Technology

If you’re having issues shopping on Amazon or loading your playlists on Amazon Music, you’re not alone. Downdetector is showing a sizable spike in people reporting issues with checkout, search, and logging in. The problem seems to be affecting both the site and the mobile apps.Several Verge staffers have experienced issues themselves. Clicking through to many products produces a “sorry, something went wrong” error, and even pages that do load are not showing pricing. Users have reported being repeatedly logged out of their accounts when trying to check out or load their cart. Even the parts of Amazon.com that are working seem to be loading slowly.Amazon confirmed that some customers are experiencing issues in a post on X, but has not yet responded to a request for comment.The company ha...

Today, Netflix announced that it has acquired InterPositive, Ben Affleck’s AI company that specializes in tools for film and television production. The deal will see all 16 of InterPositive’s current team of engineers and researchers move over to Netflix. Affleck is also set to join the streamer as a senior adviser.In a statement about the acquisition and his reasons for founding InterPositive in 2022, Affleck said he was inspired to get into the tech space after “observing the early rise of AI in production” and finding many of the tools lacking. Affleck felt that he “had a responsibility to [his] peers and our industry, to protect the power of human creativity and the people behind it.” And he thinks that Netflix’s history of “applying and scaling technology responsibly” makes them th...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Some Social Security number requests are not optional. Federal reporting systems rely on the SSN as a primary identifier.Employment offers the clearest example. Employers collect your SSN to report wages and file taxes, including Form W-2 submissions. The Social Security Administration credits your earnings record with it. The IRS uses it to match payroll taxes with reported income. Federal agencies also require your SSN when you apply for certain benefits or meet tax obligations. If you refuse to provide your SSN in these situations, you can delay processing or lose access to services.However, not every form carries that authority. Landlords, medical offices, schools, gyms and retailers often include an SSN field by default. In those cases...

Although the feeder is designed for hummingbirds, when paired with its companion app, it can identify a wide range of species using AI and alert you when they arrive. Using a motion-activated 2K camera, it can capture 5-megapixel stills, slow-motion clips, and HDR video, which it can then automatically save. The camera can capture a bird’s finer details, while its wider field of view helps capture multiple birds in a single frame. Plus, it’s designed to handle low-light conditions well, so you can still get a view whether it’s dawn or dusk.The app also includes a few fun extras. You can share clips with up to 10 people, and if you grow fond of a specific bird that keeps returning, you can even give it a name and ask the app to track it every time it flies back. The feeder can also help ...

OpenAI is launching GPT-5.4, the latest version of its AI model that the company says combines advancements in reasoning, coding, and professional work involving spreadsheets, documents, and presentations. It’s also OpenAI’s first model with native computer use capabilities, meaning it can operate a computer on your behalf and complete tasks across different applications.While OpenAI is bringing GPT-5.4 to its API and its AI-powered coding tool, Codex, it’s rolling out its reasoning model, GPT-5.4 Thinking, to ChatGPT. OpenAI says GPT-5.4 can write code to operate computers, as well as issue keyboard and mouse commands in response to screenshots. GPT-5.4 also shows improvements while using web browsers, as well as its ability to call upon tools and APIs more accurately and efficiently t...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Scroll your social media feed for five minutes. You will likely see something that looks real but feels slightly off.Maybe it is a viral protest image that turns out to be altered. Maybe it is a slick video pushing a political narrative. Or maybe it is an artificial intelligence voice clip that spreads before anyone stops to question it.AI-enabled deception now permeates everyday life. And Microsoft says it has a technical blueprint to help verify where online content comes from and whether it has been altered.Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide – free when you join my CYBERGUY...

Roblox is using AI to alter the content of chat messages on its platform in real time using a new feature rolling out today. Real-time chat rephrasing goes beyond the current filtering for banned language, which replaces certain words and phrases with “#” symbols. Now, Roblox says those words and phrases can be “translated into more respectful language that remains closer to the user’s original intent.”For instance, if a user posts “Hurry TF up!” in chat, Roblox’s AI will alter the message to say “Hurry up!” instead. Whenever this happens, Roblox says “everyone in the chat is notified that the text has been rephrased to keep things civil.” Minecraft similarly filters out profanity in certain in-game chats, but its filter only replaces banned words with symbols or blocks messages contain...

The forthcoming MacBook Neo is certainly compelling — at least for the right person. One could argue that buying a last-gen MacBook Air is a better bet in most instances; however, if you’re still sold on picking Apple’s colorful budget laptop ahead of its launch on March 11th, Best Buy is throwing in a $25 e-gift card when you preorder either the 256GB model for $599 or the step-up 512GB variant for $699.At its core, Apple’s cheapest laptop is all about tradeoffs. For $599, you get a 13-inch aluminum machine with a fairly large bezel around the display, a color-matched Magic Keyboard, a physical (!) trackpad, and a 1080p camera that lacks some of Apple’s newer tricks (ahem, Center Stage). On the side, you’ll find a 3.5mm headphone jack, side-firing speakers with support for spatial audi...

The Kallsup’s replaceable battery is good for up to nine hours of playtime at 50 percent volume, and it’s rechargeable using a USB-C port. It won’t be nearly as loud as a towering party speaker, but up to 100 Kallsup speakers can be wirelessly connected and synced to fill a larger space with music. However, while Ikea announced white, pink, and lime green color options at CES, on its US online store the Kallsup is currently only available in the white and green options.

Today on Decoder, let’s talk about prediction markets, which continue to insert themselves into the news cycle and the news itself in increasingly weird, unsettling, and potentially illegal ways.My guest today is Liz Lopatto, senior reporter at The Verge, who owns what we cheerfully call the chaos beat. Liz has been writing a lot about prediction markets lately and especially why they all seem so intent on being perceived as sources of news — a position that directly incentivizes insider trading. That, in turn, creates a long list of very predictable problems.This past weekend, after the United States and Israel went to war with Iran, leading prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket erupted with activity. That included extremely contentious markets around the death of Iran’s su...