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Verge Score
Google’s new midrange phone isn’t even a spec refresh — it’s a rerelease.
Amazon has expanded its Alexa Plus personality styles with a new “Sassy” option. The chili pepper icon hints at this Alexa’s “unfiltered personality,” but don’t worry, Amazon is keeping the spice mild, with only “occasional censored profanity.”
Chris K.:
Programming your robot to swear then programming it to censor its own swearing is something
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Microsoft’s big GDC announcement turned out to be bringing Xbox mode to every Windows 11 PC, starting next month. It’s the latest encouraging sign after Xbox’s big leadership shakeup, but Microsoft has work to do to earn back users’ trust.
Brick_wall_56:
On the surface, this seems great. I’m a moron who has my PC hooked up to my living room TV with Steam Big Picture mode booting at launch. I yearn for something like this.
But I have absolutely zero faith in Microsoft pulling this off in any way that makes me want to turn it on. There’s not a single MS product I enjoy using at this point, and I have no idea why this would be any different.
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It follows a similar suit filed two weeks ago by New York. Both allege that the loot boxes in games like Counter-Strike 2 are essentially gambling, and the class action accuses Valve of “deceptive, casino-style psychological tactics.”
Mark Zuckerberg famously built Facebook, and the rest of Meta, on a “move fast and break things” philosophy, but one commenter has suggested that Grammarly’s new sloppelgangers could suggest a new approach for the industry.
tsmuse:
move fast and loot everything
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Samsung’s latest Galaxy S phones are going through the motions.
We have no reason to believe that Live Nation is about to bankroll a Broadway spectacular based on the First Lady just because it managed to settle with the DoJ. We’re just saying, it feels like there’s a precedent.
Bebopper:
In unrelated news. “Melania: The Musical” will start a nationwide tour in April. The BBC reports that Ticketmaster has invested $100 million in the venture, with shows scheduled at some of the nation’s biggest venues.
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Bloomberg reports Apple manufactured 55 million iPhones in India in 2025, up from 36 million a year before, following a concerted effort to move production after Trump’s tariffs. Its aim is reportedly to build the 60 million annual US iPhone sales to India by the end of this year.
ChatGPT’s long-promised “adult mode” is still on the way, but will miss its planned Q1 launch. For some, that means the long, lonely wait continues.
pretendworld:
reading the news that your new girlfriend has been delayed must be just brutal
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