Tesla issued a recall for over 200,000 electric vehicles due to an issue with its latest computer hardware that can short circuit and disable some safety features including the rearview camera.

Tesla submitted the recall on January 6th, which acknowledges faulty computers are in some of the most recent builds of Model 3, Model Y, Model S, and Model X vehicles. It includes ones with manufacturing dates ranging as early as January 25th, 2023 for some Model Xs, and as late as December 16th, 2024 for some Model Ys (with other models overlapping in between).

The latest recall is due to non-compliance with the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has stringent rules on rearview camera reliability. Tesla issued a separate recall for problematic rearview cameras in January 2024 and one for Cybertrucks with laggy rearview cameras in October. Both were fixed with over-the-air (OTA) software updates.

Tesla is again leveraging its OTA abilities to remedy this new recall, which started rolling out on December 18th and was added to newly manufactured vehicles on December 16th, according to the safety recall report.

But as Electrek reports, the update can’t fix the broader computer issue, which has been identified in 887 warranty claims and 68 field reports as of December 30th. The issues are reportedly affecting Tesla’s latest HW4 (also known as AI4) computers, which are supposed to support the company’s transition to full autonomy.

Tesla says it will replace computers in cars that don’t get fixed with the OTA update. But the company will undoubtedly need to replace them soon, especially if CEO Elon Musk wants to build out the robotaxi service he has promised for years.

Schools across the US and Canada are warning parents that a data breach may have leaked information for students and employees. The K-12 operations platform PowerSchool, which supports over 60 million students and has over 18,000 customers worldwide, suffered a breach that could’ve exposed names and addresses of students and educators and, in some cases, more sensitive information like Social Security numbers, medical information, and grades.

As initially reported by Bleeping Computer, threat actors got into PowerSchool’s support platform using compromised credentials. PowerSchool told Bleeping Computer that only a “subset” of schools are affected but has not provided a count of affected school districts or people. Additionally, the outlet says that in a note provided to its customers, PowerSchool claimed it paid a ransom request and “...has received reasonable assurances from the threat actor that the data has been deleted and that no additional copies exist.”

PowerSchool’s website and social media channels have no mention of the data breach or directions for people who may have been affected.

In an email to The Verge, PowerSchool spokesperson Beth Keebler wrote that the company became aware of “a potential cybersecurity incident” on December 28th and has “taken all appropriate steps to prevent the data involved from further unauthorized access or misuse.” Keebler also wrote:

The incident is contained and we do not anticipate the data being shared or made public. PowerSchool is not experiencing, nor expects to experience, any operational disruption and continues to provide services as normal to our customers.

Apple acknowledged issues with the reliability of the iPhone’s built-in alarm feature last April after a report by NBC’s Today morning show and said it was working on a fix, but some people are still having trouble. Android Authority points out this Reddit post by bryanlolwut in the r/iPhone subreddit from Wednesday with a picture of an iPhone with an Alarm set for 10:30, but the alarm goes off at 12:42 instead — the time displayed on an Apple Watch.

Late into Thursday, many Reddit users are still commenting on the thread, saying they’re having similar issues.

“My morning alarm was displaying as going off while making no sound and no haptics for 40 minutes,” said Slawek_Zupa. Another post says their alarm went off at 5PM when it was supposed to go off at 7AM.

The reports in the thread today include people still using iOS 17 and others who have updated to iOS 18 with Apple Intelligence.

Some say they’ve tried turning off Apple’s Attention Awareness Features, which can reduce the alarm volume when it goes off if the iPhone detects your face. However, it hasn’t solved the problem for many, and you lose out on features like seeing full notifications on your lock screen.

We’ve asked Apple if they’re still looking into this problem, but we have not received a response yet. Personally, I’ve also noticed my iPhone sometimes doesn’t make sounds or vibrate in the morning, but it does drop down a lifeless notification as if it did. Luckily, I’ve got a Google Pixel 8 Pro as a backup that usually gets me going, and I’m trying the Nintendo Alarmo, too, but my wife has had enough of Zelda yelling at Link to wake up.

Pictures posted on social media give us a look at a facelifted Tesla Model Y “Juniper” refresh that lets go of the original Model 3 headlight style in favor of a new front lightbar setup that reminds me of the Chevy Equinox EV. As reported by InsideEVs, Instagram car spy account Cochespias1 and X user DominicBRNKMN posted spy shots of the updated Model Y as it drove around on snowy grounds.

Although the images are a bit blurry, they also show a new rear end with a Cybertruck-ish lightbar similar to the one seen in a July leak.

Reuters first reported Tesla was working on a Model Y redesign in early 2023 before a purported mule was seen in the wild last year with the front and rear camouflaged. The Model Y is one of the top-selling vehicles in the world, and it’s also the last vehicle Tesla makes that still has stalks for changing gears and activating turn signals.

As it’s essentially unchanged since launching in 2020, barring a center console refresh, it’s about due for a makeover. Tesla’s most recent redesign was for the Model 3 “Highland” that made its US debut last year, which also mainly changed the front and rear, along with other tweaks to make it quieter and improve the ride quality.

It’s unknown when Tesla might plan to launch the new Model Y, but previous reports suggested the automaker is getting set to build a redesigned six-seater Model Y in China for late 2025.

Smart lock companies have spent 2024 crafting nifty ways for you to gain entry into your home, including iPhone-tapping Home Key options from Aqara, a palm scanner from Philips, keypad and fingerprint smart locks from August, and even a Face ID-style one from Lockly. These all sound pretty futuristic already... but do they feel like magic?

I’m talking magic like how my car’s driver door unlocks without me needing to do or touch anything other than pulling on the handle. I’m talking about smart home locks that see me approaching and take action — so I don’t have to pause and interact with anything when I really just need to run inside to use the bathroom.

Image: Ultraloq

Luckily, at CES 2025, many smart lock makers are poised to launch models that offer touchless passive entry support. That means you won’t need to take extra steps like pulling out an RFID fob from your pocket or smacking your Apple Watch against a pad to unlock your door. (That’s so last year!)

One of the most promising locks from the show is Schlage’s new Sense Pro Smart Deadbolt, which comes equipped with an ultra wideband (UWB) chip that will sense your paired smartphone’s trajectory and motion to know when to trigger an unlock for you.

Schlage isn’t the first to announce UWB in a smart lock; that credit goes to U-tec’s Ultraloq Bolt Mission, which was revealed last year. The Ultraloq was announced with a lack of support for the new Aliro smart access standard backed by Google, Apple, Samsung, and others (meaning no Apple Home hands-free unlocking support).

Now, the Bolt Mission is here at CES with a “Q1 2025” launch timeframe, a $399 price tag, and a promise that Aliro and Apple Home hands-free are coming. There’s also the Lockly Secure Pro, which promises Apple’s touchless feature, costs $379.99, and will arrive in Q4. While it’ll still be a while before a lot of these devices are on the market, the UWB-powered smart lock options are clearly arriving soon.

Image: Schlage

Of course, plenty of companies are still sticking to other unlock technologies instead of UWB. That includes palm scanner locks such as TP-Link’s Tapo PalmKey and TCL’s Smart Lock D1 Pro, both of which claim they use AI to scan for vein patterns in your hand. Meanwhile, others, like the Lockly Styla, are just here to look nice. Heck, if you’d rather have everything but UWB, you can look at SwitchBot’s new Lock Ultra, which literally has 16 different hands-on-something unlocking methods.

Smart lock makers are trying pretty much anything right now, including adding digital peepholes to deadbolts in the new Lockly Vision Prestige and TCL Smart Lock Ultra. But what’s really missing from smart homes today is that new car feeling: where you finally drive off the lot no longer needing to think about age-old ideas like lock, unlock, and push to start. We still have to see these locks in action to see whether they can reliably and securely pull off their hands-free feat. But the opportunity is coming. I hope the smart lock companies have that transformative feeling in mind as they launch products with UWB this year.

The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating Tesla’s “Actual Smart Summon” remote parking feature after several crash incidents were reported.

NHTSA says it has received reports of 16 incidents involving Tesla’s smart summon feature in 2016-2025 Model S and X vehicles as well as 2017-2025 Model 3s and 2020-2025 Model Ys. The administration’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) is probing an estimated 2.6 million vehicles with the parking feature.

Tesla re-launched its remote parking Smart Summon as Actually Smart Summon (or ASS, get it?) last fall, after upgrading it to account for the company’s decision to remove radar and ultrasonic sensors in favor of a camera-only approach. Tesla owners control the vehicle by pushing a button in the Tesla smartphone app. The vehicle then uses cameras to navigate across a parking lot without anyone behind the wheel. Releasing the button on the app stops the vehicle’s movements.

But since the feature was reintroduced under the new moniker, a number of videos of alleged crash incidents have been uploaded on YouTube and other social media platforms. Tesla vehicles are seen scraping up against other vehicles, colliding with parking signs, or running into walls. In fairness, there are also a number of videos showing the remote summon feature working flawlessly, even in crowded parking lots.

But NHTSA is concerned with the incidents that didn’t turn out well. There have not been any injuries reported, but the agency is looking into “multiple crash allegations, involving both Smart Summon and Actually Smart Summon, where the user had too little reaction time to avoid a crash, either with the available line of sight or releasing the phone app button, which stops the vehicle’s movement.”

No ASS-related crashes have been reported through NHTSA’s standing general order that requires companies to report incidents involving automated or autonomous features.

Of course, the crash-reporting rule, and all of NHTSA’s safety investigations into Tesla, are headed into an uncertain future with Donald Trump set to retake the White House. Trump’s top donor and advisor is Elon Musk, who stands to benefit if the incoming administration decides to ignore or shut down all its various investigations into his companies.

Lenovo is updating its Yoga device lineup to 10th-generation versions, including a new lightweight Yoga Slim 9i, a fresh Yoga Book 9i dual-screen laptop with larger displays, and a Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition convertible notebook.

The first is the Yoga Slim 9i, now powered by NPU-packing Intel Core Ultra chips that earn it Windows 11 Copilot Plus PC designation. The laptop also has Lenovo’s AI Core system, which does some AI stuff like dynamically adjusting settings in creative apps to help improve battery life (up to 17 hours on a 75Wh battery, according to the company).

Image: Lenovo

The Slim 9i has a 98 percent screen-to-body ratio and features a no-notch webcam for an attractive, bezel-free design. The Slim carries a 14-inch PureSight Pro OLED with a 4K resolution at 120Hz, two Thunderbolt 4 ports (one per side), a quartet of Dolby Atmos-capable speakers, and Wi-Fi 7 in a 2.26-pound package.

Image: Lenovo

Lenovo’s dual-screen Yoga Book 9i also gets 14-inch screens, which catch it up in size to the Asus ZenBook Duo. The Yoga Book screens have a 2.8K resolution (2880 x 1800) at 120Hz per display, and they’re also brighter now at 750 nits versus 400 nits on the previous model.

Intel is also updating the Yoga Book with the latest Arrow Lake 255H processor. You can max out the Yoga Book with up to 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of internal storage. Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, four speakers, and Wi-Fi 7 are also on board. It also has a bigger battery and an improved folio case / stand design.

Lenovo promises a healthy slathering of AI-powered applications in the Yoga Book, including its own Smart Note note-taking app, a book synopsis-generating eReader app called Smart Reader, and a hand gesture feature called Air Gestures to move windows and scroll.

Image: Lenovo

The shiny-finished Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition, meanwhile, gets a new, brighter 14-inch OLED display with a peak brightness of 1,100 nits. There’s also a new Yoga Slim 7i (Aura Edition) and new 16- and 14-inch 2-in-1 7i models that now feature Intel processors.

The Yoga Slim 9i starts at $1,849, while the 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition starts at $1,599. Both will ship starting in February. Meanwhile, the Yoga Book 9i dual-screen will set you back at least $1,999 and will ship beginning in May. Lenovo offers a free two-month Adobe Creative Cloud membership if you buy select 2025 Yoga models.

The BBC reports Apple will change how iPhones and other devices display Apple Intelligence-summarized notifications to make it clearer to users when its AI tech has adjusted the words. Not long after the still-in-beta feature launched in the UK in December, the news organization complained about how it rewrote a headline about the UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect, incorrectly suggesting that the BBC reported Luigi Mangione shot himself.

Since then, according to the BBC, Apple’s summaries had incorrectly rewritten notifications from its app to name a PDC World Darts Championship winner before the event even started and falsely claiming that Rafael Nadal revealed himself as gay. “These AI summarisations by Apple do not reflect – and in some cases completely contradict – the original BBC content,” writes the outlet.

The BBC reports that Apple said in a statement, “A software update in the coming weeks will further clarify when the text being displayed is summarization provided by Apple Intelligence.”

Apple Intelligence has had its funny moments, but there have also been some shocking failures, like summarizing a text message saying “that hike almost killed me” as “attempted suicide.”

Apple told the BBC that receiving summaries is optional. If you want to exercise that option, you can disable the feature or alter what apps use it by going to Settings > Notifications > Summarize Notifications.

Samsung has announced new Galaxy Book 5 Pro and 360 laptops featuring the NPU-packing (but not CoPilot Plus-qualifying) Arrow Lake Core Ultra processors Intel announced earlier today as an upgrade to the Lunar Lake-powered devices Samsung launched in September.

Samsung says the new Book 5 Pro and 360 convertible laptop / tablet “diversifies” the Galaxy Book AI PC lineup and highlights its AI software capabilities, including the Circle-to-Search-like AI Select app and an AI image retouch tool called Photo Remaster. These features launched on the Galaxy Book 5 Pro 360 and appeared on last year’s Snapdragon X Elite-powered Galaxy Book 4 Edge.

The Galaxy Book 5 Pro comes in 14- and 16-inch variants, each with 2880 x 1800 resolution AMOLED screens and a 120Hz refresh rate. The Pros also have “Vision Booster” tech that “uses tone mapping to adjust the contrast and colors” to make things easier to see while working outside.

Samsung says the 16-inch model provides up to 25 hours of video playback per charge, while the 14-inch offers up to 21 hours. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Book 5 360 has a 1080p 15.6-inch AMOLED screen and lasts “up to 31 hours” while playing videos.

All three models have Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, one USB-A port, HDMI, and microSD card slots. They can be configured with Intel Core Ultra 5 or 7 “Evo” processors and either 16GB or 32GB of RAM. For storage, your options are 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. Pricing has not yet been announced, but all will ship to the US, Canada, UK, and other markets starting in February.

Ford launched its “Power Promise” initiative in October that included a free home electric vehicle charger with installation for new EV buyers. The promotion was initially scheduled to end on January 2nd, but now Ford is extending it into the first few months of 2025.

Starting today, Ford says its Power Promise promotion will run through March 31st, 2025, giving US customers who buy a new model year 2024 or 2025 Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning, or E-Transit more time to take advantage of the perks. Those include the complementary home charger with “standard” installation, 24/7 customer support for charging questions, and complimentary roadside assistance.

The Ford Power Promise extension comes following a “best ever” quarter for EV sales at the automaker, according to Ford spokesperson Susannah Evans.

Ford Mustang Mach-E sales were up 27 percent to 51,745 units for 2024 compared to the previous year, while the F-150 Lightning was up 39 percent to 33,510, and the E-Transit was up 64 percent to 12,610. The Mustang Mach-E hit a record fourth quarter with 16,119 sold and is the second-best electric SUV in sales in the US after the Tesla Model Y, according to Ford. The company sold 97,865 pure electric vehicles in 2024 — still short of GM, which delivered 114,400 for the year.

Ford’s Model e retail director, Stacey Ferreira shared on LinkedIn that customers have reported high satisfaction in the program, which includes an 11-day average timeframe from quote to install. Ferreira says that approximately 85 percent of the complimentary home charger installations were considered “standard installations,” meaning no additional out-of-pocket costs were necessary.

Five electric vehicles from Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis now qualify for the US’s $7,500 EV tax credit, Electrek reports. The new models include popular vehicles like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 crossover SUV and Kia EV9 three-row family hauler. Now, 25 EVs and plug-in hybrids across 10 brands qualify for the credit.

The Biden Administration’s EV tax credit rules mandate building vehicles in North America for eligibility and include additional requirements for sourcing battery components. In 2022, Hyundai and Kia threatened to take legal action against Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act after it expanded the available credits but left the EVs they were building in Korea ineligible for them.

Now that Hyundai has opened up a $7.6 billion EV manufacturing plant in Georgia to produce the NACS-equipped 2025 Ioniq 5 and the upcoming Ioniq 9 three-row SUV, its vehicles are eligible.

Screenshot: The Verge

However, Hyundai and Kia might lose the benefit if the upcoming Trump administration makes drastic changes. The President-elect vowed during his campaign to eliminate the EV incentives on “day one,” though American automakers have pleaded to let it live.

But unless Congress votes to eliminate the program, Hyundai and Kia buyers could still get the incentive for the 2025 tax year or take advantage of it through a lease. The New York Times recently reported that Trump could try to take other actions without Congress by eliminating the credit for leases or taking down websites with information about the program.

Apple TV Plus will be free to stream this weekend from January 4th through the 5th, similar to HBO’s old free weekends on cable. The company posted the news on social media alongside a short trailer featuring some of its top shows, with the tagline “see for yourself.”

A press release from Apple indicates the free weekend covers the TV Plus “library of award-winning original series and films” and says it starts on January 3rd, not the 4th as listed in its video and tweet — we’ve contacted Apple for more details of exactly when the promotion starts.

Apple:

Apple TV+ is ringing in the New Year by offering an all-access pass to customers all around the world. Enjoy Apple TV+ for free the first weekend of 2025 (January 3 through January 5), Apple TV+ will be free on any device where Apple TV+ is available. All you need is an Apple ID to see what all the buzz is about.

Streaming services like Netflix have offered limited free streaming on some of their top content before, but this is a new approach from Apple, which teased last week that it might provide some free streaming days soon.

A full weekend may be enough to binge some of Apple’s top shows, including Severance, which has its hotly anticipated season 2 launching on January 17th. The free days could also help potential subscribers get a taste of Apple’s eclectic mix of sci-fi shows, such as the space race drama For All Mankind, postapocalyptic thriller Silo, and the Godzilla serial Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

Update, December 30th: Added information from Apple’s press release.

Hertz has contacted multiple electric vehicle renters recently with interesting low-cost offers for cars like Teslas, offering them the option to buy their rental EVs instead of returning them. One 2023 Model 3 renter shared on Reddit that they were offered a price of $17,913, which is similar to deals currently showing on the Hertz Car Sales site. However, the rental they were in had about 30,000 miles on it — fewer than other current listings.

Another renter was offered a 2023 Chevy Bolt for $18,442, while a Polestar 2 renter says they saw a $28,500 purchase price. The used cars come with a limited 12-month, 12,000-mile powertrain warranty and a buy-back offer within 7 days.

Asked by The Verge if this was a special offer for EVs or a typical offer for Hertz’s used cars, communications director Jamie Line confirmed the strategy isn’t new, saying, “By connecting our rental customers who opt into our emails to our sales channels, we’re not only building awareness of the fact that we sell cars but also offering a unique opportunity to someone who may be in the market for the same car they have on rent.”

Last year, Hertz decided to scale back its big ambitions to electrify its rental fleet due to low customer demand and repair difficulties on some models, including the Tesla Model 3. Then, in February, Hertz said it would no longer buy Polestar 2 vehicles either before marking 30,000 Teslas to sell off from its rental fleet.

Microsoft is warning users that some manually made Windows 11 installer media could contain a bug where new PC installs may not get future security updates. It affects USB and CD installers made with October and November release patches, which may be relevant to professional users who set up PCs within business or education environments, or enthusiasts who recently built their own PCs.

Microsoft published the bug in its known issues page for Windows 11 (version 24H2):

When using media to install Windows 11, version 24H2, the device might remain in a state where it cannot accept further Windows security updates. This occurs only when the media is created to include the October 2024, or November 2024, security updates as part of the installation (these updates were released between October 8, 2024 and November 12, 2024).

This does not affect PCs that received the October or November patches through Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog website.

Mitigating the problem will require you to rebuild your Windows 11 media installers with the December 2024 patch update included (released on December 10th) and reinstall Windows. (To avoid it altogether, Microsoft suggests that “that media used to install Windows 11, version 24H2, includes the December 2024 monthly security update.”) Microsoft says it’s working on a permanent fix.

Bleeping Computer reported that Windows 11 24H2 also had other bugs in tow, including problems with specific audio devices, issues launching Outlook with an outdated Google Workspace Sync, and others. There was also that weird 24H2 compatibility issue with some Ubisoft games, which are slowly receiving fixes.

Apple senior VP of services Eddy Cue says Apple will not create a search engine to compete with Google as it “would cost billions of dollars and take many years,” as recorded in a motion to intervene filed with the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday. The purpose of the motion is to participate in the penalty phase of the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google, where as much as $20 billion could be at stake for Apple in its ongoing default search engine deal with Google.

The DOJ and Google have disagreed on how to address Google’s monopoly on general-purpose search engines, but both parties have tentatively accepted cutting or renegotiating its Apple partnership. Last week Google proposed a three-year ban on strict long-term exclusivity deals involving any ”proprietary Apple feature or functionality.”

Cue warns that removing the search deal would ultimately hurt Apple and benefit Google:

If this Court prohibits Google from sharing revenue for search distribution, Apple would have two unacceptable choices. It could still let users in the United States choose Google as a search engine for Safari, but Apple could not receive any share of the resulting revenue, so Google would obtain valuable access to Apple's users at no cost. Or Apple could remove Google Search as a choice on Safari. But because customers prefer Google, removing it as an option would harm both Apple and its customers.

As reported by MacRumors, Cue said Apple making its own general search engine would be “economically risky” and suggests AI chatbots are the next big evolution to search. Apple also noted in the filing that it would have to adopt targeted advertising as a core service to make search viable, which would fit badly with its privacy-focused business model.

Cue also says that “only Apple can speak to what kinds of future collaborations can best serve its users” and warns that the DOJ’s proposed remedies would “hamstring” Apple from fulfilling its customers’ needs.

Hyundai announced it will start distributing free CCS to Tesla NACS adapters to its EV customers in the first quarter of 2025. The adapters will enable vehicles such as the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 to connect to “20,000-plus” Tesla Supercharger stations. The free adapter is available to those who purchased or leased their Hyundai EVs on or before January 31st, 2025.

The NACS adapter deal includes 2024 and earlier Kona Electric, Ioniq hatchback, Ioniq 5, and Ioniq 6. It also includes the 2025 Ioniq 6, 2025 Ioniq 5 N, 2025 Kona Electric, and Genesis brand EVs (a full list will be revealed next year). You can request the free adapter through the My Hyundai owner portal.

Hyundai’s sister brand, Kia, is also giving free NACS adapters to some owners starting in early 2025.

Meanwhile, the 2025 Ioniq 5 with a native Tesla port will have Supercharger access as soon as it ships to customers. Tesla posted on X that it has already flipped the switch, enabling the 2025 Ioniq 5 to charge at Superchargers. Still, owners with older CCS-native models must wait for the Hyundai-approved adapters to get access.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is suing Walmart and payroll service provider Branch Messenger for alleged illegal payment practices for gig workers.

The bureau says Walmart was opening direct deposit accounts using Spark delivery drivers’ social security numbers without their consent. The accounts also can come with intense fees that, according to the complaint, would add either 2 percent or $2.99 per transaction, whichever is higher. It also says Walmart repeatedly promised to provide drivers with same-day payments through the platform starting in July 2021 but never delivered on that.

The Bureau alleges that for approximately two years starting around June 2021, defendants engaged in unfair, abusive, and deceptive practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, including by requiring Spark Drivers to receive their compensation in Branch Accounts, opening Branch Accounts for Spark Drivers without their informed consent or, in many instances, on an unauthorized basis, and making deceptive statements about Branch to Spark Drivers.

“Walmart made false promises, illegally opened accounts, and took advantage of more than a million delivery drivers,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra in a statement. “Companies cannot force workers into getting paid through accounts that drain their earnings with junk fees.” The agency sued both companies in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Spark delivery workers have been complaining about Walmart’s Branch Messenger account requirements for years, which forced workers to use these accounts with no option to direct deposit to a preferred credit union or local bank. Walmart allegedly told workers they’d be terminated if they didn’t accept the Branch accounts.

SanDisk is now SANDISK. It’s also now Sandisk. The company is announcing a fresh rebranding this week with a new logo that drops the inter-capped styling it’s generally maintained since 1995 with one that is inspired by “a single point of data” or a “pixel.”

In a new video, Sandisk says its “slab serif is back and bolder” and it maintains its open “D” letter, but pairs it with a new “pixel-driven S.” The company says the letters symbolize “the collaboration and partnership required to actualize our purpose and tap into new possibilities.”

As noted in a report by Fast Company, the Sandisk rebranding comes ahead of a spinoff from its parent company Western Digital planned for next year (it was originally planned for this year). Western Digital had originally acquired Sandisk back in 2016.

Last year, Western Digital was embroiled in controversy surrounding the popular, pricey portable SanDisk Extreme SSD, in which publications reported that the product would wipe owners’ data erroneously. It happened to our supervising producer Vjeran Pavic, and Western Digital refused to answer our questions at the time to explain what was happening.

Controversy aside, we’re big fans of “unfinished” logo styles here at The Verge, and it looks like Sandisk did alright with its rebrand. It certainly could do worse -- just look at PayPal, Kia, Paramount. or JaGUar.

GM is partnering with ChargePoint to build out a new EV charging network under the GM Energy brand, the companies announced today.

GM plans to install up to 500 DC fast-charging ports at stations deployed in “strategic” places across the US, with some equipped with ChargePoint’s Express Plus platform that supports charge speeds up to 500kW. GM and Chargepoint plan to open the stations “rapidly, with the locations deployed by the end of 2025.”

ChargePoint will bring its Omni Port charging hardware for the project, which can connect with vehicles fitted with either CCS or Tesla’s NACS ports so that owners generally would not need to carry an adapter.

“With ultra-fast charging, Omni Port technology, and excellent customer experiences, this collaboration should be another reason why EV drivers and the EV-curious should be excited,” GM Energy VP Wade Sheffer said in a statement.

This isn’t GM Energy’s only EV charger partnership. The automaker also has an ongoing deal with EVgo that has already installed 2,000 DC fast chargers as of December. GM is also building stations with Flying J and Pilot truck stops, while also taking a role in the EV charging consortium Ionna with major players like Hyundai, Kia, BMW, and Stellantis.

Ram brand owner Stellantis is delaying its long-awaited all-electric Ram 1500 Rev pickup truck from the first half of 2025 to 2026. The automaker is now prioritizing the launch of its gas-extended hybrid Ramcharger truck, which is also being delayed beyond the first half of 2025 that it originally targeted.

Stellantis says launching the Ramcharger first is a decision “driven by overwhelming consumer interest” and a slowdown in demand for heavy all-electric models. Stellantis’ CEO Carlos Tavares, stepped down earlier this month following a sharp decline in the automaker’s sales. The company has been accused of degrading its US brands and failing to release more affordable models.

The Ramcharger and the Rev are both built on Stellantis’ STLA Frame body-on-frame platform designed to handle electric, gas, hybrid, and hydrogen powertrains. The platform helps stretch the Ramcharger gas-extended EV range up to 690 miles on a full charge and tank.

Stellantis and battery partner Samsung SDI just secured a federal loan from the Biden administration to build domestic EV batteries.