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The remedies ruling in the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google finally landed on Tuesday. Last year, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google was a monopolist in the search and advertising markets, but while today’s ruling says that Google will have to share some search data with competitors, Google doesn’t have to spin off Chrome and it can keep paying for deals like the one that lets it be the default search in Safari. Many Google critics aren’t happy with the remedies that have been handed down, saying that they don’t go far enough to slow Google’s dominance and…

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, the Democratic Federal Trade Commissioner fired by President Donald Trump without cause, can at least temporarily return to work while her legal case plays out. This happened once before when Slaughter briefly returned to her office months after Trump claimed to fire her, when US District Court Judge Loren AliKhan found her dismissal unlawful. Trump broke with decades of Supreme Court precedent known as Humphrey’s Executor, preventing presidents from firing independent commissioners without cause. But her return was short-lived — a few days later the appeals court temporarily paused the order reinstating Slaughter. This latest order, approved 2-1…

On August 5th, 2024, Judge Amit Mehta ruled in the case of United States of America v. Google, saying, “…the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.” Nearly a year later, the judge has followed that up with a ruling on remedies for Google’s search monopoly. While lawyers for the Department of Justice had argued that Google should be broken up and forced to split off products like Chrome, Search, and Android, Judge Mehta has ruled against the DOJ’s…

Apple’s latest 13-inch MacBook Air with an M4 chip is on sale starting at $799 ($200 off). Apple currently sells MacBooks equipped with its own M-series chips in a wide range of sizes and price points. It discontinued the M1 MacBook Air to make room for newer models, but some retailers are still selling the 2020 laptop starting at $599 ($50 off) at Walmart — a far cry from the $2,499 starting price of the latest 16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro. Purchasing a new MacBook can be a pricey endeavor, but finding a deal is surprisingly easy. Apple has…

The first time I used ChatGPT to code, back in early 2023, I was reminded of "The Monkey's Paw," a classic horror story about an accursed talisman that grants wishes, but always by the most malevolent path - the desired outcome arrives after exacting a brutal cost elsewhere first. With the same humorless literalness, ChatGPT would implement the change I'd asked for, while also scrambling dozens of unrelated lines. The output was typically over-engineered, often barnacled with irrelevant fragments of code. There were some usable lines in the mix, but untangling the mess felt like a detour. When I started…

Hollow Knight: Silksong, Team Cherry’s sequel to Hollow Knight that has been in development for seven years, is releasing later this week for just $19.99. Silksong’s highly-anticipated launch on September 4th comes with a modest $5 bump over Hollow Knight’s original $14.99 price tag. While Team Cherry could have charged more for Silksong, it’s essentially pricing it the same as the original when you factor in inflation over the past eight years. The team revealed seven years ago that it kept the Hollow Knight pricing low to ensure as many people played it as possible. “$15 US is actually quite…

Generally, AI chatbots are not supposed to do things like call you names or tell you how to make controlled substances. But, just like a person, with the right psychological tactics, it seems like at least some LLMs can be convinced to break their own rules. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania deployed tactics described by psychology professor Robert Cialdini in Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion to convince OpenAI’s GPT-4o Mini to complete requests it would normally refuse. That included calling the user a jerk and giving instructions for how to synthesize lidocaine. The study focused on seven different techniques…

What do you gift somebody who loves books? The obvious answer is "a book," but since true bibliophiles are probably sitting on a stack already, it's worth getting a little more creative. Luckily for you, many of us at The Verge are big bookworms ourselves, which is why we rounded up a bunch of clever, useful gifts our staff can vouch for. Below, you'll find a handful of thoughtful presents fit for any literature-crazed loved one, including personalized book embossers, adjustable bookends, and tote bags. And because we're also gadget nerds, we've sprinkled in plenty of tech, from color ebook…

Verizon has confirmed to customers in stores and online that its network is having an issue on Saturday. Many people have been unable to connect and make or receive calls for hours, while DownDetector’s tracker peaked in the afternoon at around 3:30PM ET with more than 20,000 reports. Some customers report their service has continued to function throughout the day, so it’s unclear what the cause is exactly. Downdetector’s outage map showed hotspots in many cities, and Verizon didn’t specifically list affected areas. On X, the @VerizonSupport account confirmed the issue in response to customers’ questions, but didn’t have additional…