The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics are about to begin, with the first events kicking off on July 24th and competition ending on August 11th. (You can see the full schedule on the Olympics website.) If you’re a Peacock subscriber, you’ll be able to watch live coverage of every event and take advantage of features like enhanced multiview and, um, daily recaps featuring an AI-generated version of Al Michaels’ voice.
Here’s our coverage of the biggest tech stories out of the Olympics.
Highlights
Jul 26
Canadian soccer teams have been spying with drones for years
Bev Priestman, head coach of the Canadian Olympic women’s soccer team, has been suspended for the rest of the Paris Games. Photo by Vaughn Ridley / Getty ImagesThe plot in Canadian soccer’s Olympic drone spying scandal thickens. A TSN report alleges that the Canadian men’s and women’s soccer teams have been spying on opponents — with and without drones — for years.
Read Article >Earlier this week, the Canadian Olympic women’s soccer team landed in hot water after the New Zealand team spotted a drone flying over their practice. The incident was reported to French authorities, and it was discovered that the drone operator was Joseph Lombardi, an unaccredited “analyst” with the Canadian squad. Lombardi and assistant coach Jasmine Mander were subsequently sent home, while head coach Bev Priestman voluntarily withdrew from the opening match against New Zealand. Priestman has since been suspended from the Games entirely.
Jul 26
How to stream the Olympics like a champ
Peacock’s Multiview is a way to see all the best stuff at the Olympics all at once. Image: PeacockFor once, the answer for how to stream sports is simple: if you want to watch the 2024 Paris Olympics, you need only open up Peacock. This is the third time the Peacock team has streamed the Olympics, but it’s the company’s biggest undertaking yet: 5,000 hours of content over two weeks across 39 sports, all of it streaming live. Every day, from morning until midafternoon, there will be live sports; in the evening, NBC will air its prime-time show with all the best action from the day. “This is the most content we’ve ever had on the platform,” says John Jelley, NBCUniversal’s SVP of product and user experience. His team’s goal is to help you make sense of all of it.
Read Article >(Disclosure: Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, is also an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.)
Jul 26
Canada suspends women's soccer coach as the drone spying scandal widens.Canadian officials now say that in addition to the drone practice spying incident earlier this week, "additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games."
Canada Soccer CEO & General Secretary Kevin Blue:
In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer has made the decision to suspend Women’s National Soccer Team Head Coach, Bev Priestman for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and until the completion of our recently announced independent external review.
Jul 25
Team Canada soccer analyst admits to drone spying.According to a release by French prosecutors, Joseph Lombardi, the “unaccredited analyst” with Canada’s Olympic women’s soccer team, accepted a suspended eight month imprisonment sentence after admitting to spying on New Zealand’s team to learn its tactics.
The sport’s governing body has opened proceedings against Canada Soccer, while New Zealand has asked that no points be awarded to Canada if it wins today.
Jul 24
Olympic drone spying scandal lands Canadian coach a red card
Canadian soccer coach Bev Priestman will miss the Olympic team’s opening match against New Zealand. Photo by Vaughn Ridley / Getty ImagesA member of the Canadian Olympic women’s soccer team was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand’s practice session on Monday. It’s said to be the second “drone incident” at a New Zealand practice over the past week.
Read Article >As a result, the Canadian Olympic Committee has announced that soccer coach Bev Priestman will not coach the Olympic team’s opening match tomorrow. Two other staffers have been removed from the team and are being sent home from the games.
Jul 24
We have a drone scandal at the Paris Olympics.Really.
NZOC:
On July 22, a drone was flown over the New Zealand women’s football team training session in St Etienne.
Team support members immediately reported the incident to police, leading to the drone operator, who has been identified as a support staff member of the wider Canadian Women’s football team, to be detained.
Canada -- the defending champ -- plays New Zealand Friday. TSN notes Honduras accused Canada's men's team of drone spying in 2021, while France's prime minister said security is intercepting six drones per day.
Jul 23
Getting a phone upgrade the hard way.Samsung gave 17,000 of its Galaxy Z Flip 6 phones to athletes and others around the Olympic and Paralympic games, and here’s one more unboxing.
The phone itself isn’t more impressive than anyone else’s, but British rower Imogen Grant chose a tough upgrade path — the phone she’s replacing was another freebie from Samsung that she picked up at the Tokyo Olympics.
Jul 22
“Bro, I told you it’s got both sides on it.”Olympians unboxing folding phones is my new favorite video genre. Watch members of New Zealand’s swimming team unbox their new Galaxy Z Flip 6 phones — in gold, naturally — which were supplied by Olympic sponsor Samsung. Not only is it delightful when they discover the screen is on “both sides,” the guys and I agree that it’s time for a foldable iPhone, too.
Jul 18
Google’s Gemini AI will be all over the Paris Olympics broadcast
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesGoogle has bought itself the title of “official AI sponsor for Team USA,” and when the 2024 Olympics broadcast starts on July 26th, you will be reminded of that frequently. NBCUniversal’s partnership with Google will put many of the company’s AI-powered features front and center during the event.
Read Article >The broadcast will include Google Maps’ 3D views of venues like the Versailles, Stade Roland Garros, and the Aquatics Centre, as well as tidbits about what events will occur at each location. The imagery pulls from the Immersive Views added to Maps over the last few years that represent certain landmarks and areas of interest with photorealistic models.
Jul 18
Comcast will have high bitrate, low latency 4K feeds of the Olympics.NBCUniversal owner Comcast announced tweaks it’s adding for the Paris Olympics on X1, like a customizable home screen and an “enhanced” 4K feed for the USA Network’s 24/7 broadcast sent over cable to X1 boxes.
...enhanced 4K brings together 4K video delivered over Comcast’s network at its highest bitrate, Dolby Vision® for life-like picture quality, Dolby Atmos immersive audio, and ultra-low latency
A support page explains, “Enhanced 4K will be available on XG1v4 (low latency feed) and Hi-Fi on Xi6 (30 Mbps and low latency).”
Disclosure: Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, is also an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.
Comcast 4K vs. enhanced 4K, delivered over the managed network as a cable channel. Image: ComcastJul 16
Uber will let you see average fares and wait times for different cities
Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeUber rolled out a new update that lets users search average fares and wait times for planned trips in other cities. The company said it wants to give people who are planning trips or vacations more visibility into how much it will cost to book Uber rides when they get there.
Read Article >The update will give people access to fare and wait time details in approximately 10,000 cities globally, Uber says. The change rolls out starting on Tuesday, July 16th.
Jun 26
Japan’s Olympic athletes will wear outfits designed to block infrared cameras
Image: The VergeAt the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, Le Monde reports that athletes on Japan’s volleyball, track and field, and other teams will be competing in outfits made from a new fabric that can better absorb infrared light. Similar to stealth aircraft that avoid detection by deflecting radar signals away from detectors, the fabric absorbs and prevents infrared light from reaching cameras and infrared sensors.
Read Article >Some devices have unintentionally demonstrated how the infrared sensing used in night vision goggles and thermal cameras can reveal the unseen, like the OnePlus 8 Pro’s “Photochrom” color filter that worked like X-ray vision on the thin shell of an Apple TV. When used on people, infrared photography can reveal the lines of a person’s body or the undergarments they’re wearing beneath a thin layer of clothing, such as those worn by athletes.
Jun 26
NBC’s Paris Olympics coverage will have AI-generated recaps, split screen, and more
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesThe Paris 2024 Olympics are nearly here. The opening ceremony starts on July 26th, and this year’s events run through August 11th. On the main NBC channel, you can see hours of live morning and afternoon coverage of events like swimming and gymnastics ahead of a three-hour primetime recap, to go along with livestreams of every sport and event and full event replays on Peacock.
Read Article >One key aspect of NBC’s Peacock coverage will be an Olympics hub, which spotlights major events happening live, lets you browse by sport and by “star athlete,” offers an interactive schedule, and includes an up-to-date count of medal standings.
Jun 26
An AI version of Al Michaels will deliver Olympic recaps on Peacock
Photo by Cooper Neill / Getty ImagesLegendary sportscaster Al Michaels is going to give daily, personalized recaps of the Paris Olympics on Peacock — well, an AI-generated Al Michaels voice will. In practice, the effect is a lot like hearing a sports announcer’s voice in a video game like Madden, except it’s spitting out lines about real-life sports, which, in this case, means custom Olympics coverage.
Read Article >Here’s how it works. To set up what NBC is calling “Your Daily Olympic Recap” in the Peacock app, you’ll provide your name (the AI voice can welcome the “majority” of people by their first name, NBC says in a press release) and pick up to three types of sports that are interesting to you and up to two types of highlights (for example, “Top Competition” or “Viral & Trending Moments”). Then, each morning, you’ll get your Michaels-led rundown.
Jun 18
Athletes sound warning about extreme heat at Summer Olympics
New Zealand’s Marcus Daniell (TOP) and Michael Venus compete against USA’s Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren during their Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games men’s doubles tennis match for the bronze medal at the Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo on July 30th, 2021. Photo by Vincenzo Pinto / AFP via Getty ImagesAthletes are raising concerns about how extreme heat might affect the Summer Olympic Games in Paris, according to a new report. They’re worried that soaring temperatures pose serious health risks to competitors and spectators, not to mention their performance suffering.
Read Article >Average temperatures during the months when the Summer Olympics are typically held have risen by more than 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) since the last time the Games were held in Paris in 1924, according to the report. Every fraction of a degree of difference can have an impact, considering even a 0.5 degree Celsius rise in core body temperature can increase a person’s heartbeat up to 10 beats per minute. In a worst-case scenario, that can lead to heat exhaustion that could worsen into heatstroke without any intervention.