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Image: ESPN
ESPN is testing an AI-generated avatar (https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2024/11/generative-ai-avatar-facts-announced-at-4th-annual-espn-edge-conference/) with the Saturday college football show SEC Nation. Dubbed FACTS, it’s going to be “...promoting education and fun around sports analytics” with information drawn from ESPN Analytics, which includes data like the Football Power Index (FPI), player and team statistics, and game schedules. We haven’t seen the avatar in action, but it sounds like a bot-ified version of stats encyclopedia Howie Schwab (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/sports/howie-schwab-dead.html), who was ESPN’s first statistician and eventually the star of a mid-2000s game show, Stump the Schwab.
ESPN has already brought generative AI to its website with AI-written game recaps (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/10/24240955/espn-generative-ai-reports-womens-soccer-lacrosse-premier-league). FACTS is still in development, and there’s no word on when it could make its first appearance on the network.
FACTS...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297606/espn-generative-ai-avatar-facts)
Illustration: The Verge
Google Workspace is rolling out a Gemini-powered AI image generator (https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2024/11/use-gemini-in-google-docs-to-create-images.html) directly in Google Docs that lets you quickly whip up visuals for your writeups. Essentially, it's a clip art maker that follows in the footsteps of Microsoft’s AI-generated art feature (https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/12/23400270/ai-generated-art-dall-e-microsoft-designer-app-office-365-suite) in its Office products.
Google’s image generator in Docs is available to paid Workspace accounts that include the Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, Education Premium, or Google One AI Premium add-ons.
Those with the new feature can find it under Insert > Image > Help me create an image, which results in a “Create an image” sidebar where you can type in a description of what you’d like to make. It also provides a drop-down to select an art style with options such as “Photography” or...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297524/google-docs-gemini-ai-image-generator-clip-art)
Disney
Though the remainder of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur’s final season is set to hit the Disney Channel and Disney Plus some time next year (https://tvline.com/lists/ghosts-season-4-spoilers-trevor-unfinished-business/found-season-2-margaret-son-jamie/), the studio is reportedly keeping one episode from airing because of its focus on a transgender character.
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur has often touched on ideas about race, class, and issues like gentrification as it followed the adventures of genius 13-year-old Lunella Lafatette (Diamond White) and her pet dinosaur, Devil (Fred Tatasciore). But according to now-deleted social media posts from animators (https://www.tumblr.com/picturejasper20/767148733177692160/crew-members-from-moon-girl-and-devil-dinosaur?source=share) who worked on “The Gatekeeper” — an episode about Lunella and other members of her school’s volleyball team being terrorized by a transphobic adult — Disney has chosen to keep the episode from...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297438/moon-girl-and-devil-dinosaur-the-gatekeeper)
This could be so much better. | Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge
We could argue all day about the merits of iOS versus Android, but there’s one thing the Android ecosystem offers that you definitely won’t find from Apple right now: a decent midrange phone.
By “decent,” I mean something I can enthusiastically recommend. Not “Eh, if it’s literally your only option, then it’s fine,” which is how I’ve caveated my recommendations of the iPhone SE (https://www.theverge.com/23618862/best-iphone-camera-battery-screen-guide) over the past couple of years. Remember the SE? Apple released the first version (https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/25/11302968/apple-iphone-se-review) in 2016, putting a then-current A9 chip into an older body design for $399 compared to $649 for the iPhone 6S. I still have mine, and it rules.
Two generations later, and the SE is still Apple’s most affordable iPhone, now starting at $429. For that price, you get a well-built phone...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24296505/apple-iphone-se-rumors-mac-mini)
Casio’s smart ring is a tiny digital watch. | Image: Casio
Not to be outdone by its longtime rival, Casio has announced its own digital ring watch that brings more functionality than Timex’s wearable (https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/24/24278580/timexs-new-digital-ring-watch-actually-tells-time) that debuted last month. Created to help commemorate the 50th anniversary of Casio getting into the digital watch business, the CRW-001-1JR (https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=66960X1514734&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.casio.com%2Fjp%2Fwatches%2Fcasio%2Fproduct.CRW-001-1%2F&referrer=theverge.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2024%2F11%2F15%2F24297261%2Fcasio-smart-ring-digital-watch-crw-001-1jr) will be available in Japan starting in December for ￥19,800, or around $128.
Although the tiny watch’s case is just shy of being an inch in size, Casio has managed to squeeze in a retro six-segment LCD screen that can display hours, minutes, and seconds. The ring also includes three functional buttons that can control additional features like displaying the date or the time in a different time zone, and a stopwatch.
Image: Casio
Casio’s new...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297261/casio-smart-ring-digital-watch-crw-001-1jr)
Image: Cruise
GM’s Cruise will pay a criminal fine of $500,000 to resolve a federal investigation (https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/cruise-admits-submitting-false-report-influence-federal-investigation-and-agrees-pay) and accept a deferred prosecution agreement after the company admitted to falsifying a report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) “with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation” of a crash where one of its driverless vehicles struck and dragged a pedestrian in 2023 (https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/3/23901233/cruise-crash-hit-run-pedestrian-injury-sf-robotaxi).
NHTSA had already fined Cruise $1.5 million in September (https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/30/24258445/cruise-nhtsa-fine-robotaxi-pedestrian-drag) for submitting incomplete reports that failed to disclose that the robotaxi dragged the pedestrian 20 feet after they were hit by another vehicle and knocked into its path. The dragging wasn’t in a verbal summary Cruise employees gave to NHTSA the next day, video of the accident shown to...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297248/cruise-robotaxi-criminal-fine-falsify-report-pedestrian)
Image: Nick Barclay / The Verge
Facebook is making (https://creators.facebook.com/introducing-views-to-simplify-content) “views” its primary metric to measure the performance of content, bringing it in line with Instagram metrics (https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/7/24215398/instagram-primary-metric-views).
Views will be measured not just on video content but also on photos, text posts, and more. When Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced (https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-X7FtePYyj/) the switch to views this summer, he said that having one consistent metric across the platform would make it easier for creators to understand how their content was performing. For reels, a view is how many times the video was played. For everything else, a view is how many times a piece of content shows up on a user’s screen, and if the same user looks at it multiple times, each instance counts as a view.
Meta has also added a view count (https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/9/24152926/threads-view-count-feature-now-available) to posts on Threads, saying it’s an...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297255/facebook-metrics-views-instagram)
Photo: David Pierce / The Verge
The Rabbit R1 can now use AI to redesign the device’s entire interface (https://www.rabbit.tech/support/article/gen-ui-rabbit-r1) based on a prompt. Some examples shared by Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu show a Legend of Zelda-inspired interface, another made in the style of Windows XP (https://x.com/jessechenglyu/status/1857185916357673073), and one using a “dark green scanline background.” (https://x.com/jessechenglyu/status/1857190207843602681)
Though this seems like a fun way to customize the R1, Rabbit says responses on the AI-generated interfaces are “slower than the default UI on R1 and can take over 30 seconds to appear.” It suggests disabling this feature if you want the fastest responses possible.
''Generate UI in the style of The Legend of Zelda'' pic.twitter.com/uDGhgg5pbg (https://t.co/uDGhgg5pbg)— Jesse Lyu (@jessechenglyu) November 14, 2024 (https://twitter.com/jessechenglyu/status/1857180782357573987?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
You can turn on generative UI by logging into your rabbithole account, selecting...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297208/rabbit-r1-custom-interface-ai)
Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Some of us freshly anointed moms and dads pooled together our top tech picks that make early days with baby just a touch easier (or more fun and nerdy).
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/24224050/holiday-gifts-newborn-babies-new-parents-unique-ideas-2024-tech-gadgets)
Amazon’s latest Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a snappy streaming stick with impressive Alexa integration. | Image: Amazon
If you missed out on Amazon’s fall Prime Day event, the retailer’s early Black Friday sale (https://www.amazon.com/blackfriday/) is offering everybody another chance to score steep discounts on Amazon devices. One of the best deals currently available is on the latest Fire TV Stick 4K Max, which has dropped to an all-time low of $32.99 ($25 off) at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/all-new-amazon-fire-tv-stick-4k-max/dp/B0BP9SNVH9?tag=theverge02-20), Best Buy (https://howl.link/rwi7fjn3qde6x), and Target (https://goto.target.com/c/482924/81938/2092?subId1=vergeroundupdeals111524&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.target.com%2Fp%2Famazon-fire-tv-stick-4k-max-streaming-device-wi-fi-6-alexa-voice-remote-includes-tv-controls-2023%2F-%2FA-89419625).
Amazon’s latest streaming device is nearly identical to the last-gen model (https://www.theverge.com/22715206/amazon-fire-tv-stick-4k-max-review) — which was once one of our top recommendations (https://www.theverge.com/21375098/best-streaming-device) — only it features a number of iterative upgrades, including Wi-Fi 6E support and twice the storage (16GB). It can also display widgets and artwork when idle, much like recent TV offers from Hisense (https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/18/24201121/hisense-canvas-tv-samsung-frame-price-sizes) and TCL (https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=66960X1514734&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tcl.com%2Fus%2Fen%2Fpress-releases%2Ftcl-nxtframe-tv&referrer=theverge.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2024%2F11%2F15%2F24296519%2Famazon-fire-tv-stick-4k-max-logitech-g-pro-x-superlight-2-gaming-mouse-deal-sale), and you can use it to create your own backgrounds using voice prompts...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24296519/amazon-fire-tv-stick-4k-max-logitech-g-pro-x-superlight-2-gaming-mouse-deal-sale)
Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge
Bluesky hit 15 million users this week (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/13/24295484/bluesky-15-million-users-social-media-x-musk). And then 16 million (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/14/24296898/bluesky-is-having-its-highest-traffic-day-ever). The vibes on Bluesky are immaculate, and it seems to have a real and renewed chance to be the place that replaces Twitter for a lot of people. But then there’s Threads, which grew by approximately one Bluesky (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/14/24296490/meta-threads-15-million-adam-mosseri-bluesky) just this month. There’s also Mastodon, which is still hanging around, and of course there’s X. There are more options than ever, and it’s more confusing than ever.
On this episode of The Vergecast, we try and make sense of all this change. Will all this new growth and momentum help Bluesky grow not just as an app but as a decentralized protocol? Is it a real threat to ActivityPub and the notion of the fediverse? Do we know yet what kind of social network wants to be? And...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297196/bluesky-growth-threads-x-vergecast)
Image: HBO
HBO’s new Dune prequel series sharpens the Bene Gesserit’s history into pointed drama that calls for some patience.
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/24294672/dune-prophecy-review-hbo)
Nick Barclay / The Verge
The hacker behind one of the biggest-ever cryptocurrency heists will serve five years in prison for conspiring with his wife to launder billions in stolen Bitcoin. Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein was sentenced (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/bitfinex-hacker-sentenced-money-laundering-conspiracy-involving-billions-stolen) in Washington federal court Thursday after he admitted to hacking the Bitfinex crypto exchange in 2016 (https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/2/12364122/bitfinex-theft-61-million-dollars-bitcoin-cryptocurrency) and stealing almost 120,000 Bitcoin tokens.
Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were arrested in 2022, and in August last year both pled guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/bitfinex-hacker-and-wife-plead-guilty-money-laundering-conspiracy-involving-billions). The stolen cryptocurrency, worth around $71 million at the time of the theft, had soared in value to approximately $4.5 billion by the time Lichtenstein and Morgan were arrested. Valued at today’s prices, the stolen funds would be worth an even more...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297157/bitfinex-hacker-sentenced-crypto-bitcoin-heist)
Illustration: The Verge
Google has placed some new limitations on a Google Photos feature that allows users to automatically share images and videos in their library with a partner. The update to Partner Sharing now means that users can only share photos or videos that were taken using their device’s default camera app, meaning partners are unable to see screenshots or images shared on services like WhatsApp.
Some Reddit users (https://www.reddit.com/r/googlephotos/comments/1ghb30m/partner_sharing_only_shares_some_images/) who utilize Partner Sharing (https://www.reddit.com/r/googlephotos/comments/1gfibf1/google_photos_partner_sharing_isnt_working_anyone/) initially reported the issue (https://www.reddit.com/r/googlephotos/comments/1gjyasy/comment/lvhp34j/?context=3&share_id=9yNHfiRVykAXPbIPT_LRX&utm_content=1&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1) as a bug, but several comments made by a presumed Google employee (https://www.reddit.com/r/googlephotos/comments/1gjyasy/comment/lvhp34j/?context=3&share_id=9yNHfiRVykAXPbIPT_LRX&utm_content=1&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1) say the change was intentionally made “to better align with most users’ expectations.” This is backed up by an updated Partner Sharing help article (https://support.google.com/photos/answer/7378858?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&oco=1#zippy=%2Csave-your-partners-photos%2Cdelete-photos-you-recently-saved-from-your-partner) that says “photos from other apps on Android aren’t shared with your...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297178/google-photos-partner-sharing-update-third-party-apps)
Image: Tesla
Robin Zeng, the founder of the world’s largest EV battery company, says Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s big bet on 4680 cylindrical cell technology “is going to fail and never be successful.” Zeng, the chairman of China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), tells Reuters that when Musk visited China in April, “We had a very big debate, and I showed him. He was silent. He doesn’t know how to make a battery.”
Tesla’s “tabless” 4680 cells, which are used in some of its cars, including the Cybertruck, are supposed to have “five times (https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/22/21449238/tesla-electric-car-battery-tabless-cells-day-elon-musk)” more energy capacity, and the company announced in September (https://x.com/Tesla/status/1835019793688048054) it had produced 100 million of them. A recent report by The Information said Musk had given the team working on the batteries an end of the year deadline...
Continue reading… (https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/14/24296777/tesla-catl-ev-battery-maker-elon-musk-4860-cell)
ESPN is testing a generative AI avatar called ‘FACTS’
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297606/espn-generative-ai-avatar-facts
Google will let you make AI clip art for your documents
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297524/google-docs-gemini-ai-image-generator-clip-art
Disney has reportedly pulled a Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur episode for telling a trans-inclusive story
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297438/moon-girl-and-devil-dinosaur-the-gatekeeper
The new Mac Mini is great — now do the iPhone SE
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24296505/apple-iphone-se-rumors-mac-mini
Casio’s first smart ring has innovative features like a stopwatch and flashing alarm
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297261/casio-smart-ring-digital-watch-crw-001-1jr
Cruise fined $500K for submitting a false report after last year’s pedestrian crash
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297248/cruise-robotaxi-criminal-fine-falsify-report-pedestrian
Facebook is changing its primary metric to ‘views’
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297255/facebook-metrics-views-instagram
The Rabbit R1 now lets you remake its whole interface
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297208/rabbit-r1-custom-interface-ai
The Verge’s 2024 holiday gift guide for new parents
https://www.theverge.com/24224050/holiday-gifts-newborn-babies-new-parents-unique-ideas-2024-tech-gadgets
Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max has plunged to a record-low for Black Friday
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24296519/amazon-fire-tv-stick-4k-max-logitech-g-pro-x-superlight-2-gaming-mouse-deal-sale
Bluesky’s quest to be the next Twitter
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297196/bluesky-growth-threads-x-vergecast
Dune: Prophecy is a slow and cerebral meditation on the power of patience
https://www.theverge.com/24294672/dune-prophecy-review-hbo
Bitfinex hacker receives five-year sentence for record-breaking crypto heist
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297157/bitfinex-hacker-sentenced-crypto-bitcoin-heist
Google Photos Partner Sharing is less of a snitch now
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/15/24297178/google-photos-partner-sharing-update-third-party-apps
The world’s biggest battery maker says Elon Musk’s 4680 cell ‘is going to fail’
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/14/24296777/tesla-catl-ev-battery-maker-elon-musk-4860-cell