The Verge

SanDisk is now SANDISK. It’s also now Sandisk. The company is announcing a fresh rebranding this week with a new logo that drops the inter-capped styling it’s generally maintained since 1995 with one that is inspired by “a single point of data” or a “pixel.”

In a new video, Sandisk says its “slab serif is back and bolder” and it maintains its open “D” letter, but pairs it with a new “pixel-driven S.” The company says the letters symbolize “the collaboration and partnership required to actualize our purpose and tap into new possibilities.”

As noted in a report by Fast Company, the Sandisk rebranding comes ahead of a spinoff from its parent company Western Digital planned for next year (it was originally planned for this year). Western Digital had originally acquired Sandisk back in 2016.

Last year, Western Digital was embroiled in controversy surrounding the popular, pricey portable SanDisk Extreme SSD, in which publications reported that the product would wipe owners’ data erroneously. It happened to our supervising producer Vjeran Pavic, and Western Digital refused to answer our questions at the time to explain what was happening.

Controversy aside, we’re big fans of “unfinished” logo styles here at The Verge, and it looks like Sandisk did alright with its rebrand. It certainly could do worse — just look at PayPal, Kia, Paramount. or JaGUar.

The US Senate has passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual defense spending bill, and it may have major consequences for the world’s largest drone company — though not necessarily the immediate ban that China’s DJI feared.

While it did not contain the full “Countering CCP Drones Act” provisions that would have quickly blocked imports of DJI products into the United States, it instead kicks off a one-year countdown until its products (and those of rival dronemaker Autel Robotics) are automatically banned.

If DJI cannot convince “an appropriate national security agency” to publicly declare that its products do not “pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States,” the act instructs the FCC to add DJI’s gear to its “covered list” under the Secure and Trusted Communication Networks Act. Not only does that list keep that gear from running on US networks, it bars the FCC from authorizing their internal radios for use in the US, effectively blocking all imports.

While none of that would keep US citizens from continuing to use their existing DJI gadgets, it wouldn’t just ban new DJI drones from import into the United States. Every DJI product with a radio or camera, like the Verge favorite DJI Osmo Pocket 3, would technically be banned. (The NDAA doesn’t specify just drones, but rather communications and video surveillance equipment.)

The text of the bill (PDF, see page 1084-1088) should theoretically prevent DJI from exploiting the loophole of whitelabeling its drones under other brand names or licensing its technology, too, as it seemed to be doing with the Anzu Robotics Raptor and Cogito Specta. The bill explicitly tells the FCC to add “any subsidiary, affiliate, or partner” and “any entity to which the named entity has a technology sharing or licensing agreement” to the covered list, too.

The bill had already passed the House of Representatives and is headed to President Biden’s desk, where it’s considered a must-sign: it would trigger a partial government shutdown if not signed, and it already passed both houses of Congress with strong bipartisan support.

So it’ll really be up to the Trump administration as to whether it wants to rescue the Chinese drone company, in the year after he takes office. Trump may not need to lift a finger if he’d prefer to see fewer DJI products in the country, so the ball’s in DJI’s court. It wouldn’t be surprising if DJI tries to get face time with Trump in the near future — like TikTok, which is more imminently facing a ban.

Even without the NDAA, DJI was already facing increased US scrutiny, reporting that its products had begun to see surprise import restrictions (allegedly over the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act), and making a conscious decision to ship fewer of them into the United States as a result. In October, it sued the US Department of Defense for labeling it a “Chinese Military Company”.

In a blog post, DJI calls it “good news” that the NDAA doesn’t explicitly ban DJI products, but says the US government is singling out Chinese drones for scrutiny, and worries about the fact that the law doesn’t specify a government agency to actually carry out the task of determining whether it poses a risk.

“This means that DJI would be prevented from launching new products in the US market through no fault of its own, but simply because no agency chose to take on the work of studying our products,” the company writes. It’s asking Congress to pick a “technically focused agency to assure the assessment is evidence-based,” and to give the company the opportunity to reply.

The creator of the poker roguelike Balatro, who goes by the alias LocalThunk, has been sharing some frustrations over the game’s 18-plus rating in Europe.

“Since PEGI gave us an 18-plus rating for having evil playing cards maybe I should add microtransactions / loot boxes / real gambling to lower that rating to 3-plus like EA Sports FC,” LocalThunk posted on X over the weekend.

Balatro’s 18-plus rating isn’t new. The game was originally rated 3-plus, but shortly after its February launch, PEGI bumped it up to 18-plus, as spelled out at the time by Playstack, Balatro’s publisher. The game was briefly delisted from “a number of digital stores in some countries” as a result.

According to PEGI’s page for Balatro, the rating was given because the game “features prominent gambling imagery.” PEGI also spells out the following “content specific issues”:

This game teaches — by way of images, information and gameplay — skills and knowledge that are used in poker. During gameplay, the player is rewarded with ‘chips’ for playing certain hands. The player is able to access a list of poker hand names. As the player hovers over these poker hands, the game explains what types of cards the player would need in order to play certain hands. As the game goes on, the player becomes increasingly familiar with which hands would earn more points. Because these are hands that exist in the real world, this knowledge and skill could be transferred to a real-life game of poker.

While it’s true that the game does feature poker imagery and poker hands that a player could translate into an actual game of poker, it’s worth noting that Balatro doesn’t actually have any gambling as part of playing the game. (LocalThunk has even stipulated in their will that Balatro can’t be sold or licensed to a gambling company.)

Games like EA Sports FC include in-game purchases with randomized content, which is what LocalThunk takes issue with. “I’m way more irked at the 3-plus for these games with actual gambling mechanics for children than I am about Balatro having an 18-plus rating,” he said on Sunday.

LocalThunk said Wednesday that they attempted to discuss Balatro’s rating with PEGI, but “they do not see anything wrong Balatro being rated 18-plus, nor with EA Sports FC (and similar games) having a 3-plus rating.” PEGI was “blaming EU laws, blaming storefronts, waiting for the future,” LocalThunk said.

PEGI didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Honda teased the reveal of the first two Honda Zero prototypes, which will be making their official debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. The company also said it would have a new proprietary operating system for the global electric vehicle series to show off.

Honda announced Honda Zero at CES 2024, describing it as a new “global EV series” that would be “lighter” and more space-age than the current crop of heavy, boxy electric SUVs and trucks. The three defining principles of Honda Zero were “thin,” “light,” and “wise.” And the company would use its learnings from F1 and its robotics work to introduce a new lineup of vehicles that were distinctly of the future.

At the upcoming CES, Honda says it will expand on its “wise” principle by releasing more details about its new OS, automated driving technologies, and an overview of its system-on-a-chip that will support its Honda Zero vehicles.

The teaser image features rear profiles of the two concept vehicles first revealed earlier this year: the Saloon and the Space-Hub. The Saloon has a sloping fastback shape with unique rectangular lights in the front and rear that resemble a vintage Black & Decker Dustbuster. The Space-Hub resembles a minivan with minimal overhangs and a rear light that has a similar look to Rivian’s electric delivery vans for Amazon.

Earlier this year, Verge contributor Abigail Bassett flew out to Japan to get up close with Honda’s new global EV series. She drove a prototype CR-V equipped with Honda Zero tech and found it to be lighter and more nimble than a Honda Prologue.

The new Honda Zero platform feels similar to other EV platforms on the market in terms of acceleration and handling. Because the weight is low in the floor, the prototype CR-V cornered quickly and flat as you approached the limit. The powertrain is quick and responsive, and on the short, front straight that the engineers set up for our test laps, I hit 110km (just shy of 70mph) in a relatively short distance.

It will be interesting to see more production-ready versions of the Saloon and Space-Hub in the flesh, especially with all the chatter about Honda in the background (working on solid-state batteries, collaborating with Sony on the Afeela EV, potentially merging with Nissan).

Last Friday, we brought you leaked dimensions of the next Nintendo Switch from the most likely source yet: a “3D scan of the actual hardware” obtained by case manufacturer Dbrand. But case manufacturers aren’t the only source of leaks.

A Redditor named “NextHandheld” claims to have seen and touched an actual final retail unit of the Nintendo Switch 2. I spoke with them, and I’ve now heard and seen enough to think they might be legit.

In particular, I’ve seen two photos of a possible Nintendo Switch 2 dock, and one photo of the inside of a possible Switch 2 controller rail, covered in certification logos and with copper contacts exposed, which also shows its metal kickstand hinge open at an angle. Notably, the dock was not included in the 3D scan that’s circulating among case manufacturers.

If NextHandheld is telling the truth, we now know a good bit more about Nintendo’s next console. For example: as much as we’d love it to be called the “Super Nintendo Switch,” it’ll likely be introduced as the Nintendo Switch 2.

Name and date

Officially, Nintendo has only called it “the successor to Nintendo Switch,” promised to formally announce the new console by March 31st, 2025, and revealed that it will be backward compatible with original Switch games.

Unofficially, NextHandheld’s source has heard it might be announced as soon as January — and shared what they claim is first-hand evidence with The Verge that it is the Nintendo Switch 2. I saw a picture of a dock, with the same logo as as the original Nintendo Switch, only with a 2 attached.

It wasn’t far off from this Redditor’s guess:

Image: u/DjuncleMC

And while NextHandheld says they’re “disappointed” that the dock doesn’t seem to have any more ports than the original — two USB-A, one HDMI, one ethernet, and one USB-C likely used for its power brick — it may have a different trick up its sleeve.

Magnetic controllers — finally with drift-resistant joysticks

In April, Spanish pub Vandal (which correctly reported minor details of the Switch OLED before launch) reported that, incredibly, Nintendo might replace the Switch’s controller rails with magnets so your Joy-Cons can magically snap into place.

Today, it no longer seems incredible, because the photo I saw of a joystick rail region contains no rail: it’s just a long, rounded, hollow area, with a 13-pin connector that sticks out so it can slot into the Joy-Con. NextHandheld says there’s a physical magnetic click when you attach them, and that you’ll press a much larger button on the controller, one that’s physically connected to a magnet, to release.

More importantly, the Nintendo Switch 2 might finally get rid of the infamous “Joy-Con Drift” that plagues its controllers to this day. NextHandheld claims the controllers will have magnetic Hall effect joysticks, which don’t contain the same deteriorating sensor material and can be recalibrated easily.

A U-shaped kickstand

The original Nintendo Switch had a tiny, easy-to-topple gumstick of a kickstand, and the Switch OLED had a wide, flat plate. But the Nintendo Switch 2 will feature a U-shaped rail of a kickstand, according to a photo that NextHandheld shared with me.

I understand that the 3D CAD file shows the U-shape, too — and case manufacturers have begun sharing images of similar U-shaped kickstands, too. But it looks like it could be beefier than some of the mockups floating around:

Extra power when docked?

Once upon a time, Nintendo was reportedly planning to release a Nintendo Switch Pro, one that would output 4K graphics when docked to your TV, at least partly thanks to Nvidia’s DLSS AI upscaling. That didn’t happen, but the Nintendo Switch 2’s dock might be designed to let the handheld run a bit faster.

On Reddit, NextHandheld cryptically teased that asking if the dock had a fan was “the right question,” and in a picture shared with The Verge, I can see the alleged dock has big feet around back, ones positioned so it can lie down horizontally without blocking a set of vents.

While I don’t imagine you’d intentionally put it on its back, as the handheld might fall out of the completely open slot up top, I can imagine Nintendo wanting to make sure the console doesn’t overheat if you accidentally knock it over.

Intriguingly, NextHandheld says the dock is rated for 60W, while the Switch 2 is rated for 45W, both of which would be substantially higher than the original if true. The original Switch had an unusual 39W charger for both docked and handheld modes, which only provided up to 18W for the handheld.

The many things we still don’t know

You can dig through NextHandheld’s Reddit comments or read this early summary for a lot more possible details about the new console. But the Redditor is upfront that they never got to turn the handheld on, or play any games. They don’t know whether a Switch 2 can play original Switch cartridges, or only digital Switch 1 games. They don’t know if it has a microphone, or a camera, or how much storage space it has, or its performance, or anything about its reportedly 8-inch screen, or its launch titles.

They do say it will launch in dark grey, however, like the original Nintendo Switch, and that it will be followed by a white model, and one themed with a Nintendo game that hasn’t received a themed Switch yet. And, they’re the latest to possibly corroborate a new second USB-C port on the top, though that was obviously revealed in the 3D scan.

If it’s true that Nintendo will announce the Switch 2 in January, though, you won’t have to wait long for more answers — or to find out if these ones are true.

GM is partnering with ChargePoint to build out a new EV charging network under the GM Energy brand, the companies announced today.

GM plans to install up to 500 DC fast-charging ports at stations deployed in “strategic” places across the US, with some equipped with ChargePoint’s Express Plus platform that supports charge speeds up to 500kW. GM and Chargepoint plan to open the stations “rapidly, with the locations deployed by the end of 2025.”

ChargePoint will bring its Omni Port charging hardware for the project, which can connect with vehicles fitted with either CCS or Tesla’s NACS ports so that owners generally would not need to carry an adapter.

“With ultra-fast charging, Omni Port technology, and excellent customer experiences, this collaboration should be another reason why EV drivers and the EV-curious should be excited,” GM Energy VP Wade Sheffer said in a statement.

This isn’t GM Energy’s only EV charger partnership. The automaker also has an ongoing deal with EVgo that has already installed 2,000 DC fast chargers as of December. GM is also building stations with Flying J and Pilot truck stops, while also taking a role in the EV charging consortium Ionna with major players like Hyundai, Kia, BMW, and Stellantis.

Apple is no longer developing a hardware subscription service for iPhones that would let subscribers get a new iPhone every year, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Gurman initially reported in 2022 that Apple was working on the service, and while it was apparently supposed to launch that year, the project was delayed due because of “software bugs and regulatory concerns,” Gurman says.

The end of the hardware subscription service follows Apple’s shutdown of Apple Pay Later just months after its full launch.

While the hardware subscription service apparently won’t see the light of day, Apple offers installment plans you can use to pay for an iPhone over time. The iPhone Upgrade Program spreads the payments of a loan for a new iPhone (and AppleCare Plus) over 24 months, and you can upgrade to a new phone after you pay the equivalent of 12 months. If you have an Apple Card, you can also pay for a new iPhone (and other Apple products) using Apple Card Monthly Installments.

For the 10th day of “ship-mas,” OpenAI rolled out a way to call ChatGPT for up to 15 minutes for free using 1-800-CHATGPT.

The feature was a project spun up just a few weeks ago, OpenAI’s chief product officer Kevin Weil said on the livestream. Users can now call ChatGPT in the US and message via WhatsApp globally at 1-800-242-8478. The 15-minute limit is per phone number per month, so really, you could spin up a few Google Voice numbers to get as much time with it as you want.

The phone number is built using OpenAI’s Realtime API, and the WhatsApp feature is powered by GPT-4o mini through an integration with the WhatsApp API.

OpenAI

OpenAI sees this feature as an important stepping stone for newcomers to AI, since the service represents a simplified version of ChatGPT compared to its web-based counterpart and offers a “low-cost way to try it out through familiar channels.” The company notes that existing users seeking more comprehensive features, higher usage limits, and personalization options should continue using their regular ChatGPT accounts through traditional channels.

Funnily enough, Google launched a similar tool in 2007 called GOOG-411, which offered free directory assistance by voice. The service was discontinued in 2010 without an official explanation from Google, but some speculate that it was shut down because the company had already achieved its underlying goal: collecting a sufficient database of voice samples to advance its speech recognition technology.

At the time, Google VP Marissa Mayer said it outright: “The speech recognition experts that we have say: If you want us to build a really robust speech model, we need a lot of phonemes, which is a syllable as spoken by a particular voice with a particular intonation. So we need a lot of people talking, saying things so that we can ultimately train off of that. … So 1-800-GOOG-411 is about that: Getting a bunch of different speech samples so that when you call up or we’re trying to get the voice out of video, we can do it with high accuracy.”

OpenAI spokesperson Taya Christianson said the company won’t be using these calls to train large language models.

The Kids Online Safety Act was supposed to fix (or break) the internet. Now, after nearly three years of rewrites, it’s got days left to pass.

Read the full story at The Verge.

While its rivals have been stuck in perpetual testing or forced to shut down completely due to dry coffers, Waymo has quietly amassed a legitimate robotaxi business that continues to grow and evolve. And today, it showed off a few numbers that underscore just how far ahead of the rest of the industry it is.

Chief among those is the number 4 million, which is how many driverless rides the company provided in the three cities in which it operates: Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Waymo says it has provided a total of 5 million driverless rides in its three key markets, which means nearly all of its growth took place this year alone.

Waymo’s service area is small but growing — the company says that it services 500 square miles cumulatively across all three of its main cities, as well as Austin, where it is still operating with a waitlist. The company plans to launch in Atlanta and Miami and recently said it would test its vehicles in Japan.

Waymo riders spent a cumulative 11 million hours in the company’s autonomous vehicles. And since switching over to electric vehicles only, Waymo has helped avoid over 6 million kilograms of CO2 emissions. (Assuming an avoided emissions rate of 237g / passenger mile, vehicle occupancy of 1.5 passengers, and average trip length of 4.1 miles.)

Today, every Waymo customer will receive their own personalized Year in Review through the company’s Waymo One app. Think of it as a Spotify Wrapped for fully driverless vehicles. They’ll see their own stats, including miles traveled, emissions avoided, favorite destinations, and more.

The most popular destinations in each city this year were Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, the Ferry Building in San Francisco, and The Grove shopping center in LA. The company only started providing 24/7 service to Phoenix’s airport in August 2024, so its ranking as the top destination in that city just goes to show how important airport service will be for the company.

The fact that Waymo has facilitated 4 million trips in three cities, while only serving one airport, is pretty amazing and could speak to the company’s future prospects as its technology continues to mature. Airports are a major source of revenue for human-powered ridehail companies like Uber and Lyft.

But Waymo is also facing an uncertain future with mounting regulatory and financial pressures. Tariffs on Chinese vehicles and software could stymie its growth plans. President-elect Donald Trump is said to want a regulatory framework for AVs — whatever that means. But lowering costs is going to be increasingly important for Waymo as it looks to expand to new cities.

Alphabet doesn’t break out Waymo’s costs in its earnings report, but its “Other Bets” unit, which includes the robotaxi company, brought in $388 million in revenue in the third quarter of 2024, up from $297 million a year ago. And the unit’s losses decreased slightly to $1.12 billion from $1.94 billion in the year-earlier period. Alphabet recently led a $5.6 billion funding round for Waymo to help it cover costs as it eyes its next phase of growth.

As it grows, pricing will become a bigger challenge. So far, Waymo has settled into the “premium” tier of ridehail services like Uber Black. Those retrofitted Jaguar I-Pace vehicles cost a lot to equip with all the sensors and hardware that help them navigate the roads autonomously. And the 175,000 trips a week that Waymo is doing aren’t nearly enough to recoup those costs.

Another challenge will be expanding the types of service it provides. Right now, it’s only providing trips to one airport, in Phoenix. It will need to expand in its current and future markets if it wants to remain a viable mobility option. And it will need to get more comfortable riding on the highway, which it only does in limited cases.

Safety is also a big hurdle. While Waymo has published a number of studies that indicate its vehicles are safer than human drivers, there are still a lot of lingering questions around passenger safety. Waymo vehicles have been targeted for harassment and vandalism. And they have occasionally come into conflict with emergency vehicles.

But Waymo has novelty on its side — and its customers often give it high marks for the ability to customize their rides, such as playing their own music and setting the temperature to their liking. It may be enough to propel the company to another huge year in 2025.