An aircraft helping to fight wildfires that are raging across Los Angeles was struck by a civilian drone on Thursday. The collision damaged the wing of the aircraft — a CL-415 “Super Scooper” capable of scooping up 1,600 gallons of ocean water to drop onto nearby blazes — according to a statement by the LA County Fire Department posted on X, putting it out of service until it can be repaired.

Cal Fire spokesman Chris Thomas told The New York Times that grounding the aircraft will likely set back local firefighting efforts. Super Scoopers can typically refill in about five minutes. But even if it takes ten, that’s six water drops that are lost each hour according to Thomas. “So whose house is not going to get that water to protect it?” The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says the Super Scooper landed safely after the drone impact, and that the incident is now under investigation.

Temporary flight restrictions have been implemented in the Los Angeles area that prohibit drones and other aircraft from flying without FAA authorization in an effort to protect firefighting efforts.

According to LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone, the drone was not assigned to help tackle the Palisades fires, and was destroyed in the collision. Marrone told the LA Times that the FBI is now planning to implement so-called “aerial armor” in the area to prevent further interference from drones.

Several people online have violated the FAA-enforced flight restrictions, posting viral drone photos and video footage across social media showing the devastation from what appears to be prohibited airspace. Fire response agencies are often forced to ground their own aircraft to avoid collisions when dummies fly drones near wildfires for online clout.

“It’s a federal crime, punishable by up to 12 months in prison, to interfere with firefighting efforts on public lands,” the FAA said in a statement. “Additionally, the FAA can impose a civil penalty of up to $75,000 against any drone pilot who interferes with wildfire suppression, law enforcement or emergency response operations. The FAA treats these violations seriously and immediately considers swift enforcement action for these offenses.”

Tesla has officially revealed the latest version of its Model Y crossover following images leaking online that teased the best-selling EV’s redesign. Codenamed “Juniper,” the Model Y 2025 refresh is now live on Tesla’s website in China and other Asia-Pacific markets with deliveries expected to begin in March.

It’s the most significant update to the Model Y design since it first launched in 2020, which later became the first EV to top global car sales last year. Notably, the new variant launching in Australia clearly shows a physical turn signal stalk, which had otherwise been controversially replaced by capacitive buttons on recent Teslas.

The refresh comes after Tesla experienced its first year-over-year drop in sales since the company started mass-producing cars in 2012, with CEO Elon Musk’s antagonistic behavior suspected to have contributed to the decline.

Image: Tesla

There are two specifications of the Model Y available at launch according to the Chinese website listing. The 263,500 Chinese yuan (about $35,935) rear-wheel drive edition features an estimated range of up to 593 kilometers (about 368 miles), while the 303,500 Chinese yuan (about $41,390) long-range version can supposedly reach 719 kilometers (about 446 miles). These are “estimated” ranges based on China’s CLTC driving cycle standard, however, which Electrek notes isn’t as strict as the US’ EPA system.

Both specs have a top speed of 201 kilometers per hour (about 124 mph), and peak charging speeds remain at 250kW. Tesla says that the tires, wheels, and suspension have been updated to provide a smoother, quieter ride, with 19- and 20-inch wheel options available on both models. The estimated vehicle ranges have been calculated using the smaller 19-inch wheel configurations. A performance version has yet to be announced.

The new Model Y otherwise features many of the same improvements as the 2023 Tesla Model 3 sedan update, including higher efficiency and performance, an eight-inch touchscreen display for rear passengers, and a quieter cabin with an ambient lighting strip running throughout. The back seats can be folded down electrically to expand the total storage capacity to 2,138 liters, and there’s a front-view camera to provide a wider field of view when using assisted driving features.

The exterior design doesn’t look terribly different from its predecessor, save for a few changes like switching the headlights and tail lights for slimmer light bars that stretch across the front and rear of the vehicle. The front and back ends have also been slightly reshaped, which “effectively improves the vehicle’s endurance, performance, and service life,” according to Tesla.

It’s unclear when we can expect the redesigned Model Y to launch in other markets like the US and Europe. China is Tesla’s biggest market, and also where it is facing its fiercest competition from a rising pack of domestic manufacturers led by BYD. Notably, the Model Y refresh has emerged the same week it was reported that BYD sold more EVs in the fourth quarter of 2024 than Tesla.

Mass production of the vehicles is expected to start in Shanghai this month though, and we know that it took the Model 3 update around four months to reach the US last year.

Watch Duty, a nonprofit-run app that tracks wildfires with live maps and alerts, has shot to the top of Apple’s App Store charts this week as Californian residents look to navigate catastrophic blazes devastating Los Angeles.

The app launched in 2021 and is now available in 22 states, providing evacuation warnings, real-time text, photo and video updates, and a map interface with flame icons to show regions where fires are blazing. Users can access information on evacuation routes, shelter locations, and firefighting efforts, alongside zooming in on the map view to see the latest updates for precise locations. It’s a one-stop shop for everything needed during a fire emergency.

Watch Duty is powered by a team of around 200 volunteers, many of which are retired or active firefighters, dispatchers, or first responders. The app pulls its wildfire information from official government reports, volunteer reporters, and 911 dispatch calls which are then vetted and monitored using radio scanners, wildlife cameras, satellites, and local announcements from law enforcement and fire services.

Watch Duty says that the community-bolstered network allows it to provide more real-time information than fire-tracking services like CalFire and InciWeb which rely on government alerts. The app is used by active firefighters and has become a lifeline for people across the western United States who live in areas deemed to be high-risk fire zones — Watch Duty says its active users increased to 7.2 million by December 2024 compared to 1.9 million in 2023.

Californians on social media are encouraging each other to download the app in light of the ongoing LA fires raging across thousands of acres of land fueled by high winds and extremely dry conditions. As of Thursday morning, the LA Times reports that the fires have killed five people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, including the homes of celebrities like Paris Hilton, Billy Crystal, Adam Brody, and James Woods.

Over 367,000 California households are currently without power according to PowerOutage, and at least 130,000 LA residents are now under evacuation orders.

“Seconding the Watch Duty app so hard,” said one Californian on a Threads post encouraging users to download the app. “I live in Butte County, CA, (near where the Camp Fire was in 2018) and Watch Duty has been immeasurably helpful during fires like the Park Fire last summer.”

Watch Duty’s vice president of operations Nick Russell says that users are drawn to the app because it’s more accessible than manually checking several sources and social media updates, and because of its network for vetting and verifying factual information. Conspiracy theories surrounding natural disasters and climate change have become a common occurrence online, with misinformation regarding weather-related events being shared by users across social media platforms.

“One of the big things for us, our big theme, is quality over quantity. We’re not in a big hurry to get information that we’re going to have to go and retract later,” Russell told NBC News on Wednesday. “And so if it takes a few extra minutes to get it out there, that’s fine, but we want it to be that official info; and because we built a one-way communication platform, we don’t offer that venue for people to circulate nonsense ... And so it really puts the ball in our court for good information.”

Russell also noted that Watch Duty doesn’t collect or sell user data, instead relying on premium app subscriptions and funding from private donations to stay up and running. The core features of the app that are essential for fire monitoring, safety, and evacuation, are entirely available for free.

“I think it’s really important in today’s world, where so many people are trying to profit off disaster, to really understand that that’s not what Watch Duty is,” Russell said. “Watch Duty will remain free forever.”

Google is testing an experimental AI feature that creates a personalized podcast using your Search and Discover feed history. The Daily Listen feature in Google’s Search Labs is rolling out to Android and iOS users in the US according to 9to5Google, and works similarly to the Audio Overviews feature for Google’s NotebookLM project.

Daily Listen references search data and Discover feed interactions to assess which news articles would be of most interest to the user, and then summarizes those stories and topics into a roughly five-minute audio overview. It provides a text transcript, alongside audio scrubber controls that allow users to play, pause, mute, rewind, or skip to the next story.

Image: Google (Via 9to5Google)

Search Labs users who opt-in to try this experiment will find Daily Listen in the personalized widget carousel underneath the Search bar at the top of the Google app. A “Related stories” tab will appear at the bottom of the audio player that corresponds to content within the overview that allows users to like or disapprove of each story with a thumbs up/down, and explore new topics.

There’s currently no word on when/if this feature will be rolled out to the wider public. Google’s AI Search Overviews were tested in a similar way via Search Labs before launching to a general audience last year, so it’s possible that Daily Listen may one day become a persistent feature — hopefully one that’s easier to opt out of than AI Overviews.

The European Union is reportedly close to deciding whether X’s attempts to combat illegal or harmful content are compliant with the bloc’s digital service rulebook. A probe into X’s risk management and content moderation will be concluded “as early as legally possible,” according to a letter to EU lawmakers seen by Bloomberg. It comes a day after Meta announced sweeping moderation changes on its own platforms inspired by X.

In the letter, the EU’s justice chief Michael McGrath and tech policy leader Henna Virkkunen vowed to “energetically” push the investigation forward. Bloomberg reports that the letter was prompted by a complaint from center-right German lawmakers over concerns regarding Elon Musk’s promotion of Germany’s far-right party leader on X.

The probe was launched under the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA) in December 2023, with a focus on “the dissemination of illegal content in the context of Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel,” and how effective X’s Community Notes system is at tackling information manipulation. Additionally, the same investigation yielded preliminary findings that found X to be in breach of DSA regarding advertising transparency, dark patterns, and its “blue check” user verification system. Platforms deemed to have breached the DSA risk fines of up to six percent of their global yearly revenue.

Since purchasing X (previously known as Twitter) in 2022, Elon Musk has transformed its verification system into a subscription service and cut back its trust and safety team to focus on community-driven moderation. The EU criticized X over rising levels of disinformation on the platform, something that Musk himself actively engaged in promoting, following these changes. More recently, Musk has landed himself a position on President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, which has issued threats over perceived biases in moderation.

US tech giants are already heeding to Republicans’ complaints regarding online speech rules. Yesterday, Meta announced it was inspired by X to scrap its third-party fact-checkers in favor of implementing its own Community Notes program, alongside removing restrictions around topics like immigration and gender identity. While these changes will initially be rolled out in the US, both Meta and X operate on a global stage — and the eyes of EU regulators are ever watchful.

Washington state is suing T-Mobile for allegedly failing to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities that enabled a hacker to expose the personal data of 79 million people nationwide. The consumer protection lawsuit filed by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Monday stems from a cyberattack that began in March 2021 and went unnoticed until T-Mobile disclosed the breach in August.

The filing asserts that T-Mobile failed to address certain security vulnerabilities that the company was aware of “for years,” and did not properly notify more than two million Washington residents who were impacted by the breach. The lawsuit accuses T-Mobile of downplaying the severity of the breach, which exposed the personal information of current, former, and prospective customers — including their names, phone numbers, physical addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and driver’s license / ID numbers.

The notifications that T-Mobile issued about the data breach violated the Consumer Protections Act by omitting key information that made it difficult for people to assess if they were at risk of identity theft or fraud, according to the filing. The lawsuit also says that T-Mobile “did not meet industry standards for cybersecurity” for years prior to the hack, and used “obvious passwords” to protect accounts that could access consumer information.

“This significant data breach was entirely avoidable,” Ferguson said in a statement. “T-Mobile had years to fix key vulnerabilities in its cybersecurity systems — and it failed.”

This isn’t the first time that Washington state has taken action against T-Mobile, with Ferguson having successfully persuaded the company to make clear the limitations of its “no-contract” wireless service plan back in 2013.

Ferguson’s latest lawsuit is seeking compensation for customers impacted by the 2021 breach and a court order that would force T-Mobile to bring its cybersecurity practices in line with industry standards, alongside improving transparency and communication around future data breaches. This follows T-Mobile paying $350 million in 2022 to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from the 2021 hack, and a further $15.75 million fine last year over an FCC investigation into its repeated cybersecurity incidents.

Mechanical keyboard specialist Keychron is adding fancy analog Hall effect switches to more of its lineup. Two of the models announced at CES today are launching immediately: the $169 Lemokey P1 HE QMK, and the $229 Keychron Q6 HE QMK, with three additional keyboards set to be released later this year.

Hall effect switches are notable for providing more customization features and a faster press than traditional mechanical switches, making them a popular choice for gamers. They use magnetic induction sensing on the PCB that detects how far down a key has been pushed — allowing you to decide the exact actuation point or even set different functions that activate depending on how hard you press.

The Lemokey P1 HE QMK is a 75 percent layout keyboard with 2.4GHz Bluetooth and a 1,000Hz polling rate. It can be used wired or wirelessly and is compatible exclusively with Gateron Double-Rail magnetic switches. The Keychron Q6 HE also launching today is a full-sized mechanical keyboard with similar features and switch restrictions. Both models are available in either black or white and feature PBT double-shot keycaps.

Image: Keychron

Keychron released its first Hall effect keyboard last year, and rival keyboard makers like Corsair and SteelSeries have also adopted the feature after Wooting popularized the use of Hall effect switches. Meanwhile, other brands like Epomaker and Ducky are trending toward induction-based switches that provide similar analog features and use less power. Other Keychron models like the K4, K8, and Lomokey L5 will also be available with Hall effect switches sometime in Q1 2025.

Razer has announced some new handheld gaming goodies, including remote PC streaming capabilities for the Kishi Ultra mobile controller and a folding multiplatform RGB dock for the Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and more.

Razer says its Handheld Dock Chroma is a “6-in-1” docking station that transforms phones, tablets, or handheld gaming devices “into powerful gaming consoles” with 100W power passthrough support for charging. It’s priced at $79.99 and will be available on January 30th, with preorders starting on January 7th.

The Handheld Dock Chroma is a similar concept to the official docking stations provided by Valve or Nintendo, allowing users to hook handheld devices up to external displays with expanded connections to complement big-screen gaming setups. The Handheld Dock Chroma uses a USB-C cable to connect supported devices, including Android phones and tablets, iPads and iPhones with USB-C ports, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and Razer’s own Edge Android gaming handheld.

Image: Razer

Image: Razer

The cable is located on the rear of the docking station, alongside a USB-C power port, an HDMI output to connect to a TV or gaming monitor, a gigabit ethernet port, and three USB-A ports to connect things like controllers or keyboards. Given the cable placement, certain handhelds like the Switch that have their ports on the underside will need to be positioned upside down in the dock.

The dock itself is constructed from aluminum and folds down into a box shape to make it easier to transport without damaging it. And given this is a Razer product, there’s naturally a Chroma-enabled RGB bar located at the front, which users can customize with various lighting effects.

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Razer is also introducing a PC Remote Play feature for the Kishi Ultra mobile controller, among other controllers, allowing users to stream games directly from PCs to smartphones and tablets. The feature also makes use of the Kishi Ultra’s Sensa HD support, which converts audio output into haptic feedback on supported Android devices (but sadly isn’t available for iOS). PC Remote Play allows games to be streamed at full resolution without compromising “visual quality or game speed,” according to Razer, and can be accessed via the Razer Nexus app on iOS or Android.

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Razer tells us the PC Remote Play feature is built on top of the popular Moonlight streaming client, and is particularly proud of how it can automatically run your game at your phone’s native resolution and refresh rate.

It’s becoming a tradition for Razer to show off some pretty wild prototypes at CES, but the concept gaming chair with integrated heating and cooling it just unveiled actually sounds downright practical. Project Arielle is a mesh gaming chair that features a bladeless fan system that’s designed to keep you at a comfortable temperature regardless of what environment you’re in.

We briefly tried it here at CES 2025 and it’s cool! Or warm, depending on the mode you set it to. When my colleague Sean Hollister tried it, he found it didn’t just warm or cool his butt, but gently and quietly blew a substantial amount of climate-controlled air onto his upper back from small holes along the chair’s top edge.

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Building on the $1,049 Razer Fujin Pro mesh gaming chair that you can currently buy, Project Arielle has three adjustable fan speeds that can reduce the perceived temperature by 2 to 5 degrees Celsius (around 3.6 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit) in “dry environments,” according to Razer. That sounds pretty useful if you live in a hot climate or if your gaming PC kicks out enough heat to turn your room into a sweatbox.

Image: Razer

For chillier environments, the chair has a built-in PTC heating system (the same kind found in most vehicles and heated car seats) that can spit out warm air at 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). The fans and that temperatures are adjusted using touch panel controls located next to the seat pad. And given this is a Razer product, there’s obviously RGB lighting throughout the chair. By default, it’s set to Razer’s trademark green when it’s off, and we saw the edge glow red when warm, blue when cool, and purple or orange when cooling or warming.

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

One downside: you can’t spin 360 degrees in this chair without wrapping a cord around yourself, as it does need to be plugged in. But even the prototype already has a cable that’ll safely disconnect if you accidentally give it a yank.

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Given Project Arielle is only a concept chair, this unfortunately isn’t something you can actually buy just yet. Razer has showcased a lot of quirky gaming gadget concepts at CES over the years, including chair cushions that shake your ass with haptic feedback.

While some do eventually get released as fully realized products — such as the Razer Edge gaming tablet born from “Project Fiona” and the Zephyr RGB face mask that got the company into trouble with the Federal Trade Commission over N95 compliance claims — others, like the Project Sophia modular desk computer and Project Valerie triple-screen laptop, have never been rolled out.

Facebook, Instagram, and Threads are ditching third-party fact-checkers in favor of a Community Notes program inspired by X, according to an announcement penned by Meta’s new Trump-friendly policy chief Joel Kaplan. Meta is also moving its trust and safety teams from California to Texas.

“We’ve seen this approach work on X – where they empower their community to decide when posts are potentially misleading and need more context, and people across a diverse range of perspectives decide what sort of context is helpful for other users to see.” Meta said. “We think this could be a better way of achieving our original intention of providing people with information about what they’re seeing – and one that’s less prone to bias.”

The Community Notes feature will first be rolled out in the US “over the next couple of months” according to Meta, and will display an unobtrusive label indicating that there is additional information available on a post in place of full-screen warnings that users have to click through. Like the X feature, Meta says its own Community Notes will “require agreement between people with a range of perspectives to help prevent biased ratings.”

The moderation changes aim to address complaints that Meta censors “too much harmless content” on its platforms, and is slow to respond to users who have their accounts restricted. Meta is also moving its trust and safety teams responsible for its content policies and content reviews content out of California to Texas and other US locations, instead of wholesale moving its California headquarters like Elon Musk did with SpaceX and X.

Meta says it’s also scrapping a number of current restrictions around topics like immigration and gender identity, and will start phasing political content back into users' feeds on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads “with a more personalized approach.”

Meta will still utilize automated moderation systems, but says these will now largely focus on tackling more severe policy violations like terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drugs, fraud, and scams. Less severe policy violations will now need to be detected and reported by community members before Meta takes any action against them. Most of Meta’s systems for automatically predicting which posts may violate Meta’s policies and demoting such content are also being scrapped.

“These changes are an attempt to return to the commitment to free expression that Mark Zuckerberg set out in his Georgetown speech,” Meta said. “That means being vigilant about the impact our policies and systems are having on people’s ability to make their voices heard, and having the humility to change our approach when we know we’re getting things wrong.”

Google DeepMind is assembling a new team of artificial intelligence researchers to develop “world models” that can simulate physical environments. The initiative will be led by Tim Brooks, a former co-lead for OpenAI’s Sora project who joined DeepMind in October to work on Google’s video generation and world simulators.

World models are a relatively new development within AI that could serve a variety of purposes, such as creating real-time interactive media environments for video games and movies, and realistic training scenarios for robots and other AI systems. It’s also part of Google’s push to achieve an artificial general intelligence system, or AGI, before its competitors.

“DeepMind has ambitious plans to make massive generative models that simulate the world,” Brooks announced in an X post on Monday. Brooks included two open job listings for research engineers and scientists who will help to advance AI “world models” capable of simulating real-world scenarios by solving problems around training “at massive scale,” curating training data, and studying how they can be integrated with multimodal language models.

“We believe scaling pretraining on video and multimodal data is on the critical path to artificial general intelligence,” DeepMind said in the job descriptions. “World models will power numerous domains, such as visual reasoning and simulation, planning for embodied agents, and real-time interactive entertainment.”

The race to be the first to declare AGI is heating up, so Google’s focus here isn’t surprising. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently said that the company has cracked how to achieve the tech industry’s long-sought benchmark, and that autonomous AI agents may start to meaningfully join workforces this year.

There are several competitors who already have a head start over DeepMind’s world modeling project, including Nvidia’s Cosmos platform for advancing physical AI, autonomous vehicle, and robot development; and the World Labs startup created by “the godmother of AI,” Fei-Fei Li.

The new DeepMind team will work alongside existing Google AI projects including its flagship Gemini AI models, Veo video generator, and Genie — Google’s prior world model for simulating playable 3D environments in real-time.

Acer has spec bumps and display upgrades for its top-of-the-line Predator Helios 18 and 16 gaming laptops coming later this year.

Announced at CES, the Predator Helios 18 AI gaming laptop now sports a dual-mode Mini LED display that can switch between 4K with a 120Hz refresh rate or 240Hz when running at 1080p. That maximum refresh rate is actually a smidge slower than its 250Hz WQXGA Mini LED (2560 x 1600) predecessor, but that might be worth it for folks who want to enjoy both 4K resolution gaming and high frame rates on a single device. The Predator Helios 18 AI can reach up to 1,000 nits of brightness and supports Nvidia G-Sync to help prevent screen tearing, display stutter, and input lag.

Image: Acer

The internal specs have also been upgraded, with configurations offering up to an Intel 15th Gen Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 mobile graphics, 192GB of DDR5 system memory, and 6TB of PCIe Gen 5 SSD storage. The RTX 5090 GPU, in particular, is at least partially responsible for the “AI” inclusion in the laptop’s updated name, which supports over 150 optimized AI apps for things like LLMs, image generation, and more, according to Acer. The Predator Helios 18 AI will be available in the US in May, with pricing starting at $2,999.99.

Image: Acer

The Predator Helios 16 AI has also received some generational improvements, including a 2560 x 1600 OLED display with a 240Hz refresh rate. It can be configured with the same processor and GPU as its larger counterpart, alongside up to 64GB of RAM and 4TB of PCIe Gen 5 SSD storage. It’ll hit shelves in the US in June, with prices starting at $2,299.99.

Both models also feature swappable mechanical keys and proprietary sixth-gen AeroBlade metal fans for thermals, which Acer says can increase airflow by up to 20 percent compared to plastic fans. While both models include support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3, port selection is now limited to two Thunderbolt 5 jacks — which might be restrictive depending on your existing peripherals and gaming accessories.

Dell has made its latest UltraSharp 4K monitors more attractive to PC gamers by doubling the previous generation’s 60Hz refresh rate. The 27-inch and 32-inch 4K UltraSharp Thunderbolt displays announced at CES have been updated with new IPS panels that provide 120Hz refresh rates alongside features designed to enhance visual comfort.

The UltraSharp line is a popular choice for working professionals who need a no-frills 4K monitor that supports Windows, macOS, and multi-monitor setups — the 27-inch model in particular tops a lot of lists for best 4K monitor. 120Hz refresh rates are usually targeted toward gamers who can benefit from higher frame rates and smoother, more responsive gameplay, which now makes the 27-inch UltraSharp 4K in particular a decent solution for people who want a single display that’s suitable for both work and play.

The improvements come at a cost though: the 27-inch UltraSharp 4K is increasing to $699.99 (up from $639.99 for the 60Hz model), and the larger 32-inch UltraSharp 4K now costs $949.99 (up from $919.99). Both will be available to buy globally starting February 25th, according to Dell.

Image: Dell

Dell introduced several 120Hz monitors to the UltraSharp lineup in 2023 and 2024, but this is the first time that the popular 27-inch 4K model has seen a similar refresh rate boost. Other improvements for the new UltraSharp 4K models include up to 140W power delivery via USB-C (up from 90W), and a 3,000:1 contrast ratio, thanks to its use of “enhanced IPS Black technology” that provides 47 percent deeper blacks compared to conventional IPS panels, according to Dell. The prior version of IPS Black offered a 2,000:1 contrast ratio. A comparison showing improvements in contrast ratio can be seen in this YouTube video.

Image: Dell

Dell says the monitors include an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts brightness and color temperature to help reduce eye fatigue. Otherwise, the 27-inch and 32-inch 4K UltraSharp share near-identical designs with their predecessors. The new models include VESA DisplayHDR 600 and ports for USB-A, USB-C, Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, and DisplayPort, with ventilation grills now surrounding the ports located on the back of the monitors.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says that the company is confident that it knows “how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it,” referring to the tech industry’s long-sought benchmark of artificial general intelligence. And he predicts that AI agents capable of autonomously performing certain tasks may start to “materially change the output of companies” this year.

Altman made the announcement in a blog post published on Monday, where he discussed the past and future of OpenAI. The company’s next goal is “superintelligence in the true sense of the word,” he says. “We love our current products, but we are here for the glorious future. Superintelligent tools could massively accelerate scientific discovery and innovation well beyond what we are capable of doing on our own, and in turn massively increase abundance and prosperity.”

Altman’s description of superintelligence, broadly defined as AI agents that surpass human intelligence, sounds much like how OpenAI once described AGI: “AI systems that are generally smarter than humans.” OpenAI has repeatedly stated that its foundational goal is to develop an artificial general intelligence (AGI) system that “benefits all of humanity.” But Altman tried to lower expectations for AGI last month, saying it would “matter much less” than people thought.

Downplaying its previous definition of AGI may work in OpenAI’s favor, since the company is tied to Microsoft via exclusivity deals it made in 2023 until OpenAI officially declares that AGI has been achieved. But reports that Microsoft itself classifies AGI as a system capable of generating $100 billion in profits may prove that loophole ineffective. And while The Verge has heard that OpenAI plans to blend its large language models together as an “AGI” offering, potentially to hit this goalpost faster, the company isn’t turning a profit. Altman also says it’s currently losing money on its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscriptions.

“People use it much more than we expected,” Altman wrote across several posts on X. “I personally chose the price and thought we would make some money.”

Altman doesn’t directly address OpenAI’s tight profit-sharing arrangement with Microsoft in his blog post, but he does lament about the confusing events that led to him being fired as CEO of OpenAI, hired by Microsoft, and subsequently returning to OpenAI in November 2023. Altman has since consolidated power at OpenAI, which aims to transition from a nonprofit organization to a for-profit one this year.

“The whole event was, in my opinion, a big failure of governance by well-meaning people, myself included. Looking back, I certainly wish I had done things differently, and I’d like to believe I’m a better, more thoughtful leader today than I was a year ago,” Altman said. “Good governance requires a lot of trust and credibility. I appreciate the way so many people worked together to build a stronger system of governance for OpenAI that enables us to pursue our mission of ensuring that AGI benefits all of humanity.”

Barbecue tech startup Brisk It has unveiled its latest smart grill at CES, which uses generative AI to automate cooking and create personalized recipes. The $399 Zelos 450 electric wood pellet smoker features 450 square inches of cooking space and Wi-Fi connectivity for remotely adjusting settings and monitoring food as it cooks via a mobile app.

That’s pretty affordable for a smart wood pellet grill — the cheapest Wi-Fi-controlled offering from Traeger starts at $800, and that doesn’t include any generative AI cooking features. The Zelos is also substantially cheaper than previous AI-powered grills from Brisk It, which start at $849.99.

Whether you actually want AI to get in between you and your grilling is the bigger question. Brisk It says its Vera AI can “monitor, control, and automate the cook for you” at the push of a button, sending users notification updates on the cooking progress and reminders to do things like wrap or spritz ribs with water. If these prompts are missed or ignored, the AI will automatically adjust the grilling temperature to prevent food from being ruined. Ridiculous as it sounds, the company’s earlier models have received some positive reviews for their helpful automation.

Image: Brisk It

The latest Vera 2.0 model on the Zelos 450 includes new features like Smart Image Recognition, which uses photos of ingredients to generate recipes, and Recipe Re-creation, which can turn existing recipes into versions that can be automated on the grill.

The Zelos 450 has a temperature range of 180–500 degrees Fahrenheit that supports both slow cooking and high-heat grilling. Brisk It says it’ll be available to purchase at Amazon, The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart, and the Brisk It Grills webstore sometime in Q1 2025.

There’s a hot new smart pizza oven in town that’ll let you cook a 12-inch pizza in your apartment in two minutes. The $599 Current Backyard Model P electric pizza oven works both indoors and out, can customize cook time based on pizza construction, and has both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for remote monitoring.

And it really is hot for an electric oven — Current Backyard says the Model P has a maximum temperature of 850 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing it to cook Neapolitan-style pizzas in two minutes. It comes with a 12-inch cordierite cooking stone and features specific modes for broiling and cooking Neapolitan, New York, thin crust, and frozen pizza. The Wi-Fi connection also enables users to step away for a few minutes while continuing to monitor and control the oven with an app.

Image: Current Backyard

Current Backyard says the Model P uses a proprietary algorithm to keep heat uniform within the oven and prevent users from needing to turn pizzas while they cook, something that’s generally recommended with pizza ovens from competitors like Ooni. The Model P smart app controls also include a “Pizza Build Calculator” that works out the optimal cooking time and temperature based on dough thickness and the quantity of sauce, cheese, and other toppings.

“The Model P Smart Pizza Oven isn’t just about making pizza — it’s about eliminating limitations,” says Current Backyard CEO Tom Penner. “Whether you live in an apartment or have a backyard kitchen, this oven adapts to your lifestyle, offering unparalleled convenience, performance, and flavor.”

Halliday Glasses have boarded the smart spectacles hype train, featuring “proactive” AI assistance and a near-eye display that shows information directly in the user’s field of view. Wearable technology startup Halliday says its flagship eyewear will be available sometime after CES. Shipping is expected to start “by the end of Q1 2025,” and pricing will be set somewhere between $399 and $499 — pricier than display-free competitors like the $299 Meta Ray-Bans and Solos AirGo Vision.

Halliday says the “DigiWindow” located in the upper right of the frame is the world’s smallest and lightest near-eye display module and can display information to the wearer “regardless of whether they have perfect eyesight or require vision correction.” The display appears as a 3.5-inch screen in the upper-right corner of the user’s view with minimal obstruction, according to Halliday, and remains visible in bright sunlight.

Image: Halliday

The glasses’ built-in display works alongside an AI assistant that can anticipate what users need by analyzing conversations, answering questions, and providing additional insights without requiring a prompt. “For instance, during a meeting, it can proactively answer complex questions, summarize key discussion points, and generate summarized meeting notes afterward,” Halliday said in its announcement.

The AI features require the glasses to be connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth, according to Halliday, but the company hasn’t mentioned what AI model it uses or if there are additional costs involved. Features include real-time AI translation in up to 40 languages, live navigation for directions, voice-to-text notes transcription, and the display of synchronized lyrics when listening to music. Users can also discreetly view and reply to messages, create audio memos, and display notes like a teleprompter.

The near-eye display is supported on both prescription lenses and if no lens is used at all. The displayed information isn’t visible to other people and can be controlled using either voice commands, frame interface controls, or a ring that features a built-in trackpad.

Image: Halliday

Image: Halliday

Halliday says the glasses weigh 35 grams (about 1.2 ounces), provide up to eight hours of battery life, and come in two color options: matte black or tortoiseshell. We’ve asked Halliday for more information about the trackpad ring, such as how / if it’s charged and any potential options for color and sizing.

Rumors that viral Elon Musk fanboy Adrian Dittmann is actually a fake online persona used by Musk himself have been reignited following fresh evidence linking the pair. Internet sleuths are pointing to a string of recent activity from Dittmann’s X account and alleged 4Chan posts that feature unexplained X admin permissions and similarities with Musk’s voice and mannerisms.

On Wednesday, a 4chan user identifying themself as Adrian Dittmann posted a screenshot of a post from Musk that displayed interface options that suggest he’s not an ordinary user. (4chan doesn’t use formal accounts, and you’re basically anonymous, but users can adopt unique identifiers that serve a similar purpose, demonstrating the same author is behind multiple posts.) A navigation at the bottom right of the image includes links for “switch account,” “bans,” and “admin portal.” Another link to view the full post engagements can also be seen under the image Musk published — something that’s only visible to the user who created the post.

However, a source at X told The Verge that the “bans” and “admin portal” options seen in the screenshot don’t reflect an actual interface available to people who work for X. Employees would typically see the same interface as other users, with the potential exception of new features currently being trialed for wide release.

The posts from the user identified as Adrian Dittmann, which were made on 4chan’s far-right /pol/ board, have since been deleted.

Additional speculation that Musk is masquerading as Dittmann comes from an X Spaces call hosted by right-wing influencer Laura Loomer on December 29th. After Dittmann joined the call, other X users noted that the account sounded eerily similar to Musk. Similarities between their speech patterns have been raised before following Dittmann’s previous X Spaces appearances, including several instances where he refers to Musk in first person, and another where Musk and Dittmann interacted directly to dispel the rumors.

Dittmann’s parasocial behavior and diehard support of Musk have fueled rumors that the persona is actually the Tesla CEO for over a year. Musk’s daughter has backed the speculation on several occasions. While Dittmann has previously denied being Musk during an appearance on Infowars, the X account, which Journalist Taylor Lorenz notes is eligible for X’s monetization program, has since leaned into the speculation after attracting thousands of followers.

The 4Chan posts were made following Musk in-fighting with hardline anti-immigration Republicans over H-1B visa crackdowns. The fight led to Musk lashing out at his opponents on X, who accused him of demonetizing or suspending them. Dittmann has popped up during this saga to make peace between factions, and his posts on 4chan are, unsurprisingly, defenses of Musk’s moderation on X.

There’s currently no conclusive evidence that confirms Musk behind the Dittmann account on X that frequently responds to his own posts and defends his actions. It wouldn’t be the first time that Musk has used a weird burner account, having previously roleplayed as one of his own children to test X posts. If he isn’t Dittmann, then there’s a real Adrian Dittmann out there praising Musk for being “an amazing father” who gets “lots of sex.”

Update, January 3rd: The story was updated to add details from an X employee who calls the screenshot a fake.

Anthropic has made a deal to settle parts of a copyright infringement lawsuit ​​brought against the maker of the Claude AI model for allegedly distributing protected song lyrics. The agreement was signed off by US District Judge Eumi Lee on Thursday, requiring Anthropic to apply existing guardrails in the training of future AI models and to establish a procedure for music publishers to intervene when copyright infringement is suspected.

In October 2023, several music publishers including Universal Music Group, ABKCO, Concord Music Group, and Greg Nelson Music filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Anthropic for allegedly training its AI system on lyrics from at least 500 protected songs. According to the complaint, when Claude was prompted for the lyrics to songs like Beyoncé’s “Halo,” Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk,” and “Moves like Jagger” by Maroon 5, the chatbot provided responses “that contain all or significant portions of those lyrics.”

While the music publishers acknowledged that platforms like Genius already distribute lyrics online, they noted that those sites pay a licensing fee to use the protected works. Anthropic “intentionally removed or altered copyright management information” from the impacted songs when ingesting data found on those sites to train its AI models, according to the lawsuit filing.

Under the agreement signed by Anthropic on Thursday, the AI company says it will maintain the guardrails it has already implemented that aim to prevent its AI models from infringing on copyrighted content. Anthropic will also apply its existing guardrails to any future AI systems it develops. Music publishers and Anthropic will work together in “good faith” to resolve any instances where the guardrails are deemed ineffective, with the court ready to settle any disputes.

Claude “isn’t designed to be used for copyright infringement, and we have numerous processes in place designed to prevent such infringement,” Anthropic said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Our decision to enter into this stipulation is consistent with those priorities. We continue to look forward to showing that, consistent with existing copyright law, using potentially copyrighted material in the training of generative AI models is a quintessential fair use.”

The music publishers behind the original complaint have requested a preliminary injunction to bar Anthropic from training future models on their protected song lyrics, with the court expected to issue a ruling in the coming months.

American Airlines temporarily grounded all of its flights in the US this morning due to unspecified technical issues, disrupting travel at the start of a busy Christmas Eve. Service has now resumed as of 8AM ET according to a statement American Airlines spokesperson Sarah Jantz provided to CNN.

The airline suffered a massive system outage according to multiple travelers on X who are facing delays, which prevented boarding passes from being scanned and flights from departing. A notice published on the Federal Aviation Administration website at 6.50AM ET said that the airline grounded all flights nationwide. An FAA update posted at 7.50AM ET has since announced that the nationwide groundstop has been canceled.

The airline hasn’t given any details on what caused the technical issues.

“We’re currently experiencing a technical issue with all American Airlines flights,” American Airlines said in a statement on X before flights resumed. “Your safety is our utmost priority, once this is rectified, we’ll have you safely on your way to your destination.”

Update, December 24th: American Airlines flights have now resumed nationwide.