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LG will release the first 1000Hz, 1080p gaming monitor this year

LG gaming monitor against a white background

If you just can't choose between refresh rate and resolution, LG's next gaming monitor could solve your problem, as the UltraGear 25G590B monitor is the first one announced that will be capable of a native 1000Hz refresh rate at 1,920 x 1,080 resolution. So far, the 1,000Hz models we've seen have only been capable of 720p at the most, but this 24.5-inch IPS display does not have that limitation, as the company says it's ready for esports competitors (whether they're in an FPS or Excel), who need maximum responsiveness.

We were already asking if anyone could feel the effect of higher refresh rates a few years ago when they hovered around 360 …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Volvo teases a new affordable EV to replace discontinued EX30

Volvo EX30

Volvo's compact, quirky EX30 had a lot of problems when it was first released. Tariffs essentially erased its affordability, making it more expensive to own, and a battery recall made it dangerous to park indoors. But its discontinuation didn't spell the end of Volvo's efforts to sell more affordable electric models. In fact, the Swedish automaker is already at work on a new offering for the US market.

The news of an affordable Volvo EV for the US came during a media roundtable this week related to the US launch of the new EX60. Luis Rezende, president of Volvo Cars America, said that the decision to discontinue the EX30 was not solely abo …

Read the full story at The Verge.

PlayStation exclusives aren’t coming to PC anymore

Sony reportedly won't release its major single-player PlayStation games on PC anymore. According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Hermen Hulst, who heads up PlayStation's studios business, informed employees in a town hall on Monday about the change in strategy. Schreier had previously reported on the shift in March, saying that Sony scrapped plans to launch PC versions of last year's Ghost of Yōtei and "other internally developed games." Online games will still come to multiple platforms following this change in strategy, Schreier reported at the time.

In recent years, Sony has released many of its biggest games on PC, including Spider-Man 2

Read the full story at The Verge.

Musk v. Altman proved that AI is led by the wrong people

Elon Musk and Sam Altman overlayed in a collage.

The tech trial of the year, Musk v. Altman, was ultimately a fight for control. Elon Musk argued that Sam Altman, with whom he helped found the now-massive company OpenAI, shouldn't direct the future of AI. Altman's lawyers, in turn, poked at Musk's own credibility. A jury came to a verdict on Monday after just two hours of deliberation, dismissing Musk's claims due to the statute of limitations.

In a strictly legal sense, three weeks of testimony added up to nothing. But the trial offered a more damning broader takeaway: Almost nobody in this saga seems worth trusting. Some of the most powerful people in tech seem temperamentally incapable …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Walmart launches new budget-friendly Android tablets starting at $97

The Walmart Onn 7 tablet in four colors: silver, brown, pink, and blue

Walmart's Onn brand just launched a whole line of budget-friendly Android tablets that, all together, cost less in total than a single iPad Pro. As spotted by 9to5Google, the six new tablets ship with Android 16 and all but one cost less than $200.

The little Onn Core 7 is the most affordable of the bunch at just $97, which gets you a 7-inch 1040 x 600 IPS LCD display, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage that's expandable with a microSD card, and, according to Walmart, up to 10 hours of battery life.

The Walmart Onn Pro 13 Android tablet with folio case Four Walmart Onn Core 8 Android tablets in pink, brown, silver, and blue

A step above that are two larger Core tablets. The Core 8.1 costs $138 and includes an 8.1-inch 1524 x 1000 IPS LCD display, 6GB of …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Dyson’s super-slim PencilWash just hit its best price to date for Memorial Day

Dyson’s PencilWash

If Dyson’s PencilVac Fluffycones made you wish the company had built something similarly slim for scrubbing the hard floors in your home, enter the recently released Dyson PencilWash. The cordless cleaner is designed to tackle spills and stains on tile and other surfaces, and right now, it’s available for a new low price of $249.99 ($100 off) from Amazon, Target, and Dyson in the run-up to Memorial Day.

With its 1.5-inch-diameter handle and a design that lets it lie nearly flat, the PencilWash can easily slide under furniture and other tricky areas that bigger floor cleaners can’t reach. Built for hard surfaces like tile, laminate, and sealed wood, it uses a pressurized hydration system and a microfiber wet roller to scrub away spills while extracting dirty water with each pass, so you’re always cleaning with fresh water. There’s also a Max mode for addressing dried-on messes that are particularly tough to clean, along with a flexible neck that makes it easier to steer around obstacles.

The PencilWash is designed to be low-maintenance, too. Debris and wastewater are collected directly in the head rather than traveling up through the machine, preventing them from becoming trapped in a filter. It shouldn’t leave your floors soaking wet, either, and it comes with a sleek charging dock that lets it eke out 30 minutes per charge (you can also purchase a backup battery for $99.99). The 300ml clean water tank should be enough to cover over 1,000 square feet on the lowest hydration setting as well, after which it will need a refill.

All of the updates from Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s battle over OpenAI

Graphic photo collage of Sam Altman and Elon Musk.

Sam Altman and Elon Musk are facing off in a high-stakes trial that could alter the future of OpenAI and its most well-known product, ChatGPT. In 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding mission of developing AI to benefit humanity and shifting focus to boosting profits instead.

After nearly a month of the hearing that featured testimony from Musk, Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman, former OpenAI board member and mother of several of Musk’s children Shivon Zilis, and a few others, the jury deliberated for a couple of hours before returning with a verdict, deciding to dismiss all charges due to the statute of limitations.

Musk was a cofounder of OpenAI and claims that Altman and Brockman tricked him into giving the company money, only to turn their backs on their original goal. However, OpenAI claimed that “This lawsuit has always been a baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor” in a bid to boost Musk’s own SpaceX / xAI / X companies that have launched Grok as a competitor to ChatGPT.

In his lawsuit, Musk asked for the removal of Altman and Brockman, and for OpenAI to stop operating as a public benefit corporation.

People to Know

Plaintiff

Elon Musk — plaintiff, OpenAI cofounder and now CEO of rival xAI

Steven Molo — lead counsel for the plaintiff

Jared Birchall — manager of Musk’s family office

Shivon Zilis — former OpenAI board member who shares multiple children with Musk

Defendant

Sam Altman — defendant, CEO of OpenAI 

William Savitt — lead counsel for the defendant

Greg Brockman — president of OpenAI as well as a cofounder 

Ilya Sutskever — former chief scientist at OpenAI and a cofounder

Judge

Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers — aka YGR, trial judge

Here’s all the latest on the trial between Musk and Altman:

Elon Musk loses his case against Sam Altman

Photo collage of Elon Musk and Sam Altman

After around two hours of deliberation, the jury has reached a unanimous verdict in Musk v. Altman, the tech trial of the year. The group found that two claims were barred by the statute of limitations, and a third failed thanks to the dismissal of one of these.

The jury here is an advisory jury, meaning the group is installed solely to offer another opinion to the judge, and its verdict is technically not legally binding. Ultimately, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is the ultimate legal authority - and she accepted the decision.

The jury found that Musk's claim for breach of charitable trust was barred by the statute of limitatio …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google is rolling out its redesigned Workspace app icons

A screenshot of six redesigned Google Workspace app icons

It's not just you - the Google Workspace apps are getting a new look. The redesigned app icons, leaked last month, are now rolling out widely, as we started noticing this morning. Users with the redesigned icons will notice they now have a gradient look that fades from lighter to darker shades, rather than being the same flat tone throughout, similar to the redesigned Google logo that launched a year ago.

Two side-by-side screenshots of the Google Workspace app icons before and after a redesign

Some of the icons switched from a rainbow design to a single color, like Google Chat, Meet, and Calendar, which could help all of the icons stand out a bit more from one another - or make them harder to recognize. Others haven't changed a …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Sony is raising short-subscription prices for PlayStation Plus

Sony is hiking the starting price of one-month and three-month PlayStation Plus subscriptions in "select regions," blaming "ongoing market conditions." Beginning May 20th, 1-month subscriptions will start at $10.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP, while 3-month subscriptions will start at $27.99 USD / €27.99 EUR / £21.99 GBP.

In the US, the changes result in a $1 price increase for a one-month Essential tier subscription and a $3 increase for a three-month Essential tier subscription. It's unclear if other PlayStation Plus tiers will see price hikes as well. PlayStation didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.

If you are a current su …

Read the full story at The Verge.