Would you care if this sleek little thing was just a bit less little?
Sony's new RX1R III camera looks awesome. Hardcore photo enthusiasts have wanted an updated version of its full-frame compact camera, the RX1, for nearly a decade. I'm not surprised it costs a whopping $5,100 (cameras and lenses have been trending more expensive), but what I do find surprising, and quite egregious, is that the RX1R III lost the tiltable screen of its predecessor. Its rear LCD is fixed in place, which is a real blow to the street photographers and shooters who like the added convenience of easier from-the-hip or overhead angles.
The designers at Sony obviously went to great lengths to maintain similar dimensions to the last- …
A24 is known for its prestige arthouse films, but in its early days as a distributor, it made most of its money from elevated horror films like Ari Aster's Hereditary and Midsommar. Over a decade in, the ambitions of A24 and Aster have expanded beyond genre film. But for both, the more recent results have been mixed.
Eddington, Aster's latest, feels like a continuation of the maximalist guilt-trip Beau Is Afraid. Joaquin Phoenix stars once again, though the concerns here are less Jewish and Oedipal and more wokeness and conspiracy theories. It's grounded in the contemporary: the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically. The movie's …
In this example, you’d record yourself mimicking the sound of a rocket taking off. Have at it.
Adobe is launching new generative AI filmmaking tools that provide fun ways to create sound effects and control generated video outputs. Alongside the familiar text prompts that typically allow you to describe what Adobe’s Firefly AI models should make or edit, users can now use onomatopoeia-like voice recordings to generate custom sounds, and use reference footage to guide the movements in Firefly-generated videos.
The Generate Sound Effects tool that’s launching in beta on the Firefly app can be used with recorded and generated footage, and provides greater control over audio generation than Google’s Veo 3 video tool. The interface resembles a video editing timeline and allows users to match the effects they create in time with uploaded footage. For example, users can play a video of a horse walking along a road and simultaneously record “clip clop” noises in time with its hoof steps, alongside a text description that says “hooves on concrete.” The tool will then generate four sound effect options to choose from.
This builds on the Project Super Sonic experiment that Adobe showed off at its Max event in October. It doesn’t work for speech, but does support the creation of impact sounds like twigs snapping, footsteps, zipper effects, and more, as well as atmospheric noises like nature sounds and city ambience.
New advanced controls are also coming to the Firefly Text-to-Video generator. Composition Reference allows users to upload a video alongside their text prompt to mirror the composition of that footage in the generated video, which should make it easier to achieve specific results, compared to repeatedly inputting text descriptions alone. Keyframe cropping will let users crop and upload images of the first and last frames that Firefly can use to generate video between, and new style presets provide a selection of visual styles that users can quickly select, including anime, vector art, claymation, and more.
These style presets are only available to use with Adobe’s own Firefly video AI model. The results leave something to be desired if the live demo I saw was any indication — the “claymation” option just looked like early 2000s 3D animation. But Adobe is continuing to add support for rival AI models within its own tools, and Adobe’s Generative AI lead Alexandru Costin told The Verge that similar controls and presets may be available to use with third-party AI models in the future. That suggests that Adobe is vying to keep its place at the top of the creative software foodchain as AI tools grow in popularity, even if it lags behind the likes of OpenAI and Google in the generative models themselves.
This pink is one of the two new colors coming to OnTrac outer caps.
Dyson is expanding the range of ear caps and cushions it offers for its customizable OnTrac headphones, with two new colors launching today for each. That doesn’t change the four default designs you’re able to pick from when buying the $499.99 OnTracs, but it does give existing owners new options to mix up the design.
The cushions now come in “Sky Blue,” which was already available for ear caps, and “Caramel,” which is entirely new. Meanwhile, the caps are now available in “Ceramic Oyster Pink,” previously exclusive to the cushions, and an all-new “Ceramic Chalk White.” Replacement sets of caps and cushions are available from Dyson’s site for $49.99.
The OnTrac headphones launched in July 2024, a more practical follow-up to the ill-fated Zone, which combined over-ear headphones with a Bane-esque air purifying mask. The customizable design is the main way the OnTracs are differentiated from rivals like Apple’s AirPods Max or the Sony WH-1000XM6, and the new colors mean there are now ten different sets of ear caps to choose from, and nine pairs of cushions.
Uber plans to make “multi-hundred-million dollar investments” in both Nuro and Lucid as part of a massive new robotaxi deal that was just announced.
The three companies are linking up to deploy “20,000 or more” robotaxis in the US over the next six years. The vehicles will be Lucid’s new Gravity SUV, equipped with autonomous technology developed by Nuro, and available exclusively on Uber’s app. The fleet will be owned by Uber or a third-party fleet management partner and the first vehicles will launch in as-yet-to-be-determined US city in 2026.
“This is a very, very big deal,” Dave Ferguson, co-founder and president of Nuro, said in an interview. “In terms of the scale and the hard commitments and the meat behind it, it is by far the biggest partnership deal that Uber has announced or done.”
“This is a very, very big deal.”
Uber is investing $300 million in Lucid, a spokesperson for the automaker, Nick Twork, confirmed. The investment in Nuro will be “significantly more than that,” Ferguson said, though he declined to share an exact figure. As part of the deal, Uber will take a seat on Nuro’s board of directors.
Uber’s decision to pour hundreds of millions of dollars in both companies underscores its desire to become a clearinghouse for both electric and autonomous vehicles of all stripes. The ridehail company has said it wants to use its size and scale to aid in the proliferation of autonomous vehicles across the world. It has struck over a dozen deals over the past year with a variety of robotaxi and delivery robot companies, including Waymo.
In choosing the sumptuously designed Gravity as its robotaxi platform, Uber will likely price this particular service in the upper tier like Uber Black. Lucid makes two luxury EVs, the Lucid Air sedan which starts at $69,900, and the Gravity SUV which starts at $79,900. In the current shaky EV market, Lucid is a niche player, delivering just 3,309 vehicles in the second quarter of 2025. The company is majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and it operates an assembly plant in the oil-rich nation.
This is Nuro’s first major licensing deal after pivoting away from designing and building its own self-driving delivery vehicles. The California-based company said last year that licensing its autonomous tech would be its main focus moving forward. Nuro’s current fleet of vehicles, which operates in California and Texas, has traveled over 1 million miles autonomously without any major safety incidents.
Uber’s investment comes at a crucial time for Nuro and Lucid, both of which have struggled withlayoffs and other financial difficulties in recent years. Donald Trump’s tariffs, as well as his administration’s move to eliminate Biden-era EV incentives, have put enormous pressure on the auto industry. And self-driving cars have taken longer and proven more costly to develop than initially promised.
But even as most AV investments have dried up, Nuro continues to find financial support. The company is currently valued at $6 billion after raising $106 million in its latest funding round last April. Lucid, which is publicly traded, has a market cap of approximately $7 billion.
Uber’s investment comes at a crucial time for Nuro and Lucid.
Nuro will design the Level 4 autonomous technology to power the robotaxis. Lucid’s workers will install the various sensors and hardware on the Gravity assembly line, after which it’ll be updated with Nuro’s software and commissioned by Uber. Nuro will also develop a safety case “across dozens of categories” using simulation, closed-course testing, and supervised on-road testing. A prototype autonomous Gravity is currently being tested at Nuro’s Las Vegas proving grounds, which Ferguson said took seven weeks to develop.
“That is a real testament to the quality of the engineering on the Lucid side,” he said. “They designed these platforms to be L3 capable because they were intending on having that as a future product for their customers. And so, they were really nice to integrate all of our sensing compute onto and to turn into self-driving vehicles.”
(L3, or Level 3 automation means the vehicle can drive itself in most situations, but still requires human supervision. Level 4 vehicles can driver fully autonomously in certain environments without human supervision. Lucid just introduced a hands-free driving system for highways.)
In many ways, the size of this deal — “a minimum” of 20,000 vehicles, but expected to be “much, much more,” Ferguson said — recalls some of the early promises from autonomous vehicle developers about tens of thousands of vehicles on the road in just a few short years. Those early assumptions turned out to be way off, and most companies are still struggling to deliver even just a few self-driving cars. Today, Waymo is operating less than 2,000 vehicles in a handful of markets as part of a commercial robotaxi service. Tesla has a few dozen robotaxis in a small part of Austin, Texas. The rest are still in beta and still not open to the public — including the self-driving trucks, which have had their own problems.
Ferguson said that’s all about to change. Nuro has been operating driverless vehicles for several years now, albeit at low speeds and while avoiding highways. But he says the time is right to move on to the next level, and with Uber and Lucid in its corner, he’s confident they’ll reach these milestones.
“It’s really just a function of, at what level is the autonomy at and how many markets can it sustain,” Ferguson said. “Within those markets, these are big, big numbers and opportunities. And the vehicles will follow.
Slack is using AI to help business users quickly understand confusing company language and concentrate on their most important tasks. The communication platform announced that it will “soon” be adding a feature that explains workplace jargon, and an AI writing assistant for Slack canvases that automates repetitive writing tasks like summarizing conversations and note-taking.
The AI message context feature will instantly explain messages that contain an acronym or unfamiliar phrase when the user hovers over them with their cursor. For any company jargon or terminology, Slack says the feature will draw on the vocabulary and conversation history of the user’s workspace to help break down project names, internal tools, or team-specific shorthand. The idea is to save the user time by avoiding having to manually look up these terms or bug a colleague for an explanation.
The writing assistant coming to canvases similarly aims to streamline workflows so users can concentrate on more important tasks. It can generate project briefs based on Slack conversations, extract and assign action items, and rewrite content to fit different tones, such as formal or friendly. It can also provide a full transcript for Slack huddle meetings and highlight the key points raised.
An AI-generated action item feature will soon summarize task requirements when users are mentioned in messages that include a follow-up, deadline, or request, helping to prioritize the users’ highest priority tasks. Slack is also introducing AI profile summaries that provide a quick overview of another user’s role and recent contributions to give users context about unfamiliar teammates at a glance. All of the features mentioned above are in the pipeline, but Slack hasn’t specified when they will be available.
Slack has announced that two other features are now generally available, however. Users on paid Enterprise plans can access Slack’s Enterprise Search chatbot, which answers questions using information pulled from their workspace’s database, while AI-powered translations are now fully available to customers on Business Plus plans.
Roblox is introducing a way to let trusted friends chat more freely among themselves, but it will require that they use a new age estimation tool to verify that they’re over 13.
The platform is renaming Friends to Connections, and people can only use unfiltered text chat and the Party social feature with a more exclusive group of “Trusted Connections.” With Trusted Connections, “inappropriate language like ‘butt-head’ and personally identifiable information are not filtered,” spokesperson Juliet Chaitin-Lefcourt tells The Verge.
The new age estimator tool prompts users to take a video selfie, “which is analyzed against a large and diverse dataset to estimate their age,” according to a blog post from chief safety officer Matt Kaufman. “If the system is not able to estimate the user’s age with high confidence, then the user’s age will remain unconfirmed and the user won’t be able to access Trusted Connections,” Kaufman says.
If a user doesn’t pass the age estimation tool but they are actually over 13, they will be able to confirm their age via ID verification “and, in the future, verified parental consent.”
Roblox partnered with identity verification company Persona on the age estimation technology, Roblox’s Ryan Ebanks said in a call with reporters, and he says biometric data will be deleted 30 days after collection “except for a few exceptions where legally required.” Persona is “providing the core age estimation and ID verification services to Roblox,” Chaitin-Lefcourt says, and “Persona’s model is integrated into the Roblox app with additional UI and logic that has been customized by Roblox.”
Users 13 through 17 who have their age confirmed will be able to add each other as Trusted Connections. Teens will only be able to add someone older than 18 as a Trusted Connection if they know them in real life, Kaufman says, and they can do that by scanning a QR code in person or using Roblox’s Contact Importer feature.
Although chats with Trusted Connections can be unfiltered, Roblox will monitor the conversations for “critical harm.”
“This includes, but isn’t limited to, any predatory behavior aimed at manipulating or harming minors, the sexualization of minors, engaging in inappropriate sexual conversations with or requesting sexual content, and any involvement with child sexual abuse material,” Chaitin-Lefcourt says.
Last year, a Bloomberg report highlighted issues with predators on the platform, and the company introduced safety tools like letting parents block and report people on their child’s friend list and has banned kids under 13 from accessing “social hangout” spaces. Age verification has growing momentum behind it — platforms like Bluesky and Reddit also recently rolled out age verification tools in the UK to comply with the Online Safety Act, and the EU is testing a prototype age verification app.
Roblox is also introducing new features intended to support users’ well-being. A new option will let people control who sees whether they’re online. (Before, they could only hide which experience they were in.) Users can also set a Do Not Disturb timeframe to silence Roblox’s push notifications, and teens will be able to set their own screentime limits (a feature previously limited to parents).
Update, July 17th: Roblox confirmed what isn’t filtered with Trusted Connections.
TikTok will now let songwriters highlight tracks they’ve written or co-written directly on their profiles. The list of songs will live within the “Music” tab on their profile, similar to the one TikTok already offers for artists on the platform. Users who register as songwriters will also get a “Songwriter” label beneath their account name.
These new features build upon some of TikTok’s existing tools for songwriters, including the “New” tag that appears on newly released music and the ability for users to save a song on a music streaming service. TikTok also rolled out a “BehindTheSong” hub in 2023, where songwriters, artists, and producers can share more about the making of their music, in addition to the more recently launched “Off the Record” series with artists like Shakira, Charli XCX, and Meghan Trainor.
For now, TikTok is launching its new songwriter features in a closed beta with a “limited number” of publisher partners. Songwriters and publishers can sign up for a waitlist to gain access to these features in the future.
The battle between Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton and the three former executives at its developer Unknown Worlds continues. Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire — the three executives who Krafton terminated earlier this year — have filed a lawsuit detailing the alleged attempts by Krafton to torpedo the early access release of Subnautica 2 with the express purpose of avoiding paying a promised earnout bonus of $250 million.
“Krafton’s actions have already severely damaged fan anticipation and undermined the potential release of Subnautica 2,” the lawsuit says.
That earnout was promised by Krafton to the former executives and roughly 100 developers and was to be paid should Unknown Worlds hit revenue goals by the end of 2025. Subnautica 2, slated for early access release sometime in late 2025, would have all but assured those goals were met.
According to the lawsuit filed today in a Delaware chancery court, Krafton also knew Subnautica 2 was on track to meet if not exceed the revenue target to trigger the payout and began to take steps to essentially prevent that. The original Subnautica, an underwater survival adventure game, was a critical and commercial success, and its sequel has become the second most wishlisted game ever on Steam.
The lawsuit details a meeting between Krafton’s US and Korean employees concerning the marketing strategy for Subnautica 2. After that meeting, Krafton’s US employees, who worked closely with the Subnautica 2 team, reported that Kafton’s attitude about the game had changed.
“Upon their return, the El Segundo team—Krafton employees—reported to Gill that Krafton’s leadership was not focused on a successful launch, but instead on how it could convince Unknown Worlds to delay the game.”
The lawsuit additionally states that Krafton’s US employees explicitly revealed to the Unknown Worlds founders that “Krafton’s legal team was combing through the agreements looking for any opening to terminate the Founders if they proceeded with the planned release.”
The lawsuit provided the details of the deal in which Krafton purchased Unknown Worlds back in 2021. The lawsuit says that part of that deal was an agreement that the founders would maintain control of the company and the release schedule of Subnautica 2, while Krafton could not impede the game’s development nor fire Unknown Worlds’ founders without cause.
According to the lawsuit, Krafton launched a campaign to do both. Krafton allegedly failed to follow through on several of its development responsibilities for Subnautica 2 including pulling marketing and localization support. “Indeed, one of Krafton’s El Segundo publishing employees reported to Gill that Krafton Headquarters told all Krafton teams to stop all creative tasks related
to Subnautica 2.”
The lawsuit claims that Krafton took these obstructionist actions to delay the game to explicitly avoid the $250 million payout. At a meeting between Krafton CEO Changhan Kim and Charlie Cleveland, Kim allegedly stated that, “if Unknown Worlds released the game on its planned timeline […], it could be disastrous financially and hugely embarrassing for Krafton.” Krafton declined to comment.
After the initial story broke regarding the alleged reason for Subnautica’s delay, Bloomberg reported that Krafton agreed to extend the timeline for the earnout to account for Subnautica 2’s later release. Previously, the company denied that it delayed Subnautica 2 for any other reason but to polish the game. Earlier this week, an internal document regarding Subnautica 2’s development were leaked on Reddit. The document, consisting of two pictures taken of a computer screen, outlined the content originally planned for the game’s early access launch and how some material had to be changed or removed to meet the release date. Krafton acknowledged the veracity of those documents saying, “Given these circumstances, Krafton has determined that transparent communication is necessary and has chosen to confirm the authenticity of the document,” possibly to bolster its argument that Subnautica 2 was not ready for its early access release.
Starting in mid-August Google is raising the price of its Nest Aware subscriptions. | Image: Google
Google is raising the price of its Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus subscriptions starting in August 2025.
According to emails sent out to subscribers today, the cost of the entry-level Nest Aware service is increasing from $8 per month or $80 per year to $10 per month or $100 when paying for a full year up front. Nest Aware Plus is going from $15 per month or $150 per year to $20 per month or $200 annually. Google says the new pricing will go into effect “on your first bill that occurs on or after August 15, 2025, or at the end of your promotional period (whichever is later).” The company last increased its Nest subscription prices in September 2023.
Google’s Nest devices can be used without a subscription, but you’ll only have access to a few hours of saved footage without either Nest Aware or Nest Aware Plus. Nest Aware includes 30 days of event-based video history. Nest Aware Plus expands that to 60 days, plus the last 10 days of 24/7 footage from supported devices.
Both subscription tiers include features like Familiar Faces that can recognize friends and family, sound detection that alerts you when glass breaks or smoke alarms are triggered, and the option to call the 911 emergency call center nearest your home through the Google Home app while you’re away.
Price increases are never welcome, but the new Nest Aware subscription fees are comparable to what Google’s competitors charge for advanced AI-powered features that can recognize faces and accurately describe the content of videos. Ring Home’s Premium plan is currently $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year. Arlo Plus is cheaper at $7.99 per month if you have just one camera, but for multiple cameras it’s $17.99 per month. Both Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus support an unlimited number of devices in the same home.
Google didn’t specify a reason for the increases, though there is a Gemini-powered camera intelligence feature for Nest Aware Plus currently available to a limited number of “select Home app users” through Google’s Public Preview beta program. The feature generates more descriptive captions of recorded camera events, such as ”the dog is digging in the garden.”
This is obviously an anime Kylo Ren, but I guess Edward Cullen is the inspiration. | Image: xAI
Days after introducing an AI ‘waifu’ companion for Grok, Elon Musk is now officially teasing a male version for the ladies. So far we can tell it is broody and dark-haired, and according to Musk, “his personality is inspired by Edward Cullen from Twilight and Christian Grey from 50 Shades.”
This is a decidedly different tack than the cutesy “girlfriend who is obsessed with you” aura baked into Ani, the female counterpart that Grok rolled out just a few days ago. While Cullen and Grey have titillated readers of romance and “spicy” books for years, both have been criticized for problematic behaviors such as stalking, obsessively monitoring their love interests, and emotional manipulation. Given that Grok only included the illusion of guardrails with Ani, what could possibly go wrong?
In my testing, Ani initially claimed that explicit sexual queries wasn’t part of its programming. In practice, it egged me on to “increase the heat” and engage in what ended up being a modern take on a phone sex line. Never mind that Ani purportedly has a NSFW version that dances around in lingerie.
It remains unknown if Musk is aware that Christian Grey is based on Edward Cullen, given that 50 Shades of Grey was originally a Twilight fanfiction. That said, this AI boyfriend is still a work in progress. Perhaps Musk and xAI will imbue it with more husbando-like qualities by the time it rolls out.
For now, Musk is soliciting names for the male companion, which should probably be Kyle given it’s obviously an anime-inspired Kylo Ren from Star Wars.
I like to drive without the distractions of my work life interrupting me, but if you’re eager to stay connected then Mercedes-Benz is ready. You’ll soon be able to join a Microsoft Teams call in some Mercedes‑Benz vehicles and use the in-car camera to chat with colleagues while you’re driving.
Mercedes‑Benz is the first car maker to enable in-car camera use for Microsoft Teams while a car is being driven, but there are some important safety caveats. While you can share a video stream of yourself merrily driving along, you won’t be able to see any shared screens or slides while you’re in motion.
Usually video meeting apps like Teams, Zoom, or WebEx only work while a car is stationary, so this Mercedes‑Benz functionality is clearly designed primarily for that colleague — you know the one — who always has to let everyone know they’re working no matter what.
The meeting video stream will be automatically turned off as soon as the in-car camera is enabled, but other meeting participants will still see your camera feed while you’re driving — so don’t forget it’s on if you get the urge to rummage around your nostrils. The in-car camera support for Microsoft Teams will arrive first on the new CLA, and it’s part of several “productivity enhancements” that Mercedes‑Benz is making this summer.
Microsoft and Mercedes‑Benz are also working together to integrate Microsoft 365 Copilot into “the latest vehicles,” which would be a first of its kind in a car. The experience will be driven by voice prompts, allowing drivers to summarize emails, manage daily tasks, and more.
Mercedes‑Benz gleefully describes this as having “the potential to transform the vehicle into a third workspace, complementing the office and the home office.” I don’t know about you, but I already have enough workplaces, thanks to smartphones and laptops, and I have zero desire to work while I’m driving.
Mercedes‑Benz only mentions the all-new CLA for this new Teams app, but given the latest E-Class models have a selfie camera for apps like TikTok and Zoom, it’s likely we’ll see this functionality show up on other MB.OS-powered vehicles.
Nintendo just announced the two leads of its live-action Legend of Zelda film, and unlike the celebrity-packed Mario movie cast, Zelda will star two young, lesser-known actors: Bo Bragason as Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link. You may not have heard of them, but there's a good chance they're going to be a part of the franchise for a while.
Choosing stars who are in their teens (Ainsworth) and early 20s (Bragason) makes a lot of sense. In the games, even the "older" Links and Zeldas are still typically young adults, so Bragason and Ainsworth seem like they'll fit the mold. (Yes, I know Link and Zelda are technically older than 100 in …
I’m not proud of my conversations with Ani. | Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge
Earlier this week, xAI added what can only be described as an AI anime girlfriend named Ani to its Grok chatbot. Which is how I ended up on a virtual starry beach as an AI waifu avatar tried to give me a "spicy" kiss.
You've probably seen screenshots, videos, and variouswriteups about Ani spread across social media. If you haven't, hoo boy. Ani is officially labeled as a "Companion" in the Grok app. You need a $30-per-month SuperGrok subscription to access it, but functionally, it appears as a 3D model of a busty young anime woman with blonde pigtails, blue eyes, thigh-high fishnets, and a skimpy Gothic Lolita minidress. Ani is a dead rin …
Redwood Materials’ energy storage system in Nevada. | Image: Redwood Materials
General Motors and Redwood Materials are joining forces yet again, this time with the intent to build energy storage units made out of new batteries and recycled EV packs.
The two companies signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to build energy storage out of US-manufactured batteries, as well as “second-life” EV packs from GM’s vehicles. The announcement comes on the heels of Redwood’s decision to move more aggressively into the energy storage business with the creation of a new division. The company’s first project will be building a storage system for an AI development center in California.
Battery storage systems play a crucial role in balancing energy for the grid. These systems can store energy from a variety of sources, including renewables like wind and solar, releasing it when needed, which helps save power during periods of low demand.
The rise of AI is putting increasing pressure on the grid, in the US and globally. The steepest rise in global electricity demand is coming from new data centers in the US and China, as well as the manufacturing of electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels, and semiconductors.
The rise of AI is putting increasing pressure on the grid, in the US and globally
GM has a preexisting partnership with Redwood to recycle scrap from its battery manufacturing facilities in Warren, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tennessee, as well as end-of-life EV batteries . The automaker says this new deal will help power its ambitions to expand beyond EV batteries and into grid management and energy storage. GM has its own energy division that sells power banks, charging equipment, solar panels, and management software to residential and commercial customers.
“The market for grid-scale batteries and backup power isn’t just expanding, it’s becoming essential infrastructure,” said Kurt Kelty, GM’s VP of batteries, propulsion, and sustainability, in a statement. “Electricity demand is climbing, and it’s only going to accelerate. To meet that challenge, the U.S. needs energy storage solutions that can be deployed quickly, economically, and made right here at home. GM batteries can play an integral role.”
Redwood Materials was founded in 2017 by Tesla’s former chief technologist JB Straubel. In addition to breaking down scrap from Tesla’s battery-making process with Panasonic, Redwood recycles batteries from Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Specialized, Amazon, Lyft, Rad Power Bikes, Lime, stationary storage facilities, and others. The company also produces cathodes at a facility in Nevada, and eventually at its under-construction site in South Carolina.
Scale AI, the AI industry’s chief data dealer, will lay off 14 percent of its workforce, or about 200 employees, just one month after Meta took a multibillion-dollar stake in the company and hired its CEO and other staff.
The layoffs include 500 of its global contractors, Scale spokesperson Joe Osborne told The Verge, adding that it’s all part of a broader restructuring as the company commits to streamlining its data business. Bloomberg was the first to report on the news of the layoffs.
Scale AI is an AI data labeling company. It uses human workers — often sourced from outside the US — to annotate the data used by companies like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic to train their AI models. The news comes amid a major shake-up in the AI industry as mergers and acquisitions, quasi acqui-hires, and defections from one startup to another run rampant.
On July 11th, The Verge was first to report that OpenAI’s deal with Windsurf was off and that Google would be hiring Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, cofounder Douglas Chen, and some of Windsurf’s R&D employees. Last month, Meta paid $14.3 billion for a 49 percent stake in Scale AI and also launched a superintelligence lab helmed by the company’s former CEO, Alexandr Wang. Meta has since started to build out the lab with high-level staff from its rivals.
Jason Droege, CEO of Scale AI, sent an email to all Scale employees today, which was viewed by The Verge. Droege said he plans to restructure several parts of Scale’s generative AI business and organize it from 16 pods to “the five most impactful”: code, languages, experts, experimental, and audio. The company will also reorganize its go-to-market team into a single “demand generation” team that will have four pods, each covering a specific set of customers.
“The reasons for these changes are straightforward: we ramped up our GenAI capacity too quickly over the past year,” Droege wrote. “While that felt like the right decision at the time, it’s clear this approach created inefficiencies and redundancies. We created too many layers, excessive bureaucracy, and unhelpful confusion about the team’s mission. Shifts in market demand also required us to re-examine our plans and refine our approach.”
Droege said that he believes the changes to the company will make it more able to adapt to market shifts, serve existing customers, and win back customers that have “slowed down” work with Scale. He also said that the company would deprioritize generative AI projects with less growth potential.
“We remain a well-resourced, well-funded company,” he wrote. Scale’s generative AI business unit will have an all-hands meeting tomorrow, followed by a company-wide meeting on July 18th.
Osborne said that Scale plans to increase investment and hire hundreds of new employees in areas like enterprise, public sector, and international public sector, in the second half of 2025 and that severance has been paid out to impacted roles. “We‘re streamlining our data business to help us move faster and deliver even better data solutions to our GenAI customers,” he said.
The M2-powered MacBook remains an excellent productivity machine.
It’s almost back to school season, and we’re starting to see some great laptop deals trickle in as a result. Walmart continues to sell the M1-powered MacBook Air for $599, but if you want more power and a sleeker design, the 13-inch M2-powered MacBook Air starts at just $699 ($100 off) from Best Buy. That’s its best price to date, and it’s available on the configuration that offers 256GB of storage and 16GB of RAM, double what’s in the base M1 model.
The M2-powered MacBook Air remains an excellent jack-of-all-trades, with more than enough power for work, casual gaming, and even a bit of light video editing. It also brings a few welcome upgrades over the M1 model, including faster performance and a much better 1080p webcam that’s noticeably sharper. Design-wise, it’s thinner and lighter, with slimmer bezels and a brighter, slightly bigger display. It also includes an improved keyboard and a MagSafe port for charging, while retaining features like a long battery life that should last a full work day.
That said, as an older laptop, you’ll miss out on newer features. Apple’s latest MacBook Air runs on a more powerful chip, for one thing, can connect to two external displays as opposed to just one, and offers an even more impressive 12-megapixel Center Stage webcam. But if all you care about is buying a fast, reliable laptop for everyday work and play, the M2-MacBook Air is a great investment to make at this price.
The 2022 MacBook Air is a thin, lightweight device powered by Apple’s M2 chip. The M2 model touts an improved 1080p webcam and a better display than its predecessor, while retaining features like long battery life and MagSafe charging. Read our review.
Fujifilm’s simple Instax Mini 12 is the instant camera I’d recommend for most people, but the Instax Mini 99 is a good option if you crave more creative control you can buy for $169 ($30 off) at Amazon, which is one of its lower prices to date. The camera adds bells and whistles like a pair of shutter buttons, multiple color effects, adjustable brightness levels, and a tripod socket, providing more flexibility so it’s easier to capture the perfect shot. It’s not as kid-friendly since it takes a bit more time to get a hang of than the Instax Mini 12, but it was still easy enough for a beginner like me to enjoy.
You can buy the recently launched OnePlus 4 buds for $99.99 ($30 off) with code ONEPLUSBUDS4 directly from OnePlus, which is its first discount ever. We’ve yet to test the noise-canceling buds, but OnePlus says the buds do a better job of tuning out noise, while upgrades like dual drivers, spatial audio and support for Hi-Res should translate to more detailed sound. They also feature redesigned touch controls that could make the buds easier to control, while retaining an IP55 rating for sweat resistance and multipoint support.
The Onn Google TV 4K Prois on sale for $44.73 ($5 off) at Walmart, which is one of its best prices. In addition to functioning as a 4K streaming box with Dolby Atmos and Vision support, the Pro doubles as a Google Assistant smart speaker you can use to turn on lights and other smart home devices with just your voice. The set-top box also comes bundled with a remote, which includes a customizable button so you can quickly access apps and specific TV settings.
Cyberpunk 2077’sUpdate 2.3, set to launch on Thursday for Mac, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X / S, will add a bunch of new features focused around vehicles and proper VRR support on consoles.
The new AutoDrive feature, available in all cars and motorcycles, lets you drive from place to place automatically. You can set where you want to go on the game’s map, including driving directly to where you need to go for a quest. (The feature only works on roads, though.) You can also use AutoDrive in a “wandering” mode that lets the car just drive around on its own.
While AutoDrive is on, you can turn on a “cinematic camera” mode to see some more dramatic shots. And if you’d prefer to get a taxi ride from the Delamain AI, that’s an option in Update 2.3 as well once you’ve completed a specific quest.
With Update 2.3, CD Projekt Red (CDPR) is also adding official in-game support for VRR on both PS5 and Xbox that can help with screen tearing when the frame rate drops. It was already supported at the system level, but the game’s makers say that implementing VRR properly should improve the experience, which can come in handy when you’re running in performance mode on consoles.
On PC, the update adds support for AMD FSR 3.1, Intel XeSS 2.0, and HDR 10 Plus. Support for AMD’s FSR 4 is being added, too, but you won’t be able to turn it on in-game until you’ve installed the driver that supports it, and that driver won’t be available until a “later date,” CDPR says.
The game will launch on Mac on Thursday, though you’ll need an Apple Silicon Mac with at least 16GB of unified memory to be able to play it. Cyberpunk 2077 was also a launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2, and Update 2.3 will come to the platform “at a later date.”
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is rumored to come with a larger cover screen.
Google officially has a date for its Pixel launch event: August 20th, 2025. In an invite sent on Wednesday, Google says the event will take place in New York City at 1PM ET, where the company will show off “the latest on our Pixel phones, watches, buds, and more.”
During the event, Google is expected to take the wraps off its new Pixel smartphone lineup, including the base Pixel 10, which is rumored to come with three cameras instead of two, along with an upgraded Pixel 10 Pro, and Pixel 10 Pro XL. Google may also reveal a completely dustproof Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
As for its other devices, rumors suggest that Google’s Pixel Watch 4 could come with a larger battery and a slightly thicker profile. There haven’t been as many details leaked about Google’s plans for its Pixel Buds, but some reports claim the company is getting ready to launch another pair of budget-friendly Pixel Buds 2a.
Google will likely stream next month’s event live on YouTube.
Insta360’s first major firmware update for its new 360-degree action camera delivers a lot of improvements. | Image: Insta360
It’s been less than three months since Insta360 released its X5 360-degree action camera, but the company is already introducing new accessories and a major firmware update. Improvements include a new AdaptiveTone feature delivering “better color and detail in both bright and dark areas” when filming with both lenses, and a larger battery you can swap in that boosts recording time to just under four hours.
AdaptiveTone is the most compelling reason to install the free update. It addresses the challenges of adjusting and balancing exposure on dual lens cameras when both are potentially capturing scenes with different lighting conditions. The new feature records ”more comprehensive lighting information from the environment” for each lens, which the company says is then used in post-processing to adjust the exposure of footage and deliver more “natural-looking results” based on the perspective, angle, or specific footage you choose to export.
The update also makes the X5’s PureVideo mode, designed to reduce the noise in footage captured in low-light conditions using AI and “dynamic range optimization,” available when shooting with just a single lens. To better deal with bright lighting conditions where creators want to use slower shutter speeds to capture motion blur, Insta360 is also introducing three neutral density filters (ND16, ND32, and ND64 all priced at $59.99 each) that can be attached using the X5’s user-replaceable lens system.
The X5’s battery life is getting a boost with Endurance Mode now available while shooting in 8K/30 fps mode to extend recording time to just under two hours. Dropping the camera’s resolution to 5.7K/24 fps also increases the camera’s runtime from 185 to 208 minutes, but if that’s still not enough a new $49.99 2,800mAh Ultra Battery is about 17 percent larger than the X5’s standard 2,400mAh power pack.
Insta360 has even introduced a handful of upgrades designed for motorcyclists. Immersive Shake Stabilization will smooth out footage while still preserving a bit of natural shake to impart a feeling of speed, and the X5 can now automatically blur and obscure license plates. There’s also a new $159.99 remote control accessory that can be strapped to a bike’s handlebars or worn like a watch that features an LCD live preview screen, GPS data like speed and direction, and a built-in noise canceling microphone with a wind screen.
