Tech

According to an unnamed spokesperson speaking to the FT, Tim Cook and EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen had a “constructive exchange on topics of common interest” on Tuesday over the current impasse that will leave roughly 450 million people without access to Apple Intelligence that actually works:

The President’s annual disclosure noted that companies owned by Trump and his family received more than $800 million from the WLFI token and $635 million in royalties from Trump memecoins, report Reuters, WSJ, and CNBC.

Google is rolling out its frighteningly good AI agent to the Gemini macOS app, meaning Spark can access and work with files on your computer.

Before plans to spin up its own prediction market app, Meta explored acquiring Kalshi, NPR reports. Meta is now reportedly working on an app known as “Arena” internally, which would allow users to bet with points rather than real money, as Kalshi and Polymarket do. If an acquisition had happened, it wouldn’t be the first (or second, or third) time Meta piggybacked on what was trendy.

Moore’s Law is Dead claimed Sony’s handheld PS6 would add Zen 6 LP (Low Power) cores, and Phoronix has found new evidence in a Linux kernel patch: “a Low Power core type, in addition to the existing Performance and Efficiency types.” They’re “designed for minimal power consumption during background or idle workloads,” not necessarily gaming on battery.

The Court will hear Apple’s arguments about a lower court decision upholding a ruling that Apple “willfully” violated a 2021 injunction forcing the company to let developers point to alternative payment methods, Bloomberg reports.

After more than a year and a half in court, satirical news site The Onion is rebooting Alex Jones’ InfoWars — even as the conspiracy channel hangs in legal limbo. Comedian and writer Tim Heidecker has been tapped as creative director, and he came on the show to share his vision for the platform. Also mentioned: peptides, The Beatles, and the state of Tim’s vocal chords. Enjoy!

With the VR app, you can still chat with friends on Discord using other platforms. Check the app out on the Meta Store.

The logged-out experience on old Reddit is “a significant source of abusive scraping and automated traffic on the platform,” a Reddit admin (employee) says. The company will start requiring anyone who wants to use it to log in “over the next month.”

Neon was one of the only studios that seemed interested in picking up Luca Guadagnino’s biographical drama about Sam Altman after Amazon suddenly decided not to distribute the movie. And now, Neon is reportedly “in advanced talks” for a deal that could get the project into theaters.

Honeycomb Aeronautical has answered the biggest question I’ve had about its Echo Aviation Controller with a new XPC version designed to work with the Xbox instead of just PCs. It’s slated to hit stores later this year and like the original it’s compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator and features a collection of customizable flight sim controls.

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering how course-peddling hustlebros manage to convince their followers that they’re selling enough subscriptions to galavant around the world in private jets, you need to check out this excellent 404 piece that highlights one of the trade’s shadiest tricks: fake dashboards.

Any “champions” in a Threads community can now make and host live chats, and live chats can have up to three co-hosts. If you want to share a post in a live chat to your main Threads feed, you’ll be able to do that, too.

Launch details were lacking when the Moto Tag 2 was announced at CES in January, but it’s now available in the US and temporarily discounted to $19.99 for one, and $69.99 for a four-pack. Motorola claims up to 500 days of use from a single CR2032 coin battery, while UWB support allows for more precise locating.

The Grammy-winning satirical musician told Syracuse.com that he’s “not a fan” of the generative technology, and that he turned down “a nice pile of money” after walking away from a commerical for business productivity software.

I’ve never enjoyed the regular maintenance of a fish tank, so I prefer the approach that Peter and Filip from the YouTube channel, CPSdrone, took. They spent three months engineering custom 3D-printed mini submarines that zoom around an aquarium like fish and autonomously dock themselves to wireless underwater chargers.

There are already smartphones that can wirelessly charge at 50W using proprietary fan-assisted chargers, but the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) recently met at Xiaomi’s headquarters in Beijing to discuss the tech requirements behind a future version of the Qi standard that can accommodate the higher rate, according to IT Home.

The BlackBerry-esque Communicator has a nifty homescreen based on the minimalist Niagara Android launcher, a fingerprint sensor built into the space bar, and a removable back panel that certainly hints its battery might be easy to replace. It’s still on track to ship in Q4 for $499.

Ever since Google added magnetic Qi2 charging to the Pixel 10 line, we’ve been waiting for another Android manufacturer to follow suit. Motorola may be first, with the Edge 70 Max spotted on the Wireless Power Consortium certification database with MPP25 support — which should mean 25W charging with built-in magnets.

Yesterday we reported that images showing an iPhone 18 Pro drop test had leaked online following a data breach at one of Apple’s manufacturing partners — and now some video footage has appeared too. These clips, originally shared by an X account imitating the well known leaker EvLeaks, could be an early look at the upcoming iPhone flagship.

Users can pair the app with the “gateway” that powers the open-source AI assistant, according to its description on the Google Play Store and App Store. Once connected, users can chat with OpenClaw using real-time voice conversations, approve an agent’s actions, and control access to features like their device’s camera or location.

In April, Google announced that AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers in the US would be able to connect Google Photos with Personal Intelligence to let Gemini generate AI images based on their personal context. Beginning today, however, the feature won’t be behind a subscription: all eligible users in the US will have access.

Swedish-language site Flamman reported that Daniel Berntsson gave 5 million Swedish kronor to the Örebro Party. The VPN company responded to the news on X, and Mullvad’s co-CEO Fredrik Strömberg told TechRadar “I don’t like that he made this donation,” but that “we will continue to protect the universal right to privacy.”

It’s time for a new series on The Vergecast! (It still needs a name. Please help.) We’re going to give Verge staffers a challenge, and regroup a few weeks later to see who did it best. We’re starting with some vibe coding. The Verge’s Jake Kastrenakes and Hayden Field share what they’ve made with AI that has actually stuck in their lives, before David gives the challenge: build a website to solve a problem in your life. We’ll be back with the results soon, and in the meantime, send us ideas for more challenges! (Also, names for the series. PLEASE.)