Virginia governor creates an AI task force and moves to restrain data centers
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger ordered the state government to take steps that could empower local communities to have a larger say in data center development and slow down approvals in a state that is already home to the data center capital of the world.
Executive Order 22 bans executive branch officials from signing nondisclosure agreements for data center projects, requires expedited noise regulations, and requires a review of backup-generation operations used by data centers, among other requirements. The order also establishes an AI task force responsible for evaluating how the state government can address risks to Virginians like wo …
Disney’s first CTO is Character.AI’s former CEO
You would think that a multimedia conglomerate as large as Disney would have a few chief technology officers by now, but the company has just appointed someone to the position for the very first time.
Today, Disney announced that Karandeep Anand is joining the company as its new CTO. Anand will report directly to recently appointed CEO Josh D'Amaro, and he will head up the company's infrastructure, product, engineering, and data / AI platforms teams. Anand comes to Disney from chatbot startup Character.AI, where he served as CEO for just over a year and oversaw the company's push into microdramas.
Anand jumping ship to Disney comes as a …
The real story of the iPhone 18 Pro’s camera
It's one of the most fascinating years in a while when it comes to iPhone camera upgrades. The big story of the iPhone 18 Pro is the variable aperture main lens, which lets you open the aperture up wider for better low light shots and make the aperture smaller for better depth of field in group photos. But all I can get anyone to talk about is the software upgrades: it turns out, they're a lot more useful day to day than the aperture on a camera this small.
This week on The Vergecast, David Imel and Allison Johnson are here for a deep dive into the iPhone 18 Pro's camera. There's a lot to explore here, from the aperture, to the camera app's …
Gavin Newsom is pushing for an AI kill switch
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is positioning the state to take the lead on AI oversight, including the potential to mandate a "kill switch" for frontier models, with a new executive order issued Friday.
Newsom's order directs the state to convene a group of experts that will deliver recommendations within two months on how to strengthen AI safety measures in state law. Newsom wants the group to consider how the state could require AI companies to embed independent verification groups onsite for regular audits, make their transparency reports and risk assessments subject to standards of independent auditors, create a "kill switch" that's …
What Hollywood thinks about existential AI warnings
As the tech sector sounds alarms about AI's potential to destroy humanity, entertainment labor groups are urging the public to stay focused on what's already happening. The Verge reached out to Disney, Netflix, Amazon, Lionsgate, and other studios who have started using AI, as well film startups focused on bringing generative AI into the mainstream to ask for their reaction to the recent warnings surrounding the technology. None have responded to our request for comment. The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) did, however.
The AI tools used in entert …
Security researchers used Claude to help them hack into OpenAI
A team of three independent security researchers at Hacktron says it took less than 72 hours for them to hack into OpenAI employee accounts using Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8 and 5, The Wall Street Journal reports. They were able to access OpenAI's GitHub repository, called "Monorepo," which reportedly contains "OpenAI's algorithmic secrets," according to The Wall Street Journal's sources.
They stopped short of accessing internal code in Monorepo themselves, but sent a pull request from an employee's Codex account to prove they gained access. They were able to get in through Discourse, the third-party service that hosts OpenAI's community f …
Brendan Carr’s FCC is more worried about who The View interviews than foreign governments owning Paramount
The FCC has announced it's waiving its rules limiting foreign equity ownership to 25 percent in the Paramount-Warner Bros. case and will allow three sovereign wealth funds run by the governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi to own 49.5 percent of the company.
During Brendan Carr's tenure, the FCC has repeatedly threatened ABC, tried to block stations from airing interviews with Democrats, censored late-night TV hosts, and tried to bully journalists. However, it seems to have no qualms with repressive foreign governments owning a significant stake in a giant American media conglomerate.
In its ruling, the FCC defended the decisio …
Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7X is the most laptop that $1,000 can currently buy
Anyone shopping for a Windows laptop with a $1K budget should head to Best Buy, where for the rest of the day you can get a great deal on a capable Lenovo laptop. The Yoga Slim 7X is a slim 14-inch machine with a 2K 16:10 OLED touchscreen, Snapdragon’s high-end X2 Elite processor with 12 cores, plus 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD. The specs are about the best you can get these days for $1,000, as worthwhile laptop deals are in short supply during RAMageddon.
The Yoga Slim 7X seems like a great alternative to spending more (and getting less) with Microsoft’s latest Surface Laptop. In fact, you’d spend $1,549 on a similar model and still get half the storage that’s in this particular Yoga Slim 7X configuration. Its Arm-based processor can run most Windows apps very well, and yields superior battery life compared to laptops with x86 processors.
The laptop includes three USB-C ports, and a hardware switch for disabling the webcam. It supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3. It seems like a great machine for work, watching movies, or playing some games that aren’t too graphically intensive.
More great Verge-approved deals
- The PlayStation 5 version of Starfield hasn’t been available for as long as the Xbox and PC version, so it’s been a little slower to see major discounts. However, it recently hit $29.99 (originally $49.99) at Amazon and Best Buy, making now a good time to pick up the RPG. While Starfield didn’t have nearly as large of a cultural impact as Bethesda’s other first-person RPGs, it’s still worth playing if you love space, guns, and quests. It’s probably the studio’s most polished game yet. Buyers will be able to download the Free Lanes update that hit alongside its PS5 debut in April, and there are multiple paid expansions available if you want more. Read our review.
- As mentioned in a previous deal roundup, DoorDash is offering DashPass members a $25 DoorDash digital gift card when they spend $50 or more on a game (non DashPass members get $10). Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave just came out, and that’s a great game to use this promotion for if you have a Switch 2 and enjoy turn-based tactics gameplay. The digital title costs $69.99. Those who have had success with this deal note on Slickdeals that the gift card should arrive within a few days of making your purchase. Read our review of the game.
- The Baseus VD1 Pro dash cam recently dropped in price by $20, selling for $99.99 at Amazon. There are so many dash cams out there, but this one’s unique in a few ways. It includes both a 4K front- and 1080p rear-facing camera to record multiple angles, and the front camera includes a battery that can be recharged via its built-in solar panel to keep it going even when your car is off. It captures continuous footage while your car is giving it power, though it can detect incidents for up to 14 days with its built-in battery while your car is parked. A long USB-C cable connects the two cameras, so you’ll need to get clever with how you hide it in your trim. Read more about the camera’s features here.
This cartridge-playing Game Boy clone is smaller and cheaper than Analogue’s Pocket
FunnyPlaying, a Chinese company known for its Game Boy and GBA upgrade kits, has announced a new handheld that plays original Nintendo cartridges and ROMs. The FPGB Mini's cartridge support is limited to the Game Boy and Game Boy Color so it isn't as capable as the Analogue Pocket that's also compatible with the GBA and Sega Game Gear. What still makes the FPGB Mini a tempting alternative is its extremely pocketable design resulting in a handheld only slightly wider than a Game Boy cartridge, and its cheaper price.
Following recent price hikes the Analogue Pocket is now $239.99 while the FPGB Mini is currently discounted from $89.99 to $69. …
Flash floods can strike without warning — this new technology could change that
On the morning of June 9th, Laura Lin was working from her home in Lanesville, a rural southern Indiana town about 15 miles from the Kentucky border. She was on a Zoom call, unaware that the heavy rain outside was beginning to flood her yard.
"I look over to where the barn is over there, and I see pieces of my wood floating, and I was like, 'What?' And I immediately was like, 'I have to go.' Close my laptop, and I get my kids up, and I'm like, 'Something's wrong,'" Lin recalls.
Lin and her family got out safely and sheltered at a neighbor's house, but Lanesville got over 8 inches of rain within just a few hours that day, way over the thre …