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Cats and dogs are missing meals after a popular smart feeder went down

12 August 2026 at 23:07
An image of Petlibro’s Granary 2 feeder
Petlibro’s Granary 2 feeder. | Image: Petlibro

A Petlibro outage is preventing its smart pet feeders and other devices from performing scheduled tasks, like dispensing food. The outage began on Tuesday, with users across Reddit reporting that their smart feeders, litter boxes, and water fountains have gone offline.

Though Petlibro maintains that "existing settings and schedules stored locally on your device will continue to operate as programmed," many users say that's not the case. Instead, some users report that Petlibro's RFID and Granary food dispensers are missing scheduled feedings due to the outage - a major problem for pet owners currently away from home. Some users say they've …

Read the full story at The Verge.

It looks like Apple’s iPhone 18 really will skip the fall launch this year

12 August 2026 at 21:27
A photo of a person holding the iPhone 17.
The iPhone 17’s successor might not arrive until 2027. | Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge

According to an Economic Daily News report spotted by MacRumors, executives for Apple supplier Pegatron confirmed during an earnings call that the iPhone 18 Pro series phones will launch this fall, but the base iPhone 18 won't arrive until the first quarter of next year. The more affordable iPhone 18e and a new iPhone Air are also rumored to launch around the same time, in line with rumors that have been circulating for more than a year.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and The Information both reported last year that Apple was planning to only launch its premium iPhones in fall 2026, and earlier this year another Apple supplier said one of its custom …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Florida police are using Meta's creepy smart glasses

12 August 2026 at 19:14
Florida police Meta smart glasses — Image: JLStock/shutterstock.com

Everyone's been so busy worrying and squawking about Flock that we completely missed the police discovering Meta's shifty-as-hell AI Smart glasses. However, thanks to Florida's Sunshine laws—which demand that everything the cops do on the record down there is available to the public—at least two law enforcement agencies in the state have started issuing the pervy peepers to police. — Read the rest

The post Florida police are using Meta's creepy smart glasses appeared first on Boing Boing.

Google’s Pixel 11 phone preorders come with up to $350 in gift cards

12 August 2026 at 19:47
The Pixel 11 Pro in matte obsidian. | Photo: David Imel / The Verge

Looking to get your hands on the latest Pixel devices? After weeks of leaks and rumors, Google has officially announced its next generation of Pixel phones and watches.

The base Pixel 11 starts at $899, the Pro and Pro XL are $1,099 and $1,299 respectively, and the Pro Fold starts at $1,899. The watch comes in two sizes, with the smaller 41mm model starting at $399, and the larger 45mm model starting at $429. The phones are available for preorder now, and will ship on August 20th, 2026.

If you're looking to preorder an unlocked phone on its own, your main options are Best Buy, Amazon, and directly from the Google Store. All three are runni …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Twitch streamers can now opt out from training Amazon’s AI

12 August 2026 at 19:29
The Twitch logo against a pink and purple background.

Twitch users can now opt out of allowing their content to be used to train Amazon's generative AI models. Opting out means that "your streams, VODs, clips, stream chats, and pictures and text on your channel" won't be used in "future training" of an Amazon AI model "whose purpose is to generate or synthesize text, audio, images, or video," according to a Twitch support page.

Other "AI-supported" features like captions and safety tools will still function if you opt out of generative AI training. However, if you participate in a chat on another person's stream, "their opt-out preferences govern if that chat can be used for training," Twitch …

Read the full story at The Verge.

How Google’s new Pixel 11 phones compare to last year’s models

12 August 2026 at 19:00
The Pixel 11 Pro. | Photo: David Imel / The Verge

Google just added four new phones to the Pixel family: the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and the Pixel 11 Pro Fold. They're slightly more expensive than their predecessors, but they come with some notable upgrades, including improved cameras and a new Tensor G6 chip that should deliver faster performance. The phones also have new photography tools, like Magic Capture, along with improvements to Gemini Intelligence, expanded Live Translate capabilities, and the ability to use Circle to Search directly through the camera.

To make deciding whether you'll upgrade or hold onto your last-gen phone a little simpler, we're focusing on co …

Read the full story at The Verge.

ICE wants to give agents electrified gloves that shock people into compliance

12 August 2026 at 18:58
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is aiming to spend up to $20 million on equipping officers and agents with specialized gloves that deliver painful electric shocks. These plans were outlined in a notice published by the Department of Homeland Security on Monday, with an unspecified quantity of the devices set to be delivered by March 2027.

The electrified handwear outlined in the contract is the CTG 5 GLOVE (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), which manufacturer Compliant Technologies refers to as a CD3 (Conductive Distraction and De-escalation) device. Compliant Technologies describes it as "a great, humane, low-optics, de-esc …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Amazon gets out of the MMO game

12 August 2026 at 18:46

Amazon is fully stepping back from MMOs. After saying last year that it would be halting "a significant amount" of its work on first-party AAA games, "specifically around MMOs," Amazon will be handing over live operations of Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark in the West to other companies, according to announcements on Wednesday. Throne and Liberty will be taken over by FirstSpark Games and NC in Q4 2026. Lost Ark will be run by Smilegate starting in early 2027.

When Amazon announced the broader strategy shift in October, the developers of a third MMO, New World: Aeternum, announced plans to stop offering new content updates. As of January, y …

Read the full story at The Verge.

How the Pixel 11 Pro Fold compares to the Galaxy Z Fold 8

12 August 2026 at 18:00
The Pixel 11 Pro Fold. | Photo: David Imel / The Verge

Google wasn't first to make a foldable Android phone, but the company's Pixel Fold series is now an established player with unique traits compared to its competitors. For one, it popularized the passport-style design years ago, being more wide than tall - something that Samsung tried for the first time this year with its Z Fold 8, and that Apple is rumored to do with its foldable iPhone that may or may not arrive in 2026. It also delivered the first IP68-rated foldable in the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, soothing concerns that all foldables are super fragile.

Now that the new Pixel 11 Pro Fold (along with the rest of the Pixel 11 lineup) has been unv …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google aims for influencers with the Pixel 11 Creator Suite

12 August 2026 at 16:30
The settings page for the Pixel 11 series’ “Creator Suite.”

Google knows creators are a big audience. The occupation is growing fast, and landing some influential names could be a major turning point for the Pixel's market share. This year, Google is building features directly into its new Pixel lineup that it says can help creators record, organize, edit, and publish content faster and more efficiently than they could on other devices.

Creator Suite is a new mode built into the Pixel 11's camera app. The suite comes with features like a teleprompter, vocal enhancer, external microphone levels, and social media frame guides, which Google thinks will entice users who want to start building channels a …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The 7 biggest announcements of Google’s Pixel 11 launch

12 August 2026 at 16:15

Google is hosting a Pixel launch event on Wednesday night where it will show off its latest lineup of devices. But you don't have to wait until then for all the news; we were able to check out the devices ahead of the event and take a look at everything Google's unveiling, including the latest Pixel phones, new health features on the Pixel Watch 5, and more.

Google will be livestreaming the event on Wednesday at 6PM ET / 3PM PT. But if you aren't able to watch along yourself, you can catch up on all of the highlights from Wednesday's Pixel launch below.

Pixel 11 launches with new colors and a price bump

Google refreshed its line of Pixel …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google’s Pixel 11 series pairs a little new hardware with a lot of new software

12 August 2026 at 16:00

When I first picked up the Pixel 11 Pro this week, it was clear to me that this was one of those refinement years - at least when it comes to hardware. Aesthetically, the phones are as beautiful as ever, with Google's signature camera bar and bright, colorful backing glass. There are small updates, like a single piece of glass covering the camera bar and the all-new HiLight ambient LED on the Pros. But this year, the Pixel is all about quality of life and software improvements.

After weeks of teasers, Google has finally formally announced the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold. The phones are all shipping next we …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Poland rekindles Musk feud over Starlink snub

12 August 2026 at 18:02

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski on Wednesday threatened to reconsider Warsaw’s $50 million-a-year spending on Elon Musk’s Starlink network, joining a growing government backlash over new roaming restrictions set to hit Polish customers later this month.

“Hey, @elonmusk, big man, stop discriminating Polish users of Starlink or we might re-think paying you $50 million p.a. for your services,” wrote Sikorski on X.

The foreign minister’s anger follows Starlink’s decision to exclude Poland from a shared European roaming zone that covers more than 30 countries, including Germany, Czechia, Slovakia and Lithuania. Customers within the zone can take their terminals across borders without triggering international-use restrictions. But Polish users will now face extra requirements when traveling.

“Note: Poland is not included in the Europe region above. Accounts registered in Poland are treated as Poland-only for home-country use,” reads Starlink’s current guidance.

Polish Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski also went after Musk, accusing Starlink’s parent company SpaceX of treating Poles as second-class customers and demanding it spell out the regulatory basis for the change.

“Poland is not a second-tier market. Polish customers are not second-tier customers,” Gawkowski wrote on X. If SpaceX blames “local regulatory requirements,” Warsaw expects it to point to the specific rules rather than offer “general explanations,” he added.

The new rules have applied to new customers signing up for Starlink since July 14, 2026 and will extend to existing Polish users on Aug. 17.

This isn’t the first time Sikorski and Musk have fought over Starlink. Last year, Musk told the Polish minister to “be quiet, small man,” after Sikorski warned that Warsaw could seek alternative providers for the satellite service it’s financing for Ukraine.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.

Insta360’s next 360-degree action cam puts bigger sensors in a smaller design

12 August 2026 at 15:00
The Insta360 X6 360-degree action camera pictured from the front and back.

Insta360 announced the next iteration of its popular 360-degree action cameras that have helped the company expand its offerings. The new X6 introduces a design that's smaller than last year's X5 and X4 Air but with improved video capabilities thanks to an even larger pair of custom 1/1.1-inch square sensors from Sony. While last year's models offered 8K recording at up to 30fps, the new X6 can capture 8K at up to 50fps. It also carries forward the X5's replaceable lenses, which are now five times more scratch-resistant and 60 percent cheaper, according to the company.

The Insta360 X6 is available today in black or white through the company …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Honor’s Robot Phone is better than a gimbal in a phone has any right to be

12 August 2026 at 14:30
The Robot Phone takes pop-up cameras to a whole new level.

The Robot Phone, which launches today in China, doesn't sound like a good idea - and not only because it's not actually a robot. Instead it's a regular Android smartphone with its main camera installed on a compact gimbal arm that unfolds from the phone's rear. Cramming the equivalent of a DJI Osmo Pocket inside a smartphone sounds like a great way to get the worst of both worlds, but after an hour of testing, I'm cautiously optimistic that Honor has made this Frankenphone work.

This is a smaller gimbal than you'll find on DJI's compact Osmo Pocket line - Honor claims it's the smallest in the world. It still makes the phone bulkier than no …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Grok is now an AI ‘teammate’ you can assign work

12 August 2026 at 13:58
Screenshots showing Grok Bot running on desktop and iOS.
You’ll have to be fine with letting Grok sign into your online accounts, however. | Image: SpaceXAI

SpaceXAI has introduced Grok Bot, an always-on AI agent service designed to behave like independent "AI teammates" that can do your work for you. The bots share their own cloud-based computer environment, and can sign into apps, tools, and websites you already use to complete multi-step workplace tasks, only coming back when their assigned work is completed or if something requires approval.

Grok Bot (or Bots, as SpaceXAI inconsistently pluralizes it) is the latest push from Elon Musk's AI company to keep up with business services launched by rival AI providers, including OpenAI's ChatGPT Work, Anthropic's Claude Cowork, and Microsoft's Cop …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Microsoft, Google and Amazon now depend on two money-losing AI firms

12 August 2026 at 14:30
AI revenue — Data center server racks, photo by Carl Lender / CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Microsoft, Google, and Amazon's growth depends on two companies that lose tens of billions of dollars a year. In a newsletter post, "Where's Your Ed At" reported on analyst estimates from Wells Fargo, Barclays, UBS, and Deutsche Bank.

Wells Fargo estimates Microsoft's AI revenue at $34.43 billion, with about 70% coming from OpenAI. — Read the rest

The post Microsoft, Google and Amazon now depend on two money-losing AI firms appeared first on Boing Boing.

Xbox Elite 3 prototype pad leaks with tiny built-in screen

12 August 2026 at 00:36

Did a prototype Microsoft gamepad fall off the back of a truck? We can't say, but a Redditor has legit-looking photos of a prototype Xbox controller that's almost certainly the Xbox Elite Series 3. Incredibly, they claim they bought the pad for $200 on OfferUp.

In May, a Brazilian regulator's leaked images revealed that Xbox Elite 3 would have new two new scroll wheels on the bottom edge, a second wireless mode to connect directly to Xbox Cloud Gaming servers, and a new "Pair Button" that can also switch between those servers and your console.

Where might that pair button live? Today, we have a possible answer: it might sit right next to t …

Read the full story at The Verge.

An FCC filing points to new Sonos headphones coming soon

11 August 2026 at 23:23
A photo of the Sonos Ace wireless headphones.

It looks like we'll be getting a successor to the Sonos Ace headphones sometime this fall, which was hinted at by CEO Tom Conrad during a third quarter earnings call. As reported by What Hi-Fi?, an FCC filing by Sonos, Inc reveals details about upcoming wireless headphones with the model number S52A.

In addition to the S52A designation, one of the submitted documents shows an oval diagram - likely the ear cup - marked with the name Sonos Ace Ultra, although that name isn't listed anywhere else. It follows the naming scheme Sonos has used in the past with its Arc and Arc Ultra soundbars. The documents also list color options we'll likely see …

Read the full story at The Verge.

ChatGPT and Gemini both just passed 1 billion users

11 August 2026 at 21:41
A screenshot showing Gemini Live during Google’s Super Bowl ad
That’s a lot of people chatting with their AI friends all day. | Image: Google

For the 14th time, a Google product has hit 1 billion users. Google CEO Sundar Pichai posted on X that a billion people are using Gemini every month, and that Gemini is Google's fastest-growing product ever.

A billion users is a huge milestone, but Google isn't the first AI app to hit it. OpenAI's ChatGPT hit the mark a few weeks ago, though the company buried the announcement that "more than 1 billion people are putting ChatGPT to work" in an otherwise anodyne blog post about how people use AI. External data suggested ChatGPT crossed 1 billion users as early as this June, but OpenAI hadn't announced anything until that post on August 6th. …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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