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First Click: Viv takes on Siri, Uncharted 4 release, and more in the week ahead

May 9th, 2016

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On Monday two of the creators of Apple’s Siri will unveil Viv. It’ll be the first public demonstration of the new AI assistant from Viv Labs. Viv is said to be like Siri if only it worked really well, and was an open system the way the creators had originally intended. Before, you know, they took all that Apple acquisition money.

You can also expect a report this week from the 35th annual America’s Cup race which just wrapped up in New York. And you just know that we’ll have something to say about the new James Blake and Radiohead releases now that we’ve had the weekend to digest them.

Tuesday May 10th is of course the release of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, the oft delayed climactic chapter of Nathan Drake’s saga. Fortunately, it’ll be worth the wait. Tuesday's also the day that the Impossible Project's new $300 I-1 instant camera goes on sale, combining the best of the old Polaroids with just a hint of modern intelligence.

Reviews of both the Huawei P9 and Razer Stealth promised earlier (sorry about that) should absolutely be coming this week. Probably. You’ll want to hear Vlad Savov’s thoughts on the Leica-branded dual-camera system on the P9 since that’s the future of smartphone photography.

Jessy Lanza’s latest album Oh No comes out on Friday… the 13th (boo!). It’s recorded with Junior Boys’ Jeremy Greenspan just like Lanza’s 2013 debut LP Pull My Hair Back.

And that’s just a taste of what’s to come this week in our coverage of gadgets, tech culture, science, transportation, and entertainment. But first let’s get caught up on the weekend that was.

  1. Nvidia's new graphics cards are a big deal

    The hotly anticipated Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 is now official, marking a major leap in performance and efficiency with the introduction of the new Pascal architecture. How major? Take the ultra...

  2. What makes torrents work

    A lot of work goes into a simple torrent download. What looks like a single stream of data is actually hundreds of streams at once, assembled through a complex ballet of code. Cryptographic hashes...

  3. The Starry Station router is trying to teach you how to get smarter about your Wi-Fi network.

    This stylish, white, triangular, touchscreen device is a serious router with big aspirations.

  4. Miniatur Wunderland is a jaw-dropping sight for kids young and old

    On a road trip across Germany earlier this year, my wife and I made a four-hour detour to visit Miniatur Wunderland. It's Hamburg's most popular tourist attraction and it was, without question,...

  5. Introducing the new Recode

    First, the elephant in the room: Yes, we're losing the slash. Re/code is now Recode.

  6. This is what The Empire Strikes Back would look like as a Bond movie

    The Star Wars opening crawl is probably the most famous film opening in history, but while the hand-cranked yellow text is memorable, it's hardly stylish. This video from Kurt Rauffer changes that,...

  7. Spider-Man is amazing in Captain America: Civil War, but has no business being in it

    With the theatrical release of Captain America: Civil War this weekend, Marvel is introducing one of the most popular comic book characters ever created, Spider-Man, into its ever-expanding...

  8. Raspberry Pi tube amp lets you use $1,300 headphones with your $35 computer

    The Raspberry Pi is one of the most versatile little computers ever created, and it can do all kinds of things — like powering robots, arcade machines, and now, expensive headphones. Pi 2 Design...

  9. Amazon working to address racial disparity in same day delivery service

    Amazon has pledged to expand its same-day service to underserved people in the 27 cities it currently operates, and not to launch the service anywhere else without being able to cover every zip...

  10. The Verge Review of Animals: the marten

    This column is part of a series where Verge staffers post highly subjective reviews of animals. Up until now, we've written about animals without telling you whether they suck or rule. We are now...

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