Apple’s board of directors has come out in opposition to a proposal seeking to end the company’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. In a proxy filing, the company said the National Center for Public Policy Research (a conservative think tank) is submitting a proposal for Apple to “consider abolishing its Inclusion & Diversity program, […]
Amazon is shutting down its Try Before You Buy Prime program at the end of January. The move, first reported by The Information, was announced with a notice at the top of the Prime Try Before You Buy page, which puts its last day in effect as January 31. The service has been available to members since 2018, when it was first launched as Prime Wardrobe. With it, you could choose up to six items to try on, and send back whatever you didn’t want within a week for free. You’d only be charged for the items you decided to keep, and you could pick from select clothes, shoes, jewelry and accessories.
In a statement to CNBC, an Amazon spokesperson said, “Given the combination of Try Before You Buy only scaling to a limited number of items and customers increasingly using our new AI-powered features like virtual try-on, personalized size recommendations, review highlights, and improved size charts to make sure they find the right fit, we’re phasing out the Try Before You Buy option, effective January 31, 2025.” If you’re someone who still makes use of this service, you'd better get those last orders in quick.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/amazon-prime-will-no-longer-let-clothes-shoppers-try-before-you-buy-after-this-month-223158560.html?src=rss
So-called reasoning AI models are becoming easier — and cheaper — to develop. On Friday, NovaSky, a team of researchers based out of UC Berkeley’s Sky Computing Lab, released Sky-T1-32B-Preview, a reasoning model that’s competitive with an earlier version of OpenAI’s o1 on a number of key benchmarks. Sky-T1 appears to be the first truly […]
Apple introduced iCloud back in June 2011, and since then, the free tier of iCloud has remained at 5GB. However, I’m not here to talk about that today. While 5GB of free iCloud is definitely too little for our needs nearly a decade and a half later, I think Apple has a bigger issue to address with iCloud: its paid tiers.
CES (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show) is the biggest tech convention of the year. It helps set the stage for all the wonderful gadgets we're going to see over the next 12 months. However, among all the quadcopters, questionably benevolent robots and devices with fancy flexible screens, there's a lot of small things that go into making CES a one-of-a-kind event. To highlight some of the silly, stupid and occasionally wholesome things we encountered at the show this year, we humbly present the very unofficial Dumb Fun awards for CES 2025.
Cutest digger - Komatsu PC01E-2
Komatsu’s PC01E-2 looks like a children’s playground toy, except that it actually works and is really goddam cute. You almost want to walk over and pinch that little bucket until it turns pink. But it’s not all fun and games because this little digger is meant to help excavate things — even in tight spaces. In fact, it’s small enough to fit in most elevators, so if you run into a situation where you need to get some digging done, say, on the roof, Komatsu's got you.
We generally try to be optimistic about new tech. But ever since Faraday Future announced its first concept car back in 2016, the company has made less than 20 cars in total. And for the massive accomplishment of producing less than two dozen vehicles, Faraday Future’s founder and CEO went and gave themselves raises. Now at CES 2025, the company is trying to make a comeback with its new line of FX EVs, except that it couldn't even be bothered to paint them. That special camouflage automakers use is usually meant to help hide a vehicle’s design before it gets announced, not make it look like a half-finished product at its own press event. That said, calling it 50 percent done is probably way too generous. So while there's always a chance a company turns it around, don’t be surprised if you never see a FX Super One on the road.
If you ever need someone to sacrifice their sartorial elegance for a story, he’s your man. And yet, even with a floppy photovoltaic-equipped, mess of a head ornament, there’s still no doubt he’s the most dapper Dan.
Everyone is always worried about when our robot overlords are going to come and conquer us. Except it’s the humans we should probably be worried about the most. That’s because during a demo for Unitree’s robot, its homo sapien operator fumbled the controller, resulting in the robot basically tackling our very own Karissa Bell. Human or robot, that’s just not OK.
Originally this list was meant to highlight interesting things we saw at CES that didn't get a lot of praise (or hate) elsewhere, but then the Mirumi went and won an award. I don’t care, though. This robot is designed to do one thing — hold onto your arm and stare cutely at things as you walk around. It's basically a puffball with eyes and a clingyness that can't be denied. And I will protect and cherish it with my life.
Look, taking care of your skin is important. It’s the largest organ in your body after all! But if traditional moisturizers, creams and exfoliants aren’t enough for you, I’m not convinced Shark’s red light mask is the answer. If I’m at home and my significant other comes out of the bathroom looking like goddam Doctor Doom, I’m not getting in bed. I’m running out the door and calling Reed Richards for help.
Chillest booth: AARP
The AARP describes itself as "the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age." So instead of encouraging people to hustle around from booth to booth while checking out all the new-fangled gadgets during CES, the AARP went and decided to install a whole-ass pickleball court right on the show floor. Naturally, attendees both young and old stepped up to the net and causally batted balls back and forth with everyone seemingly having a relaxing time in the midst of the biggest tech convention of the year. Good on y’all.
Las Vegas is an affront to Mother Nature. It’s an unwalkable city in the middle of the desert filled with all manner of temptations and enough neon lighting to melt your brain. So when a company doesn’t feel like flying in to attend CES, we get it. But that doesn’t mean you can try to weasel your way into the spotlight by sending email pitches about being “perfect for CES, but smart enough to skip it.” Either stop fence sitting and suffer with the rest of us or shut up. So hey Jackrabbit, you say you’re fine not being at CES. That’s cool, we feel the same way.
You know what sounds safe? An electric moped that turns into a quadcopter, but only if you position the propellers and arms yourself. The base model also only has about 25 minutes of flight time. While the company claims there are a number of safety features, there’s also a built-in parachute. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we can’t have air taxis and other hybrid aerial vehicles. But this thing does not inspire confidence. However, if you have more guts and than sense, please give it a try and let us know how it goes.
Not every computer part needs to be about pumping out higher framerates and MSI proved that this year by making a CPU cooler with a built-in turntable. What’s the point, you ask? Well check out that happy little dragon sitting atop its throne. Just look at him. But really, you could put anything up there that makes you happy. The only sad part is that this water block is merely a concept and MSI has no actual plans to put it on sale. What a bummer.
We couldn’t decide which one was more outrageous, so we ended up with a tie in this category. For Dell, its new unified branding is largely fine. After all, no one really cares about lines like Latitude, Inspiron and Optiplex. But killing off the XPS name, which is the only Dell sub-brand that has really ever meant something, is a step too far.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to woo younger buyers who might not have an affinity for its classic black laptops, Lenovo made a ThinkPad with no carbon fiber or a Trackpoint nub. That’s downright sacrilegious. Admittedly, if you’re younger than 50 you might not care, but any nerd who grew up using rotary phones is probably pissed.
Horniest booth: Handy
CES is home to all sorts of sex tech, but even among all the vibrators and various toys, the Handy booth somehow managed to be hornier than any other. That’s because in addition to having a selection of kinky gadgets on display, the company had guests lining up to spin a wheel for the chance to take home a prize of their own. And if people eagerly awaiting a chance to take away a pleasure device so they can get their rocks off isn’t horny, I don’t know what is. Just maybe keep it in your pants until you get home.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/our-unofficial-silly-and-meaningless-ces-2025-awards-just-for-fun-210041744.html?src=rss
‘We view what we are doing as a public service,’ says the cofounder of the nonprofit that millions of people are relying on to stay safe.
If you live in Los Angeles, you are probably already intimately familiar with Watch Duty, the free app that shows active fires, mandatory evacuation zones, air quality indexes, wind direction, and a wealth of other information that everyone, from firefighters to regular people, have come to rely on during this week’s historic and devastating wildfires.
Watch Duty is unique in the tech world in that it doesn’t care about user engagement, time spent, or ad sales. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit behind it only cares about the accuracy of the information it provides and the speed with which the service can deliver that information. The app itself has taken off, rocketing to the top of Apple’s and Google’s app stores. Over 1 million people have downloaded it over the last few days alone.
The elegance of the app lies in its simplicity. It doesn’t scrape user data, show ads, require any kind of login, or track your information. Its simple tech stack and UI — most of which is maintained by volunteer engineers and reporters — has likely helped save countless lives. While Watch Duty is free to use, the app accepts tax-deductible donations and offers two tiers of membership that unlock additional features, like a firefighting flight tracker and the ability to set alerts for more than four counties.
With plans to expand the service across the United States, as well as overseas and into other emergency services, Watch Duty may eventually replace some of the slower and less reliable local government alert systems for millions of people.
An app born from fire
The idea for Watch Duty came to cofounder John Mills while he was trying to protect his off-grid Sonoma County home from the Walbridge fire in 2020. He realized there wasn’t a single source for all the information people needed to protect themselves from the blaze, which ultimately killed 33 people and destroyed 156 homes. John and his friend David Merritt, who is Watch Duty’s cofounder and CTO, decided to build an app to help.
“This came out of an idea that John had, and he talked to me about it four years ago,” Merritt tells The Verge. “We built the app in 60 days, and it was run completely by volunteers, no full-time staff. It was a side project for a lot of engineers, so the aim was to keep it as simple as possible.”
Fire reporting is piecemeal at best in fire-prone areas and frequently scattered across platforms like Facebook and X, where fire departments and counties have verified pages sharing relevant updates. But increasingly, social media platforms are putting automated access for alert services behind paywalls. Governments also use a wide variety of alert systems, causing delays that can cost lives, especially in fast-moving fires like the Palisades and Eaton fires that have forced evacuations for more than 180,000 people. And sometimes, these government-run alerts are sent out mistakenly, causing mass confusion.
Watch Duty simplifies all that for millions of people.
“We view what we are doing as a public service,” says Merritt. “It is a utility that everyone should have, which is timely, relevant information for their safety during emergencies. Right now, it’s very scattered. Even the agencies themselves, which have the best intentions, their hands are tied by bureaucracy or contracts. We partner with government sources with a focus on firefighting.”
One of the biggest issues around fires, in particular, is that they can move quickly and consume large swaths of land and structures in minutes. For example, the winds that drove the Palisades fire to spread to more than 10,000 acres reached 90 miles per hour on Tuesday. When minutes matter, the piecemeal alert system that Watch Duty replaces can cause delays that cost lives.
“Some of the delivery systems for push notifications and text messages that government agencies use had a 15-minute delay, which is not good for fire,” says Merritt. “We shoot to have push notifications out in under a minute. Right now, 1.5 million people in LA are getting push notifications through the app. That’s a lot of messages to send out in 60 seconds. In general, people are getting it pretty much all at the same time.”
A simple tech stack
For Watch Duty, this kind of mass communication requires reliable technology as well as a group of dedicated staff and skilled volunteers. Merritt says that Watch Duty relies on a number of corporate partners with whom it has relationships and contracts to provide its service.
The app is built on a mix of technology, including Google’s cloud platform, Amazon Web Services, Firebase, Fastly, and Heroku. Merritt says the app uses some AI, but only for internal routing of alerts and emails. Reporters at Watch Duty — those who listen to scanners and update the app with push notifications about everything from air drops to evacuation updates — are mostly volunteers who coordinate coverage via Slack.
“All information is vetted for quality over quantity,” he says. “We have a code of conduct for reporters. For example, we never report on injuries or give specific addresses. It’s all tailored with a specific set of criteria. We don’t editorialize. We report on what we have heard on the scanners.”
According to Merritt, the app has 100 percent uptime. Even though it started with volunteer engineers, the nonprofit has slowly added more full-time people. “We still have volunteers helping us, but it’s becoming more on the internal paid staff as we grow, as things get more complex, and as we have more rigorous processes,” he says.
He says there are no plans to ever charge for the app or scrape user data. The approach is kind of the Field of Dreams method to building a free app that saves people’s lives: if you build it well, the funding will come.
“It’s the antithesis of what a lot of tech does,” Merritt says. “We don’t want you to spend time in the app. You get information and get out. We have the option of adding more photos, but we limit those to the ones that provide different views of a fire we have been tracking. We don’t want people doom scrolling.”
Collecting information in the era of Trump
Watch Duty relies heavily on publicly available information from places like the National Weather Service and the Environmental Protection Agency. Should the incoming Trump administration decide to execute on threats to dismantle and disband the EPA (which monitors air quality) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the parent agency to the National Weather Service, such moves would impact Watch Duty’s ability to operate.
Even still, Merritt is optimistic. “We will be pretty well insulated from any change to policy,” he says. “We are either buying that information ourselves already or we are happy to buy it, and we will take that cost on. The fact that we’re soon going to be covering the entire US will defray the cost of anything that shifts from a policy perspective. Our operation costs are mostly salaries. We are trying to hire really good engineers and have a really solid platform. If we need to raise a grant to buy data from the National Weather Service, then we will.”
Regardless of what the next administration does, it’s clear that Watch Duty has become a critical and necessary app for those in Southern California right now. The app currently covers 22 states and plans to roll out nationwide soon.
“We got 1.4 million app downloads in the last few days,” according to Merritt. “I think we have only received 60 support tickets, so that shows that something is working there. We are really just focused on the delivery of this information.”
Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
Univershuffle is a new music discovery app that shuffles all of the songs on Apple Music, completely at random – no AI or algorithms involved. It offers the ultimate experience for finding new music, so long as you’re willing to sort through a ton of songs.
The app is available for free in a limited capacity, though you’ll need to link an Apple Music account to listen to songs in their entirety. It launched on the App Store this week.
Why does it cost some companies hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a popular video game? A couple weeks ago, The New York Times blamed the never-ending quest to deliver more photo-realistic graphics— and it suggested the industry is beginning to see diminishing returns, leading to layoffs and studio closures. However, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier […]
I’ve been seeing people give their Mac Minis a serious style upgrade by housing them in enclosures that make them look like mini Mac Pros—and I had to try it out for myself. Enter the Zeera MacForge Gen2, a CNC aluminum case that turns your Mac Mini M4 into a desktop workstation that looks like a shrunken version of Apple’s iconic Mac Pro. And let me tell you, I love the look.
Fortnite Festival will support local multiplayer starting Tuesday January 14, meaning you’ll be able to sit down in a room with your friends and jam out on plastic guitar controllers together just like the good ol’ days. Of course, most of us probably don’t have those plastic guitars anymore, but regular controllers will work just fine too. The feature is coming to Xbox and PlayStation, and up to four local players will be supported at a time for the Festival Main Stage mode. Maybe it’s the nostalgia talking, but this kind of rules?
GET THE BAND BACK TOGETHER ‼️
Local multiplayer is coming to Fortnite Festival on Xbox and PlayStation January 14! Stay *tuned* for more details 🎸 pic.twitter.com/m5hzBmbCtw
For those who aren’t aware, Fortnite Festival is a rhythm game developed for Epic by Harmonix (best known for Rock Band and the early Guitar Hero titles). It was first released at the end of 2023. In addition to normal controllers, the game also supports Rock Band 4 guitar controllers on Xbox, PlayStation and PC, as well as the recently released PDP Riffmaster.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fortnite-festival-adds-local-co-op-so-you-can-relive-the-glory-days-of-rock-band-and-guitar-hero-190528448.html?src=rss
Samsung’s big Galaxy S25 launch is right around the corner. The first Galaxy Unpacked event of 2025 is confirmed for January 22 at 1PM ET in San Jose, CA, where Samsung’s “Next Big Thing” (to borrow a 14-year-old marketing slogan) will be revealed. What exactly will be on tap? Well, apart from a few sure bets and some likely leaks, only those sworn to a blood oath under an NDA know for certain. But here are the most likely products and features we’ll see.
Galaxy S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra
Much like Apple reveals its latest iPhones at its first fall event, Samsung typically launches its mainline Galaxy S flagships at its first Unpacked shindig of the year. You can bet the farm that there will be Galaxy S25 phones at this event. And given Samsung’s recent trend of launching three tiers of flagships — standard, Plus and Ultra — you can bet we’ll see that again. (Samsung could technically change the brand names, but the three-layered lineup is practically guaranteed.) There’s even an FCC certification (first spotted by 91Mobiles) to dispel any doubts.
The degree of certainty falls sharply once we dig into the phones’ features. A subtle redesign with rounded corners, flatter edges and thinner bezels appears likely based on a leaked video posted to Reddit and images from reputable tipster Ice Universe. But this isn’t expected to be the generation where Samsung’s hiring of a former Mercedes-Benz designer will lead to drastic aesthetic changes.
At least in the US, the phone is practically guaranteed to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which the chip-maker revealed in October. (Qualcomm even listed Samsung among the companies launching devices with that processor “in the coming weeks.”) Like just about every flagship processor these days, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is built for on-device generative AI, which aligns with Samsung’s Galaxy AI blitz in recent models.
We don’t know whether the company will split its S25 processors between Snapdragon (US and other markets) and Exynos (everywhere else), but Ice Universe has claimed it will be all Snapdragon this generation. That would be a good thing, given what’s often a glaring performance and battery life disparity favoring Qualcomm.
Samsung is rumored to stick with last-generation OLED displays (made with M13 organic materials) instead of the brighter and more efficient M14 OLED panels used in the iPhone 16 Pro and Google Pixel 9. Logic suggests Samsung would want its best homemade screen in its best phones — especially when its competitors are already using it. But it could stick with the cheaper panels to keep the bill of materials down. Perhaps it calculated that better displays don’t make for better generative AI (the obsession of nearly every tech company right now), while the latest Qualcomm chip does.
Speaking of AI, expect Samsung to devote a perhaps agonizingly long portion of the event to generative AI features. The hit-or-miss DigiTimesreported last month that the Galaxy S25 series will include “an AI Agent that provides personalized clothing suggestions and transport information.” What that would look like in practice is anyone’s guess, but I’m not sure I want to know.
On the camera front, Ice Universe claims (via Android Headlines) it’s “confirmed” that only the ultra-wide sensor will see an upgrade in the Galaxy S25 Ultra — to 50MP from 12MP in last year’s model. The leaker says the S25 Ultra will stick with a 200MP main sensor, 10MP 3x zoom and 50MP 5x zoom.
Samsung will add the Qi2 wireless charging standard to its new flagships — and that comes straight from the horse’s (aka, the Wireless Power Consortium’s) mouth. However, leaker chunvn8888 (aka “yawn”) says Samsung’s phones won’t have built-in magnets for Qi2’s native MagSafe in everything but name charging. Instead, the leaker says Samsung will sell a first-party case with a Qi2 magnetic ring to enable that. (Gotta move those accessories, baby!)
Rumors have buzzed about an alleged Galaxy S25 Slim with a — you guessed it — slimmer design joining the trio at some point this year. That’s something Apple is also rumored to be working on. However, given the FCC certifications only appear to cover the familiar trio of flagships, that phone (if it’s in the pipeline at all) may not arrive until later in the year.
Galaxy Ring 2, Samsung XR and AR glasses
DigiTimesreported in December that Samsung would show off (or maybe just tease) the Galaxy Ring 2 and augmented reality (AR) glasses during its January Unpacked event.
The Taiwanese publication says the Galaxy Ring 2 will add two more sizes to the nine from the original model, which only launched in July. The second-gen wearable health tracker is said to add new AI features (surprise!) and updated sensors for more accurate measurements. The Galaxy Ring 2 is also rumored to last longer than the current model’s maximum of seven days.
DigiTimes also claims Samsung’s AR glasses — which the company has confirmed it’s working on — will look like regular prescription glasses and weigh around 50g. It says the futuristic glasses would use Google’s Gemini AI, which aligns with what we already know about Samsung’s partnership with Google and Qualcomm on Android XR. But given the lack of supply chain rumors surrounding the glasses, it’s likely that any mention at the event would amount to little more than a teaser, a la its grand reveal of... a stinkin’ render for the first Galaxy Ring at Unpacked 2024.
We also know Samsung is co-developing an Android XR (extended reality) headset — codenamed Project Moohan — alongside Google and Qualcomm. The “lightweight” and “ergonomically designed” headset will have a “state-of-the-art display,” passthrough video and natural multi-modal input. Google’s renderings show a wearable reminiscent of Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro.
Since Google only recently began offering a developer kit and API for the platform, any glimpse of it at Unpacked wouldn’t likely include an imminent release or deep dive into its hardware.
Engadget will have full coverage of Samsung’s first Unpacked event of 2025. More to come on January 22!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/what-to-expect-at-samsungs-galaxy-s25-unpacked-event-182028420.html?src=rss
Welcome back to Week in Review. I missed you! This week, we’re diving into all the gadgets and announcements out of this year’s CES, Meta’s decision to roll back its fact-checking program, TikTok’s response to employees affected by the California wildfires, and more! Let’s do this. CES 2025 came and went this week. The event […]
I did not go to CES 2025 with the goal of getting drenched by Lake Mead’s chilly January waters. But when I discovered Los Angeles-based boat startup Arc had brought its new sport boat to Las Vegas, I figured it was worth the risk. It was. The Arc Sport was a joy to drive, even […]
We’ve all had that moment where our phones are dying, but we need to leave. Charging is usually too slow, and carrying around a battery bank can be annoying. That’s the problem Swippitt wants to solve with a clever phone charger that’s “instant,” but it’s probably not for you.
Amazon will be winding down its Prime Try Before You Buy program, which let Prime members try on clothes before paying for them, reports The Information. It will shutter on January 31st, according to a banner at the top of the service’s landing page.
Amazon spokesperson Maxine Tagay said in a statement emailed to The Verge that the company is discontinuing the service because it only worked for a “limited number of items” and customers have been “increasingly using our new AI-powered features” to decide what to buy.
Tagay gave examples like Virtual Try-On AR feature that puts 3D renders of shoes from certain brands on your feet using your smartphone’s camera. She also mentioned the company’s LLM-powered “personalized size recommendations” that tweak size recommendations based on customer reviews.
Prime Try Before You Buy launched in 2018 for all Prime subscribers as Amazon Wardrobe before the company later changed its name. Through it, Prime members can order up to six items, try them for seven days, then pay for what works and send back the rest — like a very basic version of Stitch Fix’s curated clothing service. But a big part of that is returns, which is something the company has been trying to cut back on.
The discontinuation of Prime Try Before You Buy comes after years of cost-cutting at the company, as CNBC points out. That’s included massive layoffs and shuttering physical stores, as well as scaling back some of its efforts in the grocery industry.
Here is the full statement Tagay provided to The Verge:
Given the combination of Try Before You Buy only scaling to a limited number of items and customers increasingly using our new AI-powered features like virtual try-on, personalized size recommendations, review highlights, and improved size charts to make sure they find the right fit, we’re phasing out the Try Before You Buy option, effective January 31, 2025. Of course, customers will continue to enjoy fast, free shipping, with easy, free returns on our full apparel selection.
COCOA BEACH, Fla.—As it so often does in the final days before the debut of a new rocket, it all comes down to weather. Accordingly, Blue Origin is only awaiting clear skies and fair seas for its massive New Glenn vehicle to lift off from Florida.
After the company completed integration of the rocket this week, and rolled the super heavy lift rocket to its launch site at Cape Canaveral, the focus turned toward the weather. Conditions at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base have been favorable during the early morning launch windows available to the rocket, but there have been complications offshore.
That's because Blue Origin aims to recover the first stage of the New Glenn rocket, and sea states in the Atlantic Ocean have been unsuitable for an initial attempt to catch the first stage booster on a drone ship. The company has already waived one launch attempt set for 1 am ET (06:00 UTC) on Friday, January 10.