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Car-tech breakup fever is heating up

Just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Snap is recalling and refunding every drone it ever sold

All 71,000 drone batteries are flying fire hazards.

The Verge’s 2024 Valentine’s Day gift guide

We’re here to help you save time with an assortment of unique gifts that are sweeter than any candy bar.

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Joshua Schulte sentenced to 40 years in prison for leaking “Vault 7” CIA material to Wikileaks.

Schulte was convicted two years ago on all nine charges he faced as a result of the single largest leak in the CIA’s history. A year after the 2017 leaks, the ex-CIA engineer was arrested on charges of possessing CSAM, and he has been in prison ever since.

Dubbed Vault 7, the 2017 Wikileaks dump exposed tactics and exploits the CIA used to hack its targets’ computersiPhones or Android phones, and even Samsung smart TVs.


Apple’s Vision Pro battery pack is hiding the final boss of Lightning cables

With a simple SIM removal tool and a $3,500 headset, you, too, can take a peek at this absolute unit of a Lightning cable.

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Aldis Hodge’s Parallel Forest remake looks like a haunting take on the multiverse.

In Chinese director Lei Zheng’s 2019 film Parallel Forest, a grieving mother’s spiral into depression following the death of her son takes a strange turn when she encounters an alternate reality version of herself.

And from the looks of Parallel, Vertical Entertainment’s upcoming remake starring brothers Aldis and Edwin Hodge, and Danielle Deadwyler, the new film’s going to be just as haunting as the original when it hits theaters on February 23rd.


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Almost 30,000 workers in tech have been laid off this year.

That’s according to data from tech layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi, which recorded 29,995 job cuts across 112 different companies in 2024. The data also includes the 150 layoffs at Zoom that just happened today, too.


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Coinbase is lowering prices to compete for the pros.

I mean yes, they don’t say that but come on: they are targeting high-volume traders — if you’re doing more than $500,000 monthly, I think you are maybe not a normal consumer.

Wonder if this is the beginning of a race to the bottom on fees... and who will be left standing.


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Verge Score

Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not

The Apple Vision Pro is the best headset anyone’s ever made — and that’s the problem.

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“What an odd pillow Apple released.”

That’s one of the YouTube comments on this short video diving into the $199 travel case for Apple’s Vision Pro, and it seems pretty accurate. Of course, considering what it might cost to fix a headset if it breaks, it could be a worthwhile accessory.


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Meta’s reportedly working on a new AI chip it plans to launch this year.

Reuters reports “Artemis” will complement the hundreds of thousands of Nvidia H100 chips Meta bought. Similar to the MTIA chip Meta announced last year, Artemis is also focused on inference — the actual decision-making part of AI — and not training AI models, but it’s already a little late to the game.

Google introduced a second-generation TPU in 2017 that could do both, and so can Microsoft’s recently-announced Maia 100. And AMD claims its M1300X chip performs better than H100s on the inference side.


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I haven’t seen these Apple stickers before.

TechCrunch spotted what appears to be one of the only photos of Apple’s modified version of the iPhone for security researchers. If you want to know more, TechCrunch talked to the researcher who took the photo about what’s different.


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Netflix says “everybody” thought shelving Halle Berry’s Mothership was a good idea.

From a distance, Netflix’s last-minute decision to cancel the release of executive producer Halle Berry’s nearly-completed sci-fi flick The Mothership has looked a lot like the streamer following in Warner Bros. Discovery’s footsteps.

But according to Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bejaria, between production delays, and creative issues “everybody just felt like it was the right thing to not do it.”


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Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill to grapple with the environmental impacts of AI.

If passed, the Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impacts Act of 2024 would compel the EPA to conduct a study on the environmental footprint of AI. It would also make the National Institute of Standards and Technology develop standards for measuring those impacts and set up a voluntary reporting system. AI is energy-intensive, which is why it’s stirred up concerns about how it might impact the grid and contribute to climate change.


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Ok. Now I want one.

When I saw how the app Shortcut Buttons lets you put virtual buttons around your home to trigger smart home devices using Apple’s Vision Pro, I was (almost) sold.

This is a use case for the $3,500 head computer I can really get behind (you know, once it doesn't cost $3,500). The lack of new interfaces for the smart home is something I complain about a lot. This might shut me up for a bit.

Check out Matthew Cassinelli’s rundown of how the $8 app works.


<a href="https://www.finnvoorhees.com/shortcutbuttons"><em>Shortcut Buttons</em></a><em> lets you set up home automation shortcuts in relevant places. “Easily dim the lights or order food when watching a movie, or start a timer when cooking in the kitchen.”</em>

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Shortcut Buttons lets you set up home automation shortcuts in relevant places. “Easily dim the lights or order food when watching a movie, or start a timer when cooking in the kitchen.”
Image: Finn Voorhees
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Peloton’s pivot to $6,000 treadmills... is paying off?!?

Peloton’s Q2 2024 earnings were mixed — some things flopped, other things seem to be buoying the business. Like relaunching the Tread Plus for $6,000. CEO Barry McCarthy told investors on the earnings call that since it started taking orders in December, there’s actually a demand backlog.

McCarthy also said increased interest led to more sales of its cheaper, entry-level Tread. That, I get. (I reviewed it, it’s great.) But I’m fascinated by the folks who didn’t blink at plopping down $6K for the Plus despite the infamy associated with it. Is that you? Hit me up, let’s chat. I’m legitimately curious!


The Indiglo button let there be light

Press this button to remember the dark age of gadgets.

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I can’t stop watching the Death Stranding 2 trailer.

There were a lot of games featured in last night’s PlayStation livestream, but I can’t get Hideo Kojima’s latest out of my mind. There’s just so much going on in the 9-minute-long clip: glistening demon cats, talking puppets, creepy hand masks, electric guitar swordfights, and of course plenty of weird little babies. Also, George Miller is there. It’s going to be a long wait until 2025.


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A brief taste of Squid Game season 2.

Netflix just revealed its upcoming slate for both TV shows and movies, and arguably the biggest reveal was that season two of Squid Game would premiere later in 2024. As part of the announcement, we got a handful of images from the new season — though there are still no real details on what the story will entail.


A still photo from Netflix’s Squid Game season 2.

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Image: Netflix

Why Sen. Brian Schatz thinks child safety bills can trump the First Amendment

The Democratic senator from Hawaii on regulating social media: ‘An algorithm doesn’t have a First Amendment right.’

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CEOs can be friends with the people setting their pay —

apparently they just have to disclose it first.

Axios writes that CEOs other than Elon Musk should still be fine to receive pay packages as big as they’d like, so long as they keep their board processes buttoned up.


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Volvo and Polestar drift a little farther apart.

The Volvo / Polestar relationship has always been complicated — as Volvo CEO Jim Rowan explained to me on Decoder last year, Volvo owns 48 percent of EV maker Polestar, Rowan sits on Polestar’s board, and both companies share tech and platforms with Volvo’s majority owner Geely — but it’s getting a little simpler, as Volvo announced it won’t be funding Polestar directly anymore. (Geely says it will, though. So, still complicated.)

The WSJ frames this as EV market noise, but Volvo is just about to start delivery of the new EX30 EV which seems like a hit, and Polestar just announced the 4, so maybe it’s just sibling rivalry. After all, Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath told me in 2021 that “we will always be some kind of family, but of course we will develop our own life.”