Google is taking away a Pixel Buds Pro feature that lets users touch and hold an earbud to hear unread notifications. In an update on Tuesday, Google confirmed that Assistant “will no longer read unread notifications when using the press Assistant feature.”

Additionally, Google says Assistant will stop automatically alerting you to unread notifications on the Pixel Buds, nor will it let you reply. Instead, Google says you can hear notifications by activating Assistant and saying “Read my notifications.”

The “touch and hold” gesture on the Pixel Buds Pro currently lets wearers switch between active noise cancelation and Transparency mode by default. Before this change, users could configure this gesture to have Assistant read...

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The GSM Association, the organization that develops the RCS standard, said on Tuesday it’s working to enable end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on messages sent between Android and iPhone. E2EE prevents third parties, like your messaging service or cell carrier, from viewing your texts.

In the announcement, GSMA technical director Tom Van Pelt said the next milestone for RCS Universal Profile is the “first deployment of standardized, interoperable messaging encryption between different computing platforms.” The move would help bridge a major gap in interoperability — especially now that Apple’s on board with RCS.

On Monday, Apple’s iOS 18 update replaced SMS with RCS messaging for texts sent to users on Android. While the change doesn’t get...

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If you’ve tried out Snapchat’s AI-generated selfies, you might want to double-check a setting that lets Snap use your face in “personalized sponsored content and ads,” as spotted by 404 Media.

The feature, called My Selfie, lets you and your friends create AI-generated images of yourself based on photos you share with Snapchat. When using the feature for the first time, Snapchat prompts you to agree to terms that include using “you (or your likeness)” in ads:

You also acknowledge and agree that by using My Selfie, you (or your likeness) may also appear in personalized sponsored content and ads that will be visible only to you and that includes branding or other advertising content of Snap or its business partners without compensation to...

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MoviePass ex-CEO Mitch Lowe pleaded guilty to securities fraud on Monday over his involvement in a scheme to mislead investors, as reported earlier by Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. With the plea, Lowe admits to making false representations about the sustainability of a $9.95 monthly plan that promised “unlimited” access to movies in theaters.

Lowe, who took over as CEO of MoviePass in 2016, started allowing users to see a movie a day through an unlimited subscription in 2017. But the money-burning tactic eventually led to MoviePass’s demise, with the service shutting down in 2019 and later filing for bankruptcy.

Following a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission in 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Lowe and...

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The Epic Games Store has arrived on the iPad for users in the European Union, making games like Fortnite and Fall Guys available to play from the device.

The launch comes as part of Monday’s iPadOS 18 update, which lets EU users download apps from third-party app stores on the iPad. The Epic Games Store — and several other alternative app marketplaces — launched on the iPhone in the EU last month.

After designating iPadOS as a “gatekeeper” service under the Digital Markets Act in April, the EU...

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Starting today, Instagram will begin putting new and existing users under the age of 18 into “Teen Accounts” — a move that will affect how tens of millions of teens interact with the platform. The new account type automatically applies a set of protections to young users, and only users 16 years of age and older can loosen some of these settings.

For starters, the accounts of all minors on Instagram will be private by default (not just teens under 16) and will come with some of Instagram’s existing restrictions for young users, such as those that prevent strangers from direct messaging them. But other new features are coming, too, including a Sleep Mode that silences notifications from 10PM to 7AM.

“This really standardizes a lot of the...

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Intel is spinning off its chipmaking business as part of its plans to reverse billions in losses and a tumbling stock price. In an announcement on Monday, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said the Intel Foundry will become an independent subsidiary with “clearer separation and independence” from Intel.

With the change, the Intel Foundry will have its own operating board and report its financial earnings separately from Intel. Intel will also stop work on the factories it’s building in Poland and Germany for two years “based on anticipated market demand.” The company is still moving forward with its plants in Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico, and Ohio, however.

Additionally, Intel plans on selling part of its stake in Altera, the programmable chip...

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Apple is rolling out iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, which will introduce a bunch of new features to the iPhone and iPad. One of the biggest changes with today’s launch is the addition of RCS messaging, which should help improve communication with Android users.

First announced in June, RCS messaging will finally allow iPhone and Android users to share high-res photos and videos, see typing indicators, and use read receipts. (Messages from Android users will still appear in green bubbles, though.)

Some other messaging upgrades in iOS 18 include new text effects and formatting options in iMessage and the ability to schedule messages to send later. iPhone users will also be able to send messages via satellite.

Additionally, iOS 18 includes new...

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Apple’s new sleep apnea detection feature has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration — and Watch Series 9 or Watch Ultra 2 owners can use it starting today.

Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes people to suddenly stop breathing during sleep. The new feature, which is rolling out as part of the watchOS 11 update, will use the Apple Watch’s accelerometer to detect small wrist movements linked with breathing disturbances during sleep. Apple will then use this information to alert users of possible moderate to severe sleep apnea.

You can find and track the new “breathing disturbances” metric in the Health app, where you can also download data to share it with a doctor. Apple says its sleep...

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23andMe will pay $30 million to settle a class action lawsuit over a data breach that affected more than 6.9 million customers. As part of the proposed settlement, the genetic testing site will compensate affected customers and provide them with access to a security monitoring program for three years.

23andMe disclosed the data breach last October, but it didn’t confirm the overall impact until December. Customers using the DNA Relatives feature may have had information like names, birth years, and ancestry information exposed through the breach. At the time, 23andMe attributed the hack to credential stuffing, a tactic that involves logging in to accounts using recycled logins exposed in previous security breaches.

In January 2024, c...

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The Biden administration is addressing the “de minimis” exemption that it says some Chinese e-commerce companies “abuse” to ship products under $800 to US customers without tariffs.

New rules proposed on Friday subject certain shipments from China to closer inspection and tariffs — a move that will affect products sold by ultralow-cost retailers like Shein and Temu.

With the rise of Chinese e-commerce sites like Shein and Temu, the US has seen a surge in shipments claiming the duty-free exemption. These shipments have increased from 140 million per year to more than 1 billion over 10 years, with the “majority” of products using the exemption coming from China. Shein and Temu claim the exemption because they send individual products...

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Google is testing a new feature for Android tablets that will let you resize apps freely and arrange them on your screen at will, making it easier to juggle multiple tasks. The “desktop windowing” feature is now available as a developer preview, and for apps that support it, you could even have more than one instance open.

Currently, apps on Android tablets open in full-screen by default. When the new mode is enabled, each app will appear in a window with controls that allow you to reposition, maximize, or close the app. You’ll also see a taskbar at the bottom of your screen with your running apps.

It sounds a lot like the iPad’s Stage Manager feature that similarly lets you resize and move windows around your screen or pretty much any...

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Google is rolling out its Gemini Live voice chat mode to all Android users for free. You can access the conversational AI chatbot on Android through the Gemini app or its overlay.

Google first announced Gemini Live during its Pixel 9 launch event last month, but it has only been available to Gemini Advanced subscribers until now. Similar to ChatGPT’s voice chat feature, you can ask Gemini Live questions aloud and even interrupt it mid-sentence. There are also several different voices you can choose from.

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A self-described “team of passionate fans committed to sharing the game with the world” says it’s acquired the rights to Flappy Bird, the iconic mobile game whose creator took it offline less than a year after it was released. Now, “The Flappy Bird Foundation Group” will relaunch the game on Android and iOS in 2025.

But it’s unclear whether the original creator of Flappy Bird, Dong Nguyen, is a part of the game’s relaunch. The Verge reached out to Nguyen with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back. His account on X and the website for his game development company don’t show any recent updates. The Flappy Bird Foundation said it acquired the rights to the game from Gametech, LLC, which isn’t associated with Nguyen.

F...

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SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn astronauts successfully performed a spacewalk, marking the first done by a private company. After depressurizing SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, the billionaire funding the mission, Jared Isaacman, emerged from the spacecraft early Thursday morning.

With his torso and head fully sticking outside the capsule, Isaacman performed tests on SpaceX’s new spacesuits, which are designed for increased mobility. “Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do,” Isaacman said during the spacewalk. “But from here, it sure looks like a perfect world.”

After Isaacman returned to the capsule,...

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Between flashy shots of a sleek new Apple Watch and a colorful array of iPhones, Apple made a major announcement for a two-year-old product: the AirPods Pro 2. The earbuds will soon gain a hearing aid function that anyone can access, a move that will provide a cheaper alternative to traditional hearing aids and an all-in-one solution that could change the way people get help for hearing loss.

The Food and Drug Administration signed off on over-the-counter hearing aids in 2022, giving people access to cheaper alternatives that don’t require them to see a doctor. Provided Apple receives approval from the FDA, Apple’s new “clinical-grade” over-the-counter hearing aid capability will roll out as a free software update this fall. Some people...

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Google can now turn your research into an AI-generated podcast, complete with two “hosts” that discuss what you’ve dug up. The experimental feature lives within NotebookLM, the AI note-taking app Google launched last year, and will have AI hosts “summarize your material, make connections between topics, and banter back and forth.”

It’s meant to build on NotebookLM’s existing features that help you interact with all your notes, transcripts, and other research documents. The app already uses Google’s Gemini AI model to help summarize your research, and this is sort of like an audio version of that.

Google isn’t making things up when it says the AI hosts will “banter” with each other, either. When trying out Audio Overview for myself, I...

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Bluesky, the decentralized X alternative, now supports video. The platform announced on Wednesday that you can share videos up to 60 seconds long on its desktop site and mobile app.

The videos will autoplay by default, but Bluesky says you can turn this feature off in the settings menu. You can also add subtitles to your videos, as well as apply labels for things like adult content. There are some limitations to Bluesky’s video feature, as the platform will only allow up to 25 video uploads (or 10GB of video) per day.

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Following last night’s debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, several users on X homed in on the vice president’s earrings — speculating that she was using them to get her talking points. Echoing a long history of political conspiracy theories, X users claimed she wore the Nova H1 Audio Earrings, which double as wireless earpieces. But anyone who looks closely can tell those aren’t what Harris was wearing.

The Nova H1 Audio Earrings were announced last year as part of a Kickstarter campaign. They feature real pearls that hide a pair of wireless speakers, which transmit audio up and into your ears. They’re also almost certainly not what Harris was wearing.

Apart from the large pearls on both Harris’ earrings and the Nova H1...

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