Jess Weatherbed is a news writer, and part of The Verge UK-based team. While passionate about the future of technology, she originally trained as a prosthetics makeup and wig-making technician, fuelled by a love of animatronics and practical movie effects. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews across computing, PC gaming and streaming. Additional bylines can be found at GamesRadar, PCGamer, Creative Bloq and Space.com.
The music streaming platform is reportedly aiming to release the feature, which would allow users to prompt AI-generated remixes and covers of participating songs, in the first quarter of 2027. This is expected to be a paid add-on for Premium subscribers, with Spotify considering charging an additional $4 to $5 a month.
[Financial Times]
The fanworks platform announced yesterday that it could be down for four weeks, and now we know why. Details about the security incident itself haven’t been shared, but no AO3 data has been deleted, and the site runners currently don’t believe that user account information was stolen, but are “unable to rule it out.”
“Earlier today, we detected evidence of a security incident on AO3. We are still in the early stages of response to this security incident and determining its scope. AO3 will remain down while we continue investigating and addressing what has been found so far.”
The KB5127936 update includes a cloud rebuild feature that restores the OS and your device drivers from Windows Update when your PC is unable to boot. It requires an internet connection, but spares you from needing to keep a recovery USB drive handy, and doesn’t relying on the integrity of the current installation.
The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has successfully tested SpaceX’s disc-shaped Starfall reentry capsule in an effort to determine the viability of point-to-point rocket cargo deliveries. Starfall carried AFRL-developed cargo pods that were recovered after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, containing essential survival kits that might be needed on real emergency missions.
Developer Maxon is teasing a new AI tool generating a model based on an uploaded image, alongside options to reference text and sketches. It’s not clear how the image and sketch options will differ, but 3D creatives are reacting in the comments with other questions: Will it let you turn anyone’s art into a model?
The deal was announced in April and is expected to close in 2027. It gives Amazon Globalstar’s constellation of 25 satellites and its spectrum — a welcome boost given its stalled launch timeline — and means Leo will now power the satellite services for Apple’s supported iPhones and Apple Watches.
[The Federal Communications Commission]
