How to use Visual Intelligence on the iPhone
One of the Apple Intelligence features that hasn't been delayed is Visual Intelligence, which uses your iPhone's camera to identify and answer questions on whatever's around you in the world.
It lets you snap a pizza restaurant storefront and find out its opening hours, for example, or point your camera at a plant and find out what it's called and how to care for it. If you've used Google Lens, you'll get the idea.
This isn't available to everyone, though. You have to be using iOS 18.2 on the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, or iPhone 16 Pro Max; iOS 18.3 on the iPhone 16E; or iOS 18.4 on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. You'll also need to have Apple Intelligence turned on, via Apple Intelligence & Siri in Settings.
How to launch Visual Intelligence
If you have an iPhone 16 with a Camera Control button on the right-hand side, you can tap and hold this button to bring up the camera and Visual Intelligence.
If you've got an iPhone 16E, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max, you've got a few different options to choose from:
- You can customize the Action Button to launch Visual Intelligence: Go to Settings, tap Action Button, then swipe left or right to find Vis …
Is Google’s smart tag network any good yet?
When Google launched its long-awaited Find My Device network in April 2024, it arrived to… well, what's the opposite of "fanfare"? A slow network rollout and damning reviews dampened enthusiasm for what was supposed to be a wave of Android-powered rivals to Apple's AirTag. But a year's a long time in tech, and Google has been promising improvements almost since Find My Device was first switched on. I wanted to know: have things gotten any better?
To find out, I set about testing the latest trackers from the three main companies that make compatible models: Pebblebee, Chipolo, and Motorola. For now Google doesn't make its own Pixel or Nest-branded tracker, and Samsung's SmartTags use its own SmartThings Find network, not Google's. In the name of science, I also got hold of an Apple AirTag and a Tile tracker to serve as reference points for Google's chief competitors.
I found a network that's clearly improved in the year since launch, one that in good conditions - a busy city, a tracker that's not moving - is every bit as good as Apple's and Tile's. It's when tracking gets trickier, in rural settings or with moving tags, that a gap between Google and the competition still opens up …
Google is paying Samsung an ‘enormous sum’ to preinstall Gemini
Testimony this week from Google’s antitrust trial shows that Google gives Samsung an “enormous sum of money” each month to preinstall the Gemini AI app on Samsung devices, reports Bloomberg. Now that Judge Amit Mehta has ruled Google’s search engine is an illegal monopoly, its lawyers are sparring with the DOJ over how severe a potential penalty should be.
Peter Fitzgerald, Google’s vice president of platforms and device partnerships, testified on Monday that Google’s payments to Samsung started in January. That’s after Google was found to have violated antitrust law, partially due to similar arrangements with Apple, Samsung, and other companies for search. When Samsung launched the Galaxy S25 series in January, it also added Gemini as the default AI assistant when long-pressing the power button, with its own Bixby assistant taking a back seat.
The Information reports that today Fitzgerald testified that other companies had pitched Samsung on deals to preinstall their AI assistant apps, including Perplexity and Microsoft. But a DOJ lawyer pointed out that Google’s letters attempting to amend its deal with phone makers, which the company presented at the hearing, were only sent last week, just ahead of the trial. Also, internal slides presented today apparently showed that Google “was considering more restrictive distribution agreements that would have required partners to preinstall Gemini alongside Search and Chrome,” The Information writes.
According to Bloomberg, Fitzgerald said the Gemini deal is a two-year agreement that, along with fixed monthly payments, sees Google giving Samsung a percentage of its subscription revenue for the Gemini app. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyer David Dahlquist called the fixed monthly payment an “enormous sum,” Bloomberg says. Exactly how enormous isn’t known.
If the DOJ has its way, the results of these hearings could mean Google is forbidden from striking default placement deals in the future, would sell Chrome, and would be forced to license the vast majority of the data that powers Google Search. Google has argued that it should only have to give up the default placement deals.
Correction April 26th: This story previously said Samsung receives a percentage of ads revenue from the Gemini app, as originally reported by Bloomberg. We’ve updated the story to reflect that Google shares Gemini subscription revenue instead.
Bionic Bay mixes floppy physics with hard sci-fi
Wandering through Bionic Bay's dark alien world is unsettling and awe-inspiring. There are massive structures with no clear purpose and autonomous factories filled with whirring saw blades and devastating lasers. It's grim and unforgiving, with little light and harsh shadows that give everything a sinister tone. But then you step on a bomb and your character bounces off of walls like a pinball, and you realize it's a game of contrasts.
Bionic Bay is a curious blend of two very different genres. On the one hand, it's an atmospheric side-scrolling adventure in the mold of Inside and Limbo, filled with disturbingly stunning environments to explore. At the same time, it's a hard-as-nails platformer like Super Meat Boy, with elaborate physics that will have you dying repeatedly while trying to find the best route through deadly obstacles. Somehow, the disparate vibes come together surprisingly well.
What first drew me to Bionic Bay was that dark world. It's mysterious to the point that I still don't actually know what it is you're doing or why. But that mystery is a large part of the appeal. As you make your way through its levels, you're subject to some incredible and intimidating e …
Kuxiu’s ‘world first’ solid-state power bank costs more but lasts much longer
Solid-state batteries are the future. They're more powerful, compact, safe, and sustainable than Lithium-ion alternatives, but true all-solid state batteries can't be mass-produced cost-effectively. That's why Kuxiu has gone semi-solid state for what it calls the "world's safest" power bank, while calling dibs on it being a world first.
Kuxiu's $79.99 S2 Qi2 5000mAh MagSafe Solid-State Power Bank supports Qi2 for 15W wireless charging. And with a 5,000mAh at 3.8V (19Wh) capacity, it holds enough energy to charge the smaller iPhone models from zero to full about once. And despite using the truncated "solid state" in the S2 name and product page, the company confirmed to me that it's built around a semi-solid state battery and that distinction matters.
I've been carrying the Kuxiu S2 for the past few weeks. While I didn't hammer, pierce, or tear the battery apart or expose it to fire like Kuxiu did, I can at least confirm that it otherwise works as expected.
"Solid state" ambiguity
It's not just you, the battery industry itself can't seem to agree on what qualifies as a solid-state battery. There's all-solid state, semi-solid state, and quasi-solid state, to name just a few …
GPU prices are out of control again
Every so often, Central Computers - one of the last remaining dedicated Silicon Valley computer stores - lets subscribers know it's managed to obtain a small shipment of AMD graphics cards. Today, it informed me that I could now purchase a $600 Radeon RX 9070 XT for $850 - a $250 markup.
It's not alone. I just checked every major US retailer and street prices on eBay, and I regret to inform you: the great GPU shortage has returned. Many AMD cards are being marked up $100, $200, $250, even $280. The street price of an Nvidia RTX 5080 is now over $1,500, a full $500 higher than MSRP. And an RTX 5090, the most powerful consumer GPU? You can't even get the $2,000 card for $3,000 today.
Here, I've built tables to show you:
| Item | MSRP | Average eBay street price (Mar-Apr) | Best retail price (April 25th) |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT | $599 | $957 | $880 |
| AMD Radeon RX 9070 | $549 | $761 | $835 |
| Nvidia RTX 5090 | $1,999 | $3,871 | $3,140 |
| Nvidia RTX 5080 | $999 | $1,533 | $1,390 |
| Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti | $749 | $1,052 | $825 |
| Nvidia RTX 5070 | $549 | $715 | $610 |
You shouldn't just blame tariffs for these price hikes. In early March, we found retailers were already …
Bending to industry, Donald Trump issues executive order to “expedite” deep sea mining
Donald Trump wants to mine the depths of the ocean for critical minerals ubiquitous in rechargeable batteries, signing an executive order on Thursday to try to expedite mining within US and international waters.
It’s a brash move that critics say could create unknown havoc on sea life and coastal economies, and that bucks international agreements. Talks to develop rules for deep-sea mining are still ongoing through the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a process that missed an initial 2023 deadline and has continued to stymie efforts to start commercially mining the deep sea.
“A dangerous precedent”
“Fast-tracking deep-sea mining by bypassing the ISA’s global regulatory processes would set a dangerous precedent and would be a violation of customary international law,” Duncan Currie, legal adviser for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition that has advocated for a moratorium on deep sea mining, said in a press statement.
The ISA was established by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. More than 160 nations have ratified the convention, but the United States has not. Ignoring the convention, the executive order Trump signed directs federal agencies to expedite the process for issuing licenses to companies seeking to recover minerals “in areas beyond national jurisdiction” in accordance with the 1980 US Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act. A country’s territorial jurisdiction only extends roughly 200 nautical miles from shore.
The Trump administration wants to work with industry “to counter China’s growing influence over seabed mineral resources,” the executive order says. However, no country has yet to commercially mine the deep ocean where depths reach about 656 feet (200 meters) in international waters. There have already been efforts to explore parts of the ocean floor rich in nickel, copper, cobalt, iron, and manganese sought after for rechargeable batteries, though, and China is a leading refiner of many critical minerals.
China responded on Friday: the BBC reported Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun as saying that Trump’s move “violates international law and harms the overall interests of the international community.”
The Metals Company announced in March that the Canadian company had already “met with officials in the White House” and planned to apply for permits under existing US mining code to begin extracting minerals from the high seas.
California-based company Impossible Metals asked the Trump administration earlier this month to auction off mining leases for areas off the coast of American Samoa, which would be within US-controlled waters. Trump’s executive order also directs the Secretary of the Interior to expedite the process for leasing areas for mining within US waters.
Companies seeking to exploit offshore mineral resources argue that it would cause less harm than mining on land. Their opponents contend that there’s still too little research to even understand how widespread the effects of deep sea mining could be on marine ecosystems and the people who depend on them. Recent studies have warned of “irreversible” damage and loud noise affecting sea life, and one controversial study raises questions of whether the deep sea could be an important source of “dark oxygen” for the world.
More than 30 countries — including Palau, Fiji, Costa Rica, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, New Zealand, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom — have called for a ban or moratorium on deep-sea mining until international rules are in place to minimize the potential damage.
“The harm caused by deep-sea mining isn’t restricted to the ocean floor: it will impact the entire water column, top to bottom, and everyone and everything relying on it,” Jeff Watters, vice president for external affairs at the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy said in a press release.
Trump DOJ goon threatens Wikipedia
Interim DC attorney Ed Martin has written a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation — the organization behind Wikipedia — that calls into question its status as a nonprofit entity. In the letter, which was obtained by The Free Press, Martin claims he found that Wikipedia “is engaging in a series of activities that could violate its obligations” under US law about tax-exempt organizations.
Under the law (Section 501(c)(3) of Title 26), tax-exempt organizations must operate “exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes.” Martin alleges that Wikipedia is “allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda,” including by “rewriting” historical events and through “other matters implicating the national security and the interests of the United States.”
Martin is known for thinly justified legal threats against media organizations. In recent days, Martin has sent letters to the New England Journal of Medicine, the CHEST Journal, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, accusing them of being “partisan in various scientific debates.”
Martin asks the Wikimedia Foundation to respond to several questions, such as what it’s doing to “safeguard” the public from propaganda, as well as efforts to exclude “foreign influence operatives from making targeted edits” on topics that would “reshape or rewrite history.” He’s giving the Foundation until May 15th to respond.
“Wikipedia’s content is governed by three core content policies: neutral point of view, verifiability, and no original research, which exist to ensure information is presented as accurately, fairly, and neutrally as possible,” Jacob Rogers, the Wikimedia Foundation’s associate general counsel, said in an emailed statement to The Verge. “The entire process of content moderation is overseen by nearly 260,000 volunteers and is open and transparent for all to see, which is why we welcome opportunities to explain how Wikipedia works and will do so in the appropriate forum.”
Martin’s letter reflects a broader trend of the right targeting Wikipedia. Last year, Elon Musk told supporters to “stop donating to Wokepedia” before later calling the site “an extension of legacy media propaganda.” In January, a report from Forward.com found that The Heritage Foundation, the right-wing think tank behind Project 2025, created a presentation with a series of slides geared toward “targeting” Wikipedia editors.
The Wikimedia Foundation has since created tools to protect the identities of editors, with CEO Maryana Iskander telling the community that it’s “seeing an increase in threats, both regulation and litigation across the world,” as reported by 404 Media.
Trump offers a private dinner to his biggest memecoin buyers
President Donald Trump recently announced that he would host a private dinner for the top 220 biggest holders of $TRUMP, the meme coin he launched days prior to taking office - and several U.S. Senators would like to know exactly why he's doing this.
The dinner was publicly advertised on the $TRUMP coin homepage this past Wednesday, and included a special VIP package for the top 25 holders: a private reception with Trump, and a VIP tour of the White House the next day. According to the site, the winners will be determined by how much of the coin a contestant owns, as well as how long they hold it between April 23rd and May 12. "The more $TRUMP you hold - and the longer you hold it - the higher Your Ranking will be," it said.
At its peak, a $TRUMP token went for $75.35 on January 19th, the day before his inauguration. It has plummeted ever since, losing 88 percent of its value, and sat at $9.18 before the contest was announced. The promotion caused $TRUMP to jump by more than 50 percent, according to CBS, hitting a peak of $14.32 that afternoon and bringing in an extra $100 million in value.
Democrat Senators were outraged, with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) posting on X that thi …
Gmail gets a slider on Android tablets, AI on the side
Google is rolling out Gmail updates for mobile users across Android and iOS, with some design updates and new access to AI features.
Android tablet and foldable owners will have a more flexible Gmail app interface that lets them drag the divider to adjust the list and conversation panes to whatever size they want in landscape view. You can also drag the divider all the way to one side to switch to a single pane view if preferred. The update is rolling out now for Workspace and personal accounts.
Google is also pushing a Material Design 3 update to Gmail on iOS that puts it in parity with the Android and redesigned web versions, including the pill-shaped buttons on the bottom and a rounded search bar on top. The update is rolling out now to both Workspace and personal accounts. Additionally, Google Calendar on iOS will now let you create and modify birthday events like you already can on Android.
Finally, Gemini’s image generator is coming to the Gmail app sidebar on both Android and iOS for Workspace users. Like in Google’s Workspace apps on the web, you can generate images within the Gmail app and then save them, copy them, or insert them directly into your email draft.