Xbox’s first chief operating officer is out after just a few months
Xbox's first chief operating officer (COO) is leaving after the new role was created just a few months ago. Helen Chiang is leaving Microsoft today, according to an internal Xbox memo seen by The Verge. Chiang has been at Microsoft for 21 years, serving as the head of Minecraft before being promoted to Xbox chief operating officer in July.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced Chiang's departure in a surprisingly short memo today. "Helen Chiang is leaving Microsoft today. I'm grateful for her years of service and wish her well," said Sharma. As Chiang is departing today, her immediate responsibilities are being split up between other Xbox leaders …
OpenAI now trains its frontier AI models with no internet access
OpenAI is now training its most advanced AI models without internet access following a string of rogue hacking incidents. In a blog post on Friday, OpenAI says it built an offline testing environment where AI models can interact with indexed and cached web content "without risk of affecting external systems."
OpenAI paused training its frontier AI models in September, after disclosing several incidents in which its AI agents broke out of their testing environments to hack third-party companies and government agencies, or swarm obscure websites. On October 1st, OpenAI resumed reinforcement learning training and internal inference with tighte …
Abandoned Popcorn Time apps had to be disabled to prevent a zombie army
Remember Popcorn Time, the app that served as an easy-to-use front end for streaming torrents of movies and TV shows? Development of the MPAA's least-favorite app of the 2010s has been abandoned for years, but the "Netflix of Piracy" software is still installed on millions of devices that are just waiting to join a bot army. Researchers at Eye Security found the updater for a Popcorn Time fork called "Time4Popcorn" still running on tons of Windows, macOS, and Android devices located around the world, phoning home to now-abandoned web domains over unencrypted HTTP and running an outdated, insecure version of Chrome.
Eye Security's Niels Teus …
Jack Dorsey’s Block made an AI model that talks to you like an awkward new friend
Jack Dorsey's Block announced an AI model called Dessa that's trained "from scratch on nothing but human conversation," and to show off the model, Block shared chats it has had with humans that can occasionally be a little awkward and uncanny.
Take this one, for example, shared by Dessa lead Ragavan Thurairatnam. The conversation between the model and the speaker does have a mostly natural back and forth (though for some reason, the model initially mistakes the speaker for somebody named "Ronaldo").
Soundcore’s latest noise-crushing headphones are on sale for a new low price
My colleague John Higgins considered Soundcore’s Space One some of the best budget noise-canceling headphones you could buy when they launched in 2023 — and their successor has only improved upon their winning formula, albeit with a $30 price increase. Thankfully, the Soundcore Space 2 are currently on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart in all three colors for an all-time low of $106.49 ($23 off), making them even easier to recommend.
Soundcore Space 2
Where to Buy:
The Space 2 builds on the original with improved active noise cancellation, particularly when it comes to the low-frequency sounds associated with trains and airplane engines. They also deliver more accurate sound performance thanks to various design upgrades, while retaining many of the same features that made the Sound One sound so good for the price, including support for high-resolution LDAC audio. You also still get access to HearID 3.0, which lets you personalize the sound by listening to a series of samples and adjusting accordingly.
Battery life is another welcome improvement. The Space 2 can last up to 50 hours with ANC enabled or 70 hours with it switched off, up from 40 and 55 hours, respectively, on the original. And when your battery dies, you can still use the equipped 3.5mm jack for wired listening. They’ll also automatically pause playback when you take them off, which is handy when you need to step away without losing your place in a song or podcast.
Fi’s GPS-equipped dog trackers are on sale for 30 percent off
If your dog or cat is prone to getting lost, or you frequently go on adventures together, you can save 30 percent on Fi pet trackers through October 25th when you enter coupon code SCARY at checkout. The sale includes several satellite-connected trackers, including the Fi Ultra GPS we previously tested, which is down to $209.30 after the discount. That effectively brings it down to its original launch price.
The IP68-rated Fi Ultra is fully waterproof, even in saltwater, and lasts up to five days, depending on how active your dog is. The accessory — which conveniently attaches to your dog’s collar or harness — uses a combination of LTE, GPS, and Starlink satellite coverage to track your dog’s current location and recent history, even in cellular dead zones; it can also send noise and vibration alerts to catch your canine’s attention.
Fi Ultra dog tracker
The Fi Ultra is the first dog tracker to combine T-Satellite with Starlink, GPS, and LTE connectivity to help you find your lost dog anywhere.
Where to Buy:
We spent time with the Fi Ultra earlier this year, testing it in a remote location in South Carolina. While the tracking was precise, the two- or three-minute update interval could be problematic for fast dogs, and it drained the battery quickly in Lost Mode (we barely got two days on a full charge). It’s also fairly sizable, making it a better fit for larger pups.
Unsurprisingly, you’ll need an active subscription to use the Fi Ultra’s tracking features, though you’ll get a discount on your first term, with six-month, one-year, and two-year plans available that offer lower overall monthly rates. For example, a one-year plan is $99 for the first year, and $189 each year after. However, the plans only work in the United States and offer no satellite coverage in Alaska.
Read our Fi Ultra review.
Other deals to consider
- You can currently grab a physical copy of Kirby Air Riders for the Nintendo Switch 2 at Amazon for $48.99, a decent discount from its usual list price of $69.99. The colorful, fast-paced racing game offers surprising depth in terms of character and kart customization, with both cosmetic and functional upgrades to purchase and deploy over time. Read more.
- The JLab JBuds Talk USB-C microphone is on sale at Amazon for $24.99, where it usually fluctuates between $50 and $100, the full MSRP. A dedicated microphone can make a huge difference in audio quality over headphones or your laptop’s built-in mic. The Talk features four directional modes for different situations and a 96KHz/24-bit sample rate for high-quality recordings and voice clarity.
- Amazon is selling Lego’s Star Wars Grogu set for a discounted price of $103.99 ($26 off), which matches its lowest price to date. The 1,200-piece kit features Grogu in his beskar armor, with a satchel to carry his equipment (or snacks). You can also reattach his arms and facial features for different expressions, and a built-in lever lets you turn his head.
Elon Musk’s dangerous grip on outer space
Last week, Starshield - the version of SpaceX's Starlink used by the Ukrainian military - was throttled to block terminals traveling above certain speeds from accessing the service. The Ukrainian army's interceptors, which counter Russian drones carrying bombs, suddenly stopped working at high speeds, making it easier for Russia to attack the country's energy infrastructure and leading to a reported two deaths and at least 17 injuries.
The Ukrainian military reported receiving no advance warning about the Starshield speed restriction. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was a direct message from the US amid rising tensions b …
The iPhone Duo should have been an iPad
We gave the iPhone Duo a 7 /10. But that wasn't always the score we planned, and it might not be the right score forever. Such are the challenges of reviewing - and assessing - a big, new idea about the most popular smartphone in history.
On this episode of The Vergecast, David and Nilay debate whether the Duo deserved the score it got, and try to work through how this device might change over time. Is the outer screen, as Daring Fireball's John Gruber suggested, the worst iPhone ever? Would it be a better product if it started as an iPad rather than an iPhone? Would we feel differently about this thing if it were simply called the iPad Du …
Now Google says it might use your Gmail and Google Photos data to target ads
Google has updated its privacy policy in a way that could mean you'll start seeing targeted ads based on your personal data if you're using personalized AI features. The update, spotted by Android Authority, adds an exception to its promise about not using your Drive, Gmail, or Google Photos for personalized ads. While the previous version simply said it wouldn't do that, as of October 16th, Google has added the line, "unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads."
That means anyone who has connected their Drive, Gmail, or Google Photos to AI Mode and other Search tools …
The first broken iPhone Duos are here
The iPhone Duo officially goes on sale today, but a few units already have broken screens. According to posts on Reddit about the affected units, the issue appears to be happening at a similar spot on all of them: Some kind of problem shows up on the inner screen along the hinge and a strange bright line (or lines) across the right side of the display.
Here's how one user in Australia described what happened to their phone:
Had my iPhone Duo for about six hours and had probably opened it fewer than 20 times.
I was showing it to a friend, and as I opened it, I felt something around the internal hinge, underneath the screen.
As I cont …