ ] for market share” and an opportunity to “REDUCE TM’S ECONOMIC RISK,” according to the complaint.

The amended complaint includes new information about Ticketmaster’s dominance of the events market. One internal Live Nation document cited in the complaint notes that Ticketmaster is the primary ticketer for approximately 80 percent of arenas across the country that host NBA or NHL teams. As of 2022, Live Nation-promoted events accounted for 70 percent of all amphitheater shows across the country, according to internal Live Nation events mentioned in the complaint.

The DOJ alleges that because of Ticketmaster’s conduct, consumers have “paid more and continue to pay more for fees relating to tickets to live events than they would have paid in a free and open competitive market.” The exact amount of monetary harm is still unknown, the complaint claims, and will require discovery from Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s books, as well as from its third-party competitors.

Read More 

Waymo’s sixth-gen robotaxi is already being tested on public roads. | Image: Waymo

Waymo published a blog post today previewing its new sixth-generation robotaxi, which is an electric minivan manufactured by the Chinese automaker Zeekr.
In the post, Waymo VP of engineering Satish Jeyachandran touts the new robotaxi as more high tech than past iterations, while also featuring fewer sensors to help reduce costs for the Alphabet-owned company. And within its high-powered computer, it contains all the learnings of the previous five generations of Waymo’s autonomous vehicles, meaning it won’t have to do as much real-world testing as past models before it can be rolled out to the public.
But looming over Waymo’s assertion that its new robotaxi will be cheaper to produce is the possibility that it could also be subject to costly new tariffs against Chinese-made electric vehicles. Earlier this year, the Biden administration said it would quadruple tariffs on EVs from China to 100 percent, from the current 25 percent, as a way to “protect American workers and American companies from China’s unfair trade practices.”
The company is reducing costs in its autonomy stack
The tariffs aren’t mentioned in Jeyachandran’s update about its new robotaxis, nor is Zeekr as the vehicle’s manufacturer. (To be sure, Waymo isn’t concealing the vehicle’s origins; it was featured prominently in past announcements about the new robotaxi.) The new levies are expected to go into effect later this year, and Waymo could apply for an exemption if it chooses. Last week, a spokesperson told me that the company was keeping a close eye on the tariffs situation but had nothing more to add.
To be sure, the cost savings discussed in Jeyachandran’s post are from the autonomy system and don’t take into account any macroeconomic conditions. In that area, there are a number of other new features in the new vehicle worth highlighting.
Waymo says the sixth-gen robotaxi will feature a streamlined sensor suite of “16 cameras, 5 lidar, 6 radar, and an array of external audio receivers (EARs).” These sensors will help provide “overlapping fields of view, all around the vehicle, up to 500 meters away, day and night, and in a range of weather conditions.” That’s the equivalent of over five football fields of visible range.
Waymo’s use of multiple sensors is important for redundancy, in which multiple sensors and cameras can ensure the vehicle can continue to detect and respond to its surroundings if something fails. “Redundancies are essential in an autonomous driving system to provide safe backup functions for assured reliability and for unexpected weather,” Jeyachandran writes.
Waymo’s use of multiple sensors is important for redundancy
Meanwhile, other companies are trying to cut costs by eliminating or downplaying certain sensors — mostly lidar. Tesla famously eliminated radar and ultrasonic sensors in favor of a camera-only system for its Full Self-Driving driver-assist system (which also famously isn’t a real self-driving system). Motional, which also aims to launch a robotaxi service, recently outlined its plans to give radar a more prominent role to account for the high cost of lidar sensors.
Lowering costs is going to be increasingly important for robotaxi companies as they look to scale up and expand into new markets. Alphabet doesn’t break out Waymo’s costs in its earnings report, but its “Other Bets” unit, which includes the robotaxi company, brought in $365 million in revenue in the second quarter, up from $285 million a year ago. But the unit’s losses widened to $1.13 billion from $813 million in the year-earlier period. Alphabet recently said it would commit an additional $5 billion to Waymo to help it cover costs as it eyes its next phase of growth.
Jeyachandran doesn’t include any details about where and when the new sixth-gen robotaxis will first appear. Waymo currently operates in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, with plans to launch commercial service in Austin, Texas. The company has been manually testing the Zeekr-made minivans on public roads, with the goal of adding them to its commercial fleet sometime soon. Hopefully, the company can clear up the uncertainty surrounding the vehicle’s import status before then.

Waymo’s sixth-gen robotaxi is already being tested on public roads. | Image: Waymo

Waymo published a blog post today previewing its new sixth-generation robotaxi, which is an electric minivan manufactured by the Chinese automaker Zeekr.

In the post, Waymo VP of engineering Satish Jeyachandran touts the new robotaxi as more high tech than past iterations, while also featuring fewer sensors to help reduce costs for the Alphabet-owned company. And within its high-powered computer, it contains all the learnings of the previous five generations of Waymo’s autonomous vehicles, meaning it won’t have to do as much real-world testing as past models before it can be rolled out to the public.

But looming over Waymo’s assertion that its new robotaxi will be cheaper to produce is the possibility that it could also be subject to costly new tariffs against Chinese-made electric vehicles. Earlier this year, the Biden administration said it would quadruple tariffs on EVs from China to 100 percent, from the current 25 percent, as a way to “protect American workers and American companies from China’s unfair trade practices.”

The tariffs aren’t mentioned in Jeyachandran’s update about its new robotaxis, nor is Zeekr as the vehicle’s manufacturer. (To be sure, Waymo isn’t concealing the vehicle’s origins; it was featured prominently in past announcements about the new robotaxi.) The new levies are expected to go into effect later this year, and Waymo could apply for an exemption if it chooses. Last week, a spokesperson told me that the company was keeping a close eye on the tariffs situation but had nothing more to add.

To be sure, the cost savings discussed in Jeyachandran’s post are from the autonomy system and don’t take into account any macroeconomic conditions. In that area, there are a number of other new features in the new vehicle worth highlighting.

Waymo says the sixth-gen robotaxi will feature a streamlined sensor suite of “16 cameras, 5 lidar, 6 radar, and an array of external audio receivers (EARs).” These sensors will help provide “overlapping fields of view, all around the vehicle, up to 500 meters away, day and night, and in a range of weather conditions.” That’s the equivalent of over five football fields of visible range.

Waymo’s use of multiple sensors is important for redundancy, in which multiple sensors and cameras can ensure the vehicle can continue to detect and respond to its surroundings if something fails. “Redundancies are essential in an autonomous driving system to provide safe backup functions for assured reliability and for unexpected weather,” Jeyachandran writes.

Meanwhile, other companies are trying to cut costs by eliminating or downplaying certain sensors — mostly lidar. Tesla famously eliminated radar and ultrasonic sensors in favor of a camera-only system for its Full Self-Driving driver-assist system (which also famously isn’t a real self-driving system). Motional, which also aims to launch a robotaxi service, recently outlined its plans to give radar a more prominent role to account for the high cost of lidar sensors.

Lowering costs is going to be increasingly important for robotaxi companies as they look to scale up and expand into new markets. Alphabet doesn’t break out Waymo’s costs in its earnings report, but its “Other Bets” unit, which includes the robotaxi company, brought in $365 million in revenue in the second quarter, up from $285 million a year ago. But the unit’s losses widened to $1.13 billion from $813 million in the year-earlier period. Alphabet recently said it would commit an additional $5 billion to Waymo to help it cover costs as it eyes its next phase of growth.

Jeyachandran doesn’t include any details about where and when the new sixth-gen robotaxis will first appear. Waymo currently operates in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, with plans to launch commercial service in Austin, Texas. The company has been manually testing the Zeekr-made minivans on public roads, with the goal of adding them to its commercial fleet sometime soon. Hopefully, the company can clear up the uncertainty surrounding the vehicle’s import status before then.

Read More 

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump posted what appeared to be a series of AI-generated images over the weekend to drum up support for his presidential candidacy, including a false endorsement from pop star Taylor Swift.
The posts show how Trump might wield generative AI in a way that confounds attempts to police AI-created election disinformation, thanks in part to long-standing legal precedent allowing candidates to lie in political ads. They arrive on the heels of Trump falsely accusing his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, of using AI to generate a rally crowd.
The images Trump posted included one that appears to resemble Harris from the back as she addresses a crowd in Chicago, the site of the Democratic National Convention this week, with a communist hammer and sickle dominating the background.

pic.twitter.com/H0ExcNXBdl— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2024

Another post includes screenshots of other users’ posts depicting images of “Swifties for Trump,” along with what seems most clearly to be an AI-generated image of Taylor Swift dressed as Uncle Sam with the words, “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.” Alongside the compilation of screenshots (only one of which was labeled as satire), Trump wrote, “I accept!”

Trump’s posts likely wouldn’t be covered by a growing list of state laws against election deepfakes, says Robert Weissman, copresident of Public Citizen. While roughly 20 states have enacted regulations around the use of AI-generated false images in elections, they typically ban depictions of someone doing or saying something in a convincing way. “So not just that it’s a well-done deepfake or well-done generative AI application, but it actually has to be plausible,” Weissman says.
Meanwhile, in terms of election disinformation, “there are no federal restrictions on the use of deepfakes,” Weissman says, noting the exception of the Federal Communications Commission’s ban on robocalls that use AI-generated voices. The nonprofit consumer advocacy group has been trying to get the Federal Election Commission to limit candidates’ ability to misrepresent their opponents with AI, but its rules likely wouldn’t cover something as obviously exaggerated as the Harris image or something that doesn’t depict an opposing candidate, in the case of the Swift image.
Still, Weissman suggested, Swift might have a claim for the use of her likeness to falsely issue an endorsement, perhaps under California’s Right of Publicity, protecting the use of a person’s likeness. Universal Music Group, which represents Swift, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the use of her likeness in Trump’s post. The Trump campaign also did not immediately respond.
Courts have repeatedly determined that the First Amendment should often protect even deliberate lies, including by political candidates. If Congress passed regulations around AI deepfakes, that wouldn’t stop many uses of them. Weissman says an aggrieved opponent would need to show a lie led to harm or injury to voters, for instance, to make it illegal. “I don’t think that our legislative solutions are going to be perfect, even if we get exactly what we wanted,” he says.
Private platforms could take action against misleading generative AI content, of course, without government intervention. X’s synthetic and manipulated media policy prohibits such posts “that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm.” But the platform has seemed to selectively enforce the rule, with even its owner, Elon Musk, appearing to violate it by posting a deepfake of Harris not clearly labeled as parody. Trump’s other venue of choice, his own platform Truth Social, has minimal rules in its community guidelines.
“It’s convenient for Trump, who was going around calling everything fake before AI, and wants us to call true things fake — like Harris’ crowds — to spread AI garbage to undermine the very idea of authenticity, and even reality in some ways,” says Weissman. “It’s very hard to have a democratic society if people can’t believe the things that they see and hear with their own eyes.”

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump posted what appeared to be a series of AI-generated images over the weekend to drum up support for his presidential candidacy, including a false endorsement from pop star Taylor Swift.

The posts show how Trump might wield generative AI in a way that confounds attempts to police AI-created election disinformation, thanks in part to long-standing legal precedent allowing candidates to lie in political ads. They arrive on the heels of Trump falsely accusing his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, of using AI to generate a rally crowd.

The images Trump posted included one that appears to resemble Harris from the back as she addresses a crowd in Chicago, the site of the Democratic National Convention this week, with a communist hammer and sickle dominating the background.

Another post includes screenshots of other users’ posts depicting images of “Swifties for Trump,” along with what seems most clearly to be an AI-generated image of Taylor Swift dressed as Uncle Sam with the words, “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.” Alongside the compilation of screenshots (only one of which was labeled as satire), Trump wrote, “I accept!”

Trump’s posts likely wouldn’t be covered by a growing list of state laws against election deepfakes, says Robert Weissman, copresident of Public Citizen. While roughly 20 states have enacted regulations around the use of AI-generated false images in elections, they typically ban depictions of someone doing or saying something in a convincing way. “So not just that it’s a well-done deepfake or well-done generative AI application, but it actually has to be plausible,” Weissman says.

Meanwhile, in terms of election disinformation, “there are no federal restrictions on the use of deepfakes,” Weissman says, noting the exception of the Federal Communications Commission’s ban on robocalls that use AI-generated voices. The nonprofit consumer advocacy group has been trying to get the Federal Election Commission to limit candidates’ ability to misrepresent their opponents with AI, but its rules likely wouldn’t cover something as obviously exaggerated as the Harris image or something that doesn’t depict an opposing candidate, in the case of the Swift image.

Still, Weissman suggested, Swift might have a claim for the use of her likeness to falsely issue an endorsement, perhaps under California’s Right of Publicity, protecting the use of a person’s likeness. Universal Music Group, which represents Swift, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the use of her likeness in Trump’s post. The Trump campaign also did not immediately respond.

Courts have repeatedly determined that the First Amendment should often protect even deliberate lies, including by political candidates. If Congress passed regulations around AI deepfakes, that wouldn’t stop many uses of them. Weissman says an aggrieved opponent would need to show a lie led to harm or injury to voters, for instance, to make it illegal. “I don’t think that our legislative solutions are going to be perfect, even if we get exactly what we wanted,” he says.

Private platforms could take action against misleading generative AI content, of course, without government intervention. X’s synthetic and manipulated media policy prohibits such posts “that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm.” But the platform has seemed to selectively enforce the rule, with even its owner, Elon Musk, appearing to violate it by posting a deepfake of Harris not clearly labeled as parody. Trump’s other venue of choice, his own platform Truth Social, has minimal rules in its community guidelines.

“It’s convenient for Trump, who was going around calling everything fake before AI, and wants us to call true things fake — like Harris’ crowds — to spread AI garbage to undermine the very idea of authenticity, and even reality in some ways,” says Weissman. “It’s very hard to have a democratic society if people can’t believe the things that they see and hear with their own eyes.”

Read More 

Unitree’s G1 humanoid robot can fold down for storage and transport, but weighs as much as a small child. | Image: Unitree Robotics

Robots capable of performing human-like tasks have so far been relegated to laboratories, factories, and captivating YouTube demos. But Unitree is readying its G1 humanoid robot for mass production with a $16,000 price tag that somehow feels both expensive and reasonable for a robot that looks this capable, as spotted by New Atlas.
The Unitree G1 is an upgraded and production ready version of the H1 humanoid bot the Chinese company debuted only a year ago. Powered by an unnamed “8-core high-performance CPU,” the G1 features 23 degrees of freedom through powered joints on its arms, legs, and torso. The robot can jump, walk at a top speed of over 4.4 mph, and even climb stairs littered with construction debris. How well it can handle stairs cluttered with random shoes and kid’s toys remains to be seen.

The stumps on the ends of the H1’s arms have been replaced with three-fingered hands on the G1, which have been demonstrated to be dextrous enough to solder wires, handle delicate objects, and even flip foods in a frying pan. The robot’s LED-adorned head hides a vision system based on a Livox Mid-360 LiDAR camera and an Intel RealSense D435 depth camera, allowing the G1 to see the world in 3D.
Standing around just 4.3 feet tall, the robot can fold down even smaller for easier transport and storage. However, at a little over 77 pounds with its two-hour 9,000mAh battery pack attached, Unitree’s G1 definitely isn’t a lightweight.

Image: Unitree Robotics
The robot’s three-fingered hands are dextrous enough to manipulate food and a frying pan.

Before the debut of its humanoid robots, Unitree was best known for its quadruped robots designed to be similarly capable to Boston Dynamics’ Spot, only much smaller and cheaper. While Spot can be purchased for $74,500, the Unitree Go2 starts at $1,600. Boston Dynamics hasn’t revealed how much its Atlas humanoid robots cost, and while Elon Musk has claimed Tesla’s Optimus Gen 2 robot will cost “much less than $20,000,” Unitree’s G1 will potentially be one of the first capable humanoid robots you can bring home.
Unitree hasn’t revealed exactly when the production-ready version of the G1 will actually be available, but when it is, potential customers shouldn’t expect it to stroll into the kitchen and cook breakfast right out of the box. The humanoid is designed to learn through imitation using the company’s Unitree Robot Unified Large Model (UnifoLM), and its initial appeal will be as an affordable humanoid platform for conducting robotics research — not as a real life version of Rosey the Robot from The Jetsons.

Unitree’s G1 humanoid robot can fold down for storage and transport, but weighs as much as a small child. | Image: Unitree Robotics

Robots capable of performing human-like tasks have so far been relegated to laboratories, factories, and captivating YouTube demos. But Unitree is readying its G1 humanoid robot for mass production with a $16,000 price tag that somehow feels both expensive and reasonable for a robot that looks this capable, as spotted by New Atlas.

The Unitree G1 is an upgraded and production ready version of the H1 humanoid bot the Chinese company debuted only a year ago. Powered by an unnamed “8-core high-performance CPU,” the G1 features 23 degrees of freedom through powered joints on its arms, legs, and torso. The robot can jump, walk at a top speed of over 4.4 mph, and even climb stairs littered with construction debris. How well it can handle stairs cluttered with random shoes and kid’s toys remains to be seen.

The stumps on the ends of the H1’s arms have been replaced with three-fingered hands on the G1, which have been demonstrated to be dextrous enough to solder wires, handle delicate objects, and even flip foods in a frying pan. The robot’s LED-adorned head hides a vision system based on a Livox Mid-360 LiDAR camera and an Intel RealSense D435 depth camera, allowing the G1 to see the world in 3D.

Standing around just 4.3 feet tall, the robot can fold down even smaller for easier transport and storage. However, at a little over 77 pounds with its two-hour 9,000mAh battery pack attached, Unitree’s G1 definitely isn’t a lightweight.

Image: Unitree Robotics
The robot’s three-fingered hands are dextrous enough to manipulate food and a frying pan.

Before the debut of its humanoid robots, Unitree was best known for its quadruped robots designed to be similarly capable to Boston Dynamics’ Spot, only much smaller and cheaper. While Spot can be purchased for $74,500, the Unitree Go2 starts at $1,600. Boston Dynamics hasn’t revealed how much its Atlas humanoid robots cost, and while Elon Musk has claimed Tesla’s Optimus Gen 2 robot will cost “much less than $20,000,” Unitree’s G1 will potentially be one of the first capable humanoid robots you can bring home.

Unitree hasn’t revealed exactly when the production-ready version of the G1 will actually be available, but when it is, potential customers shouldn’t expect it to stroll into the kitchen and cook breakfast right out of the box. The humanoid is designed to learn through imitation using the company’s Unitree Robot Unified Large Model (UnifoLM), and its initial appeal will be as an affordable humanoid platform for conducting robotics research — not as a real life version of Rosey the Robot from The Jetsons.

Read More