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Maybe those little AI sparkles are bursting out of a trifold phone? Maybe? Apple isn’t the only tech company to send out launch event invitations this week. If you’re keeping score at home, September is actually next week somehow, and Samsung is sneaking a virtual Unpacked in on September 4th before Apple hosts its annual iPhone event the following week. But it’s not just a convenient date to try and steal a little bit of Apple’s thunder — it’s the day before IFA kicks off in Berlin. Related: the event starts at 5:30AM ET / 11:30AM CET. The event invite…

On Wednesday, 4Chan and Kiwi Farms, two of the most controversial social media sites on the internet, filed a federal lawsuit against the British government, arguing that the requirements of the UK's Online Safety Act infringe on their Constitutional rights as American corporations. In a filing submitted to the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, Preston Byrne and Ron Coleman, the team representing the two sites, said that their clients are being penalized by Ofcom, the agency that regulates online content in the United Kingdom, for "engaging in conduct which is perfectly lawful in the territories where their…

Microsoft president Brad Smith hosted an impromptu press conference on Tuesday afternoon, just hours after protesters gained access to a building at the company’s headquarters and held a sit-in demonstration inside his office. Seated on the edge of his desk, in the office that had been occupied by protesters earlier that day, Smith addressed a group of reporters and viewers on a live stream. “Obviously, this was an unusual day,” he said, the camera shaking as he spoke. The protesters were part of the No Azure for Apartheid group, which on several occasions this year interrupted Microsoft’s public presentations to…

Redmond police outside Microsoft’s building 34 | Image: No Azure for Apartheid Microsoft has temporarily locked down a building at its headquarters after protesters managed to get inside the office of the company's president. Current and former Microsoft workers held a sit-in protest inside Brad Smith's office in Building 34, demanding that the company cut ties with the Israeli government. The protesters live streamed themselves on Twitch entering Building 34, a building that houses Microsoft executives, and heading to Smith's office, before unfurling banners during the sit-in protest. "Brad Smith you can't hide, you're supporting genocide!" shouted some of the…

The Venu 3, our favorite Garmin smartwatch, is on sale for $50 off through September 1st. Just because temperatures are dropping and the days are getting shorter doesn’t mean it’s time to hibernate. Fall is a perfect time to get outside, and it’s also a great opportunity to save on gadgets and gear designed for the outdoors. To celebrate the unofficial end of summer, REI is offering up to 30 percent off during its Labor Day sale, with many of these deals set to expire on September 1st. Right now, you can save on our favorite Garmin smartwatch, emergency backup…

Anthropic has settled a class action lawsuit with a group of US authors who accused the AI startup of copyright infringement. In a legal filing on Tuesday, Anthropic says it has negotiated a “proposed class settlement,” allowing it to skip a trial that would have determined how much the company owes for allegedly training its AI models on pirated work. The terms of the settlement still aren’t clear, but it stems from a copyright lawsuit filed by writers Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson last year, which claimed Anthropic trained its Claude AI models on an open-source dataset…

Nuclear fusion is on the upswing, as more companies pile into the space to achieve what’s often described as the Holy Grail of clean energy, according to an updated map from the Clean Air Task Force (CATF).  Nuclear fusion aims to replicate the way the Sun produces light and heat, generating a tremendous amount of energy when atomic nuclei fuse together. Figuring out how to do that in a controlled way on Earth would unlock an energy source that avoids the greenhouse gas pollution from fossil fuels and radioactive waste from existing nuclear fission reactors that split atoms apart.  That’s…

With the start of the NFL season looming, it’s also a window where many TV contracts are up for renewal, and on Monday evening, YouTube TV and Fox sent out alerts indicating that their contract could come to an end as soon as August 27th, at 5PM ET. Google-owned YouTube TV says that “Fox is asking for payments that are far higher than what partners with comparable content offerings receive,” while Fox claims that “Google is attempting to use its market power to pressure FOX to agree to unfavorable and one-sided terms, prioritizing their own interests over a fair agreement…

Amazon’s 16GB Kindle Colorsoft is less than a month old, but it’s already on sale for $219.99 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. Meanwhile, the new Colorsoft Kids — which includes a 12-month subscription to Amazon Kids Plus, a two-year extended warranty, and a cover-style case — has been discounted to $239.99 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. Both ad-free e-readers feature a seven-inch color E Ink display, IPX8 waterproofing, and a battery that can last up to eight weeks on a single charge.  Kindle Colorsoft (16GB) Where to Buy: $249.99 $219.99 at Amazon $249.99 $219.99…

The AirPods 4 are $30 off ahead of Labor Day. Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer, and while the prospect of cooler weather and shorter days can be a tough adjustment, at least there is always a great selection of deals to combat the post-summer blues. You’ll have to wait until September 1st to celebrate the actual holiday, sure, but in the meantime, we’ve gone ahead and rounded up the best discounts you can get so far on a variety of Verge-approved gadgets and goods, from earbuds to the latest e-readers. Being that it’s nearly the end of…