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Samsung may not be the first (or perhaps not even the fifth) company that springs to mind when you consider the major players in smart speakers, but it’s tough to argue with the appeal of a speaker that’s also a mountable frame. Similar to the discontinued Ikea x Sonos Symfonisk, Samsung’s Music Frame can play tunes from one of many audio sources, though it’s more customizable, letting you slot in up to a 8 x 10-inch physical image (8 x 8 is also an option). It’s elegant and capable, like the company’s own very popular The Frame TV lineup, and it’s 69 percent off right now at Woot.

The Music Frame is $124.99 (originally $399.99), and comes with a one-year manufacturer warranty through Woot. This handily beats the previous low price of $195 at Amazon back in March.

This multitalented smart speaker can rest upon its included stand or be mounted to your wall. It supports Spotify Connect, Chromecast, Tidal Hi-Fi content, and Apple AirPlay. If you have select Samsung entertainment products, it supports Q-Symphony to serve as an extra channel in your surround sound setup. As an alternative to slotting in a photo, you can customize your own Art Panel via Shutterfly to fit over the Music Frame’s 12.9 x 12.9-inch face.

Woot limits purchases to three per user, and it’s kind of wild to think that buying that many through Woot would still have you saving $25 off the current cost of a single Music Frame via Samsung or Amazon.

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Amazon’s Audible has announced that it’s planning to expand its audiobook catalog by giving select publishers access to its new “fully integrated, end-to-end AI production technology” that will let them more easily convert titles to audiobooks with their choice of AI-generated voices. The initiative will also help expand global access to audiobooks with the introduction of a new AI translation tool that’s expected to launch in an early beta later this year.

Audible says its new AI narration technology leverages Amazon’s advanced AI capabilities and will be made available to interested publishing partners in the coming months in one of two ways. For publishers wanting to be hands-off, an end-to-end service managed by Audible handles the “entire audiobook production process” right up to publication, while a self-service option will give publishers access to the same tools so they can independently direct the entire production process.

With both options, publishers are able to “choose from a quickly growing and improving selection of more than 100 AI-generated voices across English, Spanish, French, and Italian with multiple accent and dialect options, and will be able to access voice upgrades for their titles as our technology evolves,” according to Amazon.

Last September, Amazon invited a select group of Audible narrators to train AI-generated voice clones of themselves ahead of the launch of this new service. The company said that if their AI voice replica was selected for a project, the narrators would be able to review the final audiobook for errors or inaccuracies and use the platform’s production tools to fine-tune pronunciations or adjust the pacing of their voice.

Audible’s upcoming AI translation tools will also be limited to select publishers, and will initially support translations from English to Spanish, French, Italian and German. As with audiobook production, publishers will be offered two different approaches. Text-to-text translation for manuscripts which can be later turned into audiobooks, and speech-to-speech translation which uses AI to preserve the “original narrators’ voice and style across languages.”

Publishers will also be able to review translations themselves or opt for a human review through Audible with a professional linguist.

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German iPhone users are starting to report that they’re now able to use PayPal’s tap-to-pay feature at in-store payment terminals, according to German tech site iPhone Ticker. The new capability, which PayPal announced earlier this month, is a result of the EU forcing Apple to open iPhone NFC chips up for third-party contactless payments under the Digital Markets Act.

PayPal’s contactless wallet works with terminals that support Mastercard payments and is iPhone-only for now, so it won’t work on an Apple Watch, iPhone Ticker reports (via a machine translation). In December, a Norwegian payment app called Vipps became the first to take advantage of Apple’s changing ecosystem, nearly a year after Apple first announced it was opening up its NFC hardware to third-party wallet apps for EU users last year.

Apple hasn’t only opened iPhone tap-to-pay to the EU. It announced in August that it would let developers offer in-app NFC-based payments in the US and other regions, too. The company also allows businesses to use iPhone NFC readers to accept contactless payments in third-party apps, which is a capability PayPal started offering in Venmo and PayPal Zettle in March last year.

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Google is rolling out several new features to protect Android users from falling victim to phone call scams. Now, Android will automatically block users from sideloading an app for the first time from a web browser, messaging app, or other service while on a call with an unknown contact.

Google will also stop users from giving an app accessibility permissions while talking on the phone, helping to prevent a potentially dangerous app from gaining control of their device and stealing personal information. If you try to adjust these settings during a call, Google will display a message saying: “This setting is blocked to protect your device.” It also warns users that “scammers may try to take control of your device by asking you to allow accessibility access for an app.”

Google already blocks users from disabling its app security service, Play Protect, during phone calls. The company says these protections happen “completely on device” and should help prevent scammers from tricking users into downloading malicious apps and enabling sensitive permissions. The new protections are available on devices with Android 16.

Google also announced that it’s testing a new Android feature to discourage users from opening their banking app while sharing their screen on a call. The feature, which is rolling out to banking apps in the UK, including Monzo, NatWest, and Revolut to start, is meant to combat screen-sharing scams where fraudsters impersonate banks or government agencies to convince victims to perform harmful actions, like bank transfers.

When users try to launch a banking app while sharing their screen with an unknown contact, Google will display a pop-up to warn of a “likely scam,” while offering an “end call” button that users can press to immediately hang up and stop sharing their screen. If users choose not to end the call, they’ll have to wait 30 seconds before they can continue to share their banking app’s screen. This will be available to devices running Android 11 and newer, and Google says it will “assess the results of the pilot” before rolling it out more widely.

These features build upon Android’s growing scam protection tools. Last year, it started using AI to detect if a caller might be a scammer and encourage users to end these calls. It also rolled out AI-powered scam detection in Google Messages, which has expanded to more types of scams, such as those that attempt to collect personal information through phony toll road billing messages, crypto scams, financial impersonation scams, and more.

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An eye-catching new treatment for Android. | Image: Google

Google just announced a bold new look for Android, for real this time. After a false start last week when someone accidentally published a blog post too early (oh, Google!), the company is formally announcing the design language known as Material Three Expressive. It takes the colorful, customizable Material You introduced with Android 12 in an even more youthful direction, full of springy animations, bold fonts, and vibrant color absolutely everywhere. It’ll be available in an update to the Android 16 beta later this month.

Support for the Live Updates feature that Google introduced in an earlier Android 16 beta is nestled among the new design flourishes. It’s Android’s take on Apple’s Live Activities, showing time-sensitive updates in a persistent notification bar. Unlike Apple, Android limits its use to food delivery, navigation, and rideshare apps.

Today’s announcement gives us a good look at how those notifications will appear on the lockscreen, always on display, in a status bar at the top of the screen, and on the notification shade. It looks pretty handy. Quick settings will get an update too, allowing users to resize and rearrange tiles in another echo of iOS.

But the splashy new design language is the update’s centerpiece. App designers have new icon shapes, type styles, and color palettes at their disposal. Animations are designed to feel more “springy,” with haptics to underline your actions when you swipe a notification out of existence.

Google’s blog post and documentation for developers insist that this isn’t just a fresh coat of paint; the new design elements help guide users’ attention better. The bright purples and pinks featured throughout the company’s concept images certainly do the trick, and help boost the new design’s appeal with a younger demographic.

Teenagers are particularly fond of their iPhones, especially in the US, and Google seems hopeful that a fresh design will attract a younger user base. In its previously leaked, now-public blog post, Google says that up to 87 percent of 18–24-year-olds prefer expressive design like the one the company is debuting today. And while it’s definitely eye-catching, I have a feeling it’ll take a little more than this to turn the teens onto Android.

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Google is bringing its Gemini AI assistant to devices with Google TV, cars with Android Auto and Google built-in, Wear OS smartwatches, and Android XR. But Google isn’t saying exactly when the AI assistant will come to those devices — right now, the company is giving more general timelines about when it might arrive.

On Google TV products, “you can ask for action movies that are age-appropriate for your kids, and get the best recommendations,” according to a blog post from Guemmy Kim, a senior director of product and user experience on Android. In an example, the company shows how you can ask something like “can you explain the solar system to my first grader,” and Google TV pulls up a short explanation, offers a button to press to learn more, and recommends YouTube videos about the solar system designed for kids. Gemini is coming to Google TV “later this year.”

In cars, Gemini will improve upon talking hands-free with Google Assistant by “understanding what you want while you’re driving, through natural conversations,” Kim says. “For example, Gemini can find you a charging station on the way to the post office that’s also near a park, so that you can go for a walk before your errands while your car is charging.” Gemini can also connect to a messaging app to summarize your messages. Gemini is coming to Android Auto “in the coming months,” and to cars with Google built-in sometime later.

With Gemini on Wear OS, Kim highlights how the AI assistant lets you talk naturally, with “no need to get the words just right, or awkwardly type into a tiny screen,” which could be useful if you’re asking a quick question while dashing out the door to work. Gemini will launch on Wear OS in the coming months.

Finally, Gemini is coming to the first Android XR headset, built by Samsung. Kim says people will be able to try it later this year.

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G’bye Assistant, hello Gemini! | Image: Google

After a few years of iterative updates, Wear OS 6 is shaping up to be a significant leap forward. For starters, Gemini will replace Google Assistant on the wrist alongside a big Material 3 Expressive redesign that takes advantage of circular watch faces. Oh, and for the third year running, the latest Wear OS will also come with some battery life improvements.

“Over the past couple of years, we really completely reimagined Android with Gemini right at the center, and now we’re expanding Gemini beyond the phone,” says Jaime Williams, Wear OS’ product manager.

Williams says that adding Gemini is more than just replacing Assistant, which is already available on many Wear OS watches. Like most generative AI, one of the benefits is better natural language interactions, meaning you won’t have to speak your commands just so. Gemini in Wear OS will also interact with other apps. For example, you can ask about restaurant reservations, and Gemini will reference your Gmail for that information. Williams also says it’ll understand more complex queries, like summarizing information. You can also still use complications, the app launcher, a button shortcut or say “Hey Google” to access Gemini.

Gemini will require an internet connection. That means a Bluetooth connection via your phone, or a Wi-Fi or LTE connection on the watch. Williams says the team is looking into offline capabilities down the line but declined to comment on exact timing.

“Gemini is independent of Wear OS 6,” Williams says, explaining that while certain capabilities will be tied to Wear OS 6, it’ll be available on every Wear OS device with Assistant running on it today. (Meaning, if you have a Wear OS watch that doesn’t have Assistant, it’s not getting Gemini either.)

Despite that, this is still encouraging news when you consider the platform’s struggle to integrate Assistant. That was heavily delayed when Google transitioned from Wear OS 2 to a merged Wear OS 3 platform with Samsung’s Tizen OS. Fossil took two years before ultimately quitting the market. And while some Wear OS watches still don’t have Assistant, this hints that the transition to Gemini may be less messy overall.

Wear OS 6 will sport Google’s new Material 3 Expressive design language. “We wanted to move beyond something that was more functional to create something that has a deeper connection to you. With Wear OS 6, the first main thing we did was really embrace the circle,” says Lily Darling, Wear OS’ visual and motion lead.

Darling demurred when asked if this meant Wear OS (and therefore Google) was declaring that it’s circular displays or bust. However, she noted that Google decided to “elevate every design component to celebrate the round form factor.” That includes everything from the layouts and font choices to scrolling animations and transitions between screens. On-screen buttons have been tweaked to “hug the display” so they’re easier to tap, while Tiles and notifications are more glanceable. Notifications now include avatars and embedded thumbnail images, so you can quickly see who’s texting or emailing you. Color theming makes the jump from Android to Wear OS, so you can quickly change things up to match your phone or outfit.

Google didn’t have as much to share about Wear OS 6 performance besides a modest “up to 10 percent” increase in battery life. That’s perhaps not the most exciting update, but Google’s VP and GM of Wear OS Bjorn Kilburn says it’s a consistent ask from smartwatch users.

“It’s a really hard problem and it’s a game of inches. We keep chipping away at it,” Kilburn says, noting that not every Wear OS user will see battery gains equally. He says the team has improved power efficiency when using the watch to play or control media. So, if that’s something you use a Wear OS watch for, you can expect to notice it more than someone who never uses their watch for that purpose.

As for why Google is choosing to roll out a more substantive update this year, Kilburn says that’s partly a matter of timing. Bigger updates like these, he says, are a long time in the making. But more specifically, he explains it was an intentional move to ensure the phone and watch “came together.” Under the hood, he says, Android 16 and Wear OS 6 share the same code base. That enabled Google to speed up bringing Wear OS to parity with what’s available on Android phones.

“These are two really important devices that people have,” Kilburn says, noting Android and Wear OS teams spent a lot of time making sure plans lined up. That way, “at least your phone and watch can feel like they really belong together and share the same overall design ethos at the same time.”

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Cocomelon Lane.

The Cocomelon empire is expanding once again. A few years after the massively popular kids YouTube channel turned into a Netflix series, now it’s also becoming a feature film. Cocomelon parent company Moonbug Entertainment announced that a theatrical movie has been greenlit, which will be developed in part by DreamWorks Animation.

There aren’t really any details about the movie yet, though a press release says that “fans will follow JJ and his friends on the big screen for a new adventure when the film premieres in theaters in 2027.”

First-launched on YouTube in 2006, Cocomelon’s kid-oriented videos have proved to incredibly popular. The channel currently has more than 190 million subscribers, and Moonbug says that it averages 4 billion monthly views. It expanded into streaming with the series Cocomelon Lane on Netflix, which released its fourth season this year.

A move into film makes for a logical next step, particularly as releases like A Minecraft Movie have proven that there’s still very much an appetite for family-friendly theatrical experiences.

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Find My Device just became Find Hub.

A year after launching its Find My Device location tracking network, Google is adding support for ultra wideband (UWB) for more precise tracking using compatible phones and trackers. The network and its Android app are also getting a new name: Find Hub.

Google says that UWB will be enabled “later this month.” UWB provides more accurate tracking at close range than Bluetooth, reporting both distance and direction so you can find a missing tracker quicker once you’re in the vicinity. Apple’s AirTag has supported the tech since its launch in 2021, as have Samsung’s SmartTags. Tile’s is now the only major tracker network to lack a UWB option, since the UWB-enabled Tile Ultra it first announced way back in 2021 never actually launched.

No one will be happier about the news than Motorola, which launched its Moto Tag in June 2024 with plenty of fanfare around UWB support that has been inactive ever since.

The downside of UWB is that it requires compatibility from both trackers and phones. While all of Apple’s modern iPhones apart from the affordable-ish 16E support UWB, support on the Android side is spottier. Some Pixel and Galaxy flagships include UWB chips, but not all of them, though at least the new Galaxy S25 Edge does make the cut. Despite producing the Moto Tag, even Motorola only included the tech in a single phone, the Edge 50 Ultra, which never launched in the US.

Alongside the launch of UWB, Google is rebranding its network and app to Find Hub. That’s likely both to differentiate it from Apple’s network — even I still get Find My and Find My Device confused with one another — and to reflect Google’s recent inclusion of a “People” tab in the app for tracking contacts who’ve agreed to share their location with you.

Google also announced that Find Hub will incorporate satellite connectivity “later this year,” though wouldn’t comment on the specific satellite features it’s bringing to the app. Google’s Pixel 9 phones already include a Satellite SOS mode for emergency communications outside of cellular service. Early next year you’ll also be able to share trackers’ locations with airline staff.

Find My Device has long lagged behind Apple’s equivalent, arriving later with less accurate tracking and no UWB support. I spent several weeks testing trackers across the network last month and found that it had improved substantially since a rocky launch, but marked the lack of UWB as one thing still holding it back. Today’s update is a step in the right direction.

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Disney is launching its direct-to-consumer ESPN streaming service this fall. The service, which will simply be called “ESPN,” will cost $29.99 per month for the “unlimited” plan, which will include all of ESPN’s linear channels.

Disney will also offer ESPN’s unlimited plan annually for $299.99, which saves you about $60 compared to paying monthly.

For those who prefer to stick with the offerings included in the existing ESPN Plus service, the network will still offer the same programming in a new “select” plan that starts at $11.99 per month (current ESPN Plus subscribers will automatically be moved to ESPN select). You’ll also be able to get plans that bundle Disney Plus and Hulu, too.

Here’s a full list of the subscription plans you can choose from:

Special ESPN unlimited bundle launch offer: Disney Plus (ads), Hulu (ads): for $29.99 per for the first 12 months.ESPN unlimited: $29.99 per month or $299.99 annuallyESPN unlimited bundle with Disney Plus (ads), and Hulu (ads): $35.99 per month.ESPN unlimited bundle with Disney Plus (no ads) and Hulu (no ads): $44.99 per monthESPN select (same as ESPN+ offerings): $11.99 per month or $119.99 annuallyESPN select bundle Disney Plus (ads) and Hulu (ads): $16.99 per monthESPN select bundle Disney Plus (no ads) and Hulu (no ads): $26.99 per month

The service will be available in the “early fall” with exact date announcement coming “later this summer.”

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Google did something a bit different this year. Instead of talking about Android during the I/O developer conference, which kicks off on May 20, it’s hosting a show dedicated to its mobile software.

The Android Show begins at 10 AM PT/1PM ET today and we expect to hear more about Material 3 Expressive, the new user interface that leaked recently, and when it’ll be available as part of Android 16. It’s also likely we’ll hear about the many other riffs of Android, from Wear OS to Android Automotive. Maybe we’ll even get another peek at Android XR.

And while AI is sure to be the focus of the entire Google I/O developer conference, we suspect we’ll hear about Gemini a bit today, too. We’ll be covering it all right here.

Android XR at the Android Show?Google’s splashy new Android UI is coming in beta this month.Cranking up the “coolness” factor.How to watch Google’s Android Show: I/O Edition todayGoogle announces the dates for I/O 2025

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The Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t even out yet (it’s coming June 5th), and one of its launch window games already has a preorder discount at Costco. With a membership, you can get Donkey Kong Bananza — the first 3D platformer for this character since Donkey Kong 64 — for $62.99. A $7 discount may not seem like much to write home about, but it’s notable given that Nintendo games rarely go on sale, and any discount in this economy is a win. Bananza launches on July 17th.

Other noteworthy deals

If you’re looking for a solid Bluetooth speaker that sounds and looks good, is waterproof, and won’t break the bank, Bose has you covered. Specifically, Bose’s eBay outlet is selling refurbished SoundLink Flex SE speakers in black for $69 (originally $129). The SoundLink Flex was crowned the best Bluetooth speaker under $200 in our buying guide. This discounted version differs only in that it lacks a microphone, which could be used for speakerphone functionality. Not a terrible feature to lose if it means saving around $80 off the cost of buying new.The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is now available to preorder at Samsung ahead of its May 30th release date. The super-thin Android phone starts at $1,099.99 for the 256GB version, going up to $1,219.99 for the upgrade to 512GB of storage. As a bonus for preordering now, you’ll get a $50 Samsung credit, a free storage upgrade (as in, the 512GB version will cost the same as the phone with 256GB), and boosted trade-in credit.Portable Apple Watch chargers are increasingly easy to find at somewhat affordable prices. A brand called Joyroom is selling one in black or white that’s discounted to $15.99, down from its usual $19.99 once you select the 20 percent off coupon on the Amazon product page. It comes with 2,500mAh capacity and a built-in USB-C cable for recharging, and it can charge every Apple Watch in the lineup (from the Series 2 to the Series 10, plus the Apple Watch Ultra).

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The S25 Edge is noticeably thin when you hold it. | Image: Dominic Preston / The Verge

At its virtual Unpacked event on Tuesday, Samsung officially announced the launch date for its new ultra-slim Galaxy S25 Edge. The latest S25 series phone launches on May 30th to the tune of $1,099, with preorders starting today at Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung’s online storefront.

At just 5.8mm thick, the Galaxy S25 Edge is Samsung’s thinnest phone yet. It weighs about 5.7 ounces, making it surprisingly light for a 6.7-inch device. While its slim design means it comes with a smaller 3,900mAh battery, Samsung didn’t sacrifice durability to achieve the phone’s slender design. In fact, despite its thin and lightweight build, the Edge features the same rugged titanium frame as the S25 Ultra and carries an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. It also shares the Ultra’s 200-megapixel main camera, though it’s limited to two rear lenses with no telephoto lens.

Other than that, the S25 Edge is largely similar to the S25 Plus. Both feature a 6.7-inch OLED display and run on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset. They also offer the same Galaxy AI features, including natural language search for both photos and other settings. Like the rest of the S25 lineup, the S25 Edge is backed by Samsung’s promise of seven years of OS and security updates.

We’ll be reviewing the S25 Edge in the coming days, but if you’re looking to place a preorder now, here’s what you should know.

Where to preorder the Galaxy S25 Edge

The Galaxy S25 Edge starts at $1,099, features12GB of RAM, and comes in two storage configurations: 256GB and 512GB, with the latter going for $120 more. You can preorder an unlocked configuration starting today with a free storage upgrade from Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung in the following colors: silver, black, and blue. Samsung is currently offering $50 in-store credit when you reserve the device, while Amazon is throwing in a $50 gift card. At Best Buy, only customers enrolled in the retailer’s premium Plus and Total loyalty programs are eligible for a $50 gift card.

Carrier deals and promotions

New and current Verizon customers on any Unlimited plan can get a free S25 Edge with 256GB of storage when they trade in any Apple, Google, or Samsung phone. However, note that the promo will be dispersed as monthly bill credits over the span of 36 months.T-Mobile is offering a $600 discount on the S25 Edge without a trade-in on most of the unlimited plans when you add a new line, which will be administered as 24 monthly bill credits. The carrier is also offering a free storage upgrade and giving the phone away for free with qualifying trade-ins to those on Experience Beyond and Experience Beyond for Business plans. If you add a line, Business Unlimited Ultimate customers can also get up to $1,000 off the S25 Edge with a qualifying trade-in.AT&T will essentially give you an S25 Edge for free in the form of monthly credits over the span of three months when you add or upgrade to a line on an eligible unlimited plan. The company is also offering a handful of other deals with an approved trade-in, such as $800 off for switching carriers or $200 off when you add a new line and order the device online.

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Ahead of the release of the Lenovo Legion Go S running SteamOS later this month, Valve has announced a new compatibility rating system for SteamOS devices. As the name implies, the new SteamOS Compatibility system will rate how compatible games are with third-party devices, similar to how Valve already rates the compatibility of games for its own Steam Deck.

The new rating will only show up on devices running SteamOS that aren’t a Steam Deck and are designed to quickly indicate to users if all of a game’s features and functionality, including any anti-cheat tools it may be using, are fully supported by the OS. Games will be marked as either “SteamOS Compatible” or “SteamOS Unsupported” in the Steam Store and Steam Client.

The rating “does not include testing results for performance and input, since we will not know (and have not tested) how all titles will run on all potential hardware,” as Valve points out in an announcement shared to its community pages yesterday. But the company expects “over 18,000 titles on Steam to be marked SteamOS compatible out of the gate.”

Because the new ratings are “automatically generated from Steam Deck verification results without additional testing,” Valve says that developers don’t need to take any additional steps to ensure their games are compatible with third-party SteamOS devices. “If your title already has a Steam Deck Compatibility rating, an automated process will use that data to give it a SteamOS Compatibility rating.”

The Legion Go S will be the first handheld gaming PC to trade Windows for SteamOS, the gaming-focused operating system that powers Valve’s Steam Deck.

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Microsoft is laying off more than 6,000 employees, around three percent of the company’s entire workforce. These are the biggest job cuts at Microsoft since it laid off 10,000 employees in 2023, and will impact employees across Microsoft’s businesses.

“We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” says Microsoft spokesperson Pete Wootton in a statement to The Verge.

I understand that the job cuts will impact all levels at Microsoft, including Microsoft-owned LinkedIn and some international offices. The cuts come just weeks after Microsoft CFO Amy Hood hinted at reducing the company’s management layers. “We continue to focus on building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers with fewer managers,” said Hood on April 30th. Microsoft also started ”performance-based” cuts earlier this year, which have targeted hundreds of employees.

The latest job losses come more than a year after Microsoft laid off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees, and then in May 2024 the company closed several game studios, including Hi-Fi Rushdeveloper Tango Gameworks and Redfalldeveloper Arkane Austin. Tango Gameworks later returned thanks to a deal with Krafton.

Microsoft also laid off 650 more Xbox employees in September, as part of a restructuring related to the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft also cut around 1,000 employees from its HoloLens and Azure cloud teams in June.

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Apple is getting into Lofi Girl’s turf. The company has teamed up with Universal Music Group (UMG) to make the Sound Therapy collection of tracks for Apple Music that are “designed to help listeners attain clearer focus, deeper relaxation, and better sleep,” according to a press release.

There are three categories of Sound Therapy tracks available: Focus, Relax, and Sleep. They feature “extended, instrumental, and reimagined” versions of songs from artists like Imagine Dragons, Katy Perry, Kacey Musgraves, and more.

Here’s how Apple and UMG say the Sound Therapy songs might help you out:

Songs have been enhanced with auditory beats or colored noise to help encourage specific brain responses. Gamma waves and white noise — a whoosh-like combination of every sound frequency — may help with focusing; theta waves could aid in relaxation; and delta waves and pink noise — a deeper, gentler variation akin to rain or wind — might assist in achieving better sleep. A dreamy version of Katy Perry’s “Double Rainbow,” for example, could help listeners drift off to sleep, while an Imagine Dragons track might help them tackle a to-do list.

I’m a little skeptical about all of that, but that might just be a me thing; I’m not great at working with music (despite how much I like lofi beats) and I can’t fall asleep to music, either. But if you do like music for working or to help you sleep, these new playlists could be useful.

Apple also has a dedicated radio station for chill music and an Ambient Music tool with playlists for sleep, chill, productivity, and wellbeing.

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Mark Zuckerberg wants you to be understood by the machine. The Meta CEO has recently been pitching a future where his AI tools give people something that "knows them well," not just as pals, but as professional help. "For people who don't have a person who's a therapist," he told Stratechery's Ben Thompson, "I think everyone will have an AI."

The jury is out on whether AI systems can make good therapists, but this future is already legible. A lot of people are anecdotally pouring their secrets out to chatbots, sometimes in dedicated therapy apps, but often to big general-purpose platforms like Meta AI, OpenAI's ChatGPT, or xAI's Grok. And unfortunately, this is starting to seem extraordinarily dangerous - for reasons that have little to do with what a chatbot is telling you, and everything to do with who else is peeking in.

This might sound paranoid, and it's still hypothetical. It's a truism someone is always watching on the internet, but the worst thing that comes of it for many people is some unwanted targeted ads. Right now in the US, though, we're watching the impending collision of two alarming trends. In one, tech executives are encouraging people to reveal ever more inti …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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Google Photos on a Pixel 6.

Google has announced that it’s now added a “Quick Edits” feature that lets you edit an image as you’re sharing it without necessarily saving those changes to your library.

We’re not talking deep edits here: you’ll be able to crop or auto-enhance the image, then compare it to the unedited version before you let the photo fly. Whatever changes you make will be saved when sharing in Google Photos itself, creating a shared link, or adding the image to a shared Google Photos album. However, they won’t be saved if you’re sharing through another app like Google Messages or WhatsApp.

The option to create these edits will appear automatically when you go to share an image. If having that extra step shoved into your sharing workflow isn’t your cup of tea, there’s an option to turn it off when you tap the Settings icon on that screen.

The feature only works for images that you haven’t already edited, and “typically doesn’t appear for photos that have been edited and sorted into document albums such as receipts or screenshots.” And it’s only available in Google Photos for Android 14 and up.

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GM’s current high-nickel battery pack, seen here in 2022 with a Hummer EV. It has enough energy for around 300 miles of range.

General Motors is teaming up with LG to develop lithium manganese-rich (LMR) batteries for its electric trucks and SUVs. The automaker says that the new chemistry is safer, more energy dense, and less costly than the current technology.

GM aims to become the first automaker to deploy LMR batteries in EVs, with plans to start commercial production in the US by 2028. Last month, Ford announced that it would start adopting LMR batteries for its EVs, but not until 2030.

In EV batteries, the cathode, or negative electrode, are typically made with NCM — nickel, cobalt, and magnesium. Cobalt is a key component in this mix, but it’s also the most expensive material in the battery and mined under conditions that often violate human rights, leading it to be called the “blood diamond of batteries.” As a result, GM and other companies like Tesla are rushing to create a cobalt-free battery. As an alternative, LMR battery cells use a higher proportion of more affordable and plentiful manganese, while also delivering greater capacity and energy density.

GM has prototyped approximately 300 full-size LMR cells as it worked with LG Energy Solution to crack the code on the chemistry.

“We like to joke that it’s as cheap as dirt,” says Andrew Oury, a battery engineer at GM, referring to manganese.

GM’s current crop of electric Chevys and Cadillacs use high-nickel batteries, which supply enough energy for around 300–320 miles of range. The new LMR batteries are denser, with greater space efficiency due to their prismatic shape, enabling up to 400 miles of range, GM says. Prismatic cells are packed flat in rigid cases and are generally thought to be less complex to manufacture than cylindrical cells.

Less complexity and cheaper materials will hopefully lead to lower-cost EVs, which has been a significant challenge for the auto industry’s shift to electric vehicles.

“The EV growth rate is really dependent on how quickly we can bring the costs down over time,” says GM’s VP for batteries Kurt Kelty. “And this is the biggest lever we have. Batteries make up roughly 30 to 40 percent of the cost of vehicles. And if you can drop that down significantly like we’re doing here, then it ends up being a lower cost to the consumer.”

The cells will be produced by Ultium Cells, GM and LG’s joint venture, with preproduction expected to begin in late 2027. The final design will be validated at GM’s Battery Cell Development Center in Warren, Michigan, which opens earlier that year, as well as LG Energy Solution’s facility. Last year, GM sold its stake in the Lansing-based EV battery factory to LG.

“We like to joke that it’s as cheap as dirt.”

GM says the LMR batteries are the result of “decades-long research and investment in technology” that will give it the leg up over its competitors. GM began researching manganese-rich lithium-ion battery cells in 2015, including prototyping LMR cells at its Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center.

There could be some challenges to mass producing LMR batteries. LMR materials have been known to experience significant capacity loss, which could lead to lower driving ranges and thermal stability degradation.

GM says it is aware of these challenges and confident that it could innovate the production process in a way to minimize those risks. The automaker’s engineers say the LMR batteries were expected to perform similarly to GM’s first-generation high-nickel batteries, even in extreme temperatures.

Automakers are racing to slash EV costs before President Donald Trump’s trade war raises the prices for key materials imported from China, which is the world’s leading producer of EV batteries, with over 70 percent of global lithium-ion battery production taking place there.

“We expect our localization of materials for the battery supply chain to increase between now and 2028,” Kelty says. “And LMR is part of that story, because we get more of the materials locally.”

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If you don’t have a Nintendo Switch 2 preorder, Best Buy might still be able to help you get a console on launch day. For the retailer’s midnight openings for the Switch 2 launch, “most stores will have limited inventory of systems, games, and accessories for in-store purchase,” according to its website.

Most Best Buy stores across the country will be opening up at 12:01AM ET on June 5th for the launch, per the website. (If you’re on the West Coast like me, that means your store will open at 9:01PM PT on June 4th.) People who snagged preorders for in-store pickup can also get their consoles when the stores open. As part of the midnight launch, Best Buy also says that customers will “have the chance to receive a Nintendo collectible.”

Online preorders last month were a total mess to start, but many people had success the old-fashioned way: lining up at GameStop. With Best Buy offering its limited in-store stock, lining up ahead of June 5th might be the way to go if you don’t have a preorder in and want to play Mario Kart World on day one.

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Console modding enthusiasts beware, Nintendo might take away your system. According to a recently updated account services user agreement and privacy policy, Nintendo reserves the right to, “render the Nintendo Account Services and / or the applicable Nintendo device permanently unusable in whole or in part.” The change, first reported by Game File, came with a May 7th update and centers on Nintendo’s policy regarding how players use their consoles and Nintendo accounts.

Previously, the agreement called out the usual suspects of prohibited activities with users not allowed to, “lease, rent, sublicense, publish, copy, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble all or any portion of the Nintendo Account Services.” The new agreement has been expanded to include two additional subclauses of proscribed behaviors:

“Without limitation, you agree that you may not (a) publish, copy, modify, reverse engineer, lease, rent, decompile, disassemble, distribute, offer for sale, or create derivative works of any portion of the Nintendo Account Services; (b) bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat, tamper with, or otherwise circumvent any of the functions or protections of the Nintendo Account Services, including through the use of any hardware or software that would cause the Nintendo Account Services to operate other than in accordance with its documentation and intended use; (c) obtain, install or use any unauthorized copies of Nintendo Account Services; or (d) exploit the Nintendo Account Services in any manner other than to use them in accordance with the applicable documentation and intended use, in each case, without Nintendo’s written consent or express authorization, or unless otherwise expressly permitted by applicable law.”

In Nintendo’s announcement of the changes to its privacy policy, the company also said it would, “collect, monitor, and record audio and video of your chat sessions,” in preparation for the Switch 2’s new chat functionality.

With the Switch 2 launch less than a month away and with these further defined prohibitions, it’s clear that Nintendo is refining its approach to console modders and emulator developers. Nintendo is involved in several lawsuits against those the company has claimed violated its intellectual property rights including one suit that resulted in the total destruction of the most popular Switch emulation program, Yuzu.

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Magnifier for Mac

A wave of accessibility announcements today from Apple reveals updates that should help people read, see, and even speak via its various devices. We’ll highlight a few here, but Apple’s press release has the complete list, including changes to features that can both reduce distracting background sounds and, for users who may be deaf or hard of hearing, highlight important sounds and recognize when someone nearby is saying their name.

One of the most visible changes is a new Accessibility Nutrition Labels section in the App Store that will make it easy to find what features an app or game supports.

Several large gaming companies recently announced a similar push for clear labeling denoting supported features as part of the Accessible Games Initiative. Apple’s new labels will include information about Apple-specific features like VoiceOver, as well as other settings like adjustable contrast, audio descriptions, and captions.

Another change that sticks out is support for a new protocol for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs). According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is working with Synchron to add Switch Control for BCIs that enable control of a device without physical movement. The Journal reports that devices like Synchron’s Stentrode or Neuralink’s implants could translate brain signals into controls more directly than having to emulate another device, like a mouse. Ten people have been implanted with the Stentrode device so far, but the standard will be available to other developers as well once it’s released.

Commercial approval for those devices is still years away at best, so in the present, Apple will also have new options for Eye Tracking control in iOS devices and the Vision Pro that make it easier to type, as well as Head Tracking on the iPhone and iPad that allows control via head movements.

The Magnifier app that’s already available on iPhone and iPad is coming to the Mac. Now it will be able to connect to a user’s computer to zoom in on their surroundings for viewing on computer screens, with support for attached USB cameras as well as Continuity Camera on iPhone. Another feature moving to the Mac will be Vehicle Motion Cues, which help to reduce motion sickness and were launched on iOS last year.

Other upgrades are coming to Personal Voice, which will support Spanish and be able to create a synthesized voice for people who are at risk of losing the ability to speak in less than a minute, down from the 15 minutes when it was announced in 2023.

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Apple previewed new Vision Pro accessibility features today that could turn the headset into a proxy for eyesight when they launch in visionOS later this year. The update uses the headset’s main camera to magnify what a user sees or to enable live, machine-learning-powered descriptions of surroundings.

The new magnification feature works on virtual objects as well as real-world ones. An example from Apple’s announcement shows a first-person view as a Vision Pro wearer goes from reading a zoomed-in view of a real-world recipe book to the Reminders app, also blown up to be easier to read. It’s a compelling use for the Vision Pro, freeing up a hand for anyone who might’ve done the same thing with comparable smartphone features.

Also as part of the update, Apple’s VoiceOver accessibility feature will “describe surroundings, find objects, read documents, and more” in visionOS.

The company will release an API to give approved developers access to the Vision Pro’s camera for accessibility apps. That could be used for things like “live, person-to-person assistance for visual interpretation in apps like Be My Eyes, giving users more ways to understand their surroundings hands-free.” It may not seem like much now, given the Vision Pro’s reportedly meager sales, but the features could be useful in rumored future Apple wearables, like camera-equipped AirPods or even new Apple-branded, Meta Ray-Ban-like smart glasses.

Finally, Apple says it’s adding a new protocol in visionOS, iOS, and iPadOS that supports brain-computer interfaces (BCI) using its Switch Control accessibility feature, which provides for alternate input methods such as controlling aspects of your phone using things like head movements captured by your iPhone’s camera.

A Wall Street Journal report today explains that Apple worked on this new BCI standard with Synchron, a brain implant company that lets users select icons on a screen by thinking about them. The report notes that Synchon’s tech doesn’t enable things like mouse movement, which Elon Musk’s Neuralink has accomplished.

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Letterboxd – a film tracker app and the only good social network – announced a Letterboxd Video Store at the Festival de Cannes on Tuesday. Unlike a traditional video-on-demand service, Letterboxd Video Store will offer “limited festival-style windows” when you can stream “festival favorites, underseen gems, global cinema, and emerging voices” in cinema.

The service is even exploring limited runs of films that haven’t yet scored widespread distribution, which would make your dream watchlist that more attainable.

When does it launch? What are the first selections? Which territories will it be available in? Will it be that compromised by Trump’s wacky tariff ideas? We do not yet know. But Letterboxd does promise that the selections will be curated by the Letterboxd team leveraging “behavioral insight” gathered from the 20 million users logging, reviewing, and discoursing on its service.

Given that Letterboxd’s film blog Journal is good actually, I trust this combination of personal curation and “community enthusiasm.” It’s a welcome addition to the curated streaming service space where Criterion and Mubi live, for those of us with Netflix fatigue and a yet-undetermined amount of bucks to spare.

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CryptoPunks owner and Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs hasn’t disclosed the terms of the deal.

It would seem that the money-making days for CryptoPunks, one of the oldest and most valuable NFT brands, are well and truly over. After acquiring the non-fungible token collection from Larva Labs in 2022, Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs is now selling CryptoPunks to Infinite Node Foundation — a non-profit focused on preserving digital art.

CryptoPunks, alongside brands like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoKitties, is frequently credited for kicking off the NFT craze in 2021. Several tokens have been sold for millions, including one in 2022 that was purchased for more than $23 million worth of Ethereum cryptocurrency, but the sales charts have largely stagnated since.

Details for the purchase are slim. CryptoPunks general manager Natalie Stone told The Verge that the terms of the deal won’t be disclosed, and that the brand will be stewarded by the Node Foundation, with no plans to integrate the CryptoPunks token collection into the gamified Otherside metaverse that Yuga Labs is developing. “Yuga is still one of the biggest holders of Punks, and like all other CryptoPunks NFT holders, will retain the right to its CryptoPunks characters under the IP license,” said Stone.

It was also never clear how much Yuga Labs spent to acquire CryptoPunks in its heyday, but being sold to a non-profit is probably not a good sign for, well, profitability. Now that NFT’s are a shambling shadow of their former glory, the focus is turning to making CryptoPunks relevant in the mainstream art industry.

“We’ve worked to elevate and protect their legacy, but we always knew Punks needed a permanent home built for preservation,” Yuga Labs co-founder Wylie Aronow said in the announcement release. “Seeing that vision come to life with the Node Foundation feels like a full-circle moment. They are best positioned to protect the Punks legacy.”

Node Foundation chair Micky Malka said that “CryptoPunks sparked a cultural movement,” and that the non-profit intends to “future-proof this landmark work” and make it more accessible for scholars, curators, and collectors to engage with. Node is planning to showcase all 10,000 CryptoPunks tokens at the foundation’s permanent exhibition space in Palo Alto, and in the “Infinite Images: The Art of Algorithms” exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art.

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