Fighting fires before they ever start, developers and homeowners in California are on the offense.
The mother of one of Elon Musk’s children has sued his company xAI over Grok deepfakes of her, alleging it’s a “public nuisance” — a legal term that doesn’t always seem to do its targets justice.
spypol17:
Saying Elon is a “public nuisance” is a very nice way to put it
Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.
A content deal has reportedly been struck that will see the BBC producing original shows for YouTube, giving the UK broadcaster access to younger audiences and advertising revenue overseas — something it desperately needs to bolster ad-free funding at home. The deal could be announced next week.
[Financial Times]
Two individuals who were driving dump trucks to the construction site in Richland Parish, Louisiana, were arrested on Wednesday. Local law enforcement says ICE “did not enter the Meta site at any time,” but told Bloomberg that agents were sweeping for identification of workers en route to the site.
Three years after being caught off guard by ChatGPT, Gemini appears to have everything it needs to take down OpenAI and everyone else.
The codename for Gemini 2.5 Flash Image is actually named after a person — Google product manager Naina Raisinghani, specifically, who gave a variation of her nickname to the AI model.
“Some of my friends call me Naina Banana, and others call me Nano because I’m short and I like computers. So I just smushed my two nicknames together. And it fit because it was a Flash model.”
[Google]
Friend of The Verge Nicole Carpenter published a fascinating piece for Aftermath about trying to track down another reporter named Nicole Carpenter who may or may not exist.
Michael O’Leary, on the radio show Newstalk, was asked about Elon Musk calling his reasoning for not installing Starlink on Ryanair airplanes “misinformed.“
Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later sequel turns the franchise on its head with a story about spirituality in the end times.
New US dietary guidelines promote more protein and beef tallow, potentially moving Americans further away from a low-carbon diet.
Ahead of Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe’s Japanese theatrical debut on January 30th, Bandai Namco Filmworks has announced that SZA’s “Snooze” has been selected as the movie’s opening theme.
At a hearing on kids’ screen time, lawmakers debated a federal fund for school internet services. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) accused the Biden administration of using funds to help students get online with little supervision. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said rather than “threatening” school funds, Congress should pass privacy protections.
The solution is using Bluesky, of course. Naturally, a user with a blue check next to their name told Grok to put a bikini on the butterfly and the AI did — which seems like an even stronger advertisement for Bluesky than the one Bluesky itself posted.
Now that Cozy Grove developer Spry Fox is independent again following a split from Netflix, co-founder David Edery has detailed some of the work that’s going into continuing development on the studio’s ambitious MMO Spirit Crossing, including pay cuts for leadership. “I’d much rather give up my salary and the security of a big company job than be doing anything else right now,” he says of working on the game.
[Linkedin]
As part of a multiyear agreement, Sony Picture Entertainment films will stream on Netflix worldwide following their “full theatrical and home entertainment runs.” The deal is worth more than $7 billion, Deadline reports. Netflix already has Pay-1 rights in the US and other select territories.
The retro-inspired RPG hits iOS and Android on April 7th. I enjoyed the game when I played it on my Steam Deck in 2023, and it’s been steadily updated since, including with a free DLC.
That’s George R.R. Martin, in a big profile published by The Hollywood Reporter. Relatable.
The piece also details new work being done on a potential Game of Thrones sequel series featuring Jon Snow; Arya Stark might be in it, too. But that show is in “very early development,” THR says.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
In my continued search for controllers that have more features than Nintendo’s Switch 2 Pro, but a lower price, I’ve updated our best Switch 2 controllers buying guide with the $60 GuliKit TT Pro that has adjustable tension TMR sticks and Mobapad’s $50 Switch 2 Pro copycat, the Chitu 2.
Following Guillermo del Toro’s opus last year, a very different take on Frankenstein is on the way. Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, this version sees Jessie Buckley play the reanimated corpse of a murdered woman in 1930s Chicago. It looks fun, and the trailer makes very appropriate use of Florence + the Machine. The Bride hits theaters on March 4th.
