Dave Eggers told OpenAI staff that ChatGPT was ‘silencing an entire generation’
Last year, Sam Altman invited author Dave Eggers to give a talk to around 200 OpenAI staffers. The man has written countless novels, screenplays, pieces of journalism, started McSweeney's, and founded multiple schools and nonprofits that support writers and the arts more broadly. So one might expect he'd roll into the company's offices and offer tips on being relentlessly prolific, or how to excel in multiple fields. Instead, he apparently laced into the company. According to the Financial Times, Eggers told the staff:
"The effect of ChatGPT on educators' lives is catastrophic. Whether you intended to do it or not, you've made every teache …
Google might not kneecap the Pixel 11a with an old processor
Mystic Leaks suggests that the Pixel 11a will return to featuring a flagship-grade processor with the Tensor G6. Rather than the Tensor G5 found in the Pixel 10 and 10 Pro, the Pixel 10a shipped with the previous generation Tensor G4. That was a huge disappointment since, typically, the Pixel a lineup kept the modern processor, but cut corners in other places to keep costs down.
The Tensor G6 is rumored to feature the same PowerVR DXT-48-1536 GPU as the G5, but it should still be an improvement over the Mali-G715 in the Tensor G4. The big upgrade is that the G6 moves on from Samsung's Exynos modems and instead uses a MediaTek M90 modem. Tha …
Google is open-sourcing its 3D emoji
Now, if you want to, you can use Google's 3D emoji in your own creations. The company shared some details about how it went about designing the little pictograms and why, as part of World Emoji Day on Friday. Things you might not necessarily worry about in a 2D illustration suddenly become very important when you're talking about a 3D model. Is a smiley face a sphere? A mask? A flat disc?
In addition to offering a behind-the-scenes look at Google's design process, it also announced that it would be completely open-sourcing the emoji set:
We're handing over raw .OBJ files to the community so they can use them to build immersive VR worlds, …
GoPro’s discounted Max 2 bundle includes $100 worth of accessories
A 360-degree camera is a great way to ensure you capture every bit of the action, but prices tend to be on the high end for models worth your attention. That’s why it’s notable that the GoPro Max 2 accessory bundle is discounted to $369 at Amazon (a dollar more at Best Buy and GoPro). The bundle is stuffed for being just $70 more than the base camera, containing everything you need to shoot the best angles during all-day adventures. The capable camera can shoot 360-degree 8K video at 30 frames per second, or 180-degree 4K video at 60FPS, and it can attach to the wide ecosystem of GoPro-compatible mounts.
GoPro Max 2
Where to Buy:
In addition to the Max 2 camera, the bundle includes a four-foot extension pole, two protective lens caps, two high-capacity batteries, a 64GB microSD card, a curved adhesive mount, a mounting buckle for GoPro mounts, a mounting finger adapter for cameras, two thumb screws, a wrist lanyard, a microfiber cloth, and a USB-C cable. The standalone camera includes most of those accessories, but has fewer mounts, a single battery, no SD card, and no extension pole. The pole and extra battery are $75 on their own, so you’re getting a solid deal before you even take the free microSD card into account.
The Max 2’s six-mic array records in every direction and automatically reduces wind noise. Alternatively, you can connect Bluetooth microphones, too. The 1.82-inch LCD touchscreen lets you quickly check your footage and manage settings, and it’s waterproof up to 16 feet in case you want to take it swimming or surfing. A single battery should last 66 minutes at full 8K, or 90 minutes at 5.6K resolution. The lenses are replaceable, too, in case a bad fall damages them.
The Guardian’s Carter Sherman fondly remembers being terrified by Ocarina of Time
Carter Sherman has been covering sex, gender, and the complex personal and national politics that accompany them for years. She was a senior reporter for Vice and has written for Elle, Ms. magazine, and Los Angeles magazine as well. Along the way, she's garnered a Scripps Howard Award, a National Press Club Journalism Award, and four Emmy nominations.
She's also the author of The Second Coming: Sex and the Next Generation's Fight Over Its Future. That book looks at how the internet and our polarized political landscape have changed sex and relationships, from school board battles over sex ed to abortion access. These days she finds herself …
Surprise! Facial recognition smart locks are actually good
Hands-free unlocking is the future of smart locks. The best smart home tech removes friction, and having your door unlock for you as you walk up is as frictionless as it gets - no passcodes to remember, no need to have a free hand to wave, press, or poke at the lock. One way to achieve this nirvana is through facial recognition. You already unlock your phone with your face; why not your home?
Hands-free unlocking using geofencing has been around for a while, but it can be slow and unreliable, and requires an app running in the background on your phone. Newer innovations - facial recognition and unlocking using an ultrawideband (UWB) radio - …
Sony’s flagship RGB LED TV is incredible
The Sony Bravia 9 II is the most anticipated new TV in years. It's an amazing RGB LED TV. I watched Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on the new Bravia with my son, who has been getting into the roleplaying game but had never seen the movie. The landscapes of Faerûn looked natural and real, while the magic cast by the Red Wizards of Thay was vibrant and colorful. Specular highlights in HDR really pop. I saw it with Xenk's glowing sword as he fought in the Underdark in Honor Among Thieves, but also in the explosions as Furiosa flees across the desert in Mad Max: Fury Road and the sun reflecting off the waves in The Meg.
The Bravia 7 II …
More games should be on rails (literally)
It's been a good few weeks for games on rails. Nintendo's Star Fox remake wisely kept the tightly scripted, action-packed levels from Star Fox 64 largely the same, and they're still fun to fly through nearly 20 years later. Denshattack!, a new game from Undercoders, similarly features levels packed with carefully orchestrated sequences to great effect. Except instead of flying through space as an unnervingly realistic anthropomorphic fox, you're flying - and flipping, and spinning, and grinding - through Japan while driving a blindingly fast train.
Calling Denshattack! a train game radically undersells what you actually do. Across a bright …
The apps, gadgets, and tools every reader needs
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 136, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope your neighborhood isn't as smoky as mine, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I've been recording the next season of Version History (this season's finale is out on Sunday!), reading about data center heists and Backyard Baseball and the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, canceling my October plans to see Digger 30 or 40 times, taking on the new Knockout Tour routes in Mario Kart World, learning more than I ever intended about Staten Island thanks to Revisionist His …
Fine, electric mountain bikes don’t suck
Cheater, I'd grumble between huffs as yet another e-bike rider casually skittered past me on a steep ascent. It's this purist attitude that, for years, has left me blind to one simple fact: electric mountain bikes are fun!
My attitude adjustment came a few weeks ago, the very first time I rode an Amflow PX Carbon Pro fitted with the incredibly compact, lightweight, and powerful M2S motor from Avinox, a new DJI offshoot that has incumbents like Bosch and Specialized on edge. The motor doesn't make me a speed demon, but it does let me suck better by compensating whenever my poor technique kills the momentum.
Mountain biking has a long histor …