“After a long history of layoffs, crunch, and subpar working conditions in the global video game industry, my coworkers and I are thrilled to be joining the broader union effort to organize our industry for the better, which has been long overdue,” organizing committee member Foster Elmendorf said in the CWA’s statement.
https://www.theverge.com/news/664873/overwatch-union-microsoft-activision-blizzard
Rost didn’t say as much directly, but it’s apparent that Roku was keenly aware of the bubbling up of complaints. “Advertisers want to be part of a good experience. They don’t want to be interruptive,” he told me. “We’re always testing. We listen to consumer feedback, we do all of our own A/B testing on the platform. We’re constantly tweaking and trying to figure out what’s going to be helpful for the user experience.”
https://www.theverge.com/tech/654389/roku-2025-event-ads-interview
Adobe’s leading ecosystem of creative tools including its Firefly and Express apps will provide access to OpenAI’s image generation capabilities, giving creators the choice and flexibility to experiment with different aesthetic styles – something business professionals, consumers and creators all value when generating new creative ideas. Figma is leveraging the latest model to bring advanced image generation and editing capabilities across its platform. Rolling out starting today, users can use ‘gpt-image-1’ in Figma Design to generate and edit images from simple prompt – adjusting styles, adding or removing objects, expanding backgrounds, and more. This new integration lets designers rapidly explore ideas and iterate visually, all in Figma.
https://www.theverge.com/news/654561/openai-chatgpt-image-generation-model-adobe-figma
To rescue species from the brink of extinction, first you have to know what you have, and how many – which is often easier said than done, especially in fields with a lot to count. Scientists estimate less than 20 percent of insect species on Earth have been identified. After AI reviewed just a week’s worth of camera trap footage in Panama, researchers say they found over 300 species previously unknown to science.
https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/653322/ai-wildlife-conservation
Android is launching a new security feature that will force devices to reboot themselves if you haven’t unlocked them for a while, making it harder for other people to access the data inside. The feature included in the latest Google Play services update says that Android phones will automatically restart “if locked for 3 consecutive days,” requiring users to enter their passcode the next time they want to open the device.
https://www.theverge.com/news/648757/google-android-update-automatic-reboot-phone-locked
ChatGPT’s latest image generator had an explosive debut thanks to the viral Studio Ghibli art trend, and LinkedIn users have now jumped on a new gimmick: turning yourself into a toy. There are several flavors of the trend being shared. The “AI Action Figure” variant appears to have gained the most traction, in which a person generates a plastic version of themselves in a blister pack, alongside various accessories — typically a laptop, a book, and a coffee cup, which is fitting given LinkedIn is largely driving this trend. Other versions try to specifically emulate recognizable branding, such as the “Barbie Box Challenge.”
https://www.theverge.com/news/647356/chatgpt-ai-barbie-action-figure-viral-trend
Rose and a group of what he calls “brainstorming partners,” which included Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, design and product exec Justin Mezzell, and even folks like Blogger and Twitter cofounder Ev Williams, started to talk about whether AI might be able to help them build a better social platform. “I would call Alexis up and we would chat,” Rose says, “and we’d be like, ‘hey, what if, what if, what if?’ And a lot of those things started giving us both that butterflies-in-the-stomach situation, where you’re like, ‘oh, this could be cool. This could be really cool.’”
https://www.theverge.com/social/624073/digg-relaunch-2025