Arizona accuses Amazon of being a monopoly and deceiving consumers with ‘dark patterns’ - Technology news - NewsLocker (2024)

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed two new lawsuits against Amazon on Wednesday, bringing similar complaints to those the company is already facing from the Federal Trade Commission.
Both of the lawsuits are brought under Arizona’s own state statutes in the Superior Court of Arizona. One of the lawsuits accuses Amazon of engaging in deceptive business practices that violate the state’s Consumer Fraud Act by allegedly using design tricks

/e/OS Review: This Operating System Is Better Than Android. You Should Try It

Even if you aren’t technically inclined, this privacy-first mobile operating system helps you escape surveillance capitalism.

Neuralink’s First User Is ‘Constantly Multitasking’ With His Brain Implant

Noland Arbaugh is the first to get Elon Musk’s brain device. The 30-year-old speaks to WIRED about what it’s like to use a computer with his mind—and gain a new sense of independence.

A Far-Right Indian News Site Posts Racist Conspiracies. US Tech Companies Keep Platforming It

OpIndia claims “Islamophobia does not exist.” A new report shared exclusively with WIRED finds Google’s programmatic ads are running next to its content.

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Humane is looking for a buyer after the AI Pin’s underwhelming debut

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Humane, the startup behind the poorly-reviewed AI Pin wearable computer, is already hunting for a potential buyer for its business. That’s according to a report from Bloomberg, which says the company — led by former longtime Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno — is “seeking a price of between $750 million and $1 billion.”That might be a tough sell after the $699 AI Pin’s debut: the device has been wi

The OneXPlayer X1 Mini is the most feature-packed handheld gaming PC yet

Images: OneXPlayer Steam Deck, ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go a bit too simplistic for you? The OnePlayer X1 Mini is the most gadget-y handheld yet. The upcoming 8.8-inch, 144Hz Windows gaming tablet has:Two detachable gamepads, like a Nintendo Switch
A magnetically detachable keyboard cover, like a Surface tablet
A kickstand
An easy-access SSD slot under that kickstand (new for handhelds, I believe!)
An Oculink port to connect one of a growing number of eGPUsWindows Hello automatic face log-in,

Garmin’s fashion-forward Lily 2 tracker is still on sale for $50 off

Garmin’s unassuming tacker is daintier than most smartwatches, but is that really such a bad thing? | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge As an avid runner, I understand the appeal of tracking fitness metrics. That said, in recent weeks, I’ve also grown annoyed with the onslaught of notifications I receive on my wrist via my Apple Watch Series 7, which I find to be incredibly distracting. Thankfully, if you’re like me, Garmin’s back-to-basics Lily 2 is on sale at

Garmin’s fashion-forward Lily 2 tracker is on sale for $50 off

Garmin’s unassuming tacker is daintier than most smartwatches, but is that really such a bad thing? | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge As an avid runner, I understand the appeal of tracking fitness metrics. That said, in recent weeks, I’ve also grown annoyed with the onslaught of notifications I receive on my wrist via my Apple Watch Series 7, which I find to be incredibly distracting. Thankfully, if you’re like me, Garmin’s back-to-basics Lily 2 is on sale at

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Google’s new ‘Add to Chromebook’ badge makes web apps easier to find and install

How the “Add to Chromebook” badge looks like on websites. | Image: Google Google is making a new “Add to Chromebook” badge that’s designed to make it easier for ChromeOS users to find and install progressive web apps (PWAs) and Android apps. The badge links directly to the web app you’re looking to install or to the Google Play Store (if it’s an Android app), 9to5Google reports.
In a Google I/O session video about ChromeOS, the presenter says many people

Wisconsin man arrested for allegedly creating AI-generated child sexual abuse material

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images A Wisconsin software engineer was arrested on Monday for allegedly creating and distributing thousands of AI-generated images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).Court documents describe Steven Anderegg as “extremely technologically savvy,” with a background in computer science and “decades of experience in software engineering.” Anderegg, 42, is accused of sending AI-generated images of naked minors t

This Microsoft-approved website tracks how Windows games play on Arm

Image: Linaro With Microsoft’s new Surfaces leading a wave of Copilot Plus PCs powered by Arm chips that could reshape our expectations of Windows laptops, you might be wondering: do they game?
We’d already seen a few examples, like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Control — but at Build, Microsoft and Qualcomm just revealed a new website with far more examples. WorksOnWoA.com has apparently already tested 1,481 games on the Surface Laptop and other devices with Arm-based Snapdragon X

The August smart lock finally gets a fingerprint option

The wireless Yale Keypad Touch provides fingerprint and key code access for the new Yale Approach lock and several August smart locks. | Image: Yale August makes excellent smart locks, but careful observers may have noticed that the company hasn’t released any new hardware in four years. Owners of August locks may be relieved to know that a new wireless keypad finally brings them the option of fingerprint unlocking.
The Yale Keypad Touch is a fingerprint-enabled wireless keypad for Yale an

There’s an electric salt spoon that adds umami flavor

A chunky electric spoon for your chunky low-sodium foods. | Image: Kirin If you’re cutting salt out of your diet, either for medical reasons or just trying to be healthy, low-sodium foods can be a letdown. But don’t despair — Japanese company Kirin claims to have a solution in its Electric Salt Spoon, which uses electrodes to electrify your tongue to give you a little salty shock.The idea, as Reuters puts it, is that it passes a small electric current to “concentrate sodi

Square Enix will let Kingdom Hearts cook on Steam

Image: Square Enix I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately... like, should I go back and replay the Kingdom Hearts series or not? Fortunately, Square Enix has made this decision trivial with the announcement that it’s releasing the series on Steam on June 13th. To celebrate, and perhaps destabilize an entire generation of adults for whom the first Kingdom Hearts trailer was a transformative experience (aka, me), a trailer was released with a brand-new recording of Hikaru Utada&r

The 36 Best Shows on Hulu Right Now (May 2024)

Black Twitter: A People’s History, Shōgun, and Under the Bridge are just a few of the shows you should be watching on Hulu this month.

Microsoft’s big bet on building a new type of AI computer

Recall, one of Windows’ new AI features, on a Surface Laptop. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge Microsoft’s new Windows on Arm push is a milestone moment. It’s taken nearly five years to get to the point where the software maker is confident it has the upper hand over the MacBook Air on performance, battery life, and app compatibility.
But behind the scenes, Microsoft has been working on something even bigger. While Microsoft has spent years working toward an Arm transition

Windows now has AI-powered copy and paste

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft is adding a new Advanced Paste feature to PowerToys for Windows 11 that can convert your clipboard content on the fly with the power of AI. The new feature can help people speed up their workflows by doing things like copying code in one language and pasting it in another, although its best tricks require OpenAI API credits.
Advanced Paste is included in PowerToys version 0.81 and, once enabled, can be activated with a special key command: Windows Key + Shift +

Microsoft Build 2024: everything announced

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at Build 2024. | Screenshot: YouTube Microsoft had a lot to say about Windows and AI — and a little to say about custom emoji — during the Build 2024 keynote. The company, like just about everyone else in the industry, is charging hard at cramming AI into every nook and cranny it can find. That means Copilot watching your screen to help you play Minecraft or giving you AI agent co-workers.
The whole event was over two hours long, but you can catch the high

Microsoft is bringing ‘Windows Volumetric Apps’ to Meta Quest headsets

Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge You can already beam your flat Windows desktop and its VR games onto your Meta Quest headset — but what if Windows could send HoloLens-like 3D apps and digital objects to the headset, too?At Build, Microsoft has just announced “Windows Volumetric Apps on Meta Quest,” a way to “extend Windows apps into 3D space.”Details are slim, but the company showed off a digital exploded 3D view of an Xbox controller from the perspective o

Elon Musk’s xAI is working on making Grok multimodal

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, is working on adding multimodal inputs to its Grok chatbot, according to public developer documents. What this means is that, soon, users may be able to upload photos to Grok and receive text-based answers.
In the developer documents, a sample Python script demonstrates how developers can use the xAI software development kit library to generate a response based on both text and images. This script reads a

Microsoft is making File Explorer more powerful with version control and 7z compression

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Here’s one more way to stay on top of your favorite programming projects: have them sync to the same File Explorer you already use to navigate your hard drive in Windows.At Build, Microsoft now says it’s adding native version control to File Explorer by integrating systems like Git, letting you see new changes and comments directly from the app. Image: Microsoft
Here’s a cropped and zoomed version of the provided screenshot so you can get

Microsoft’s new Windows Copilot Runtime aims to win over AI developers

Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge Microsoft launched a range of Copilot Plus PCs yesterday that includes new AI features built directly into Windows 11. Behind the scenes, the company now has more than 40 AI models running on Windows 11 thanks to a new Windows Copilot Runtime that will also allow developers to use these models for their apps.
At Microsoft Build today, the company is providing a lot more details about exactly how this Windows Copilot Runtime works. The runtime includes a library

Where to preorder the Sonos Ace headphones ahead of June 5th

The stylish Sonos Ace come in black and white. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge At long last, the eagerly anticipated Sonos Ace have arrived. On Tuesday, the company announced that its first pair of wireless headphones will be available on June 5th. Even better, you can already preorder them ahead of launch for $449.
We’re still testing the Sonos Ace, but in our limited time playing around with them during a recent demo session, we came away impressed. The plush noise-canceling headphone

Pixar cuts 14 percent of workforce, shifts focus back to feature films

Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Like parent company Disney, Pixar is now laying off employees as part of Bob Iger’s big plan to get the company’s spending under control.
According to Variety, Deadline, and The Hollywood Reporter, Pixar is laying off 175 staffers — 14 percent of its workforce — as it shifts its focus back to projects meant for theatrical rather than streaming releases. These layoffs come months after Disney began dismissing employees by the thousan

Google’s AI search results are already getting ads

Illustration: The Verge Google only just rolled out AI summaries in search results — and now they’re getting ads. In an update on Tuesday, Google says it will soon start testing search and shopping ads within AI overviews for users in the US.
In the example shared by Google, the search engine’s AI overview lists a response to the question: “how do I get wrinkles out of clothes?” Beneath the AI-generated suggestions, there’s a new “Sponsored” sectio

IGN scoops up Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, and more

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge It seems no industry is safe from consolidation, and the latest target is gaming media. IGN Entertainment has acquired the website portfolio of UK publisher Gamer Network, which operates a number of beloved games-focused publications. That list includes Gamesindustry.biz, Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, VG247, and the tabletop site Dicebreaker. The network also holds shares in sites like Nintendo Life and Digital Foundry.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Game

Here’s the eight-inch Snapdragon PC for your Windows on Arm experiments

The Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows in a transparent shell; most if not all units will be black. | Image: Qualcomm Excited for an era of long-lasting powerful Windows laptops with Arm chips and 45 TOPS for AI but would rather pay less and plug into the wall? Qualcomm has just revealed a Mac Mini-esque box that’s ostensibly just for developers.The new $899.99 “Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows” houses the most powerful of Qualcomm’s lineup of Snapdragon X Elite chips — t

How does the Microsoft Surface Laptop stack up to the MacBook Air?

Image: Microsoft Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop could be the most impressive laptop the company has ever made. It has a modern chassis with thin display bezels and a new Arm-based CPU that might just give Apple laptops a run for their money when it comes to performance. That’s no mean feat, considering Apple’s striking lead since 2020, but we won’t know how it compares until we get a Surface Laptop in hand. That didn’t stop me from diving deep on their specs to see

Google Taps AI to Show Shoppers How Clothes Fit Different Bodies

A new breed of online ad allows brands to pay Google to offer shoppers AI-generated images that show how items of clothing would look on different skin tones and body types.

Google Search’s New AI Overviews Will Soon Have Ads

Google is set to start mixing ads into its new AI-generated search answers. It's a test of how the company's biggest revenue stream can adapt to the age of generative AI.