Nintendo’s latest entry in its “ask the developer” interview series has some fun new details about the Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World. Among the many things discussed is an explanation for why the game isn’t called Mario Kart 9, despite being a sequel to the best-selling Mario Kart 8 — and it has to do with the game’s approach to open-world design.

“If the idea had just been to add more courses, then I think we would’ve called it Mario Kart 9,“ explained producer Kosuke Yabuki. “But, that wasn’t our approach this time. We wanted to take the series to the next level. So, we decided to drop the numbering this time and go with a completely new title, Mario Kart World. So, we’d already added “MARIO KART WORLD” to the concept art from the early stages of development.“

The development team also discussed the game’s origins on the original Switch. Many of the key aspects of World — including its interconnected map and increasing the number of players per race from 12 to 24 — were in place early on, but they apparently proved to be a challenge on the previous hardware.

“When we were developing for the Nintendo Switch system, it was difficult for us to incorporate everything we wanted, so we were always conscious of what we were giving up in return,” programming director Kenta Sato  said. “We discussed things like toning down the visuals, lowering the resolution, and we even considered dropping the frame rate to 30 fps in some cases. It was a tough situation.” Yabuki added that when the idea of moving the game to the Switch 2 came up, “It was truly a ray of hope.”

There’s a lot more to dig into in the four-part Q&A, including the fact that there will be 200 tracks to listen to and how important food is to the game from a worldbuilding perspective. So you should definitely check out the full thing. My favorite detail, though, is how a character named Cow made it onto the roster of racers. As art director Masaaki Ishikawa explains it “Cow is actually a pivotal character in the Mario Kart series.“

After looking at this concept art, I can’t help but agree:

Metaphor ReFantazio — a game that combines innovative turn-based combat with a story timely for our current political moment — is coming to Xbox Game Pass later this month. In fact, the Game Pass line up for the rest of May is actually pretty sweet.

Metaphor, Atlus’ best RPG since Persona 5, arrives on Game Pass next week on May 29th. Another fave, Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, an afro-futuristic metroidvania that deals with grief and loss and a heaping helping of African folklore, is also heading to Game Pass tomorrow on May 22nd. I’m also really excited to see that To a T, the quirky and cute new game from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi, is launching day and date on Game Pass on May 28th.

Venturing outside the realm of RPGs, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 arrives on Game Pass on May 27th and if you just gotta have something new to play today, there’s Monster Train 2, a deckbuilding roguelike from Devolver Digital, out right now. Check out the full list of late May Game Pass additions here and there’s also a list of games coming to the Cloud Gaming Beta too so maybe something will catch your interest.

If you ask me, there’s always space in my games catalog for a fun third-person shooter that I can play with my buds online. Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 delivers some of the best blood-gushing, bug-crushing action, filling a Gears of War void that I didn’t know needed filling. You can jump into the fray while saving some money, as Space Marine 2 has hit its lowest price yet at Amazon, GameStop, and Best Buy. Normally $69.99, it costs $39.99 for the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X.

Other deals worth checking out

• If you find yourself in a position of needing more storage for your original Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, or some other device, there’s a great deal happening on Samsung’s 512GB microSD card at Amazon. You can get it for $29.99, a price we’ve seen before, but one that’s still good enough that it’s worth sharing again.
• My colleague Sheena recently highlighted some of the great discounts happening on LG’s C4 OLEDs in time for Memorial Day. The lowest price, of course, is on the the smallest 42-inch version, which currently costs $796.99 (roughly half off). The price drops apply to larger sizes, too, like the 65-inch version that’s down to $1,299.99 at Best Buy, which I consider to be a stellar deal.

Google is working with Samsung to bring a desktop mode to Android. During Google I/O’s developer keynote, engineering manager Florina Muntenescu said the company is “building on the foundation” of Samsung’s DeX platform “to bring enhanced windowing capabilities in Android 16,” as spotted earlier by 9to5Google.

Samsung first launched DeX in 2017, a feature that automatically adjusts your phone’s interface and apps when connected to a larger display, allowing you to use your phone like a desktop device.

A demo during the presentation revealed a Samsung DeX-like layout, with apps like Gmail, Chrome, YouTube, and Google Photos centered in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. It also showed how Android 16’s adaptive apps can move and stretch across the screen. The time sits at the top-left corner of the screen, with the Wi-Fi signal and battery on the right.

In March, Android Authority’s Mishaal Rahman reported on Google’s plans to create a desktop mode of its own, and later enabled an early version of the feature on a Pixel device.
Google shared more details in a blog post about the update, saying Android 16’s emphasis on adaptiveness will also help apps work on more kinds of devices, like foldables, tablets, Chromebooks, mixed reality wearables, and even cars.

One of the more surprising moments in volume four of Love, Death, and Robots is an appearance from YouTube star MrBeast. He shows up in the episode "The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur," playing a sort of twisted game master presiding over a death race on one of the moons of Jupiter. Also, there are dinosaurs. According to LDR creator Tim Miller, who also directed the episode, the collaboration started out simply because MrBeast was a fan of the show. It then solidified once Miller realized he had the ideal role.

"I have this evil game master here, and I thought he would be perfect for that," Miller says. "I watched his Amazon show and I thought 'what a dick' often. With some of the contestants, he seemed to take a particular joy in their uncomfortableness. Not because he's an evil guy - he's not, he's a super nice guy. I think he just enjoys the whole machination of people and how they can either work together or against each other. And it seemed to fit this particular role very well."

Miller says that because MrBeast was such a fan, he didn't actually charge anything for his performance. "The cool thing is he likes the show so much - we couldn't afford MrBeast prices or anything …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google’s new Material 3 Expressive design language includes a welcome surprise for Pixel owners: the mandatory At a Glance home screen widget has shrunk, leaving space for an extra row of apps.

The new look is included in the latest version of the Android 16 beta. Upon installation, Pixel owners are greeted with a pop-up message on the home screen:

Enjoy more space for apps

Good news! Your home screen has a new layout, which means there’s space for more apps & widgets

The new design both shrinks the At a Glance widget and removes some of the dead space between the other rows, compressing the entire screen. It leaves room for a full extra row of apps below the redesigned widget.

The bad news is that Google still won’t let you turn off the widget, which is a mandatory part of the Pixel home screen, just like the Google search bar at the bottom. Making it smaller will at least go some way to appeasing Pixel owners who’ve long hoped for the same home screen flexibility as other Android phones.

Material 3 Expressive is a colorful, bouncy new aesthetic for Android that Google unveiled last week. It was made available in the new Android 16 beta yesterday, and should roll out widely later this year, after the OS update launches in full next month.

TikTok users will now be able to save tracks they discover straight to their SoundCloud app. On Wednesday, the two companies announced they’re partnering to expand an existing TikTok feature that was previously available to users of music streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify.

The “add to music app” button appears when a TikTok user clicks on an audio track added to a video. Saved songs are automatically added to a TikTok playlist on users’ default music streaming service. The integration streamlines a process many TikTok users do organically: find new music on the video app. The “add to music app” feature is an easy way for listeners to take their discoveries off the app (and for artists, especially indie musicians, to grow their fanbase beyond just passive TikTok listeners).

Over the past five or so years, TikTok has proved to be a powerful driver of pop music — not just for emerging artists but also for household names. Artists plan and unveil TikTok-specific marketing to hype up their new music and older songs get a second wind as a new audience on social media discovers their work. Even Taylor Swift recognizes she needs her music on the platform: last year, as TikTok’s licensing deal with Universal Music Group expired and spiraled into a nasty back and forth, UMG artists’ music was pulled from the video platform. Swift’s music reappeared before a deal was publicly announced (and just in time to promote her upcoming album). There was even a Billboard TikTok chart ranking the app’s hits, though it was short-lived; the chart was discontinued earlier this year.

TikTok says that since rolling out the “add to music app” feature last year, songs have been saved more than a billion times. The SoundCloud integration begins rolling out today to all users.

Following the debut of the Oura Ring 4 last October, which featured improved accuracy for blood oxygen tracking and heart rate readings, the company has announced it’s introducing additional algorithm improvements that will deliver more comprehensive and accurate movement tracking.

First announced last month, the updates are now “rolling out to members globally” and include a new step-counting algorithm called Real Steps that makes the Oura Ring function more like a pedometer. Instead of estimating your step count using generic movement data, an advanced machine-learning model will now more accurately determine when ring movement is the result of a step, although the company warns that users may see a decrease in step count of up to 20 percent as a result of the changes.

Oura’s active calorie burn estimates will also now factor in the intensity of your movements during exercise using heart rate measurements. As with the potential changes in step count, the company says that during more intense workouts users may see that they’ve “burned more calories than previously shown,” or have burned fewer calories during low-impact exercises like yoga or walking, when heart rates don’t tend to dramatically increase.

The wearable’s all-day activity tracking is being expanded to work all night as well, including between the hours of 12AM and 4AM, so that late-night activities such as dancing at the club until the early morning are tracked and taken into account. And if you forget to add a workout, you can add or edit activities from the past seven days in the Oura app — not just the current day — with Readiness and Activity Scores being automatically adjusted to reflect those changes.

New fitness metrics are being added to the Oura Ring’s Automatic Activity Detection, including running splits that leverage GPS data from a connected smartphone to show walks and runs in more detail. And heart rate data will now be included when importing activity data into the Oura app that was collected by third-party health and fitness apps, including Apple Health, Strava, and Android Health Connect.

In addition to these upgrades, Oura has announced new partner integrations with CorePower Yoga, The Sculpt Society, Technogym, and Open, whose respective apps will “tailor training and recovery recommendations” based on a user’s Oura Readiness Score and other biometric data captured by the smart ring, including sleep, stress, calories, and heart rate variability.

Strava is making it easier to plan workouts and keep activity leaderboard rankings fair. The updates rolling out over the coming weeks focus on helping users optimize their workout routes to compete against other users and their own personal bests, building on some of the existing AI features that Strava announced last year.

Anyone paying for a Strava subscription (starting at $11.99 monthly) can now access a new AI-powered routes experience under the Maps tab that should provide more intuitive suggestions based on popular routes enjoyed by other Strava users. Users can generate community-backed routes from custom starting points or their current location, pulling data from Strava’s heatmaps feature.

Other route-related updates will be rolled out to the Strava mobile app in the coming months, including changes to the tappable points of interest (POI) feature that currently enables subscribers to instantly generate routes to cafés, restrooms, viewpoints, and other locations. Starting in June, POI’s will also display elevation, distance, and estimated arrival time information, and allow users to upload photos of the location. Point-to-point routing will also launch in July, which uses heatmaps and machine learning to deliver “the most efficient, activity-specific route from A to B,” according to Strava.

Strava is also doubling the number of live segments, which allow users to view real-time performance data and achievements in sections of their route, and introducing additional data screens for subscribers.

Finally, Strava says it’s “continuing to advance” the AI-powered Leaderboard Integrity feature it launched to weed out cheaters on cycling and running paths. The company says that 4.45 million activity logs have been removed so far that carried the wrong sport type, or were recorded in vehicles — which is an easy way to fabricate scores now that e-bikes can make anyone the king of a mountain.

Google's AI models have a secret ingredient that's giving the company a leg up on competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic. That ingredient is your data, and it's only just scratched the surface in terms of how it can use your information to "personalize" Gemini's responses.

Google first started letting users opt in to its "Gemini with personalization" feature earlier this year, which lets the AI model tap into your search history "to provide responses that are uniquely insightful and directly address your needs." But now, Google is taking things a step further by unlocking access to even more of your information - all in the name of providing you with more personalized, AI-generated responses.

During Google I/O on Tuesday, Google introduced something called "personal context," which will allow Gemini models to pull relevant information from across Google's apps, as long as it has your permission. One way Google is doing this is through Gmail's personalized smart replies - the AI-generated messages that you can use to quickly reply to emails.

To make these AI responses sound "authentically like you," Gemini will pore over your previous emails and even your Google Drive files to cr …

Read the full story at The Verge.

In The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton wrote about killer alien space crystals that are (spoiler alert) ultimately stymied by Earth's breadth of pH values. In reality, crystals grown in space could be key to a new generation of cancer-fighting treatments that save lives, not threaten them.

Colorado-based startup Sierra Space is nearly ready to launch its reusable space plane, Dream Chaser. It's set to carry into orbit a 3-D printed module designed by engineers at pharma giant Merck. If the test goes well, and if Dream Chaser's gentle reentry process keeps that sensitive cargo safe, this could be the start of something big - despite those crystals being microscopic.

A brief history of space crystals

Space crystals sound like something an astrology guru would hang over their bed to help them sleep, but there's real science here. According to the ISS National Lab, crystals grown in space are simply better: "Scientists hypothesize that these observed benefits result from a slower, more uniform movement of molecules into a crystalline lattice in microgravity."

Research into monoclonal antibodies points towards crystallization as being key for developing more stable, subcutaneous …

Read the full story at The Verge.

AMD has announced its latest Zen 5-based Ryzen Threadripper 9000 Series of CPUs at Computex today. The 9000 Series and 9000 WX-Series are built for the demanding workstation market, and the top Threadripper Pro 9995WX will ship with 96 cores and 192 threads.

This flagship Threadripper chip is designed for professionals who are working on visual effects, simulations, and AI model development. The Threadripper Pro 9995WX also has up to 384MB of L3 cache and 128 lanes of PCIe Gen 5, making it ideal to pair with multiple GPUs.

AMD claims that the Threadripper Pro 9995WX is 2.2x faster than Intel’s 60-core Xeon W9-3595X processor in Cinebench 2024 multi-threaded rendering.

If you don’t need a 96-core CPU, AMD’s Threadripper 9000 Series are also targeted at enthusiasts and creators who want workstation-like performance. The Ryzen Threadripper 9980X has 64 cores and 128 threads, a base frequency of 3.2GHz, and 320MB of L3 cache.

All of these new Threadripper chips, pro or not, will run at a thermal design power (TDP) of 350 watts and will work (after a BIOS update) on existing motherboards that support the sTR5 socket.

Both Threadripper 9000 Series and the Pro WX-Series processors will be available from retailers in July, but AMD isn’t announcing pricing just yet. Given the its high-end 7980X Threadripper CPU retailed at $4,999 in 2023, it’s fair to say these next-gen equivalents will be around that price.

Google I/O was, as predicted, an AI show. But now that the keynote is over, we can see that the company's vision is to use AI to eventually do a lot of Googling for you.

A lot of that vision rests on AI Mode in Google Search, which Google is starting to roll out to everyone in the US. AI Mode offers a more chatbot-like interface right inside Search, and behind the scenes, Google is doing a lot of work to pull in information instead of making you scroll through a list of blue links.

Onstage, Google presented an example of someone asking for things to do in Nashville over a weekend with friends who like food, music, and "exploring off the beaten path." AI Mode hopped into action, creating Google-curated lists of "restaurants good for foodies," recommending places with a "chill bar atmosphere with live music," highlighting "places off-the-beaten path," and suggesting websites featuring good things to do in Nashville. It even created a custom map recommending places to go. (If you're doing some shopping, AI Mode can show you a personalized batch of listings, too.)

This is essentially Google doing your planning work for you. The service generated a whole bunch of related search quer …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Microsoft is working on a new “Cross Device Resume” feature for Windows 11 that works similarly to Apple’s Handoff feature in macOS. The feature was spotted in a Microsoft Build 2025 session, before Windows Central noticed Microsoft editing out the demo that showed a mobile Spotify session resuming on a PC.

“When you open the app on your mobile device or tablet, Windows can show a subtle badge right on your app’s taskbar icon,” explains Aakash Varshney, a senior product manager for cross devices and experiences at Microsoft, in a “Create Seamless Cross-Device Experiences with Windows for your app” Build session for developers. “It’s a visual nudge that when clicked launches your app directly into the task, delivering a smooth intuitive handoff from PC to phone.”

Varshney’s now-deleted demo shows a Spotify app icon with a badge on it in the taskbar, and a message when you hover over the badge that says “resume, recently opened on your mobile device.” It’s designed to let you resume the Spotify app on PC right from where you left off on mobile. “Spotify launches and I’m instantly back in the same song, now playing on my PC,” says Varshney. “No need to search or start over, it’s a smooth one-click transition that keeps the music and user experience uninterrupted.”

Microsoft first started testing an app handoff feature in Windows 10, back in 2016. Codenamed Project Rome, the cross-device experience for apps was designed for developers to write apps that can “run on multiple devices and travel with the user as they switch between devices.” We’ve not seen much adoption of Project Rome in reality though, so hopefully this new Cross Device Resume is more widely adopted.

A year ago Xbox president Sarah Bond revealed that Microsoft was planning to launch a new Xbox mobile web store in July 2024. That never happened. I’ve been wondering what the hold up has been over the past year, and it seems we might have an answer: Apple.

Microsoft filed an amicus brief late on Tuesday, in support of Epic Games’ ongoing fight with Apple’s control over the App Store. The brief takes issue with Apple’s attempt to overturn the injunction that allows Epic and other developers to freely advertise alternative payment methods in their apps, and not have to pay Apple additional fees for purchases made outside of apps.

It’s a key ruling that has already allowed Fortnite to return to the App Store in the US, complete with the ability for Epic Games to link out to its own payment system inside the game. Microsoft has wanted to offer a similar experience for its Xbox mobile store prior to the ruling, but it says its solution “has been stymied by Apple.” Here’s how Microsoft explains it:

The district court’s injunction allows Apple to maintain its in-app exclusivity but at least should have enabled Microsoft to offer consumers a workable solution by launching its own online store — accessible via link-out — for in-app items to be purchased off-app and used in games or other apps. And that is what Microsoft wants to do. But even this solution has been stymied by Apple. Prior to the district court’s most recent order, Microsoft had been unable to implement linked-out payments (or even inform customers that alternative purchase methods exist) because of Apple’s new anti-steering policies that restrict Microsoft’s communication to users and impose an even higher economic cost to Microsoft than before the injunction.

The court ruling makes it possible for Microsoft to now launch its Xbox mobile store, but it’s clear that the software giant also wants to ensure Apple’s appeal against the ruling isn’t successful. If Microsoft did launch its Xbox mobile store and then Apple won a temporary stay, it may have to pull that store pending the appeal process.

Microsoft even notes in its filing that “Apple makes no argument that the technical or policy changes cannot be undone,” so it’s urging the ruling to be enforced pending Apple’s appeal. “Microsoft’s own experience managing app stores confirms that Apple’s policies could be restored if Apple ultimately prevails on appeal.”

The court ruling also impacts Microsoft’s main Xbox mobile app. “Similarly, Microsoft has long sought to enable Xbox app users on iOS to both buy and stream games in the app from the cloud or their other devices,” says Microsoft in its filing. “Apple’s policies have restricted Microsoft’s ability to offer these functionalities together; the injunction allows Microsoft to explore this possibility.”

Microsoft started rolling out the ability to purchase games and DLC inside the Xbox mobile app last month, but it had to remove the remote play option to adhere to Apple’s App Store policies. You can’t currently buy an Xbox game in the Xbox mobile app on iOS and then stream it inside that same app. You have to manually navigate to the Xbox Cloud Gaming mobile website on a browser to get access to cloud gaming.

Sarah Bond also announced plans to let players purchase and play games within the Xbox app on Android in October, just days after a court ruled that Google must crack open Android to third-party app stores. The feature was supposed to arrive in November, but Bond then blamed a “temporary administrative stay” for holding it back.

The original Wheel vertical turntable was a bust, the Wheel 2 redemption, and now the small mom and pop team at Miniot is back for a victory lap with the Wheel 3. It can play your record collection upright on its stand, laid flat on a table, or hung on a wall. 

Inside the handmade Wheel 3 turntable you’ll find a new optical stylus that the company says “blows away anything you’ve heard before!” It also features a new “bespoke, high-end” amplifier and redesigned linear tonearm that moves up-and-down the spinning record instead of side-to-side like the Wheel 2 I reviewed back in 2023.

The volume and playback slider is still embedded in the rim at the top near the dimmable display, giving you precise digital control over your analog music track selection.

The new slimmed-down design also looks more cohesive, if colder. It’s made from two parts: a solid composite on the back married to a polished aluminum unibody front. A Wheel 3 Special Edition will feature a solid wooden back for fans of Miniot’s organic roots.

The Wheel 3 can be preordered now for $3,350 / €2,900 with deliveries expected in 10 weeks.

Amazon is issuing refunds to customers who’d returned products but never received their money back, in some cases from as long ago as 2018. 

“Following a recent internal review, we identified a very small subset of returns where we issued a refund without the payment completing, or where we could not verify that the correct item had been sent back to us so no refund was issued,” Amazon spokesperson Maxine Tagay told The Verge. “There is no action required from customers to receive the refunds, and we have fixed the payment issue and made process changes to more promptly contact customers about unresolved returns going forward.”

Amazon emailed a similar message to affected customers, according to Bloomberg, while acknowledging the delay in processing the payments. “We could have notified these customers more clearly (and earlier) to better understand the status and help us resolve the return,” the email states. “Given the time elapsed, we’ve decided to err on the side of customers and just complete refunds for these returns.”

Amazon had hinted refunds were coming during its most recent earnings call on May 1st. CFO Brian Olsavsky confirmed that the company was reporting a one-time charge of $1.1 billion, partly attributable to “some historical customer returns,” along with the costs of stockpiling inventory in preparation for Trump’s tariffs.

There have been reports of the belated refunds from Amazon customers on Reddit, X, and LinkedIn for over a week, with one poster claiming to have received almost $1,800 this week for a TV returned to the retailer in 2018. Others claim to have received money from Amazon with no explanation why, and some report receiving refunds for products they never returned in the first place.

The company is currently facing a potential class action lawsuit that alleges it systematically failed to issue refunds to customers, or reversed refunds that had been issued. The suit was filed in 2023, but this April a judge rejected Amazon’s move to have it dismissed. It’s currently awaiting certification, a necessary step before other Amazon customers can join the class action.

Update, May 21st: Added an official statement from Amazon.

Microsoft’s head of security for AI, Neta Haiby, accidentally revealed confidential messages about Walmart’s use of Microsoft’s AI tools during a Build talk that was disrupted by protesters. 

The Build livestream was muted and the camera pointed down, but the session resumed moments later after the protesters were escorted out. In the aftermath, Haiby then accidentally switched to Microsoft Teams while sharing her screen, revealing confidential internal messages about Walmart’s upcoming use of Microsoft’s Entra and AI gateway services.

Haiby was co-hosting a Build session on best security practices for AI, alongside Sarah Bird, Microsoft’s head of responsible AI, when two former Microsoft employees disrupted the talk to protest against the company’s cloud contracts with the Israeli government.

“Sarah, you are whitewashing the crimes of Microsoft in Palestine, how dare you talk about responsible AI when Microsoft is fueling the genocide in Palestine,” shouted Hossam Nasr, an organizer with the protest group No Azure for Apartheid, and a former Microsoft employee who was fired for holding a vigil outside Microsoft’s headquarters for Palestinians killed in Gaza.

Walmart is one of Microsoft’s biggest corporate customers, and already uses the company’s Azure OpenAI service for some of its AI work. “Walmart is ready to rock and roll with Entra Web and AI Gateway,” says one of Microsoft’s cloud solution architects in the Teams messages. The chat session also quoted a Walmart AI engineer, saying: “Microsoft is WAY ahead of Google with AI security. We are excited to go down this path with you.”

We asked Microsoft to comment on this protest and the Teams messages, but the company did not respond in time for publication.

Both of the protesters involved in this latest Microsoft Build disruption were former Microsoft employees, with Vaniya Agrawal appearing alongside Nasr. Agrawal interrupted Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, former CEO Steve Ballmer, and CEO Satya Nadella later during the company’s 50th anniversary event last month. Agrawal was dismissed shortly after putting in her two weeks’ notice at Microsoft before the protest, according to an email seen by The Verge.

This is the third interruption of Microsoft Build by protesters, after a Palestinian tech worker disrupted Microsoft’s head of CoreAI on Tuesday, and a Microsoft employee interrupted the opening keynote of Build while CEO Satya Nadella was talking on stage.

This latest protest comes days after Microsoft announced last week that it had conducted an internal review and used an unnamed external firm to assess how its technology is used in the war in Gaza. Microsoft says that its relationship with Israel’s Ministry of Defense (IMOD) is “structured as a standard commercial relationship” and that it has “found no evidence that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies, or any of our other software, have been used to harm people or that IMOD has failed to comply with our terms of service or our AI Code of Conduct.”

At yesterday’s I/O conference, Google announced plans to start putting its AI chatbot, Gemini, in a variety of different places, including cars. Today, Volvo said it was shoving its way to the front of the line to be the first to receive the new tech.

Volvo said it was expanding its preexisting partnership with Google — the Swedish automaker was one of the first to adopt the built-in Android Automotive operating system for its vehicles — to include the integration of Gemini across its model lineup. Drivers will be able to have more “natural” conversations with their car, including language translation, navigational help, and finding specific locations. They’ll even be able to ask the AI assistant to answer questions about their vehicle’s user manual. Volvo framed it as easing the driver’s “cognitive load” so they can keep their eyes on the road.

Earlier this month, Google said that it would make Gemini available to cars that support Android Auto, the company’s popular phone mirroring program. But whereas Android Auto users will get access to Gemini in the coming weeks, vehicles with Android Automotive — marketed as Google built-in — won’t get access until later this year.

Drivers and passengers will be able to use Gemini send texts, get directions, play music, and basically all the things that Google Assistant has been able to do. The main difference is users won’t have to use stilted, robotic commands, instead relying on Gemini’s natural language capabilities.

Volvo will also now serve as one of Google’s reference hardware platforms for the development and testing of future automotive technology. That means Volvo’s vehicles will get “new features and updates” from Google before they are added to the main Android codebase.

“Through this partnership with Google, we are able to bring the very latest features and capabilities from the leading consumer eco-system into our products first,” Alwin Bakkenes, head of global software engineering at Volvo Cars, said in a statement. “With our expanding partnership, we’re collaborating on cutting-edge solutions that shape the future of connected cars.”

Volvo has worked closely with Google for a number of years and is already first in line to receive product updates, like high-def maps, built-in YouTube, and voice-controlled HVAC systems. Polestar, Volvo’s former performance subbrand (now a standalone marque), was the first company to sell cars with native Android Automotive OS.

Google’s annual developer conference, held at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, was all about Gemini this year. And the car is quickly emerging as an important platform for the chatbot, especially with its myriad of challenges — namely steering a 2-ton metal box through a complex environment riddled with pitfalls.

Google is positioning Gemini as a team player with the other core parts of the vehicle’s operating system. “Navigation apps can integrate with Gemini using three core intent formats, allowing you to start navigation, display relevant search results, and execute custom actions, such as enabling users to report incidents like traffic congestion using their voice,” Ben Sagmoe, developer relations engineer, wrote on the Android Developers Blog.

AMD is officially announcing its Radeon RX 9060 XT GPU at Computex today. Like the number implies, this graphics card will challenge Nvidia’s recently released RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti, with AMD offering models with 8GB or 16GB of VRAM. AMD is launching both models on June 5th, with the 8GB variant priced at $299, with the 16GB version priced at $349.

AMD is following Nvidia’s controversial choice to ship a modern GPU with just 8GB of VRAM in the year 2025. The 8GB of VRAM debate has been raging for months now, particularly because of the latest games that can be very demanding on the memory side. AMD is following in Nvidia’s footsteps, though, so it’ll be interesting to see what reviewers make of both cards in this important part of the market.

The RX 9060 XT will ship with 32 RDNA 4 compute units, a boost clock of 3.13GHz, and support for DisplayPort 2.1a and HDMI 2.1b. The total board power is between 150 watts and 182 watts, depending on the model. AMD claims its 16GB version of the RX 9060 XT will be around 6 percent faster than Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti at 1440p resolution, based on 40 games that AMD has tested itself.

We’re still waiting to hear how the RTX 5060 stacks up, because oddly, Nvidia launched its latest 50-series GPU yesterday without any reviews available. The GPU maker had reportedly prevented reviewers from obtaining the necessary driver to test the RTX 5060 ahead of the release date, presumably because it’s worried about the paltry 8GB of VRAM spec.

While the 8GB of VRAM choice for both Nvidia and AMD is controversial, Nvidia has managed to spark a further wave of outrage from PC gaming YouTubers over comments it has made to Gamers Nexus. In a 22-minute video, Gamers Nexus discusses the pressure from Nvidia to include Multi Frame Generation (MFG) in benchmarks against competitor cards that don’t have a similar feature. Gamers Nexus (GN) alleges that Nvidia has even implied that it would revoke access to interview Nvidia engineers unless the channel discussed MFG more.

Update, May 21st: Article updated with pricing and release date information that AMD didn’t share with The Verge ahead of its press conference.