As Elon’s Grok chatbot keeps adding sexy bots for us talk to, one commenter predicts a productive beat for a future Verge staffer.
stereoesque:
“How long until The Verge is forced to hire a fulltime Grok Sex Chatbot Reporter?”
Get today’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.
Though technically, it was Max at the time. All but 200,000 of them came from international markets, bringing Max to 125.7 million subscribers worldwide — and according to Warner Bros. Discovery, still on track to hit 150 million next year.
The streaming division turned a profit of $293 million, after a loss this time last year, which will be good news for the Warner Bros. bit of the company ahead of their separation next year.
[s201.q4cdn.com]
Its 80.3 millionth, to be exact, half the lifetime sales of the PS2, the best-selling console of all time, and closing on the 87.4 million PS3 sales. Sony sold 2.5 million consoles over April-June, about the same as last year, but doubled its gaming profit thanks to game sales and subscriptions.
It lowered its forecast for the tariff hit, but that likely didn’t factor in Trump’s new threat of a 100 percent rate on chips.
Politico reports that the courts’ case filing system was accessed. The breach was discovered last month, but its full extent is still unknown — one fear is that hackers may have accessed the identities of confidential informants, while a source told Politico that court dockets may have been tampered with.
[politico.com]
Developer HoYoverse is ending support for the game, which will leave the PlayStation store next month and stop working entirely next April. The devs blamed “limitations related to hardware performance and platform application size.”
Fortunately, Genshin Impact will remain playable on more powerful hardware like the PS5 and, um, your phone.
A partnership with Swarovski has produced a crystal-studded take on the Motorola Razr, sold in a bundle alongside a matching set of Swarovskied Moto Buds Loop earbuds. The flip phone features 34 crystals embedded in the faux leather finish, with a larger 35th attached to the hinge. You can register now to buy the $1,000 bundle, but let’s be honest — it’s not as good as the Paris Hilton pink.
We’ve known WhatsApp is working on chats with other apps for some time, in order to comply with EU rules on interoperability, but Meta is also working on chats without any app at all.
WABetaInfo found evidence for “guest chats” in a beta build, which let users send a link for an online chat, no app or account required. It’ll be encrypted, but limited to text only — no voice calls, group chats, or even GIFs.
[wabetainfo.com]
Samsung is fulfilling its promise to upgrade the voice assistant with generative AI, with new features now rolling out to its 2025 TVs in the US.
Bixby should now be better at answering natural language queries about anything, whether on the TV screen or not, and will help turn your TV into a smart home hub with voice controls for SmartThings appliances.