You may be wondering how to delete your Facebook account now that fact-checking is no longer considered important, and Meta’s changing its definition of what constitutes Hateful Conduct. It’s easy to do, and we’ll show you how. But, you should download all your stuff first.

The following instructions are for the web version of Facebook, but you can follow pretty much the same sequence on the mobile app.

Download your archives

Your Facebook archives contain just about all of the pertinent information related to your account, including your photos, active sessions, chat history, IP addresses, facial recognition data, and which ads you clicked. That’s personal information you should save.

• Click on your personal icon in the upper-right corner.
• Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings.
• Click on the Accounts Center box on the left.

• Go to Your information and permissions on the left, and then Download Your Information > Download or transfer information.
• You can choose to transfer information from your Facebook or Instagram account (or both).
• You now have a...

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google and Microsoft are the latest tech companies to donate to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Each company contributed $1 million to the fund — the same amount pledged by Meta, Amazon, Sam Altman, and Tim Cook.

In a statement to CNBC, Karan Bhatia, Google’s global head of government affairs and public policy, said the company is supporting the inauguration “with a livestream on YouTube and a direct link on our homepage,” as well as with a financial contribution. The donation may be part of Google’s larger strategy to win over Trump, who has threatened to break up the tech giant or shut it down altogether.

Microsoft, which is also giving $1 million, previously contributed $500,000 to Trump’s first inauguration and donated the same amount to President Joe Biden’s inauguration fund, a company spokesperson told CNBC. Per CNBC, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has met with Trump multiple times, and was involved in negotiations over acquiring TikTok in 2020, when Trump tried to ban the app in the US.

The Last of Us Part 2 remaster is joining the PlayStation Network club. That means you’ll need to link a PSN account if you want to play the game after buying it on Steam, Epic Games, and other PC platforms when it launches in April, as spotted earlier by Video Games Chronicle.

The requirement has proven very unpopular with other Sony titles released on PC, including Ghost of Tsushima, God of War Ragnarök, and the Horizon Zero Dawn remaster. Last year, Helldiver players review-bombed the game after it suddenly introduced PSN account linking, leading Sony to walk back on the requirement completely.

Screenshot: Steam

It’s still not clear why Sony requires a PSN account to play The Last of Us Part 2, as it doesn’t have any multiplayer features, and the requirement may also prevent people across dozens of countries where PSN isn’t supported from playing the game.

The Last of Us Part 2 remaster launches on PC on April 3rd for $49.99.

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.

New day, new Nintendo Switch 2 leaks. Nintendo is getting ever-closer to its April 2025 deadline to reveal its Switch successor, but thanks new renders from OnLeaks and 91Mobiles, we may now have an even better idea of what the new console might look like.

If you’ve been following our coverage of other Switch 2 leaks, these renders shouldn’t look too surprising. According to the new renders, the console will resemble the original Switch, but it will be bigger, with an 8.4-inch screen. Interestingly, OnLeaks and 91Mobiles report that the screen will “most likely” be an “OLED panel” — previous reports have said the console would have an LCD screen.

The renders show that the top of the Switch 2 will feature a power button, a volume rocker, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a game card slot, and, new for the Switch 2, a USB-C port. OnLeaks and 91Mobiles also say that “there also seems to be a sensor of sorts” and they speculate that “this might be an ambient light sensor or something else.” These renders also have a U-shaped kickstand that has appeared in other leaks.

As for the Joy-Cons, OnLeaks and 91Mobiles’ renders show the mysterious second new button on the right Joy-Con. However, they say the new button is above the Home button; other leaks have included the new button below it. The Joy-Cons in the renders have the large buttons in the back that are apparently used to detach the controllers from the console, which are apparently attached magnetically.

The renders also show an interesting color scheme for the Joy-Cons: they are mostly black but have color accents — light blue on the left one and orange on the right — under the joystick pads and on the bumped-out part of the controllers with the SL and SR buttons. A similar design popped up earlier this month for an alleged Switch 2 left Joy-Con with light blue accents. I love it, personally.

Hopefully, given the tidal wave of recent leaks, we don’t have to wait too much longer for Nintendo to officially announce the new console. But whenever the console actually launches, it’s going to have some stiff competition.

Amazon’s massive advertising business, which is only surpassed in the US by Google and Meta, is about to get bigger. In addition to selling ads on its sprawling marketplace, it will now let other retailers use the technology powering its $50 billion business on their own websites, as reported earlier by Adweek.

The company’s new Retail Ad Service beta will let other online stores “Deliver contextually relevant ads by leveraging Amazon’s two decades of ad tech expertise, driven by machine learning models trained on trillions of shopping signals” across their product, search, and browsing pages.

It also plugs the retailers into Amazon’s existing advertising customers, as brands already using Amazon’s ad system can choose to place their ads on third-party sites. The setup also allows Amazon to pull more profit from “retail media” (ads you see in stores or while shopping online) even when the shopping isn’t happening on its site, and could give it access to more data — which is something the FTC may have questions about.

The path of this business is similar to the launch of Amazon Web Services, which the company built to keep its online marketplace running and loading quickly 24/7 before selling access to the servers as a backbone for other companies’ operations, as noted by CNBC.

If there were some common themes among the chargers and portable power solutions announced at CES this year, it would be more power and more convenience through built-in cables. It’s not a new idea, but with most devices now being USB-C-compatible, it’s easier for companies to integrate charging cables without having to accommodate competing charging standards.

Here are some of the standout charging solutions making their debut at CES this year.

Ugreen Nexode Desktop Charger 500W

Image: Ugreen

If you’ve got a desk overflowing with laptops and a power strip overpacked with adapters, Ugreen has upgraded its Nexode desk charger with 500W of power output. That’s shared across five USB-C ports and a single USB-A port. The topmost USB-C port delivers up to 240W of power, while the other five share 260W. That’s enough power to charge five laptops simultaneously, assuming four of them don’t need more than 60W. It’s expected to be available as soon as March 2025.

Anker Charger (140W) with display

Image: Anker

As the size and power output of Anker’s wall chargers increased, they had a tendency to succumb to gravity and not stay plugged in. Anker’s latest solution to that problem is a redesigned wall charger that positions three USB-C plus a single USB-A port on the underside, improving its center of gravity. Two of the USB-C ports can output up to 140W, but only one at a time, as that’s the charger’s maximum power output. It’s available now for $89.99 and includes a small screen showing how much power each port is drawing.

Sharge Shargeek 300

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Sharge debuted another eye-catching power bank with a transparent design and an aluminum case at CES. The Shargeek 300 can deliver up to 300W of power to four devices simultaneously from its 24,000mAh battery and up to 140W to two devices simultaneously, so you can fast-charge a pair of laptops. It’s got a color screen showing the power draw on each port and how much battery life it’s got left. When it’s dead, it can recharge at up to 140W speeds, replenishing its battery from zero to 50 percent in just 20 minutes. Sharge will be launching it through Kickstarter in April for under $300.

Baseus PrimeTrip VR2 Max

Image: Baseus

Your car might feature a couple of USB ports on the dashboard for charging devices, but did you remember to grab a charging cable on your way out the door? With the Baseus PrimeTrip VR2 Max car charger, you don’t have to. It features a pair of retractable USB-C cables over 31 inches in length plus an additional USB-A and USB-C port. It provides a total of up to 240W of power across all four ports and up to 105W through a single port, letting you charge a power-hungry laptop on the road. It’s expected sometime in April 2025 for $44.99.

Anker Power Bank (165W)

Image: Anker

Anker’s new soda can-sized 25,000mAh power bank includes a few welcome conveniences. It can deliver up to 165W of power shared across a USB-C port, a USB-A port, a short 8.6-inch USB-C cable that can be used as a carrying strap, and a 27.2-inch USB-C cable that fully retracts. Maximum output to a single USB-C port is 100W, so you can fast-charge a laptop, and you can monitor how much power each port is drawing on a small screen. It’s available now for $99.99.

Baseus Enercore CJ11

Image: Baseus

Charging cables excel at mysteriously going missing, which is the most compelling reason to consider the Enercore CJ11 wall charger. Available as early as April 2025 for $69.99, it features two retractable USB-C cables, each over 32 inches long, that can’t be swiped. The charger has an additional USB-C port for connecting cables with other connectors and can deliver up to 67W of power with a single device connected or share a maximum of 65W with two or three ports in use.

Baseus EnerGeek MiFi Power Bank

Image: Baseus

In need of a power bank that delivers more than just power? Baseus’ EnerGeek MiFi incorporates a 20,000mAh battery that can deliver up to 67W of power to two USB-C ports, a single USB-A port, and through an integrated USB-C cable that serves as a carrying strap. The power bank also doubles as a mobile hotspot, allowing up to 10 devices to wirelessly connect to the internet over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi at 4G speeds. Baseus hasn’t announced how much mobile data plans will cost, but the power bank is expected to release in April 2025 for $89.99.

While we’re all waiting for official news about the Switch 2, Nintendo has gone ahead and announced a very different kind of console. The company is teasing a collaboration with Lego that will see the original grey brick known as a Game Boy rendered in Lego blocks. There are no details yet, aside from the fact that it’ll be out in October, but it’s likely an official reveal is coming soon.

This isn’t the first collab between the two companies, as there have been a handful of Lego sets based on Nintendo properties, along with a blocky rendition of the NES.

If you’re keeping track, this is part of a lengthy string of non-Switch 2 announcements and launches that Nintendo has made over the last few months. A Nintendo museum opened in Kyoto in October, and after that the company released an alarm clock called Alarmo, started a music streaming service full of classic gaming tunes, and kicked off a test for a mysterious MMO. At this rate, it’s almost pointless to guess what Nintendo will do next.

Ubisoft announced a “strategic update” today, and the changes include a delay for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the upcoming entry in the franchise that takes place in feudal Japan, from February 14th to March 20th.

“As part of the renewed focus on gameplay quality and engaging Day-1 experiences, it has been decided to provide an additional month of development to Assassin’s Creed Shadows,” Ubisoft writes in a press release. “This additional time will allow the team to better incorporate the player feedback gathered over the past three months and help create the best conditions for launch by continuing to engage closely with the increasingly positive Assassin’s Creed community.”

This is the game’s second delay — it was previously scheduled to launch on November 15th before getting pushed.

Ubisoft also says it has “appointed leading advisors to review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders.” The company says that it will “inform the market in accordance with applicable regulations if and once a transaction materializes.”

Ubisoft has had a bit of a rough go of things as of late. Star Wars Outlaws didn’t sell as well expected and the company also announced that it would be shutting down XDefiant, a live-service shooter.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case against the TikTok divest-or-ban bill on Friday, which will determine the future of the app in the US. 

Read the full story at The Verge.

Lenovo’s mysterious “future of gaming handhelds” event at CES delivered confirmation this week that Microsoft is combining “the best of Xbox and Windows together” for handhelds. Microsoft’s VP of Next Generation, Jason Ronald, spoke to my colleague Sean Hollister after the event to reveal that not only are big changes coming to the Windows handheld experience but also “you’re going to see a lot of stuff as early as this year.”

I’ve been writing for more than a year about how Microsoft needs to overhaul Windows on handhelds and use an Xbox OS UI on top, keeping the complexity of the Windows desktop hidden away. That sounds exactly like what Microsoft is about to do. “I would say it’s bringing the best of Xbox and Windows together, because we have spent the last 20 years building a world-class operating system, but it’s really locked to the console,” says Ronald. “What we’re doing is we’re really focused on how do we bring those experiences for both players and developers to the broader Windows ecosystem.”

Ronald says Microsoft’s “goal is to deliver an Xbox experience that puts your content front and center, and not the Windows desktop that you have today.” For this to happen in...

Read the full story at The Verge.

First announced at CES four years ago, My Arcade’s Super Retro Champ was a chunky handheld that could play classic 16-bit titles using original Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo cartridges. The console didn’t end up launching, but at CES 2025, My Arcade is reviving it with an expected release later this year.

The design and functionality of the Super Retro Champ appears nearly identical to what My Arcade revealed in 2020, but as with many things now, it’s expected to be slightly more expensive. Instead of $110, the handheld is now priced at $149.99.

Image: My Arcade

Unlike the Analogue Pocket, which can play retro titles using cartridges or ROM files, the Super Retro Champ is similar to the ModRetro Chromatic and sticks to carts. It’s got a slot on the top for SNES games (that end up slightly sticking out) and a second on the bottom for Genesis carts. It’s also compatible with cartridges released for the international versions of those classic consoles, including Super Famicom and Mega Drive games.

Image: My Arcade

With a six-inch screen surrounded by generous bezels plus a directional pad and action buttons on either side, the Super Retro Champ doesn’t prioritize portability. You can use it as a handheld with “hours of uninterrupted gameplay” from its rechargeable battery, My Arcade says, but it’s better suited for playing while propped up on a table using its folding stand, a pair of connected controllers, and a power adapter.

If six inches feels too cramped for you and another player, there’s also an HDMI port on the back of the Super Retro Champ for connecting it to a TV. Just don’t expect to enjoy your favorite 16-bit titles in HD or expect them to look as good as they did on the old CRT TV you grew up with.

Though Yuto Suzuki’s manga Sakamoto Days hasn’t been publishing for all that long, an animated adaptation of the series is already making its way to Netflix in just a few days.

Set in a world where it’s not uncommon for people to have superhuman abilities, Sakamoto Days tells the story of Taro Sakamoto (Tomokazu Sugita / Matthew Mercer), a legendary hitman who becomes a humble convenience store owner after falling in love with his wife. While Sakamoto’s wife Aoi (Nao Tōyama / Rosie Okumura) doesn’t hold his past against him, their marriage hinges on her rule that he must never kill again.

For the most part, it’s easy enough for Sakamoto to stick to Aoi’s rule. But things start to get tricky when a bounty is placed on his head that makes him the target of other assassins like telepath Shin Asakura (Dallas Liu) and sharp-shooter Heisuke Mashimo (Ryōta Suzuki / Xolo Maridueña). Netflix’s new trailer for the series teases a bit of how some of Sakamoto’s enemies quickly become allies in his fight to keep his small family safe, and while it doesn’t show all that much of the show’s action, we’ll be able to check it out for ourselves when the show debuts on January 11th.

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 first Nintendo Switch basically had the road to itself, and Nintendo instantly proved just how awesome a hybrid console and handheld could be, leading to massive success. The next Switch is imminent, but it will launch into a world that’s packed with very capable handheld gaming PCs that could present an interesting challenge to Nintendo, especially following news from CES 2025.

Valve’s Steam Deck kicked off the handheld gaming PC push in large part because its Linux-based SteamOS makes playing your games just about as easy as it is on consoles. That’s why one of the biggest CES announcements is that Valve is going to let people install SteamOS on other handhelds as soon as April, potentially making the entire handheld PC gaming market a lot more appealing.

The first official non-Valve device with SteamOS is set to be Lenovo’s $499 Legion Go S, which launches in May. But it’s not hard to imagine a near-term future where many other hardware makers announce their own SteamOS handhelds, meaning the magic of SteamOS might be available in all kinds of interesting devices very soon. (And hopefully, the increased competition means Valve will make the eventual next Steam Deck really good.)

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

CES 2025 featured a bunch of other handheld gaming hardware, too, like the chonk that is Acer’s Nitro Blaze 11. It has a gigantic 10.95-inch screen, detachable controllers, and a kickstand. It’s huge! Intel and Tencent also made a handheld with an 11-inch screen, and theirs has stereo 3D. My colleague Sean Hollister finally got to see the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus. Razer made a docking station that works with handheld gaming PCs. And in a CES panel, Microsoft promised news about changes to the handheld Windows experience for later this year, which could improve things for people who already own Windows-based hardware.

That’s a lot of cool stuff! But Nintendo is the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and as interesting as all of the PC gaming hardware is, the Switch’s imminent successor will almost certainly be a very compelling upgrade. The original Switch was released nearly eight years ago, so the successor will likely be much more powerful and will probably have splashy new games in marquee franchises like Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda. (I’d bet already-announced Switch games like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Pokémon Legends: Z-A will get some kind of boost on the next Switch, too.)

Right out of the gate, Nintendo’s new console will also have an enormous library. The company already announced its next console will be compatible with original Switch games — a catalog that includes many of the indie hits that are also some of the best games on handheld PCs.

Back in 2017, when the original Switch launched, there wasn’t anything like it. The Switch’s successor will compete in a much more crowded field — and one that’s getting even more crowded after CES 2025. Hopefully, the competition means everyone makes better hardware and better games. It’s a great time for handhelds.

Astrohaus has announced a new addition to its distraction-reducing Freewrite line of writing tools at CES. Unlike its previous all-in-one devices that pair a keyboard with basic monochromatic screens, its new Freewrite Wordrunner is a standalone mechanical keyboard customized with keys and tools designed to help writers stay focused and work more efficiently.

The company hasn’t announced pricing for the new Freewrite Wordrunner yet, but it’s expected to be available for preorder sometime in February 2025 through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. The company’s all-in-one writing devices range in price from $349 to $999, but without a screen, storage, and other electronics, its keyboard will potentially be much cheaper. Discounts will be available to early backers, but Astrohaus is also currently selling $1 refundable reservations that promise “priority access” and “exclusive early-bird pricing.”

Image: Astrohaus

The Freewrite Wordrunner features a compact tenkeyless design, a body made from durable die-cast aluminum, backlit “high-quality tactile switches,” and several layers of sound deadening so it can be used in shared spaces without becoming a distraction to others.

What sets the Wordrunner apart from other mechanical keyboards is the addition of two electromechanical counters with rotating numbers on its top edge. One, called the Wordometer, will continually track word count until you press a reset button, while the other, upgraded with “subtle LED indicators,” serves as a timer for quick writing sprints or tracking your productivity.

Image: Astrohaus

The keyboard’s other big differentiator is a redesigned function row with keys customized for quickly navigating and editing a document. These include dedicated keys for undo and redo, jumping between paragraphs, and quickly skipping to the top or bottom of a page. There are also three dedicated macro keys — labeled zap, pow, and bam — that writers can customize to their specific needs.

This means the Wordrunner loses keys dedicated to controlling media playback, but that’s all handled through a rotating red joystick in the upper-left corner of the keyboard that can be pressed or moved in four directions for skipping tracks or making volume adjustments.

Other features include an extended wrist rest and the ability to connect to and switch between up to four devices through dedicated hotkeys. The Freewrite Wordrunner can connect to three devices over Bluetooth, including computers and mobile devices, and a fourth with a USB-C cable.

The popular open-source VLC video player was demonstrated on the floor of CES 2025 with automatic AI subtitling and translation, generated locally and offline in real time. Parent organization VideoLAN shared a video on Tuesday in which president Jean-Baptiste Kempf shows off the new feature, which uses open-source AI models to generate subtitles for videos in several languages.

“At the same time we have automatic translation working to translate the subtitles to your own language,” Kempf says, with more than 100 languages planned for support. “What’s important is that this is running on your machine locally, offline, without any cloud services. It runs directly inside the executable.”

AI-powered subtitling has been under development for some time in the form of a plug-in using OpenAI’s speech recognition system Whisper, but this new demo appears to be built directly into the VLC app and generates translated subtitles in real time. There’s no word on when the feature will roll out.

This week, VideoLAN also celebrated hitting 6 billion downloads, with Kempf boasting, “The number of active users of VLC is actually growing, even in this age of streaming services.”

With CES 2025 still in full swing, we’ll track VideoLAN down on the show floor to see the AI subtitling in action for ourselves.

Microsoft is holding another Xbox Developer Direct event on January 23rd. It’s the third Developer Direct in a row, making it an annual look at what’s ahead for Xbox for the year. Like last year’s event, Microsoft will provide some updates on Xbox games that are planned for release in 2025, including feature South of Midnight, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and DOOM: The Dark Ages.

Microsoft’s teaser image for the event also includes a teaser for an unannounced “brand new game” Xbox game. Last year’s Developer Direct featured a first look at Bethesda’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

The Xbox Developer Direct will likely follow a similar format to the last two events, with no hosts and around 45 minutes of gameplay and announcements. The Xbox Developer Direct will take place at 1PM ET / 10PM PT / 6PM UK on January 23rd and will be streamed live on on Twitch and YouTube.

Mercedes-Benz said that its electric vehicles will be able to access Tesla’s Supercharger network starting in February.

By now you should be familiar with how this goes: a manufacturer announces Supercharger access, first through the use of NACS-to-CCS adapters and then later with native NACS integration. The adapters are available to purchase through dealerships. And EV owners will get to giddily watch as the number of accessible public EV chargers suddenly grows by the thousands. (By last count, Tesla had 20,000 stalls in the US and Canada.)

Of course, this is all unique to North American residents, as Europeans who own any flavor of EV have long been able to access Tesla Superchargers thanks to a more enlightened stance on technology standards.

Mercedes will be the seventh automaker to gain access to Tesla’s lauded EV charging network, following Ford, General Motors, Rivian, Volvo, Polestar, and Nissan. Mercedes originally hoped to have everything sorted out with Tesla by 2024, but we’ll cut it some slack. Elon Musk was pretty busy last year. (Volkswagen is also planning on opening access this summer, PC Magazine reported.)

The adapter, which is produced by EV charging supplier Lectron, will sell for $185 through authorized dealerships. According to Mercedes spokesperson Andrew Brudnicki, the Lectron adapter is “the only adapter to date that has been tested for safety and compatibility with Mercedes-Benz EVs” and “includes other advantages for customers, such as a more robust interlock connection between the cable and adapter compared to similar adapters.”

(Lectron had a few issues with a faulty latch pin last year, resulting in a recall of around 1,600 units; the company says those issues were addressed in April 2024, and since then, there haven’t been any other problems.)

Tesla Supercharger locations will also be added to Mercedes’ charger map in its app. And the system will be integrated with the company’s use of Plug & Charge, in which charging initiates as soon as the customer plugs in, with no additional steps or authorizations required.

Later this year, Mercedes plans to roll out its first vehicles with factory-installed NACS ports. We don’t know which models will come first, but the company has a variety of EVs available, from the luxurious EQS, to the more affordable EQE and EQB, to the status-conferring electric G-Wagen.

Mercedes is involved in a range of EV charging expansion projects, including the installation of thousands of fast chargers with solar company MN8 Energy and the Ionna venture, along with several other major OEMs.

The AI search engine Perplexity is launching an integration with Tripadvisor that will add more information about hotels. Now, when you search for places to stay, Perplexity will present you with a neatly organized list of hotels, alongside summaries of why it chose them using information sourced from Tripadvisor.

In an example shared by Perplexity, a search for “hotels in Madrid for a business trip” yields a result for Hotel Regina, which the search engine says you should choose “if you want a centrally located hotel in Madrid with exceptional service and a rich breakfast offering.” It also displays its ratings and images from Tripadvisor as well as a list of perks, like “location,” “service,” and “cleanliness.”

Previously, Perplexity only displayed a numbered list of hotels with their address, user rating, and features, while showing images gathered from each hotel’s website in its sidebar.

“From the Tripadvisor side, they provide an up-to-date trustworthy source of information that we sync regularly,” Perplexity cofounder Johnny Ho said during an interview with The Verge. “On the fly, we’ll index and retrieve the right results depending on the user intent of the query.”

Perplexity, which bills itself as an “answer engine” rather than a search engine, plans to expand the Tripadvisor integration to include information about restaurants and experiences in the future. The AI search engine also added data from Yelp last year as part of its goal to include accurate information you can use.

The change comes just weeks after ChatGPT widely rolled out its AI search engine, which now displays results from the web for certain queries. Perplexity’s Tripadvisor integration is rolling out now to Perplexity on the web, but it will be available on its mobile app “soon.”