Google’s new Guided Vision feature can help you read the fine print
Guided Vision is launching in Gemini Live on compatible Android devices today to use AI to give real-time audio descriptions of anything you point your phone's camera at. By sharing your camera in Gemini Live, you can have Google's AI help with things like reading small text, describing your surroundings, finding or identifying objects around you, and describing details on specific objects.
Like the VoiceOver Live Recognition feature Apple has added to the iPhone and Vision Pro, it's designed for people who are blind, have low vision, or want assistance in specific situations. In addition to the Gemini app, Guided Vision is also available …
Android Central ‘will continue’ despite laying off its staff
Android Central, a blog focused on the Android ecosystem, laid off its staff yesterday, but owner Future confirms to The Verge that the site will continue publishing.
Yesterday, four of the six staffers on Android Central's staff page posted publicly about the layoffs, including Shruti Shekar, Derrek Lee, Harish Jonnalagadda, and Nicholas Sutrich, and former senior editor Namerah Saud Fatmi updated her LinkedIn to indicate that her tenure at Android Central had ended. Both Lee, the site's managing editor, and Sutrich confirmed that all remaining staff were laid off.
The former staffers weren't told whether the site would shut down. Today, …
Steam Deck 2: Is AMD Gainsborough the chip Valve’s been waiting for?
The Steam Deck is four and a half years old, and handheld gamers are eagerly awaiting a Steam Deck 2 - but Valve has consistently said it needs a new chip with a "generational leap" in performance and efficiency before building the sequel.
There's some reason to believe that chip has now broken cover: AMD Gainsborough. But I'm a tad skeptical.
As leaker Moore's Law is Dead and IT Home report, the latest AMD drivers have leaked the codename for a previously unknown chip: an "AMD Gainsborough." The first Steam Deck chip was named "Aerith" after Final Fantasy VII's heartbreaking love interest, and Gainsborough is her last name. Plus, the chip …
Judge dismisses antitrust lawsuits over Google’s AI Overviews
A federal judge has dismissed a pair of antitrust lawsuits filed by Chegg and Rolling Stone parent company Penske Media Corporation, which accused Google of driving away web traffic with its AI-powered search features, as reported earlier by Reuters. US District Judge Amit Mehta takes Google's side in a ruling on Wednesday, writing that PMC and Chegg's claims don't stand up to antitrust law.
In lawsuits filed last year, Chegg and PMC accused Google of abusing its monopoly power by coercing publishers into supplying content for AI Overviews for free, or risk disappearing from search results. The publishers alleged Google's practices diverted …
Sony brings AI graphics upscaling to the regular PS5
Sony is launching a new AI upscaling technology specifically for the regular PS5. The new tech, called Quick Spectral Super Resolution (QSSR), is a "new performance tier of AI upscaling" that's a result of Sony's Project Amethyst work with AMD, according to a blog post.
Sony says that PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), which is available on the PS5 Pro, "remains the gold standard," and in Digital Foundry's early hands-on with the tech, it does seem that QSSR isn't as fast as PSSR because the PS5 doesn't have dedicated machine learning silicon. As a result, you should probably expect closer to an upscaled 1440p resolution on PS5 …
Can VR glasses save VR?
I'm pretty sure I won't be buying the $1,299 Meta VR Glasses. That's too rich for my blood in today's economy, and my feelings about Meta are… conflicted. But I want you to understand that Meta just changed the game. We've had glasses, but we've never had glasses like this.
The Meta VR Glasses are not an opaque VR headset. They are not a pair of transparent AR glasses. They might be the best of both. After playing with the Meta VR Glasses, Valve's Steam Frame, the Apple Vision Pro, and the Google / Xreal Aura back to back, I think they're the first design that could convince regular people to give VR a chance.
It's not because they look l …
Microsoft’s Office and Teams chief is leaving
After nearly 18 years at LinkedIn and Microsoft, Ryan Roslansky is leaving the company. Roslansky, who until recently was the CEO of LinkedIn, was promoted to the head of Office last year and then took control of Microsoft Teams earlier this year. Roslansky's departure has triggered another leadership shuffle inside Microsoft.
"Ryan leaves the organization in a strong position," says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in an internal memo. "Over the past year, Ryan's team has done critical work bringing together the product, engineering, and design foundations that have made this next phase possible."
Roslansky is leaving a week after Microsoft an …
Inside Microsoft’s big Copilot rethink
Last week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella hosted an intimate, invite-only event for leaders from some of its key enterprise customers. Instead of a flashy media event, Nadella outlined the future of Copilot directly to the customers Microsoft really cares about, pitching its latest rethink of the AI assistant as the "OS for work."
Microsoft is adding coding and agent capabilities directly into Copilot, as well as bringing the full power of Office into Copilot for the first time. Nadella is betting that AI will change the way people work in the same way that Microsoft Office did in the '80s and '90s.
"How did a multinational company do a fore …
NYC is now the first city in America that bans sketchy subscriptions
New York City residents struggling to get out of recurring subscription fees can now submit complaints to the city government. As of Thursday, the city's click-to-cancel rule has taken effect, which requires businesses to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up. That means a gym that lets you join online, for example, can't make you call or go in person to end your subscription.
It's the first municipality to see the rule take effect, after an appeals court struck down a federal version for procedural issues. The city expects it to save New Yorkers anywhere from $21.5 million to $162.5 million annually. And to NYC Depar …
OpenAI’s new agent is a shot at Meta — but can it compete with free?
At OpenAI's annual DevDay conference, the company pulled out all the stops to compete with its rivals - primarily Meta, whose Muse AI agent platform has seen early runaway success. CEO Sam Altman walked onstage to cheers and announced Dots, a "real-deal AI" agent powered by GPT-6 Astra, "inspired by the cool agents that we all watched in movies growing up." Similar to Muse, Dots aims for disarming cuteness, taking the form of colorful, personalizable blobs with eyes. OpenAI fired shots at Meta by demonstrating Dots' ability to not just act as helpful assistants but build metaverse-esque virtual worlds. But in one key area, Dots strikingly fa …