Less than a month after Mayfield Robotics said it was stopping production on its Kuri home robot, the company announced today on its blog that the company will be shutting down. Mayfield Robotics launched in 2015 as part of Bosch’s Startup Platform, but struggled to integrate with and find a business fit within Bosch. Since the cancellation of its Kuri robot, Mayfield Robotics had been looking for external partners for long-term technology development, but was unable to find investment to support its future. The company will cease all operations by October 31st.

We first met Kuri at CES 2017, and it wasn’t yet able to showcase all the features it was promised to have in the future. The robot was supposed to have smart assistant...

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Less than a month after Mayfield Robotics said it was stopping production on its Kuri home robot, the company announced today on its blog that the company will be shutting down. Mayfield Robotics launched in 2015 as part of Bosch’s Startup Platform, but struggled to integrate with and find a business fit within Bosch. Since the cancellation of its Kuri robot, Mayfield Robotics had been looking for external partners for long-term technology development, but was unable to find investment to support its future. The company will cease all operations by October 31st.

We first met Kuri at CES 2017, and it wasn’t yet able to showcase all the features it was promised to have in the future. The robot was supposed to have smart assistant...

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Facebook may be testing speech recognition again with a new “Aloha” voice feature, spotted by frequent app investigator Jane Manchun Wong and reported by TechCrunch, in the latest development in the company’s voice interaction ambitions.

The company was originally said to be planning a smart speaker (also codenamed “Aloha,” as well as “Portal”), but plans were apparently put on hold earlier this year ahead of the company’s F8 conference in May following a distinct lack of public confidence in the social media site due to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

But now, it seems that Facebook is back to work, with Wong discovering a new dictation feature buried inside the Android Facebook and Facebook Messenger apps. Right now, all Aloha seems...

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Facebook may be testing speech recognition again with a new “Aloha” voice feature, spotted by frequent app investigator Jane Manchun Wong and reported by TechCrunch, in the latest development in the company’s voice interaction ambitions.

The company was originally said to be planning a smart speaker (also codenamed “Aloha,” as well as “Portal”), but plans were apparently put on hold earlier this year ahead of the company’s F8 conference in May following a distinct lack of public confidence in the social media site due to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

But now, it seems that Facebook is back to work, with Wong discovering a new dictation feature buried inside the Android Facebook and Facebook Messenger apps. Right now, all Aloha seems...

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Trying to keep up with the news might be aspirational, but these days, it can also be depressing. Between our impending ecological disaster, ever-rising racial and class tensions, sexual harassment accusations, and a government more suited for reality TV, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of terrible stuff out there. Google’s attempting to tackle this fatigue with a new tool for its Assistant that makes meaningful good news easier to find.

Designed to dole out a daily digest of positive stories simply, users can now just ask Google Assistant to “Tell me something good.” In Google’s terms, the company says many of us are wading in a “hope gap” — the idea that the more you focus on problems rather than the solutions, the...

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Trying to keep up with the news might be aspirational, but these days, it can also be depressing. Between our impending ecological disaster, ever-rising racial and class tensions, sexual harassment accusations, and a government more suited for reality TV, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of terrible stuff out there. Google’s attempting to tackle this fatigue with a new tool for its Assistant that makes meaningful good news easier to find.

Designed to dole out a daily digest of positive stories simply, users can now just ask Google Assistant to “Tell me something good.” In Google’s terms, the company says many of us are wading in a “hope gap” — the idea that the more you focus on problems rather than the solutions, the...

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Following the debut of the GeForce RTX 20-series graphics cards, B&H Photo is offering steep discounts on Nvidia’s high-end GeForce GTX 10-series cards exclusively to Verge readers. Limited quantities of EVGA’s GTX 1070 Ti, GTX 1080, and GTX 1080 Ti are available for the lowest prices that you’ll currently find.

For $399, the GTX 1070 Ti can easily power gaming on a 1440p monitor. At $50 more, the GTX 1080 is a more powerful match if you’re interested in 4K gaming, though it’s also more proficient at 1440p gaming with fast frame rates than the GTX 1070. At the top of Nvidia’s 10-series is the GTX 1080 Ti, which you can snag for $599 — an all-time low for a card with a three-year warranty.

As explained in our recent guide on how to pick...

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Following the debut of the GeForce RTX 20-series graphics cards, B&H Photo is offering steep discounts on Nvidia’s high-end GeForce GTX 10-series cards exclusively to Verge readers. Limited quantities of EVGA’s GTX 1070 Ti, GTX 1080, and GTX 1080 Ti are available for the lowest prices that you’ll currently find.

For $399, the GTX 1070 Ti can easily power gaming on a 1440p monitor. At $50 more, the GTX 1080 is a more powerful match if you’re interested in 4K gaming, though it’s also more proficient at 1440p gaming with fast frame rates than the GTX 1070. At the top of Nvidia’s 10-series is the GTX 1080 Ti, which you can snag for $599 — an all-time low for a card with a three-year warranty.

As explained in our recent guide on how to pick...

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HTC has announced that its Vive Wireless Adapter will be available to preorder beginning on September 5th for $300. The Adapter, which HTC announced back in January, allows Vive headsets to operate without having to connect up cables directly to your PC. It uses Intel’s WiGig technology, operating in the 60GHz band to prevent any interference and run at low latency.

The T-shaped Adapter sits on top of the user’s head with a cable that connects to a battery pack. HTC says the Adapter’s battery should last long enough for up to 2.5 hours of continuous use within a 20 foot by 20 foot play area.

At $300, the Vive Wireless Adapter is in the price range of other wireless adapters like the TPCast — though the TPCast has a longer battery life...

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HTC has announced that its Vive Wireless Adapter will be available to preorder beginning on September 5th for $300. The Adapter, which HTC announced back in January, allows Vive headsets to operate without having to connect up cables directly to your PC. It uses Intel’s WiGig technology, operating in the 60GHz band to prevent any interference and run at low latency.

The T-shaped Adapter sits on top of the user’s head with a cable that connects to a battery pack. HTC says the Adapter’s battery should last long enough for up to 2.5 hours of continuous use within a 20 foot by 20 foot play area.

At $300, the Vive Wireless Adapter is in the price range of other wireless adapters like the TPCast — though the TPCast has a longer battery life...

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T-Mobile is asking smaller carriers that run services on its mobile network to publicly come out in favor of the company’s proposed merger with Sprint, according to Reuters. T-Mobile has requested that these mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) take steps that range from filing FCC comments in favor of the deal to publishing editorials in news publications.

The company is also providing MVNOs with a number of talking points that match its own reasoning for why a merger between the third- and fourth-largest US carriers would be positive for consumers and the mobile industry. Accelerating the buildout of 5G is at the top of that list.

MVNOs that operate on T-Mobile’s network include TracFone and subsidiary Straight Talk, Google’s...

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T-Mobile is asking smaller carriers that run services on its mobile network to publicly come out in favor of the company’s proposed merger with Sprint, according to Reuters. T-Mobile has requested that these mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) take steps that range from filing FCC comments in favor of the deal to publishing editorials in news publications.

The company is also providing MVNOs with a number of talking points that match its own reasoning for why a merger between the third- and fourth-largest US carriers would be positive for consumers and the mobile industry. Accelerating the buildout of 5G is at the top of that list.

MVNOs that operate on T-Mobile’s network include TracFone and subsidiary Straight Talk, Google’s...

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Moscow is hunting for a nuclear-powered missile that went missing during a test last year, CNBC reported today.

In March, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia was developing a cruise missile powered by a nuclear reactor. The idea was that it would “be able to fly all around the world and navigate around missile defense systems and make its way to a target — even if it’s on the other side of the planet,” says Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons expert with the Federation of American scientists.

But so far, all four tests of the missile have ended in crashes, according to the anonymous sources who spoke to CNBC. And now, Moscow is reportedly searching for one missile that disappeared into the Barents sea north of Russia in November.

The...

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Moscow is hunting for a nuclear-powered missile that went missing during a test last year, CNBC reported today.

In March, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia was developing a cruise missile powered by a nuclear reactor. The idea was that it would “be able to fly all around the world and navigate around missile defense systems and make its way to a target — even if it’s on the other side of the planet,” says Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons expert with the Federation of American scientists.

But so far, all four tests of the missile have ended in crashes, according to the anonymous sources who spoke to CNBC. And now, Moscow is reportedly searching for one missile that disappeared into the Barents sea north of Russia in November.

The...

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Facebook removed more pages today as a result of four ongoing influence campaigns on the platform, taking down 652 fake accounts and pages that published political content. The campaigns, whose existence was first uncovered by the cybersecurity firm FireEye, have links to Russia and Iran, Facebook said in a blog post. The existence of the fake accounts was first reported by The New York Times.

“These were networks of accounts that were misleading people about who they were and what they were doing,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a call with reporters. “We ban this kind of behavior because authenticity matters. People need to be able to trust the connections they make on Facebook.”

In July, FireEye tipped Facebook off to the existence of a...

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Facebook removed more pages today as a result of four ongoing influence campaigns on the platform, taking down 652 fake accounts and pages that published political content. The campaigns, whose existence was first uncovered by the cybersecurity firm FireEye, have links to Russia and Iran, Facebook said in a blog post. The existence of the fake accounts was first reported by The New York Times.

“These were networks of accounts that were misleading people about who they were and what they were doing,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a call with reporters. “We ban this kind of behavior because authenticity matters. People need to be able to trust the connections they make on Facebook.”

In July, FireEye tipped Facebook off to the existence of a...

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Valve chief Gabe Newell has poked some good-natured fun at the long-running saga surrounding the (non-)release of Half-Life 3, his company’s now mythical next big game, in a skit during the Dota 2 International tournament. In the video, Newell appears in a recording booth and delivers some deadpan lines for a Dota announcer pack – these are akin to custom TomTom voice packs, used to acknowledge in-game achievements like killing multiple enemies in quick succession – but he gets stuck when told to say “triple kill.”

“I don’t understand,” pleads Newell, “what’s my motivation?” His exasperated producers, Kaci Aitchison and Jake Kanner, who usually have the unenviable task of interviewing fans inside the arena, are by this point losing the...

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Valve chief Gabe Newell has poked some good-natured fun at the long-running saga surrounding the (non-)release of Half-Life 3, his company’s now mythical next big game, in a skit during the Dota 2 International tournament. In the video, Newell appears in a recording booth and delivers some deadpan lines for a Dota announcer pack – these are akin to custom TomTom voice packs, used to acknowledge in-game achievements like killing multiple enemies in quick succession – but he gets stuck when told to say “triple kill.”

“I don’t understand,” pleads Newell, “what’s my motivation?” His exasperated producers, Kaci Aitchison and Jake Kanner, who usually have the unenviable task of interviewing fans inside the arena, are by this point losing the...

Continue reading…

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Weather app Dark Sky has been updated for iOS today with the same visual-focused upgrade that came to Android users several months ago. The update brings a few new features, most prominently the merging of forecasts into a single page that you can scroll through, which lists current weather conditions over the next hour, day, and week. There’s also a general interface overhaul that changes the app’s signature black-and-white weather icons into colorful sun and clouds.

The app, which has been on iOS since 2012 and Android since 2016, is known for providing up-to-the-minute and location-specific forecasts with smart design. It costs $3.99 to download. Although Dark Sky says in its blog post that the update is coming to Android today, the...

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Weather app Dark Sky has been updated for iOS today with the same visual-focused upgrade that came to Android users several months ago. The update brings a few new features, most prominently the merging of forecasts into a single page that you can scroll through, which lists current weather conditions over the next hour, day, and week. There’s also a general interface overhaul that changes the app’s signature black-and-white weather icons into colorful sun and clouds.

The app, which has been on iOS since 2012 and Android since 2016, is known for providing up-to-the-minute and location-specific forecasts with smart design. It costs $3.99 to download. Although Dark Sky says in its blog post that the update is coming to Android today, the...

Continue reading…

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Today, aerospace venture Stratolaunch announced plans to develop a whole suite of rockets that will be able to launch from underneath the wings of the company’s massive six-engine plane. Three entirely new rockets are planned, including a reusable spaceplane that would bring cargo — and, eventually, people — to and from orbit. Stratolaunch says the plan is for the first of these new vehicles to launch in 2022.

Stratolaunch, created by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has been developing a giant dual-fuselage plane to launch rockets into orbit. The vehicle is meant to act like a flying launchpad; it’s designed to carry rockets to a high altitude and then release them just before they ignite their engines and travel onward to space. It’s a...

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Today, aerospace venture Stratolaunch announced plans to develop a whole suite of rockets that will be able to launch from underneath the wings of the company’s massive six-engine plane. Three entirely new rockets are planned, including a reusable spaceplane that would bring cargo — and, eventually, people — to and from orbit. Stratolaunch says the plan is for the first of these new vehicles to launch in 2022.

Stratolaunch, created by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has been developing a giant dual-fuselage plane to launch rockets into orbit. The vehicle is meant to act like a flying launchpad; it’s designed to carry rockets to a high altitude and then release them just before they ignite their engines and travel onward to space. It’s a...

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Google’s Undo Send feature has been saving people from embarrassing typos, mistakes, and other email taboos for years on the web version of Gmail. Now, the feature is being carried over to the official mobile version of Google’s email app, starting with a release on the official Android version of Gmail, according to Android Police. The feature should arrive with Gmail version 8.7.

The feature started as a Google Labs experiment you had to toggle on before graduating to the official Gmail feature list in 2015. It works by implementing a time delay on sent emails to let you rescind them within 10 seconds if you happened to impulsively fire it out with an error in plain sight. It exists already on mobile within Google’s Inbox app on both...

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Google’s Undo Send feature has been saving people from embarrassing typos, mistakes, and other email taboos for years on the web version of Gmail. Now, the feature is being carried over to the official mobile version of Google’s email app, starting with a release on the official Android version of Gmail, according to Android Police. The feature should arrive with Gmail version 8.7.

The feature started as a Google Labs experiment you had to toggle on before graduating to the official Gmail feature list in 2015. It works by implementing a time delay on sent emails to let you rescind them within 10 seconds if you happened to impulsively fire it out with an error in plain sight. It exists already on mobile within Google’s Inbox app on both...

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Apple is nearing the release of a long-awaited, completely redesigned successor to its MacBook Air laptop, according to Bloomberg. The new “low-cost” model reportedly features slimmer bezels and a high-resolution Retina display. It will otherwise “look similar to the current MacBook Air,” though port selection is anyone’s guess.

The once-revered MacBook Air has languished in update limbo ever since Apple shifted its focus to the MacBook Pro and 12-inch MacBook. Some viewed the latter’s introduction as Apple moving on from the Air. But its starting price is hundreds of dollars more expensive, which has led the company to keep the $1,000 Air around — with its low-res screen and outdated specs — for customers on a budget and for the...

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Apple is nearing the release of a long-awaited, completely redesigned successor to its MacBook Air laptop, according to Bloomberg. The new “low-cost” model reportedly features slimmer bezels and a high-resolution Retina display. It will otherwise “look similar to the current MacBook Air,” though port selection is anyone’s guess.

The once-revered MacBook Air has languished in update limbo ever since Apple shifted its focus to the MacBook Pro and 12-inch MacBook. Some viewed the latter’s introduction as Apple moving on from the Air. But its starting price is hundreds of dollars more expensive, which has led the company to keep the $1,000 Air around — with its low-res screen and outdated specs — for customers on a budget and for the...

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Amazon is discontinuing its two-year-old video game preorder discount program for Prime members on August 28th, the company announced today. In its place, Amazon will offer members a $10 credit with a preorder, but only for select titles. The credit will take up to 35 days to arrive. Once activated, customers will have 60 days to put the money toward a separate purchase on Amazon.

Back in July, CNET noted a change to the Prime platform’s Terms of Service that suggested Amazon would change its game discount policy to exclude certain titles. Now, it seems like the company is simply replacing it wholesale.

The Prime video game discount program started in January 2016, and it’s been one of the most substantial discount benefits the platform...

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Amazon is discontinuing its two-year-old video game preorder discount program for Prime members on August 28th, the company announced today. In its place, Amazon will offer members a $10 credit with a preorder, but only for select titles. The credit will take up to 35 days to arrive. Once activated, customers will have 60 days to put the money toward a separate purchase on Amazon.

Back in July, CNET noted a change to the Prime platform’s Terms of Service that suggested Amazon would change its game discount policy to exclude certain titles. Now, it seems like the company is simply replacing it wholesale.

The Prime video game discount program started in January 2016, and it’s been one of the most substantial discount benefits the platform...

Continue reading…

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Dontnod has finally revealed the heroes of its upcoming game Life is Strange 2, an indirect sequel to its award-winning episodic series Life is Strange. The game stars two young brothers, Sean and Daniel Diaz (ages 16 and nine, respectively), on the run from authorities following a “tragic event” as they seek refuge in Puerto Lobos, Mexico.

The game will focus heavily on the bonds of brotherhood. According to Dontnod, as Sean, players will “need to make the kind of tough choices you can expect from a Life is Strange game, and you will need to live with the consequences of your actions.” Like its predecessor, Life is Strange 2 will feature a mysterious new power, though it’s yet to be revealed. In the original series, heroine Max had the...

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Dontnod has finally revealed the heroes of its upcoming game Life is Strange 2, an indirect sequel to its award-winning episodic series Life is Strange. The game stars two young brothers, Sean and Daniel Diaz (ages 16 and nine, respectively), on the run from authorities following a “tragic event” as they seek refuge in Puerto Lobos, Mexico.

The game will focus heavily on the bonds of brotherhood. According to Dontnod, as Sean, players will “need to make the kind of tough choices you can expect from a Life is Strange game, and you will need to live with the consequences of your actions.” Like its predecessor, Life is Strange 2 will feature a mysterious new power, though it’s yet to be revealed. In the original series, heroine Max had the...

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Twitch Prime, the streaming video site’s Amazon-style benefits program, will no longer include ad-free viewing as a complimentary perk starting on September 14th, the company announced today. Initially launched two years ago as a suite of benefits for Amazon Prime subscribers, Twitch Prime has grown into a more robust platform that offers free games, in-game loot for select titles, and a monthly channel subscription credit that can be awarded to a streamer of the member’s choice.

All those perks are remaining part of Twitch Prime, and the only aspect of the service that is changing going forward is the ad-free viewing. Twitch describes the decision as a way to help better support streamers. “Advertising is an important source of support...

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Twitch Prime, the streaming video site’s Amazon-style benefits program, will no longer include ad-free viewing as a complimentary perk starting on September 14th, the company announced today. Initially launched two years ago as a suite of benefits for Amazon Prime subscribers, Twitch Prime has grown into a more robust platform that offers free games, in-game loot for select titles, and a monthly channel subscription credit that can be awarded to a streamer of the member’s choice.

All those perks are remaining part of Twitch Prime, and the only aspect of the service that is changing going forward is the ad-free viewing. Twitch describes the decision as a way to help better support streamers. “Advertising is an important source of support...

Continue reading…

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Ahead of this month’s IFA show in Berlin, LG has announced a pair of neckbud products that come with Google Assistant support. Like LG’s G7 phone, the Tone Platinum SE earbuds have a dedicated button that can be used to invoke the Assistant without the “Okay Google” voice command. The Tone Ultra SE is the same thing, but with a mono speaker as well as the earbuds so you can listen to audio without blocking out your surroundings.

LG thinks the Assistant button will be particularly useful when using features such as Google Translate, and it’s true that having to say “Hey Google” all the time would be even weirder in the middle of a conversation in a language that you don’t speak. But this idea wasn’t particularly natural when Google tried...

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Ahead of this month’s IFA show in Berlin, LG has announced a pair of neckbud products that come with Google Assistant support. Like LG’s G7 phone, the Tone Platinum SE earbuds have a dedicated button that can be used to invoke the Assistant without the “Okay Google” voice command. The Tone Ultra SE is the same thing, but with a mono speaker as well as the earbuds so you can listen to audio without blocking out your surroundings.

LG thinks the Assistant button will be particularly useful when using features such as Google Translate, and it’s true that having to say “Hey Google” all the time would be even weirder in the middle of a conversation in a language that you don’t speak. But this idea wasn’t particularly natural when Google tried...

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