What actually happens when you let apps track your activity?

What kind of data is being collected by our devices, and how is it being used? Should we “Ask app not to track”?

How to take better photos of your pets

Meet Noodle and Loaf, aka Carb Cats. | Image: The Verge, Getty Images Like the pets of any self-respecting millennial, my cats have their own Instagram account. Noodle and Loaf – aka Carb Cats – aren’t exactly celebrities. But they are used to having their photos taken a lot. Between their Instagram account, my regular […]

Whisker’s AI-powered litter robot thinks my cats swapped bodies

The greatest invention in pet tech in recent years is the litter robot. A machine that scoops your kitties’ poop so you don’t have to – what else could a cat owner possibly want? How about insights into your kitty’s litter box usage that could flag health issues? Sign me up. But I have two […]

Anthropic explains how Claude’s invisible text watermarks will work

Anthropic has clarified how it’s planning to apply invisible watermarks to Claude-generated text in order to comply with Europe’s AI transparency rules. On Friday, Anthropic announced that Claude’s text marking system is “a version of the SynthID-Text approach” – an open-source watermarking technology developed by Google DeepMind that creates detectable patterns using wording probabilities. This […]

OpenAI reportedly disbanded its preparedness team as part of a ‘streamlining’ process

As part of a restructuring, OpenAI reportedly disbanded a team that assesses the potential for catastrophic risks with its models.

I’m hooked on Peak Design’s new City bags

Integrated BagLev hooks keep Peak Design’s City Line crossbody bag and backpack off the dirty ground. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge It’s just a hook, sewn into a bag, but I really, really like it. Peak Design is so proud of its clever integration that the San Francisco-based maker of camera gear […]

Another woman joins lawsuit accusing Grok of generating CSAM

A fourth party is pursuing legal action against xAI, alleging that Grok was used to create CSAM based on her childhood photos.

OpenAI reportedly disbanded its preparedness team

According to the Financial Times, OpenAI disbanded its preparedness team at the end of last month. The job of the preparedness team was to assess if models posed serious risks and develop ways to mitigate those risks. (You know, like the possibility that it could go rogue and hack another company.) According to FT, responsibility […]

Turn on these settings to protect your Android phone from theft

Google has added some smart theft-detection features to Android in recent years.

Open Mike Eagle and Kenny Segal crafted a hip hop breakup masterpiece

In every possible universe? | Image: Backwoodz Studioz “Breakups are… tough.” It’s the opening lines of an interlude towards the end of DOOMED! Called “It Happens in Every Universe.” It’s also basically the thesis of the entire record. It’s no grand revelation, but it’s a well-trodden subject that Open Mike Eagle manages to mine for […]