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GOOGLE’S CHATGPT COMPETITOR BARD IS NEARLY AS GOOD — JUST SLOWER

Bard powered by Gemini Pro is powerful, but does it stack up to ChatGPT with
GPT-4?

Emilia David
Dec 22|Comments38



TOP STORIES

 1. 1
    1
    
    
    
    
    MICROSOFT JUST PAID $76 MILLION FOR A WISCONSIN PUMPKIN FARM
    
    Amrita Khalid
    Dec 22|Comments26
 2. 2
    2
    
    
    
    
    THE FUTURE OF CLEAN HYDROGEN IN THE US COULD HINGE ON A NEW TAX CREDIT
    
    Justine Calma
    Dec 22|Comments1
 3. 3
    3
    
    
    
    
    THE VERGE’S 2023 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
    
    Verge Staff
    1:55 AM GMT+1|Comments5
 4. 4
    4
    
    
    
    
    A MERGING OF WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY AND PARAMOUNT WOULD BE VERY BAD
    
    Alex Cranz
    Dec 22|Comments97
 5. 5
    5
    
    
    
    
    APPLE PULLS ONLINE SALES OF APPLE WATCHES
    
    Jon Porter
    Dec 21|Comments30




TODAY’S STORYSTREAM



Feed refreshed 12:21 AM GMT+1 Be extra careful


Tech
Tech


BLUESKY POSTS ARE FINALLY VISIBLE IF YOU’RE NOT LOGGED IN

Jay Peters
12:21 AM GMT+1|Comments14


Creators
Creators


EVERYONE’S GETTING THEIR PODCAST LAWSUITS IN BEFORE THE YEAR IS OVER

Ariel Shapiro
 and Amrita Khalid
Dec 22|Comments0

Tech
Tech


AI COMPANIES WOULD BE REQUIRED TO DISCLOSE COPYRIGHTED TRAINING DATA UNDER NEW
BILL

Emilia David
Dec 22|Comments0

Microsoft
Microsoft

Filed under:

The Verge’s 2023 in review


2024 IN LAPTOPS: IT’S SHAPING UP TO BE A BIG YEAR FOR WINDOWS

Tom Warren
Dec 22|Comments17

Apple
Apple


APPLE REPORTEDLY WANTS TO USE THE NEWS TO HELP TRAIN ITS AI MODELS

Jay Peters
Dec 22|Comments0

Movie Review
Movie Review


AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM IS THE QUINTESSENTIAL DCEU MOVIE

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Dec 22|Comments5



MOST POPULAR

Most Popular
Most Popular


 1. TEEN GTA VI HACKER SENTENCED TO LIFE IN A SECURE HOSPITAL
    
    Emma RothDec 21|Comments98


 2. THE HYPERLOOP IS DEAD FOR REAL THIS TIME
    
    Andrew J. HawkinsDec 21|Comments157


 3. MICROSOFT JUST PAID $76 MILLION FOR A WISCONSIN PUMPKIN FARM
    
    Amrita KhalidDec 22|Comments26


 4. I UPGRADED MY HUE BRIDGE TO MATTER, SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO
    
    Jennifer Pattison TuohyDec 21|Comments22


 5. APPLE WATCH BAN: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
    
    Emma RothDec 20|Comments0





E

Comments2
Emma RothDec 22
Link
Dark Souls II servers will shut down after 10 years.

FromSoftware has announced that it will shut down the PS3 and Xbox 360 servers
for Dark Souls II on March 31st, 2024 — just weeks after its 10th anniversary.
The developer is also shutting off online services for Armored Core: Verdict Day
on the same day.


Image: FromSoftware
Advertisement
Advertisement


ADVERTISER CONTENT


E
Twitter
Comments7
Emma RothDec 22
Link
Oppenheimer is coming back in IMAX 70mm.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is headed back to IMAX 70mm theaters starting
January 12th. However, the (reportedly 600-pound) film will only be shown at 13
locations in the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK.





THIS UNEXPECTEDLY CHARMING GADGET SAVED MY CHRISTMAS LIGHTS — AND MY SANITY

I brought the LightKeeper Pro into battle with my broken lights and emerged
victorious.

Allison Johnson
Dec 21|Comments16


THE VERGE’S 2023 IN REVIEW

A look back at the big moments — and the best releases.

Andrew Webster
Dec 22|Comments0
A
Twitter
Comments2
Ash ParrishDec 22
Link
A $2 million dollar investment yesterday, layoffs today.

The devastation of 2023’s great video game layoff continues. Today, Versus Evil,
a publisher focusing on indie games including The Banner Saga and Pillars of
Eternity II, announced that it’s closing — days before the Christmas holidays.

Lance James, head of production at Versus Evil, wrote that the closure “wasn’t a
Versus Evil decision or choice” meaning the decision was likely handed down from
parent company and Hello Neighbor publisher tinyBuild. Earlier this month,
tinyBuild reported impending layoffs in the face of what it called an
“incredibly challenging year.” It also received a $2 million dollars investment
from Atari just yesterday.





JUST FOR YOU

Just For You
Just For You


 1. THE FOUR PODCAST STORIES THAT WILL SHAPE 2024
    
    Ariel ShapiroDec 20|Comments4


 2. THE FTC PROPOSES NEW RULES TO CURB THE MONETIZATION OF CHILDREN’S DATA
    
    Wes DavisDec 20|Comments11


 3. STEAM IS GOING TO LET YOU HIDE THE GAMES YOU DON’T WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO SEE
    
    Wes DavisDec 20|Comments6


 4. WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY AND PARAMOUNT IN DISCUSSIONS FOR A MAX MERGER
    
    Emma RothDec 20|Comments103


 5. APPLE LOSES ATTEMPT TO HALT APPLE WATCH SALES BAN
    
    Emma RothDec 20|Comments27





J
External Link
Comments0
Jay PetersDec 22
Link
Hard Drive ranked every track in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

That’s an astounding 96 tracks under the microscope. And the top pick is exactly
right.


Hard Drive's Tier List of All 96 Mario Kart 8 Tracks

[Hard Drive]

Deals
Deals


THE BEST DEALS ON MACBOOKS RIGHT NOW

Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Dec 22|Comments0

Tech
Tech


HUMANE’S AI PIN WILL START SHIPPING IN MARCH

Jay Peters
Dec 22|Comments17


Filed under:

The Verge’s 2023 in review


THE YEAR IN ARTHOUSE MOVIES

2023 was good for big movies, but maybe even better for the small ones

Kevin Nguyen
Dec 21|Comments12
Apple
Apple


APPLE WATCH BAN: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

Emma Roth
Dec 21|Comments0

Deals
Deals


STEAM’S WINTER SALE IS TAKING UP TO 60 PERCENT OFF SOME OF OUR FAVORITE GAMES

Sheena Vasani
Dec 22|Comments0



TECH

TechSee all Tech


TECH


 * 2023 WAS BUSINESS AS USUAL IN THE HEADPHONE WORLD, BUT NEXT YEAR SHOULD BRING
   SOME SHAKE-UPS
   
   Chris WelchDec 21|Comments6
   
   


 * PONDERING THE BIGGEST ORB
   
   David PierceDec 20|Comments28


 * MICROSOFT IS DISCONTINUING WINDOWS MIXED REALITY
   
   Emma RothDec 21|Comments26





A
External Link
Comments0
Ash ParrishDec 22
Link
George, send a telegram to Max and tell them we want season three.

Max has renewed The Gilded Age for a third season. The period drama, originated
by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and focuses on the lives of New York’s
upper crust (and their beautiful gowns) in the 1880s, wrapped its second season
on December 17th.

The show’s actors apparently weren’t expecting a renewal and took to social
media to celebrate the news along with the show’s growing legion of fans. It’s
Mrs. George Russell’s world and we’re all living in it.


‘The Gilded Age’ Renewed for Season 3 at HBO

[Variety]

A
Twitter
Comments3
Ash ParrishDec 22
Link
The Day Before will get no more days after.

A few days after an abysmal launch that saw its development studio shut down,
The Day Before is officially going offline.

“The Day Before will be retired and the servers will be turned off on 22 January
2024,” read a statement on the game’s X account.

Initially, developer Fntastic and publisher Mytona was working with Steam to
refund players who requested one, but now all players who have purchased the
game will proactively get refunded.



E
External Link
Comments4
Emma RothDec 22
Link
China is taking steps to limit spending in video games.

A new set of draft rules published on Friday would require developers to limit
the amount of money players can spend in-game and display pop-ups to alert users
of “irrational spending.”

The rules would also ban incentives such as daily sign-in rewards as well as
large tips to game streamers. News of the proposal sent shares of Chinese tech
giants like Tencent and NetEase tumbling.


$46bn wiped off Tencent's market cap after China proposes new gaming curbs

[Nikkei Asia]

Gaming
Gaming


INSOMNIAC FINALLY RESPONDS TO HACK THAT LEAKED ‘WOLVERINE’ GAME AND MORE

Ash Parrish
Dec 22|Comments12

D

Comments0
David PierceDec 22
Link
Today on The Vergecast: some year-end Apple chaos, and the biggest stories of
2023.

If 2023 could just, like, stop with the news now, that’d be great. But there’s
still lots to discuss! We talked Watch bans and Beeper battles and streaming
mergers and Peloton pivots and a bunch more. Then we looked back at some of The
Verge’s most popular stories from the year that was, and asked ourselves: were
these really the biggest stories of the year? There were some surprises — and
some stinkers.



E

Comments7
Emilia DavidDec 22
Link
ChatGPT actually gives a pretty decent chocolate cake recipe, and I’m mad about
it.

As part of a recent chatbot comparison, I (ambitiously) decided to bake
chocolate cakes based on recipes from ChatGPT, Bard, and a control cake from the
food blog Sally’s Baking Blog. I thought everyone who tasted the cakes would
choose Sally’s, aka the one that hit all my chocolate cake wants, but somehow,
the runaway favorite has been ChatGPT. Yes, it based its recipe on something
else, but it made good enough changes to win over an actual human-written
recipe.
My intrinsic need to believe humans with actual taste buds can do better has
been challenged, and I do not like it.


The cakes in question Emilia David/The Verge


PODCASTS

PodcastsSee more Podcasts
Podcasts


 1. TODAY ON THE VERGECAST: SOME YEAR-END APPLE CHAOS, AND THE BIGGEST STORIES
    OF 2023.
    
    David PierceDec 22|Comments0


 2. HOW DONALD TRUMP AND ELON MUSK KILLED TWITTER, WITH MARTY BARON AND ZOE
    SCHIFFER
    
    Nilay PatelDec 21|Comments3


 3. WHY FLEXPORT CEO RYAN PETERSEN TOOK HIS COMPANY BACK
    
    Nilay PatelDec 19|Comments0


 4. TODAY ON THE VERGECAST: IMESSAGE, FORTNITE, THREADS, AND THE FIGHT FOR THE
    SOUL OF TECHNOLOGY.
    
    David PierceDec 15|Comments2


 5. LISTEN TO MINA HSIANG REVISIT HER TIME ON THE “SURGE” TEAM THAT FIXED
    HEALTHCARE.GOV.
    
    Nick StattDec 15|Comments1




A
External Link
Comments3
Ariel ShapiroDec 22
Link
France is taxing music streaming, and Spotify is pissed.

France has introduced a new law that will tax music streamers 1.2 percent of
their domestic revenue to support local music. Spotify’s music lead in France
and the Benelux region has been railing against the move, and announced on X on
Wednesday that the company will pull its sponsorship from two French music
festivals.


Spotify pulls out of two French festivals over tax row

[NME]

Policy
Policy


PORNHUB PARENT COMPANY FINED $1.8 MILLION OVER SEX TRAFFICKING CHARGE

Emma Roth
Dec 22|Comments1

C
External Link
Comments0
Charles Pulliam-MooreDec 22
Link
Lionsgate’s plan to spin off its entertainment production arm is coming into
focus.

Lionsgate’s desire to separate its film and TV production arms from Starz has
been clear for some time now.

But the entertainment group revealed today that it and Screaming Eagle
Acquisition Corp. want to take the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC)
route in order to form Lionsgate Studios Corp. — “a publicly traded vehicle able
to raise fresh capital and merge with existing businesses.”


Lionsgate to Spin Off Studio and 20,000-Title Library From Starz in $4.6B Deal

[The Hollywood Reporter]

A
External Link
Comments2
Adi RobertsonDec 22
Link
“Agreeing that Substack is an acceptable place to publish or comment does not
require you to accept Substack’s sales puffery about it.”

Legal blogger Ken White (aka Popehat) isn’t outright ditching Substack over its
decision to keep monetizing Nazi content. But he finds its claim of being a
principled upholder of free expression, rather than a company pulling a widely
recognized branding trick, a bit risible:

> The brand is effective and lucrative. The “we’re the noble defenders of
> civilization, upholding free thought from the onslaught of the woke hordes”
> sells these days. It sells even when free thought is actually under more
> profound assault from cynical and powerful and absolutely not woke forces. It
> sells even though — as I will get to in a minute — there’s a difference
> between tolerance and platforming.


Substack Has A Nazi Opportunity

[popehat.substack.com]

J
External Link
Comments36
Jacob KastrenakesDec 22
Link
Beeper’s team met with the Justice Department.

The New York Times reports that there was a meeting “with the department’s
antitrust lawyers” on December 12th — a few days after Apple first blocked the
app’s iMessage for Android solution.

The DOJ has an ongoing antitrust probe into Apple. Meanwhile, a handful of
legislators would like the green bubble drama to stop, too.


Apple’s Newest Headache: An App That Upended Its Control Over Messaging

[The New York Times]

Tech
Tech

Filed under:

The Verge’s 2023 in review


PODCASTS ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A NUMBERS AND PEOPLE CRISIS

Amrita Khalid
Dec 22|Comments11



SCIENCE

ScienceSee all Science


SCIENCE


 * AMERICAN AUTOMAKERS ARE LOSING THE RACE TO MAKE MORE FUEL-EFFICIENT VEHICLES
   
   Justine CalmaDec 21|Comments32
   
   


 * THE REINTRODUCTION OF WOLVES IN COLORADO IS GIVING ME LIFE RIGHT NOW
   
   Justine CalmaDec 19|Comments9


 * THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION HAS A NEW STRATEGY FOR GETTING FEDERAL FUNDS TO
   GRASSROOTS ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS
   
   Justine CalmaDec 20|Comments0






THE VERGE’S 2023 IN REVIEW

It was the blurst of times.

Dan Seifert
Dec 21|Comments0
T
Youtube
Comments2
Thomas RickerDec 22
Link
Putting ChatGPT in an e-bike is so dumb.

Urtopia, an Indiegogo darling that sells “the world’s smartest e-bikes”
direct-to-consumers, spends as much time marketing its bikes as it does saddling
them with superfluous tech. Now it’s pushing an Iron Man “Jarvis” feature ahead
of CES complete with smart ring activation that’s so absurd I just had to share.



J
Twitter
Comments14
Jon PorterDec 22
Link
It seems Android’s “Nearby Share” is out and “Quick Share” is in.

Android’s AirDrop competitor might be getting a rebrand. Kamila Wojciechowska,
an oft-reliable source of Google leaks, reported receiving a notification about
the name change after installing a new Android update. News of the change comes
over three years after the feature’s launch in 2020, and confusingly matches
Samsung’s name for a very similar feature.



J

Comments4
Jon PorterDec 22
Link
These aftermarket Steam Deck D-pads are the stuff of nightmares.

Maybe I’m just feeling a little biased after a wasp fell out of my bath towel
and stung the undersides of both my feet this morning, but these replacement
Steam Deck D-pads with real dead bugs are sending shivers up my spine. As
spotted by Polygon, they’re made by Deckbuttons with an MSRP of $49.99, but
they’re currently out of stock. Good.


PreviousNext
 * 
 * 
 * 

1/3

Oh. Image: Deckbuttons
Chrome
Chrome


CHROME’S PASSWORD SAFETY TOOL WILL NOW AUTOMATICALLY RUN IN THE BACKGROUND

Jay Peters
Dec 22|Comments4

Command Line
Command Line


WHERE META IS GOING NEXT WITH AI AND AR

Alex Heath
Dec 22|Comments0



CREATORS

CreatorsSee all Creators


CREATORS


 * THE FOUR PODCAST STORIES THAT WILL SHAPE 2024
   
   Ariel ShapiroDec 20|Comments4
   
   


 * SUBSTACK SAYS IT WILL NOT REMOVE OR DEMONETIZE NAZI CONTENT
   
   Richard LawlerDec 21|Comments157


 * 2023: A YEAR IN ART ON THE VERGE
   
   Verge StaffDec 20|Comments0




Hot Pod
Hot Pod


BEHOLD! SOMEONE IS INVESTING IN A PODCAST COMPANY

Ariel Shapiro
Dec 21|Comments0



PONDERING THE BIGGEST ORB

It’s a TV. It’s a roller coaster. It’s a 4D Disney World experience. It’s the
Sphere, and it’s a lot more fun than my phone.

David Pierce
Dec 20|Comments28
Apple
Apple


THE APPLE WATCH BAN IS PREVENTING REPAIRS OF MANY MODELS

Chris Welch
Dec 21|Comments8

Gaming
Gaming


DISCOVERY SHOWS YOU’VE BOUGHT ON PLAYSTATION ACTUALLY WON’T BE TAKEN AWAY

Jay Peters
Dec 21|Comments17

J

Comments5
Jay PetersDec 21
Link
Apple is closing its Infinite Loop retail store.

The company confirmed the closure of the store, located at its pre-Apple Park
HQ, to MacRumors. The store will close on January 20th.


Image: Apple


PAGINATION

More Stories


ENTERTAINMENT

EntertainmentSee all Entertainment


ENTERTAINMENT


 * EVERYONE’S GETTING THEIR PODCAST LAWSUITS IN BEFORE THE YEAR IS OVER
   
   Ariel ShapiroDec 22|Comments0
   
   


 * AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM IS THE QUINTESSENTIAL DCEU MOVIE
   
   Charles Pulliam-MooreDec 22|Comments5


 * THE BEST ENTERTAINMENT OF 2023
   
   Andrew WebsterNov 30|Comments0

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