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"In God We Trust".

A new report from ProPublica published Thursday showed how the Louisiana government is using TIGER (Targeted Interventions to Greater Enhance Re-entry), a computer program developed by Louisiana State University to prevent recidivism, to approve or deny parole applications based on a score calculating their risk of returning to prison. Though the algorithm was initially designed to be used as a tool to help rehabilitate inmates by taking their background into account, a TIGER score – which uses data from an inmate’s time before prison, such as work history, criminal convictions, and age at first arrest – is now the sole measure of one’s eligibility.

In interviews, several prisoners revealed that their scheduled parole hearings had been abruptly canceled after their TIGER score determined that they were at “moderate risk” of returning to prison. There is no factor in a TIGER score that takes into account an inmate’s behavior in prison or attempts at rehab – a score that criminal justice activists argue penalizes one’s racial and demographic background. (According to current state Department of Corrections data, half of Louisiana’s prison population of roughly 13,000 would automatically fall in the moderate or high risk categories.)

One included Calvin Alexander, a 70-year-old partially blind man in a wheelchair, who had been in prison for 20 years, but had spent his time in drug rehab, anger management therapy, and professional skills development, and had a clean disciplinary record. “People in jail have … lost hope in being able to do anything to reduce their time,” he told ProPublica.

Parole via algorithm is not just legal in Louisiana, but a deliberate element in Republican Governor Jeff Landry’s crusade against parole. Last year, he signed a law eliminating parole for all prisoners who committed a crime after August 1st, 2024, making Louisiana the first state to eliminate parole in 24 years. A subsequent law decreed that currently-incarcerated prisoners would only be eligible for parole if the algorithm determined they were “low risk”.

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For a while, it looked like President Donald Trump was going to have Big Tech’s back.

Now, the tech industry is collateral damage in his global trade war.

On Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen floated the idea of placing “a levy on the advertising revenues of digital services” if tariff negotiations with the US go south. This would be the opposite outcome that tech CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg were hoping for when they threw their support behind the new administration.

To someone like Zuckerberg, Trump was supposed to be the strong-armed leader to bring the overbearing EU to heel. Instead, the rhetoric between the US and EU is ratcheting up just weeks before the EU is already set to fine Meta (and Apple) for violating its Digital Markets Act.

While certainly more of a self-inflicted wound, Elon Musk’s popularity in the US has “inverted as his support for President Trump has increased,” Nate Silver wrote this week. Tesla’s stock price, meanwhile. has lost over a third of its value this year, and, thanks to tariffs, the company has removed the option to buy new, US-made vehicles in China.

As I predicted last week, TikTok is particularly s …

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Netflix is starting to test search that’s powered by OpenAI, according to Bloomberg.

The new search engine will let users “look for shows using far more specific terms, including the subscriber’s mood, for example, the company said,” per the report. This OpenAI-powered search will also allow users to make queries that “go well beyond genres or actors’ names.”

The feature, which is opt in, is already available for some users to try in Australia and New Zealand on iOS.

Netflix spokesperson MoMo Zhou confirmed to The Verge that Bloomberg’s story is accurate. Zhou says that the test will expand to the US “in the coming weeks and months” and that there aren’t currently plans for the feature outside of iOS.

“It’s early days for the feature and we’re really in a learn and listen phase for this beta,” Zhou says.

OpenAI didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

In an interview on the Decoder podcast last year, The Verge’s editor-in-chief, Nilay Patel, asked Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters about how the company was thinking about AI. Here was part of his response:

We have a long history of using machine learning and artificial intelligence in our recommender systems. We’ve been doing that for 20-some years. Again, we think that our job is to be proactive about understanding where there’s technical innovation. How do we use that both to serve creators, allow them to tell their stories in more compelling ways, and also then to serve our members better user experiences?

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The Toshiba Aurex AX-RP10 features a built-in rechargeable battery for up to 10 hours of wireless playback. | Image: Toshiba

Toshiba has announced a new record player designed for vinyl enthusiasts who want to make their analog music collections more portable. The Aurex AX-RP10 is by no means pocket-friendly like Sony’s Walkman or Apple’s iPod, but it’s small enough to haul around in an included shoulder bag while still accommodating 12-inch records, and it can be used completely wirelessly thanks to a built-in USB-C charged battery.

The AX-RP10’s compact design is reminiscent of the iconic Audio-Technica Sound Burger which was re-released in 2022, but not quite as small. You can still haul it to the beach or the park for a picnic, but it will also appeal to vinyl enthusiasts trying to minimize the footprint of their hobby at home. Pricing information hasn’t been announced yet, but it’s expected to ship sometime in April 2025.

Like the Sound Burger, the AX-RP10 has a built-in battery with a 2,000mAh capacity that Toshiba says should last up to 10 hours. It’s compatible with both 33 1/3 and 45 rpm records, and uses MM type cartridges. The belt-driven turntable has no speakers of its own, but includes a stereo mini audio jack for plugging in wired headphones or connecting it to a sound system.

If you want to go completely wireless and are okay with the analog sound of your vinyl collection being digitally compressed, the AX-RP10 includes Bluetooth connectivity so it can be used with wireless headphones and speakers. That’s not going to appeal to audiophiles, but neither is the rest of the AX-RP10’s hardware.

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Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch 8, which brings changes like 12 new subclasses, crossplay, and a photo mode, launches on April 15th, developer Larian Studios announced on Friday.

The patch, set to be the game’s last major update, was originally announced in November 2024, so it’s been a long time coming (though Larian has been stress testing it ahead of the official launch).

The 12 new subclasses mean that each of the game’s main classes — Bard, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock and Wizard — will be getting an additional subclass. You can see the full list of new subclasses in this November post from Larian.

With crossplay, you’ll be able to play multiplayer with your friends no matter what platform they’re on. And the game’s photo mode will offer features like different lens settings, scene settings, and even stickers.

Larian will also be hosting a Twitch stream about Patch 8 on April 16th at 9AM ET.

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After years of stuntwork largely being overlooked by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Oscars are about to add a new category. Today, the Academy announced that it intends to start giving out Oscar statues for stunt design starting with films released in 2027 for the awards ceremony’s 100th anniversary.

“Since the early days of cinema, stunt design has been an integral part of filmmaking,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement about the new category. “We are proud to honor the innovative work of these technical and creative artists, and we congratulate them for their commitment and dedication in reaching this momentous occasion.”

The Academy has yet to announce any other eligibility rules for films that will be nominated in the new category. “The specifics of the award’s presentation will be determined by the Academy’s Board of Governors and executive leadership at a future date,” according to the Academy’s press release.

Though over 100 stunt workers are currently members of the Academy’s Production and Technology Branch, as The Hollywood Reporter notes, the organization has only ever given out two (honorary) Oscars to stunt performers. Now that the new category has been established, we’re probably going to start seeing studios putting a lot more emphasis on their projects’ death-defying set pieces.

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The typo only makes it funnier.

ChatGPT’s latest image generator had an explosive debut thanks to the viral Studio Ghibli art trend, and LinkedIn users have now jumped on a new gimmick: turning yourself into a toy.

There are several flavors of the trend being shared. The “AI Action Figure” variant appears to have gained the most traction, in which a person generates a plastic version of themselves in a blister pack, alongside various accessories — typically a laptop, a book, and a coffee cup, which is fitting given LinkedIn is largely driving this trend. Other versions try to specifically emulate recognizable branding, such as the “Barbie Box Challenge.”

While the trend started on LinkedIn, it’s since started to leak over to other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. It hasn’t taken off to anywhere near the extent that the Ghibli art craze did, however, which is still outperforming every AI Barbie/action figure/doll term I could think of in Google’s Search rankings. The Ghibli art style trend also attracted some online backlash from creatives and fans of the animation studio over ethical, environmental, and copyright concerns, but that hasn’t popped up to the same extent — yet, at least — with this latest viral bandwagon.

The common theme across every AI-generated figurine is that ChatGPT is typically the only AI image generator mentioned. The text-to-image update was so popular at launch last month that OpenAI had to limit image generation and push back access to free ChatGPT accounts to prevent its servers from being overloaded. This action figure trend may be far smaller than the Ghibli images that preceded it, but it sets another precedent for ChatGPT being the AI service that lures in everyday joes.

Most of this new semi-viral trend is contained within LinkedIn, shared by marketers and wannabe thought leaders with very little engagement to show for it. A few notable brands like Mac Cosmetics and NYX Cosmetics have jumped on board, but recognizable stars and influencers don’t seem interested in joining in. The closest thing to a “famous person” I’ve seen to try it out is Marjorie Taylor Greene. Make of that what you will.

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People were already mad at Garmin raising the cost of the Fenix 8 before they added a subscription.

Two weeks ago, Garmin announced it was launching a new subscription. Where the Garmin Connect app had previously offered everything from in-depth metrics and training plans for free, the beloved fitness tech company was now adding premium AI summaries, among other features, behind a paywall. In The Verge comments, my social media mentions, and the r/Garmin subreddit, cries about enshittification ensued.

Then, earlier this week, Garmin-competitor Polar announced that it, too, was launching a premium subscription called Polar Fitness Plan. There was no AI component, but in a nutshell, Polar is now asking long-time users to pay for training plans that it had previously, in some capacity, offered for free.

The march toward subscriptions, particularly in the wearable space, didn’t crop up overnight. You could trace it back to Apple’s infamous services event in 2019 (if not earlier), when the company made a marked shift from hardware to services. But Garmin and Polar’s examples stand out. In the world of premium rugged smartwatches, long-time fans often accepted the several hundreds — sometimes thousands — of dollars for their hardware because they didn’t paywall features.

“Garmins have always felt a little on the high side price wise, but it was justifiable as there was no ongoing cost,” Threads user aaronpfisher told me when I asked Garmin loyalists how they felt. “Strava have taken more and more and hidden behind a paywall and that’s how I fear this will end up too.”

“Customers are rightly worried that all of the best features will be behind a paywall,” says subscriptions expert Robbie Kellman Baxter, author of The Membership Economy and The Forever Transaction. “They have told customers not to worry — that the base software will always be available for free. But they have not been clear about whether or how much they will continue to improve the free version.”

It’s an understandable frustration. Generally, Baxter says, customers are resistant to subscribing to access features or their variations if they’ve previously received them for free. That’s borne out in recent examples. Oura Health, maker of the popular smart ring, faced immense backlash upon launching a subscription alongside Oura Ring Gen 3 in 2021. Recently, popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, better known as MKBHD, also incurred the internet’s wrath when he introduced a subscription to his wallpaper app. Likewise, BMW also received heat when it tried to add a monthly subscription for heated seats in its cars.

But that anger might be something consumers have to get used to in the coming months. Increasingly, hardware sales no longer keep the lights on — and President Trump’s tariffs will only add fuel to the subscription wars.

Regardless of what the final tariff rates are, experts who have spoken to The Verge largely agree that gadget prices — and the price of everything else — will rise. Should nothing change, it might spur short-term buying, as consumers rush to snap up devices before price hikes. It may lead to people holding onto their devices longer and buying less in the mid-to-long term. In that scenario, charging for services becomes the most obvious way to keep the lights on.

“If hardware becomes more expensive, software will be a way for hardware companies to grow.”

“If hardware becomes more expensive, software will be a way for hardware companies to grow,” says Baxter, noting that Trump’s tariffs will push companies to focus on accelerating software and software-as-a-service subscriptions. “It also might change how they manufacture their products—designing for long-term stability and software flexibility. If companies designed hardware to last twice as long, and to deliver much of the value through software upgrades, they might be able to funnel more of their revenue through the ‘software’ side than the ‘hardware’ side.”

The question is whether companies can convince their customers the cost is worth it. Simply slapping on new features without thinking of the value they can provide could alienate loyal users. In fitness tech, athletes have largely decried Strava’s attempt to add value to its subscription through AI summaries, describing the feature as useless. (Or, more cuttingly, like “reading a book report a third-grader wrote.”)

Either way, it doesn’t look like there’ll be any relief for subscription fatigue any time soon.

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Here we go again.

China has once again raised its tariff on US goods to match Trump’s, for what it says is the final time. China’s tariff is now set at 125 percent, as it warns that the US is on track to become an economic “joke.”

In a statement from China’s Ministry of Finance, which we’ve translated using Google, the country says that any further tariffs from the US side would “no longer make economic sense,” and that the US “will become a joke in the history of the world economy.” Trump initially set a tariff of 10 percent for China in February, which has risen four times, now set at 145 percent. Until now, China has retaliated in kind with its own matching tariff hikes.

China says that at the new tariff rate of 125 percent there is no longer any “market acceptance for US goods exported to China,” so there’s no sense in raising tariffs further. “If the US continues to play the tariff numbers game, China will ignore it,” the statement says.

China isn’t ruling out other forms of retaliation, however, ending the statement with a warning: “If the US insists on continuing to substantially infringe on China’s interests, China will resolutely counterattack and fight to the end.” Yesterday the country announced it was reducing the number of Hollywood films it would permit to release, and over the last week it has also restricted import and export rights for a number of US companies.

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Yes, this collection’s packaging plays Doom. | Image: Limited Run Games

Will it run Doom? The question that has challenged tinkerers and hardware hackers for years has now come full circle. Limited Run Games has announced a new collector’s edition of the iconic first-person shooter that ships in a box that itself can play Doom on a built-in screen.

The Doom plus Doom II Will It Run Edition, available in Switch, Xbox, PS5, and PC versions, will be available for preorder starting on Friday, April 18th, 2025 at 10:00AM ET. It’s being limited to just 666 units, naturally, at a price of $666.66. When asked if the steep but fitting price tag would be affected by tariffs, Alex Verrey, an LRG spokesperson, told The Verge in an email that “I do not believe there are any plans at this time to change the pricing due to tariffs.”

Although a $29.99 Standard Edition and a $99.99 Big Box Edition will also be available, the Will It Run Edition includes an assortment of extra games, levels, gameplay upgrades, and add-ons that could justify the expensive collection for Doom’s biggest fans. But it’s the other accessories that will be its biggest selling point.

In addition to the Doom-playing box, the Will It Run Edition includes four hours of the game’s soundtrack on four cassette tapes (despite audio CDs existing long before the original Doom launched), a three-inch Cacodemon figurine that floats atop a magnetic base, and a pack of random trading cards. But the pièce de résistance is a Doom-playing handheld shaped like a Cacodemon with several of its teeth doubling as controller buttons. Let’s hope LRG decides to sell that on its own one day.

On the games side of things, the Will It Run Edition includes Doom, Doom II, TNT: Evilution, The Plutonia Experiment, Master Levels for Doom II, No Rest for the Living, Sigil and Sigil II, a new Deathmatch pack with 25 maps, and Legacy of Rust which was released just last year. The games also feature enhancements such as alternate soundtracks, upgraded visuals, modern controller support with gyroscopic aiming, new accessibility options, and eight new translations including Korean, simplified and traditional Chinese, Portuguese, and Polish.

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Black folks are loud. We laugh loud, we love loud, we protest loud. But when we really want to show our approval, we get quiet first. When we laugh at something funny, like really laugh, it sounds like a thin wheeze before sound bursts forth like a storm. And within seconds of starting South of Midnight, as I walked around the protagonist Hazel’s home and seeing a piece of art that was an obvious and deliberate homage to the painter Annie Lee’s Blue Monday, I wordlessly put my Steam Deck down and took a quiet lap around my living room before I started shouting.

South of Midnight is the latest title from Compulsion Games, a Canadian studio best known for making We Happy Few. It follows Hazel, a young woman who must rescue her mother after a hurricane sweeps their home away. Along her journey, she comes into her powers as a Weaver, or guardians who can see the strands that connect all life in what’s known as the Grand Tapestry and can repair it when those strands get knotted by pain and trauma.

The game is an action platformer. Hazel progresses by using her Weaver abilities to heal the blighted landscape and defeat enemies called haints – a Southern term used to describe gho …

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DoorDash’s international arm Wolt has already been experimenting with Coco’s fleet of sidewalk robots in Helsinki, Finland. Now, DoorDash is linking up with sidewalk robot maker Coco to expand automated food deliveries to the US. It’s live in Los Angeles and Chicago with nearly 600 merchants set up to drop your lunch and other goods into the bellies of cute little icebox-looking bots.

In a press release, senior director of DoorDash Labs, Harrison Shih, says the Coco partnership is part of the company’s goal of becoming a “multi-modal” platform. “Not every delivery needs a 2-ton car just to deliver two chicken sandwiches,” said Shih.

Besides standard human driver deliveries and Coco bots, the company is also trying drone deliveries with Alphabet’s Wing in the US and Australia. DoorDash has so far completed over 100,000 deliveries worldwide with Coco under its initial pilot phase.

Coco’s robot has already been rolling down the block in Los Angeles with DoorDash competitor Uber Eats, which has previously experimented with multiple robot makers like Cartken in Miami, Florida and Japan, as well as Avride in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Operating delivery robots isn’t without its difficulties. Companies like Serve Robotics, which also works with Uber Eats, have teams to monitor and help their cute little sidewalk couriers if they get stuck, or rescue them after people vandalize or try to steal from them.

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YouTube is giving creators a new AI tool that can generate instrumental tracks to use in videos for free without worrying about copyright claims, TechCrunch reports. The new feature was demonstrated in a video posted on the company’s Creator Insider channel this week.

In the video, the host, Lauren, shows a new tab in the Creator Music beta section on YouTube called “Music assistant” where you can enter a prompt like “give me uplifting and motivational music for a workout montage.” The tool then generates several tracks you can review and download so you can add them to your video editor. Lauren says it’s gradually rolling Music assistant out for users who have access to Creator Music.

Music assistant is one of several AI music-generating tools out there. Companies like Stability AI have a diffusion model that can make background audio for projects, and Meta’s open-source AudioCraft and MusicGen models can synthesize sounds and media using prompts, too.

YouTube has also experimented with AI music in other ways. It built a music remixer that lets you “restyle” popular songs to add to your Shorts. And its Dream Track feature, powered by Lyria from Google’s DeepMind, lets you hum songs and turn them into music tracks in the style of participating artists like T-Pain.

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On Monday, Meta will face the Federal Trade Commission in a legal fight that could reshape the social media landscape.

Over the next two months, the US government will make its case that the company’s 2012 acquisition of Instagram and 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp squashed potential threats to its dominance. Meta, which went by the name of Facebook at the time, will defend itself by arguing that it helped grow those acquisitions into large businesses used by billions of people while facing plenty of competition along the way. The company’s senior executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former COO Sheryl Sandberg, are expected to testify during the trial in Washington, DC.

The trial itself has been a long time coming. It’s based on a lawsuit filed under the first Trump administration and then amended under the Biden administration, seeking solutions as dramatic as unwinding Meta’s big mergers. It’s the third US trial attempting to bust up Big Tech in two years, following the Justice Department’s successful case against Google’s search business and a second one pending a decision against its ad tech business. It kicks off amid a broad rethinking of how antitrust …

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Doctor Who’s shapeshifting Time Lord almost always has a plan when they encounter new threats from beyond the stars. And the Doctor’s companions can usually count on them to pull a convoluted, crisis-averting trick out of their sleeves whenever things get too hairy. In the past, the Doctor has often been presented as more of an eccentric leader whose human friends need them to take charge in dangerous situations. But Doctor Who’s latest season is poised to switch things up by pairing the Doctor with someone who already knows a thing or two about staying levelheaded in times of crisis.

Though Ruby Sunday — the mysterious keyboardist played by Millie Gibson — will still be part of Doctor Who’s upcoming season, that dynamic is going to be complicated by the arrival of a new companion. Like many of the Doctor’s previous traveling partners, Belinda Chandra (Andor alum Varada Sethu) is an ordinary woman who isn’t clued in to the extraterrestrial happenings constantly popping off across the planet. She’s an overworked nurse who loves her job more than she loathes her aggravating roommates.

Because there’s always a doctor who needs her attention at work, Belinda does …

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OpenAI is giving ChatGPT a memory upgrade that allows it to recall old conversations that you didn’t ask it to save. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on X that the chatbot can “now reference all your past conversations,” and that the update aligns with the company’s goal to develop “AI systems that get to know you over your life.”

This builds on the “Memory” feature that was added to ChatGPT last year, which allowed limited information like queries, prompts, and customizations to be retained and used for future responses. With the long-term memory update, ChatGPT will now recall information in two ways — using the “saved memories” that users have manually asked it to remember, and “reference chat history,” which are “insights ChatGPT gathers from past chats to improve future ones,” according to OpenAI.

The update will be available everywhere except in the EU, UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, likely due to these regions having tight AI regulations that Altman has objected to in the past. It’s currently being rolled out to users paying for ChatGPT’s $200 monthly Pro subscription and will be available “soon” for $20 Plus subscribers, according to Altman. OpenAI also says it will be available to Team, Enterprise, and Edu users “in a few weeks,” but there’s no word on when — or if — it will roll out to free users.

Memory is an optional feature for ChatGPT. Users who don’t want the chatbot to save any conversations can toggle off saved memories under the ChatGPT personalization settings, or use the temporary chat function to ask it inquiries that won’t use or affect memory. ChatGPT’s memory upgrade follows a similar update that Google made to Gemini AI in February that allows it to recall older conversations to provide more personalized or relevant responses.

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Samsung’s Frame TV uses an anti-glare matte panel that makes it look more akin to a painting than a traditional TV.

Now that Samsung has launched its 2025 lineup, including the high-end Frame Pro, we’re starting to see steep discounts land on the 2024 models. Right now, for example, Samsung’s 85-inch Frame TV — its largest Frame TV to date — has dropped to around $2,498 ($1,800 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung’s online storefront. Other sizes are on sale at Amazon as well, with the 43- and 75-inch configurations going for $797.99 ($200 off) and $1,997.99 ($1,000 off), respectively.

Samsung’s Frame TV remains one of the most unique models on the market, even if Hisense and TCL both launched competing models last year. The 4K QLED can showcase artwork on an anti-glare matte panel when idle, which gives it a canvas-like appearance. The Frame is more than just eye candy, though, as it offers a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, support for several streaming apps, and compatibility with Alexa and Google Assistant. It also boasts HDMI 2.1 support, though it’s still better for streaming shows and movies than it is for gaming.

There are some features you’ll only find in the 2025 models and the Pro, however, like a faster 144Hz refresh rate. Plus, only the Frame Pro comes with a Neo QLED Mini-LED panel and a Wireless One Connect Box, which drastically minimizes cable clutter so only the power cord is visible. But if all you want is a cool TV that looks like a piece of wall art and offers good specs, the last-gen model is still a great choice.

A few more ways to save today

If you’re looking for a minimalist smartphone, you can still preorder the Light Phone III ahead of its August debut for $599 ($200 off). The charming phone is a bit of an upgrade over previous models — it’s got a 3.92-inch OLED panel, a 50-megapixel main shooter, and USB-C — but its main selling point remains its lack of features. It connects to all the major US carriers, but unlike virtually every other smartphone in existence, there’s no app store, no social media, and no browser. We just wish some of the newer features, such as the fingerprint reader, were active. Read our review.Hades II might already be available for PC in early access, but if you’re holding out for the console release on the Nintendo Switch 2 and need a refresher, Nintendo is selling the digital Switch version of the original Hadesfor $8.74 (about $16 off) through April 21st. The hack-and-slash action RPG was one of our favorite games in 2020, one that combines great roguelike gameplay, gorgeous visuals, and a Greek-mythology-inspired storyline to great effect.You can buy Baseus’ 3.3-foot Right Angle USB-C Cable for $12.74 (about $3 off) at Amazon, or the 6.6-foot version for $17.09 (about $2 off). The braided USB-C cable can supply up to 100W of power, while its angled design allows for a more comfortable grip while gaming on an Android phone or a more recent iPhone model.

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My phone dings, and a notification from Instagram pops up: “Clark’s Closet Connection’s countdown has ended.” I click the alert to head to the profile page and start refreshing as new posts furiously come in on tonight’s “drop.”

Size 10 Mario sneakers. Moana-themed Hanna Andersson pajamas. A 3T Boden skort.

Users, mostly moms, comment “me!” on posts to claim the item. It’s first come, first served. Tonight, a total of 36 items are posted, and 24 are claimed in the short time it takes for owner Ashley Hauri to complete posting. She comments back to confirm the purchase, and then sends Venmo requests for the payment.

Hauri is one of a growing number of thrift store resellers, sometimes called thrift store flippers, moving their business from resale platforms like Poshmark to more intimate social platforms like Instagram to build a closer relationship with their customers — even though those social platforms are worse for sellers.

“Instagram is one zillion percent not set up for selling,” Hauri, who lives in Kansas City, said. “For me, it’s the community there that is the primary thing. I’m connected with people via their Instagram. I get to see pe …

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It looks a lot like previous Pixel Watches, but seems thicker, has two new buttons by the speaker, and lacks charging pins. | Image: OnLeaks via 91mobiles

Ever since Google debuted the original Pixel Watch in 2022, improving battery life has been a major focus of subsequent iterations of the smartwatch. Based on new leaks of the upcoming Pixel Watch 4, it looks like that might be the case again.

Renders published by 91mobiles from leaker OnLeaks show a slightly thicker watch with what appear to be two small buttons on either side of the speaker. (What those buttons do is a mystery.) Purportedly, the Watch 4 will be 14.3mm thick compared to 12.3mm. There are several reasons why a smartwatch can get thicker, but it tends to mean a bigger battery or extra components. Meanwhile, the sensor array no longer shows the four charging pins that were added with the Pixel Watch 2. That would hint that perhaps Google has found out a way to enable faster charging without them. Lastly, 91mobiles reports that the Pixel Watch 4 should still come in two sizes.

The thicker body and lack of charging pins could indicate battery life still weighs heavily on Google’s mind. Dismal battery life was the most annoying thing about the original Pixel Watch, to the point where the company has since worked to rectify it with the Pixel Watch 2 and 3. Adding charging pins angered some Pixel Watch fans, but the main reason was to enable a more secure connection and facilitate faster charging. The problem with pins, besides adding a new proprietary charger, is that they wear down over time.

WearOS 4 and 5 also focused on ways to be more power-efficient. The result is that you can now reliably expect Pixel Watches to last a whole day, but they still trail behind the multiday battery life achieved by rival smartwatches like the OnePlus Watch 3, Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, and Apple Watch Ultra 2.

We can’t draw any firm conclusions from these leaks. Lots of things can change before a final product launches, and hardware renders don’t tell us anything about what’s inside the device or what the focus of WearOS 6 will be. We could find out more next month at Google I/O.

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The new Digg might look a little like this.

Digg’s return to the modern internet is one step closer with the launch of an “early access” group called Groundbreakers. For a one-off $5 fee you can claim your username before someone else does and get a behind the scenes look at the new Digg as it comes together.

Digg says that the $5 fee “keeps the bots at bay,” and that proceeds will go to a nonprofit to be chosen by the Groundbreakers community. It’s a one-off charge, not an ongoing subscription.

In addition to locking down their username, members of Groundbreakers will get early access to mockups and previews of the new Digg, with the chance to give feedback directly to the development team. They’ll also get a permanent Groundbreakers badge on their profile once Digg goes live. It’s worth noting that this isn’t actually early access to Digg itself just yet, but a group on the Circle community platform.

The rebooted Digg was announced last month, with original founder Kevin Rose returning alongside a group that includes Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian. It will still be centered around sharing and voting on links, but takes inspiration from the rise of Reddit and will incorporate AI to help user-led communities with moderation.

Invites to join Groundbreakers were initially sent out to Digg’s mailing list, but you can now sign up without an invite. There’s apparently a limited number of spaces, though Digg hasn’t said how many.

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When Nintendo announced the Switch 2 would cost $450, my initial reaction was disappointment. “Why does it cost so much more?” I thought to myself. “Why does Japan get it cheaper?” my brain jealously added, once I learned that Nintendo would sell a Japan-only model for the equivalent of just $333.

It felt like Nintendo was about to overcharge the entire rest of the world for a modest improvement to its original $300 console, one that doesn’t come with an OLED display or anti-drift magnetic sticks. Surely it can’t cost Nintendo that much more to make, especially seeing how it’s selling the exact same hardware for so much “less” in Japan?

But while Nintendo might be charging more than I’d like to spend, particularly with its $80 games and its button that makes you pay extra, I no longer think the company’s being distinctly unfair to gamers outside of Japan. The $450 price makes more sense when you consider what’s happened to the dollar and the yen.

Since its March 3rd, 2017, debut, Nintendo basically hasn’t changed the price of the original Switch in either the US or Japan. The portable console cost $300 USD or Â¥32,378 in 2017; it costs the same $300 …

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WhatsApp has rolled out a dozen new features across chats, calls, and channels that make it easier to manage group conversations, alongside other general quality-of-life improvements. One of the more notable additions is a new “Online” indicator for groups, which displays how many participants are currently using the app in real time.

This is one of several new features that are similar to capabilities on competing communications platforms like Discord, which highlights the online status of server participants. WhatsApp hasn’t mentioned if users will be able to override their own status indicator to manually set themselves as online/offline, but it should make it easier to see how many users are actively reading the chat.

Notifications in group chats will now be easier to manage and organize if you find them overwhelming. Users can select the new “Notify for” setting and tap “Highlight” to place specific limitations on notifications for replies, @mentions, and messages from saved contacts, or select “All” to receive every notification. Group chat participants can also tap on reactions that other users have left on messages to add the same reaction, much like Discord and Slack users can.

Events have been updated to allow users to RSVP as “maybe,” invite a plus one, and specify an end date and time. Events can now also be created in direct messages, and pinned in group chats to make them easier to find.

Two features that are exclusively for iPhone users include a built-in document reader that allows users to scan, crop, and save document files without opening a separate app, and the ability to set WhatsApp as the default app for calls and messages. iPhone users can make the switch by opening their device settings, tapping on “Default Apps,” and selecting WhatsApp.

In the WhatsApp updates tab, users will now find transcriptions of voice messages that they’ve received, and a voice notes feature that allows channel admins to record videos of up to 60 seconds that can be instantly shared with followers. Channel admins can now also link people directly to their channels via a QR code.

Finally, WhatsApp says that video calls have been upgraded to make them “more reliable and higher quality.” WhatsApp users can be added to an ongoing call directly within a chat thread by tapping the call icon, and call participants can now pinch to zoom in to get a closer look at the live video.

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Apple may finally be ready to roll out its smarter, more personalized Siri features before the 2025 holiday season, according to The New York Times. The publication cited three sources with knowledge of Apple’s plan to release a virtual assistant “in the fall” that can edit and send photos to a friend on request — features that were supposed to arrive in iOS 18.

This is the earliest prospective rollout timeline we’ve seen so far. Apple spokesperson Jacqueline Roy said in a statement to Daring Fireball in March that the company expects to start releasing its upgraded Siri features “in the coming year.” Meanwhile, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said Apple’s AI department believes a ”true modernized, conversational version of Siri” won’t be ready until 2027 “at best” due to difficulties with development.

Some of the delays were reportedly caused by leadership issues within the company. John Giannandrea, who formerly led AI and Siri at Apple, was replaced in March after CEO Tim Cook “lost confidence” in his capabilities according to a report from Bloomberg, while The Information reports that senior Apple director Robby Walker and software executive Sebastien Marineau-Mes butted heads over who should oversee Siri’s upgrade project. Several former employees from Apple’s AI and machine learning (AI/ML) group singled Walker out to the publication as lacking the ambition or risk-taking necessary to revamp Siri, and that the team had been dubbed “AIMLess” by internal engineers.

The New York Times reports that earlier setbacks for the project occurred in 2023 when Cook’s efforts to double the team’s budget for AI chips were reportedly dashed by Luca Maestri, Apple’s finance chief. Maestri reportedly “reduced the increase to less than half that” and instead directed the team to make their existing chips — 50,000 of which were more than five years old — more efficient. Sources with knowledge of Cook’s request told the publication that this was “far fewer” than the hundreds of thousands of chips being purchased by competitors like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta.

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The time of year has arrived — Webby Award season. For the 29th annual Webby Awards, The Verge is nominated in two categories: best technology podcast and best technology video. The award show is basically a competition for “Best of the Internet,” and each nominee is up for two awards: the Webby Award and the People’s Voice Award. A panel of judges from the academy will determine if we receive a Webby Award, but the other is voted online by fans like you! You’ve helped us win before, and we’re feeling confident that we can do it together again. You can vote for The Verge in both categories, so visit the links below to cast your votes:

The Vergecast – Technology Podcasts: Official listingThe real reasons Apple won’t put macOS on the iPad – Video & Film Technology: Official listing

You have until 11:59PM PT on Thursday, April 17th to officially put your votes in, and winners will be announced on Tuesday, April 22nd. If we win, we also get a five-word acceptance speech, so let us know in the comments what your suggestions are! (We definitely read them.)

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The $750 fitted soft tonneau cover. | Image: Tesla

Tesla has a new entry-level Cybertruck with longer range, and it’s the cheapest model yet at $69,990 before the federal $7,500 credit. Tesla pulled some significant features to achieve the price cut.

The new “long range” Cybertruck has just a single RWD motor compared to the two in the AWD model. It also lacks a powered roll-up hard tonneau cover. You can either keep the bed open or buy a $750 fitted soft tonneau cover. As a consolation prize for less storage security, the cover apparently gives you an aerodynamic range boost of 12 miles, according to Tesla.

The Cybertruck Long Range can drive up to 350 miles on a charge, 25 miles more than the AWD model, or up to 362 miles with the soft tonneau cover. Towing capacity is also lower at 7,500 lbs compared to 11,000 lbs on the other trims.

It accelerates slower than the AWD model. The RWD Cybertruck goes 0-60mph in 6.2 seconds versus 4.1 seconds on the more expensive Cybertruck. Tesla removed adaptive suspension and the 120V and 240V power outlets from the RWD model, so it can’t power your tools on the go. The company also removed the battery range extender option this week.

The interior of the Cybertruck RWD comes with textile seats instead of the leatherette ones in the other models, and you aren’t getting the rear seat infotainment touchscreen, either.

At the company’s 2023 delivery event, Tesla said its RWD option had a lower advertised range of 250 miles and would cost $60,990. That version was never released, though. In 2024, the RWD base option was removed. The new, more expensive, RWD model is available for order in the US, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia.

Tesla has had trouble selling Cybertrucks, reportedly selling only 50,000 units in 2024 on apparently one million reservations. The company is also seeing a 13 percent drop in vehicle sales year over year, which can be partly attributed to CEO Elon Musk’s control of the “Department of Government Efficiency” in the Trump Administration.

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