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Image: Meta
If you think avoiding AI-generated images is difficult as it is, Facebook and Instagram are now going to put them directly into your feeds. At the Meta Connect event on Wednesday, the company announced that it’s testing a new feature that creates AI-generated content for you “based on your interests or current trends” — including some that incorporate your face.
When you come across an “Imagined for You” image in your feed, you’ll see options to share the image or generate a new picture in real time. One example (embedded below) shows several AI-generated images of “an enchanted realm, where magic fills the air.” But others could contain your face... which I’d imagine will be a bit creepy to stumble upon as you scroll.
G...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/25/24253329/meta-ai-generated-images-facebook-instagram-feeds)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Just two months after releasing its last big AI model (https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/23/24204055/meta-ai-llama-3-1-open-source-assistant-openai-chatgpt), Meta is back with a major update: its first open-source model capable of processing both images and text.
The new model, Llama 3.2, could allow developers to create more advanced AI applications, like augmented reality apps that provide real-time understanding of video, visual search engines that sort images based on content, or document analysis that summarizes long chunks of text for you.
Meta says it’s going to be easy for developers to get the new model up and running. Developers will have to do little except add this “new multimodality and be able to show Llama images and have it communicate,” Ahmad Al-Dahle, vice president of generative AI at Meta, told The Verge.
Other AI...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/25/24253774/meta-ai-vision-model-llama-3-2-announced)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Meta is discontinuing the Quest Pro, its high-end VR headset launched in 2022 that we said “isn’t very good.” The company plans to sell its remaining Quest Pro headsets through the end of the year or “until they’re gone, whichever comes first,” according to a blog post (https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=66960X1514734&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.meta.com%2Fblog%2Fquest%2Fmeta-quest-3s-announced-connect-2024&referrer=theverge.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2024%2F9%2F25%2F24253322%2Fmeta-quest-pro-2-discontinued-vr).
Meta’s post didn’t specify why it’s moving on from the Quest Pro so soon, but it’s clear the headset wasn’t well received. My colleague Adi Robertson rated the headset a 4 (https://www.theverge.com/23451629/meta-quest-pro-vr-headset-horizon-review), finding that the device was heavy and uncomfortable and that its professional-focused Workrooms experience was “basically a matter of luck.”
At launch, the Quest Pro was also jaw-droppingly expensive at $1,499. Meta permanently dropped the price to $999 just months after launch (https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/3/23622975/meta-quest-pro-2-price-cuts), but that was still a...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/25/24253322/meta-quest-pro-2-discontinued-vr)
The Verge’s Alex Heath wearing a Quest 3S.
Meta finally announced (https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=66960X1514734&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.meta.com%2Fblog%2Fquest%2Fmeta-quest-3s-announced-connect-2024%2F&referrer=theverge.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F24252316%2Fmeta-quest-3s-hands-on-connect-2024) the very (https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/31/24168669/meta-quest-3s-vr-headset-leak) heavily (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/9/24239819/meta-quest-3s-leak-budget-vr-headset) leaked (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/20/24250247/is-this-really-an-ad-for-metas-quest-3s-and-will-it-really-cost-299-99) Quest 3S VR headset, and the leaks were right: it’s a $299.99 (https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=66960X1514734&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.meta.com%2Fquest%2Fquest-3s%2F&referrer=theverge.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F24252316%2Fmeta-quest-3s-hands-on-connect-2024) headset that looks like a mix of the Quest 2 and Quest 3. But now that the specs are official, I can tell you that it’s a lot closer to the Quest 3 than expected for a refresh that’s almost half the price. If you don’t have a Quest headset already, the 3S is potentially a very compelling purchase.
The Quest 3S offers the same mixed reality features and performance as the Quest 3 — it even has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip — meaning you can play all of the same games and experiences on either device. The Quest 3S uses the same Touch Plus controllers as the Quest 3. And the Quest 3S is actually rated for a higher...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/24252316/meta-quest-3s-hands-on-connect-2024)
Image: PlayStation
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is one of those series of games that has always felt unjustly left behind to me, and at Sony’s State of Play today, it’s finally getting its due, at least a little. The two classic Crystal Dynamics games, which I enjoyed in their penultimate form on the Dreamcast, are getting a remaster (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pRyL8y7vZ4) courtesy of Aspyr Media.
The remastered games will appear on December 10th on PlayStation (https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP1032-PPSA18153_00-SOULREAVER120824), Xbox (https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=66960X1514734&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.xbox.com%2Fen-us%2Fgames%2Fstore%2Flegacy-of-kain-soul-reaver-1-2-remastered%2F9NX852XQ77SD&referrer=theverge.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2024%2F9%2F24%2F24253265%2Flegacy-of-kain-soul-reaver-1-and-2-remastered-ps5-state-of-play-aspyr-media), Nintendo, and PC (Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2521380/Legacy_of_Kain_Soul_Reaver_12_Remastered/) or Epic Games Store (https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/legacy-of-kain-soul-reaver-12-remastered-f5c5ec)).
The two Soul Reaver games were supernatural action puzzlers with a heavy Lovecraftian bent released first for the original PlayStation and Windows PCs in 1999, then for the Sega Dreamcast in 2000. In them, you play Raziel, a jawless vampire who was brought back to life by an elder god....
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/24/24253265/legacy-of-kain-soul-reaver-1-and-2-remastered-ps5-state-of-play-aspyr-media)
The UK helped usher in the coal era — now its closing its last remaining plant
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/23/24252195/last-coal-power-plant-close-climate-change-clean-energy
The black Apple Watch Ultra 2 is already $50 off in select sizes
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/23/24252049/apple-watch-ultra-2-black-amazon-fire-tv-cube-deal-sale
Nothing’s open-style headphones leak just before launch
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/23/24252179/nothing-ear-open-wraparound-earbuds-design-leak
PlayStation’s next State of Play will cover more than 20 PS5 and PSVR 2 games
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/23/24252281/sony-playstation-state-of-play-ps5-psvr-2-games
You can get an at-home flu ‘shot’ starting next year
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/23/24251946/fda-approves-flumist-self-administered-flu-shot-nasal-spray
Watch the iPhone 16’s electrically-charged battery replacement process
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/22/24251327/iphone-16-teardown-repair-battery-adhesive
How to use Windows Terminal and what it’s useful for
https://www.theverge.com/24249353/windows-11-terminal-microsoft-how-to
The chatbot becomes the teacher
https://www.theverge.com/24249388/notebooklm-google-steven-johnson-vergecast
A social network where everyone’s a bot
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/22/24249948/socialai-snap-spectacles-snapchat-penguin-installer
Jony Ive confirms he’s working on a new device with OpenAI
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/21/24250867/jony-ive-confirms-collaboration-openai-hardware
Meta’s going to put AI-generated images in your Facebook and Instagram feeds
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/25/24253329/meta-ai-generated-images-facebook-instagram-feeds
Meta releases its first open AI model that can process images
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/25/24253774/meta-ai-vision-model-llama-3-2-announced
Meta is discontinuing the Quest Pro two years after launching it
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/25/24253322/meta-quest-pro-2-discontinued-vr
Meta’s cheaper Quest 3S might just be an upgrade
https://www.theverge.com/24252316/meta-quest-3s-hands-on-connect-2024
An aerial view of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station, near Nottingham in central England on September 19, 2024. | Photo: Getty Images
By the end of the month, the United Kingdom is set to shutter its last operating coal-fired power plant.
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire is slated to close on September 30th, marking the end of coal power in the UK. It’s turning the page on an era of dirty energy that the UK helped usher in globally and now has to leave behind to meet climate goals.
The coal power plant was first commissioned in 1967, and received its last coal delivery (https://www.uniper.energy/united-kingdom/news/gb-railfreight-completes-historic-final-coal-delivery-and-names-a-locomotive-ratcliffe-power-station/) in June. The 2,000 megawatt-capacity plant can produce enough electricity for some two million homes, according to the energy company Uniper that owns it. Over its decades in operation, it’s generated enough energy to make more than 21 trillion cups of tea, or roughly 1 billion...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/23/24252195/last-coal-power-plant-close-climate-change-clean-energy)
Put it all on black. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 isn’t new, as it launched last year, but its newly available black color looks pretty sick and is currently receiving one of its first (small) discounts. Right now, you can get the black titanium Ultra 2 with a green Alpine Loop strap in either small (https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Cellular-Smartwatch-Titanium-Alpine/dp/B0DGJ3PBKT?th=1&tag=theverge02-20) or large (https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Cellular-Smartwatch-Titanium-Alpine/dp/B0DGHNX1SH?th=1&tag=theverge02-20) sizes for $749.99 ($49 off) at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Cellular-Smartwatch-Titanium-Alpine/dp/B0DGHNX1SH?th=1&tag=theverge02-20). (And if you’re not style-obsessed, the Ultra 2 is still available at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSVB9C5G/?tag=theverge02-20) in its original color for $689.99.)
It’s still an expensive smartwatch even with this modest discount, but if you feel compelled to get one now, whether for its adventure-ready fitness tracking or fashion reasons (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/19/24248380/apple-watch-ultra-2-black-smartwatch-wearables) (hey, no judgment here (https://www.theverge.com/23522956/double-wristwatch-apple-watch-smartwatch-mechanical-quartz)), you might as well save what you can.
Apple’s chunky wearable has a large 49mm display, and its titanium case...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/23/24252049/apple-watch-ultra-2-black-amazon-fire-tv-cube-deal-sale)
Image: WinFuture
Nothing is expected to reveal its Ear (Open) headphones (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/17/24247454/nothings-new-open-earbuds-are-set-to-launch-next-week) tomorrow, but a set of leaked images from WinFuture seems to have spoiled the surprise. The new earbuds appear to have a curved band that hooks around the back of your ear for a potentially more comfortable fit.
The speaker, which rests just outside your ear, could come with a 14.2mm driver, according to WinFuture. Just like Nothing’s other earbuds (https://www.theverge.com/23649968/nothing-ear-2-review-wireless-earbuds), it looks like the Ear (Open) will sport a transparent design on the stem with the company’s branding.
Additionally, WinFuture reports that the new earbuds offer up to eight hours of battery life without the case (or 30 hours with it). The buds are rumored to come with touch controls, the ability to connect to multiple devices at once,...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/23/24252179/nothing-ear-open-wraparound-earbuds-design-leak)
Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
Get ready to see more PlayStation games. Sony is hosting a State of Play presentation tomorrow, September 24th, and the company says (https://blog.playstation.com/2024/09/23/state-of-play-returns-tomorrow/) it will feature news and updates on “more than 20 upcoming PS5 and PS VR2 games from studios around the world.” Sony says the State of Play will be more than 30 minutes long, and you’ll be able to watch it at 6PM ET / 3PM PT on YouTube and Twitch.
The show is taking place just two days before preorders for the PS5 Pro (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/10/24167932/ps5-pro-sony-specs-announcement) are available. Sony’s initial presentation about the PS5 Pro was a little lacking (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MApTG1wapJA), so hopefully we’ll get some better looks at games that will be enhanced by the new console.
In a May State of Play (https://www.theverge.com/24168001/playstation-state-of-play-may-2024-silent-hill), Sony shared information about Astro Bot, one of the best games of the year (https://www.theverge.com/24237778/astro-bot-review-ps5-game-of-the-year), and Concord, which...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/23/24252281/sony-playstation-state-of-play-ps5-psvr-2-games)
The at-home treatment could assist people who are unable to travel to immunization appointments. | Photo by Jeff Gritchen/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images
The Food and Drug Administration has approved (https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-nasal-spray-influenza-vaccine-self-or-caregiver-administration) a nasally-administered influenza immunization treatment that can be taken at home. FluMist — a nasal spray vaccine that AstraZeneca initially developed as an in-office treatment two decades ago — will still require a prescription to obtain and is expected to be made available via a new online pharmacy next year, according to The New York Times.
The treatment will require people to fill out a questionnaire on the upcoming FlueMist Home website. Once approved by a pharmacist, the nasal spray will be shipped directly to the customer’s door. The current out-of-pocket cost is around $35 to $45 per dose according to the NYT, but that may drop depending on insurance coverage.
The Centers for Disease... (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/nasalspray.htm)
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/23/24251946/fda-approves-flumist-self-administered-flu-shot-nasal-spray)
image: iFixit (https://www.ifixit.com/News/100352/we-hot-wired-the-iphone-16)
No sooner has the Phone 16 lineup arrived than the folks at iFixit start taking them apart (https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=66960X1514734&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ifixit.com%2FNews%2F100352%2Fwe-hot-wired-the-iphone-16&referrer=theverge.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2024%2F9%2F22%2F24251327%2Fiphone-16-teardown-repair-battery-adhesive), a process made easier this time around by the day-one release of repair manuals from Apple. The disassembly process shows the Camera control is a real button that moves, along with a flex cable that likely measures force, and the heat sink that appears positioned to keep the A18 chip’s Neural Engine cool while it handles AI workloads.
For this year’s refresh, the base iPhone 16 (https://www.theverge.com/24247479/apple-iphone-16-plus-review-camera-control-screen-battery) may be more interesting than the Pro model for one reason — it’s the first one using electrically debondable adhesive (https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/28/24188099/apple-might-try-electrically-induced-adhesive-debonding-on-iphone-batteries) for its battery enclosure.
As reported in June by The Information, Apple isn’t using the new adhesive on all of its phones yet, but now we have a lot more...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/22/24251327/iphone-16-teardown-repair-battery-adhesive)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
Scratch the surface of Windows (and macOS), and you’ll find a command line console underneath, a lingering remnant of how these operating systems started out: as user-friendly graphical wrappers built on top of text-based, monochrome interfaces.
If you’re as old as I am, you might remember having to launch apps and games on a computer by typing out text commands, rather than pointing and clicking. The modern-day methods are much easier, of course, but the old ways are still available — and they’re actually still useful for multiple tasks, as the list below shows.
To begin with, Windows kept the Command Prompt utility as a reminder of its MS-DOS roots. That was later joined by PowerShell (Command Prompt with extras), and in the latest...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/24249353/windows-11-terminal-microsoft-how-to)
The Verge
Steven Johnson is a very meta author. He writes frequently about science and technology, and likes to immerse himself in the things he’s covering, even using them to change the way he writes books. A couple of years ago, a few months before ChatGPT launched and the AI boom took over the tech world, Johnson got a magazine assignment (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/magazine/ai-language.html) that sent him really, really deep down the AI rabbit hole. And he never came back up.
Now, in addition to writing books, Johnson is also working at Google. He’s part of the team building a product called NotebookLM (https://notebooklm.google.com/) — “Notebook,” as the team calls it. It’s a note-taking and research tool (https://www.theverge.com/23845856/google-notebooklm-tailwind-ai-notes-research): you upload documents and import web links, and Notebook’s Gemini-powered AI helps you organize things, extract information,...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/24249388/notebooklm-google-steven-johnson-vergecast)
Image: David Pierce / The Verge
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 53, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been reading about Beyoncé and Rosanna Pansino and Bowen Yang, pouring my life back into Todoist, watching the end of The Grand Tour, catching up on some My Brother, My Brother and Me episodes, seeing if the Pixel Recorder app can replace my trusty voice recorder, and moving Headspace to my homescreen to see if it helps me meditate more. (So far… no.)
I also have for you a truly wild new pair of AR glasses, a Batman-adjacent show on HBO, a great new book about the end of Twitter, a funny twist on...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/22/24249948/socialai-snap-spectacles-snapchat-penguin-installer)
Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media
Jony Ive has confirmed that he’s working with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on an AI hardware project. The confirmation came today as part of a profile of Ive in The New York Times, nearly a year after the possibility of a collaboration between Altman and the longtime Apple designer was first reported on (https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/28/23893939/jony-ive-openai-sam-altman-iphone-of-artificial-intelligence-device).
There aren’t a lot of details on the project. Ive reportedly met Altman through Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, and the venture is being funded by Ive and the Emerson Collective, Laurene Powell Jobs’ company. The Times reports it could raise $1 billion in funding by the end of the year, but makes no mention of Masayoshi Son, the SoftBank CEO rumored last year to have invested $1 billion in the project (https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/28/23893939/jony-ive-openai-sam-altman-iphone-of-artificial-intelligence-device).
The project only has 10 employees...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/21/24250867/jony-ive-confirms-collaboration-openai-hardware)
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
Back in the Mad Men days, the only thing that might interrupt the corporate blandness of a workspace might be a photo of your family or maybe a coffee cup with a funny saying. But nowadays, especially if we’re working at home, we can have some pretty interesting, weird, or just plain nice-looking items on our desks.
We asked the folks here at The Verge what they have on their desks or in their offices that they keep just for the hell of it — because they like it, because it means something special, or just because. Here are some of the answers we got.
A looping gif of our late cat Pouncey on my keyboard’s LCD
Antonio G. Di Benedetto, commerce / deals writer
GIF: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
The LCD on the...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/24248065/favorites-desk-toys-keepsakes)