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Today’s Storystream

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Two senators have questions about the big AT&T breach.

Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to AT&T CEO John Stankey with several questions about the cybersecurity attack that resulted in customer data being downloaded from the company’s Snowflake workspace, The Record reports. The senators requested answers by July 29th, and AT&T will respond, according to Reuters.

The senators also sent a letter to Snowflake’s CEO.


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Tuesday morning boom over New York may have been a "daylight fireball" meteor

After people in NYC reported a large boom at around 11:17AM that some attributed to military weapons tests, NASA Meteor Watch reports it was actually a meteor. With more reports collected from eyewitnesses, its latest update says the space rock's path took it west over New Jersey at 38,000 miles per hour.


Map of New York City with arrow showing the estimated path of the meteor moving west.
Image: NASA Meteor Watch (Facebook)
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Anthropic launched an Android app for its Claude AI chatbot.

You can grab the app from Google Play right now. It’s free and “accessible with all plans, including Pro and Team,” the company says in a blog post.

Anthropic released an iOS app in May.


The Verge’s guide to Amazon Prime Day 2024

We’re here to bring you the best deals and discounts from Amazon’s exclusive two-day sales event.

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Hot, gay vampires are coming to a Netflix near you.

Netflix announced it’s adding a slew of AMC shows on August 19th. They include Preacher, The Terror, Into The Badlands, and the first season of the extremely good Interview With The Vampire. These shows used to be sequestered on AMC Plus, requiring yet another subscription fee to watch. But their Netflix arrival shows cross-platform cooperation ain’t just for Xbox and PlayStation anymore.


It’s never been easier for the cops to break into your phone

The FBI said it ‘gained access’ to the Trump rally shooter’s phone just two days after the attempted assassination.

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The Netflix-ization of Disney.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Disney is trying to make its streaming platforms work and feel more like Netflix. For example:

New features in the works at Disney include a more-personalized algorithm to power content recommendations, customized promotional art for new shows and movies based on subscriber’s tastes and usage history, and emails sent to viewers who stop watching in the middle of a series reminding them to finish, according to people familiar with the matter.

There’s lots more in the full story.


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The FTC is looking into Amazon’s deal with AI startup Adept.

The agency wants more information about Amazon’s maneuver to hire most of the Adept team and license its technology. Adept said its plans to build “useful general intelligence and an enterprise agent product” would have required “significant attention on fundraising.” The informal inquiry might not lead to an investigation or enforcement, but enforcers are keeping close watch of tech giants and AI.


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Lutron’s latest Diva deals with your more dramatic lighting.

The new $130 Diva smart dimmer for ELV+ lighting brings higher-tech lighting control to the Caseta smart lighting line's new look.

Designed for low-voltage fixtures like under-cabinet, track, accent, and tape lighting, it costs twice as much as the standard dimmer but offers phase-selectable dimming.

Lutron also launched its Caseta Pico paddle remote in five new colors.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission.


The new dimmer controls electronic low-voltage loads and supports LED, MLV, incandescent, and halogen lighting. It can also deal with humming and flickering issues.

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The new dimmer controls electronic low-voltage loads and supports LED, MLV, incandescent, and halogen lighting. It can also deal with humming and flickering issues.
Image: Lutron

The watchOS 11 beta slowed me down, in a good way

Fitness tracking on the Apple Watch is finally moving away from the blanket approach of ‘always do more.’

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Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen.

That’s a new limited series coming to Netflix from Haley Z. Boston and Upside Down Pictures (the production company launched by Stranger Things co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer).

“According to the logline, the series will follow a bride and groom in the week leading up to their ill-fated wedding,” says Netflix. “And obviously, it’s not a spoiler to share that not all goes right with the nuptials.”


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Andrej Karpathy’s next venture: “a new kind of school that is AI native.”

In a long post on X, the former OpenAI and Tesla employee discussed Eureka Labs and his vision of how AI could help with education.

Sounds interesting, but maybe his post shouldn’t have featured art where the people have extra arms and legs?


An illustration of a futuristic school with people walking around it.
Image: Andrej Karpathy
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SpaceX’s and X’s headquarters are moving to Texas, Elon Musk says.

Musk, who has been a resident of Texas since 2019, says he decided to move the companies because Gavin Newsom didn’t do what Musk told him to. Previously, Musk moved Tesla’s headquarters to Austin after local health officials closed the Fremont plant during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic; Musk has a history of political donations in Texas.


Biden’s top tech adviser says AI is a ‘today problem’

Arati Prabhakar, a former DARPA chief and now director of the White House’s OSTP, says the time to regulate AI is now.

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How fast is too fast for a scooter?

The new $3,299 Hyperion Solar scooter reaches speeds of up to 65mph and offers a range of up to 70 miles. I know there are other scooters out there that can go even faster than this, but I’m too scared to go over 15mph on my Segway F-SE.


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Another day, another round of layoffs at Warner Bros. Discovery.

Though it’s smaller than previous waves, Deadline is reporting that Warner Bros. Discovery is laying off another round of employees across its “production, business affairs and finance” arms as it continues to find ways to cut its spending.


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Xbox 360 Blades for your new Xbox.

Microsoft has added a new “Xbox 360 Blades” Dynamic Background for Xbox Series S / X owners. It’s a blast of nostalgia, just as Microsoft prepares to close the Xbox 360 digital store on July 29th. A bunch of games are discounted ahead of the store closure, and there are even Xbox 360 t-shirts, hoodies, and other gear available for a limited time.


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LG’s “calming beige” TV on a stick is $200 off.

In our review of the LG StanbyME TV (the stick one, not the suitcase one) we called it “a so-so TV on a stellar stand.” And you can get a better TV for less, but not with that sleek, wheeled stand. It even has a battery.

It’s on sale at Amazon for $800. The suitcase one is also on sale.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission.


The LG StanbyME display next to a blue couch in a living room setting.
I feel calmer already.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
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Goodreads locks ratings on J.D. Vance’s memoir to prevent hillbullying.

Goodreads has temporarily disabled ratings on Vance’s 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, after detecting “unusual behavior” from reviewers in the wake of Vance’s selection as Trump’s running mate.

The book — a New York Times bestseller that was adapted into a film staring Amy Adams and Glenn Close — turned Vance into a household name. But some critics have called it “offensive and inauthentic.”


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No owls were harmed in the making of this video game.

Kendrick Lamar’s brutal and relentless takedown of fellow rapper Drake has inspired a wealth of content creators. We’ve had gifs, animated shorts, and now a whole-ass video game. Game designer Richie Branson has made a game where you must “wop wop wop wop wop” on owls as fast as possible to rack up points.


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The pizza part sounds pretty cool.

I wasn’t expecting to read a dystopian fic about not-so-distant future office culture in our comments, but what other response could you have to a story about an HR company that wanted to treat AI bots like humans?