Tech

MIDI was introduced in 1983, and hit version 2.0 back in 2020, an update cadence we think more of the industry should aspire to.

The in-development feature reported by @nima_owji shows a toggle that allows users to disclose synthetically made or manipulated content. The move may be in response to India ordering social platforms to embrace provenance systems like C2PA, a standard that X abandoned after Elon Musk stepped in.

The Chinese smartphone company says it will reveal a humanoid robot at MWC this week, which I’m told will focus on domestic tasks. It’s a big change for the company, even with the Robot Phone also on the way, but makes more sense when you know it has an IPO in its future.

Specifically, head gestures like nodding or shaking to accept and decline calls, SammyGuru reports. The upcoming Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro will also reportedly let you operate your phone camera remotely by squeezing the earbud stems, and activate Find My Phone using the earbud charging case.

YouTuber Sahil Karoul claims to have bought a Galaxy S26 Ultra early at a market in Dubai, and is slowly revealing all: camera samples, benchmarks, and confirmation that the S Pen doesn’t include Bluetooth. Most interesting is this look at the new Privacy display in action ahead of the official reveal this Wednesday.

Over the last few years, Microsoft has been bringing its big exclusive franchises to rival platforms like PlayStation and Switch. Satya Nadella even said he wanted to “get rid of” console exclusives — that might not be a great move. But the new Xbox boss seems open to the idea that the console’s identity hinges on exclusives.

Windows MIDI Services is ready for primetime and brings support for MIDI 2.0 and improvements to MIDI 1.0 to Microsoft machines. This includes support for higher resolution expression, loopback, and bidirectional communication with MIDI 2.0 hardware. Now with the major OS providers onboard, maybe adoption of MIDI 2.0 will pick up steam.

Like Phil Spencer, Bond had a note for the employees at Xbox as she announced her departure, which she shared on LinkedIn Friday evening.

“If your best idea for what AI can do in the workspace is ‘replace a hundred human beings with a server rack doing the same thing’, you’ve got no business calling yourself a techno-optimist.” Let’s gooooo!

Anker’s MagGo Wireless Charging Station is currently on sale for a new low of $39.99 ($50 off) at Woot. The foldable, Qi2-certified charger can deliver up to 15W of power to MagSafe-compatible iPhones, fast-charge an Apple Watch Series 11, and top off a pair of earbuds via a third wireless pad. It also doubles as a StandBy-ready dock, so you can use your phone as an ad hoc widget machine.

The big shakeup at Xbox means that Asha Sharma is taking over for Phil Spencer as CEO of Microsoft Gaming. Her previous role at Microsoft was AI-focused, and here’s what she has to say about utilizing AI for games:

The ex-employees, along with one of their husbands, were arrested on Thursday after allegedly stealing trade secrets related to the Tensor chips in Google’s Pixel phones and sending them to Iran.

It’s my turn to graciously host one of our Verge subscriber-exclusive AMAs. Join me in the comments here at 11AM PT / 2PM ET, and feel free to get your question(s) in early.

Sonic The Hedgehog Classic and Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Classic are the latest games from Sega’s Forever program that could soon disappear from the Google Play and Apple app stores. Both games now display a pop-up message warning that “support for this game will be discontinued, but you can continue playing offline!”