A new year means new emoji, and yesterday we saw Apple take a key step towards updating the iPhone’s operating system with support for the latest intake of symbols. The iOS 16.4 beta includes several new emoji including shaking face, a pair of hands pushing either left or right, and a goose (fingers crossed it’s not horrid). These emoji were approved for release last September, but soon they’re going to actually be widely usable on iPhones (along with other major platforms).
In crypto news, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is charging Terra blockchain protocol creator Do Kwon with securities fraud. South Korea has also issued a warrant for his arrest. But it doesn’t sound like anyone has much of an idea of where Kwon actually is, despite the founder claiming in September that he’s not “on the run.”
And finally, a bit of gadget news for anyone with Nothing’s debut Phone 1 smartphone — its stable Android 13 update has started rolling out. The company claims the update delivers big stability and performance improvements for the phone, and that this software has been developed in-house rather than outsourced.
Here’s a silly tweet to start your day:
Stay tuned, as we continue to update this list with the most important news of today: Friday, February 17th, 2023.
Microsoft limits Bing chat to five replies to stop the AI from getting real weird
Microsoft’s new limits mean Bing chatbot users can only ask a maximum of five questions per session and 50 in total per day.
The NBA app is going to let you digitally possess a live player
Have you wanted to be Damian Lillard? With the NBA app, you’ll be able to do that, sort of.
Amazon’s Alexa app gets more Sonos-y with new multiroom audio controls
You can easily move music between speakers without using voice commands, and there’s a new overview screen for everything that’s playing.
Google’s long-awaited Tasks and Reminders consolidation starts in March
Google will automatically migrate reminders created in the Google Assistant and Calendar apps to Google Tasks in May, though users can voluntarily do so starting in March.
Apple’s first iOS 16.4 public beta has new emoji and push notifications from web apps
The next iOS update can be installed now if you’re registered for public beta releases. It includes new Unicode 15.0 emoji, roman keyboard support for various South Asian languages, and more.
- JHi-Fi Rush’s very good soundtrack is now officially on YouTube.
If you’re looking for some good music to rock out to this afternoon, Bethesda has you covered. And while you’re listening, consider reading our interview with the game’s director on the making of Xbox’s surprise hit.
Fortnite now has a Bandcamp radio station
Bandcamp’s Radio Underground takeover will run until the end of Chapter 4 Season 1 on March 8th.
- RSpaceX could be facing a $175k fine.
SpaceX apparently didn’t submit launch collision analysis trajectory data seven days prior to the Starlink Group 4-27 mission’s launch on August 19th, 2022, and the FAA has proposed a $175,000 civil penalty over the matter.
The FAA writes, “Launch collision analysis trajectory data is used to assess the probability of the launch vehicle colliding with one of the thousands of tracked objects orbiting the Earth.” The company has 30 days to respond.
Feb 17Umar Shakir and Richard Lawler
Tile Anti-Theft Mode makes its trackers ‘invisible,’ with a $1 million fine for misuse
Tile’s enhanced anti-theft feature requires users to submit ID and selfies to verify who they are.
- NAs requested: an RSS feed of all Verge quickposts.
By popular request, we now have a new quickpost RSS feed that just contains our Storystream feed quickposts. And here’s the full list of all of our RSS feeds, in case you’re that kind of nerd. (Our kind of nerd. We love you.)
M3gan’s unrated cut is coming to Peacock
Peacock will soon start streaming M3gan’s theatrical cut as well as a long-awaited unrated version.
Amazon is the latest company to bring staff back to the office three days a week
Employees will be expected to work from the office thrice weekly starting in May.
The Marvels is being pushed back to November
Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels has a new release date, and its trio of cosmic heroes is getting snazzy new supersuits.
- AThis week on the Vergecast we talked about how people REALLY like Bing’s little fibber AI.
As James Vincent has noted, people simply love Bing despite its tendency to just...make stuff up. Adi Robertson and James joined us to talk about everyone’s newfound affection for AI. We also spoke with Zoe Schiffer about the latest chaos at Twitter and we chatted about Susan Wojcicki’s departure from Youtube.
- SMaybe don’t look to China for your next VR headset.
Pico, the Chinese VR startup purchased by TikTok owner ByteDance that makes the only direct competitor to the Meta Quest and seemed to be gearing up, is suddenly cutting hundreds of jobs.
Tencent, the world’s largest game company and a tech giant, has reportedly canceled its VR headset and all but shut down its VR division.
The best tech gifts for under $50
We found a bunch of fun and useful gadgets you can buy for less than $50 that make great gifts, regardless of the occasion.
- JJust how giant are the Tech Giants anyway?
Today’s the deadline for companies to report their European user numbers so the EU can decide whether they should count as “very large online platforms” and hence be subject to the Digital Services Act’s strictest new rules.
TL;DR YouTube is biggest with over 400M monthly active users, Facebook and Instagram have roughly 250M each, TikTok has 125M, and Twitter has around 100M. For context, 45M is the DSA’s cutoff. Check out Politico for the full rundown.
Introducing the AI Mirror Test, which very smart people keep failing
Chatbots like Bing are software — not sentient.
A new mainline Civilization game is in development at Firaxis
More than six years after the release of Civilization VI, it’s all change at the strategy-focused studio.
- RThe FBI confirms a “malicious cyber incident” on its network.
The last time we heard about hackers breaching FBI computers was in 2021, when they sent thousands of fake emails.
There aren’t as many details available about this incident that the FBI says has been contained, but CNN reports, based on two anonymous sources, “FBI officials believe the incident involved an FBI computer system used in investigations of images of child sexual exploitation”
The Verge’s favorite media obsessions
The staff talks about the games, TV series, books, and music that they simply can’t get enough of
- N
Good for Nothing: Phone 1’s stable Android 13 release is starting to arrive
Phone 1 owners are starting to see a stable release for Nothing OS 1.5, the company’s Android 13 skin which has been in beta testing.
Terra founder Do Kwon charged with fraud over its $40 billion crypto crash
The collapse of Terra was an early step in crypto’s 2021 slide, but now Kwon is apparently nowhere to be found.
Apple’s new iOS 16.4 developer beta includes new emoji, web app notifications, and more
Apple’s iOS 16.4 developer beta is now available with emoji 15.0 support and roman keyboard support for Punjabi, Urdu, and Gujarati.
