The Verge – Tech News

Meet Mico, Microsoft’s AI version of Clippy

It’s been nearly 30 years since Microsoft’s Office assistant, Clippy, first graced our screens as an annoying paperclip. Now Microsoft is ready to try again with Mico, a new character for Copilot’s voice mode. “Clippy walked so that we could run,” jokes Jacob Andreou, corporate VP of product and growth at Microsoft AI, in an interview with The Verge. Microsoft has been testing Mico (rhymes with “pico”) for a few months now, as a virtual character that responds with real-time expressions when you talk to it. Mico is now being turned on by default in Copilot’s voice mode, where you’ll also have the option to turn the bouncing orb off.
https://www.theverge.com/news/804106/microsoft-mico-copilot-ai-assistant-clippy

Pinterest’s ‘tuner’ lets you dial down the amount of AI content — but not entirely

Pinterest is rolling out a tool that allows users to “dial down the AI” in their feed, the company says. Users can select which categories they want populated with more or less AI-generated content. But Pinterest stops short of promising a feed that’s completely free of AI: the tool will work only on “eligible image Pins” in categories prone to AI content, including beauty, art, fashion, and home decor.
https://www.theverge.com/news/801093/pinterest-tuner-tool-ai-content-categories

HMD’s Touch 4G is a dumb-smart-phone

The new HMD Touch 4G — only available in India for now, and unlikely to ever come to the US — splits the difference between smartphones and feature phones, offering a touchscreen and video calling, but with the small size (and price) of feature phones. It looks mostly like a smartphone, but oddly smushed down: its screen is just 3.2 inches, and the whole thing only weighs 100g.
https://www.theverge.com/news/795993/hmds-touch-4g-is-a-dumb-smart-phone

If you can get past the terrible logo, Audacity 4 looks pretty great

Over 25 years Audacity has gone from simple audio editor, to a UX nightmare. If you can get past the terrible logo, version 4 looks like it might fix that. It was no surprise that when Audacity revealed its new logo people on the internet got a little worked up. And look, there’s no two ways about it, the logo is pretty bad. The font it quite nice, but the bewildering take on its traditional headphone icon is rough.
https://www.theverge.com/news/792368/if-you-can-get-past-the-terrible-logo-audacity-4-looks-pretty-great

Google’s Android for PC: ‘I’ve seen it, it is incredible’

Google is continuing to slowly tease its rumored plans to bring Android to PCs, merging it with ChromeOS, and now Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon is getting in on the action. He says he’s seen a version of the software, and that he “can’t wait to have one.”
https://www.theverge.com/news/784381/qualcomm-ceo-seen-googles-android-pc-merger-incredible

You can soon attend Zoom meetings as your AI avatar

image via theverge.com

Zoom’s vision of filling meetings with AI clones has nearly arrived. On Wednesday, the video conferencing app announced that you’ll soon be able to create a “photorealistic” avatar of yourself in case you aren’t “camera-ready.” That means your AI avatar can appear polished if you’ve just crawled out of bed.
https://www.theverge.com/news/779154/zoom-ai-photorealistic-avatars-live-translation

Snap OS 2.0 is a small step towards AR glasses you might actually wear

Last September, Snap revealed its fifth-generation Spectacles, upgraded AR glasses with a twist: they were only ever released to developers. One year later, we still haven’t seen even a glimpse of the consumer-ready version of those glasses, which the company still says is coming in 2026, but Snap is ready to show off Snap OS 2.0, a software update to those developer Spectacles that signals its plans for mainstream AR.
https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/777810/snap-os-2-spectacles-software-browser-spotlight-gallery