52 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Tech Archive

Archives for January 2024

Wes Davis
Wes Davis
The Castro podcast app is back up.

The app stopped functioning last week and its website had become inaccessible, but the company issued a fix on Monday. Tiny representative Aditya Ponugonti told The Verge via email that the app and website outage were related to a DNS issue, and that “we aren’t shutting down Castro.”

Ponugonti added that the company is “still working towards finding a new home” for the app.

Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
LG’s camping trailer is nicer than most homes.

I love bending nature to my will, but the Bon Voyage concept trailer is... something. LG’s experimental Labs group has fitted this beast with a bed and bathroom as usual, but also a wine bar, outdoor beer fridge, karaoke machine, an external TV revealed behind a fold-down table, a second pull-out table with integrated induction cooktop, that stupid Duobo coffee creature, and one of those clothing sanitizers LG has been bringing to CES for years but I’ll never understand.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
DJI made a delivery drone — and it’s huge.

I’ve included a few of DJI’s photos of the drone, called the FlyCart 30, below. It can carry as much 30kg as far as 16km when utilizing its dual-battery configuration, according to a press release.

The drone has already been released in China, but it’s now going to be coming out globally, DJI says. The company anticipates that it will be available by the end of Q1, spokesperson Regina Lin tells The Verge.

A photo of DJI’s FlyCart 30 drone.
A photo of DJI’s FlyCart 30 drone. A person is next to it loading goods into a box.
A photo of DJI’s FlyCart 30 drone.
A photo of DJI’s FlyCart 30 drone in the air.
1/4Image: DJI
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
More details on Jackery’s rooftop tent and solar generator.

Jackery tells the The Bearded Tesla Guy that the center solar panel of that expandable 1000W array will be capable of 400W when the rooftop tent ships in Q4. It will feature a removable power station (with optional battery expansion) integrated into the tent that’s “sleekly designed” to maximize interior sleeping space. There’s also an optional AC inverter to quickly charge those batteries off the vehicle’s alternator.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
This Wacom AI debacle has certainly taken a turn.

It turns out the “third-party vendor” Wacom sourced its suspicious campaign imagery from is likely Adobe Stock, though none of the now-deleted stock images were tagged as AI-generated.

It’s little wonder artists feel betrayed if the creative-focused companies that have supported them for decades can’t even identify poor-quality AI images from authentic human-made art.

A screenshot of multiple AI-generated dragons hosted on Adobe Stock.
The now deleted image collection from Adobe Stock user Umair (pictured) appears to be where Wacom purchased its controversial campaign images from.
Image: Adobe Stock
Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
Tangle-free magnetic USB-C cables just got a facelift.

This is the Scosche Strikeline Cobra. Tiny magnetic strips woven into its thin braided jacket let it coil into a single solid object in your bag. Sadly, it’s a slow 480Mbps USB 2.0 cable, with 60W charging. Come on!

A firm called Supercalla pioneered magnetic coiling cables, and I owe the founders an apology — in the time since I wrote this story, I discovered they sell a 100W / 10Gbps cable that’s actually awesome, with strong magnets. Just wish it were longer than three feet!

The Scosche Strikeline Cobra
The Scosche Strikeline Cobra
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
David Pierce
David Pierce
My best celeb sighting of CES 2024 so far: Martha Stewart.

We ran into her at Samsung’s booth, where she was doing... a SmartThings cooking show, I suppose you’d call it? Somehow I doubt Martha’s using a ton of Bluetooth appliances and smart ovens, but hey, you never know.

Hard to tell, by the way, who drew the bigger crowd: Stewart, or Ballie. It was close.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Ohio kids won’t have to get permission from parents to use social media — for now.

A judge has granted a temporary restraining order that will stop enforcement of an Ohio law requiring that permission, as reported by the Associated Press. The law was scheduled to come into force on January 15th. You can see the order here.