The latest tech news about the world's best (and sometimes worst) hardware, apps, and much more. From top companies like Google and Apple to tiny startups vying for your attention, Verge Tech has the latest in what matters in technology daily.
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SpaceX is reportedly building a network of spy satellites for US intelligence
According to Reuters, a classified $1.8 billion contract with the National Reconnaissance Office involves hundreds of satellites with “Earth-imaging capabilities.”
Sony is reportedly pausing PSVR 2 production to clear excess inventory
Sales of the $550 headset are reportedly slowing due to a lack of games, allowing inventory to pile up.
I kinda love this not-Lego-brick model gaming rig, complete with build-it-yourself components including motherboard, RAM, “GeForce RTX” graphics card, power supply, and two SSDs. And RGB lighting, obviously.
There’s also a 90’s beige box PC kit with a tiny brick floppy drive and CD-ROM drive, as well as a little keyboard and mouse.
Xbox didn’t get Baldur’s Gate 3’s most recent updates due to a bug that caused the game to crash on the Series X / S. This prevented players from loading cross-saves on platforms with the update.
But now, Larian has announced that hotfixes #20, #21, and #22 are coming to Xbox, which should fix any issues with syncing game saves. The latest update also addresses some crashes and issues with Minthara’s dialogue.
He’s expected to show a new high-end AI chip dubbed the B100, Reuters reported last week; apparently the new server-grade Blackwell GPUs can consume 1,000 watts each. Nvidia’s GTC keynote kicks off at 1PM PT / 4PM ET — just 15 minutes after I first published the words you’re reading.
“I did not handle this situation well from top to bottom, and that is why I have been completely roasted on this app,” said Rep. Jeff Jackson, who posted an explanation of his vote to ban TikTok on TikTok.
He tried to clear up his vote by explaining he thinks a ban is unlikely, but some commenters are still livid.
Live-action Star Wars show The Acolyte will bring the High Republic era of the franchise to TV for the first time on June 4th.
StarWars.com announced the show’s premiere date with this less-than-subtle bloody lightsaber poster, reading “In an age of light a darkness rises.” Spoooooooky. Also, the site says to expect the series’ official teaser trailer tomorrow.
As athletes increasingly cut out the media middleman, basketball stars LeBron James and JJ Redick are launching a podcast, reports The Athletic. But unlike so many other celebrity podcast deals, they are doing so independently and with no official sponsor. To be fair, it doesn’t seem like James or Redick need the money.
Update 6:20PM ET: Added YouTube embed for Mind the Game.
From March 21st to March 23rd, 100 cameras will be sold daily on a first come, first served basis for $1,999. ($400 more than the regular X100VI).
It’s already plenty hard to buy the “regular” X100VI — it’ll be even harder when there’s only 300 of them.
Apple Watch ban: everything you need to know
Apple’s ability to sell the Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in the US is in trouble due to a patent dispute — here’s all the latest news.
So far, the obvious giveaway phrases (“As of my last knowledge update in September 2021,” and “Certainly, here is a possible introduction for your topic”) are appearing primarily in low-tier journals. But after Penis Rat, I am somewhat concerned about the quality of peer review.
[404 Media]
The NCAA’s March Madness Live app is also getting a new, swipeable vertical video highlights feed.
The “Vision Pro compatibility” means the iPad app, so you won’t get any “spatial” features, but at least it’s there (unlike, say, YouTube). What, did the Samsung Gear VR app not do well or something?
The NCAA also says it’s offering “expanded live game radio” for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
[NCAA.com]
Stardew Valley’s next update, due out on PC tomorrow, has added a very special, very specific feature: the ability to drink mayonnaise. ConcernedApe, the cozy farming sim’s developer, tweeted the news without context or explanation. There is no information on whether this was the fulfillment a long-asked for feature or something else.
The company credits the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) for the 164 percent increase in new iOS users it saw from March 5th to the 7th. Opera also saw significant user growth in specific countries, including a 402 percent spike in France and a 143 percent boost in Spain.
Apple started letting iPhone users choose their default browser as part of its compliance with the DMA earlier this month. Besides Opera, Brave and Firefox are also seeing more iPhone users in the EU.
Reviews
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16 review: setting the bar for foldables
Mini but mighty: Blink’s tiny, inexpensive camera can now go outdoors
Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra review: just another big phone
Microlino electric bubble car review: urban delight
Minute Media, which operates an even less dangerous version of Medium for pro athletes called The Players’ Tribune, is picking up the contract to run Sports Illustrated after the previous operators published AI-written content, fired the CEO, laid off the entire staff, and said it would close the print magazine. This all really happened!
Anyway, Minute Media specializes in “short form sports content creation,” and its CEO Asaf Peled says tells the New York Times that SI will somehow continue to do in-depth journalism even though it is “an exception to our core strategy.” Sure.
[The New York Times]
The Information reports on GPT Store developers disappointed by a lack of customers for their ChatGPT-style products and limited analytics support. One developer claims his role-playing chatbot “could have gotten more traffic by partnering with a small influencer on TikTok” after being featured for two weeks.
Verge reporter Emilia David had questions about the value of the GPT Store after struggling to “find a use” for chatbots made by other users, and it’s not clear if there are any great answers yet.
[The Information]
There’s a lot in this Wall Street Journal profile of ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro. The switch to streaming; the Hulu for Sports plan; the battle over ever-more-expensive sports rights. But the undercurrent here is pretty clear: if ESPN can make all that work over the next couple of years, Pitaro might get Bob Iger’s office. (But that’s a really, really big if.)
You figured it was true, now we’ve got earnings-call data from the largest 500 companies to back it up, thanks to Factset. “AI” mentions began to spike in late 2022 just as OpenAI announced ChatGPT. Nvidia cited “AI” the most in Q4 2023 as it rode the brain-replacement wave to a record market cap. Apple — the company rumored to be partnering with Google or OpenAI — didn’t even make the top ten list.
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