Yesterday, Reuters ran a story with the headline “Weeks after Amazon’s Alexa+ AI launch, a mystery: where are the users?,” in which it detailed its difficulty locating first-hand accounts of the AI-upgraded assistants’ use online. The Verge asked Amazon about the story, and the company has responded to say that the idea that Alexa Plus isn’t available is “simply wrong.”

Here’s the company’s full — and rather strongly-worded! — statement on the matter, provided by Amazon spokesperson Eric Sveum via email to The Verge:

It’s simply wrong to say that Alexa+ isn’t available to customers—that assertion is false. Hundreds of thousands of customers have access to Alexa+ and we’re constantly inviting more customers that have requested Early Access.

Sveum also shared the below screenshot of what the email invite should look like.

Alexa Plus is Amazon’s generative AI-updated version of Alexa, which it announced in February is free to Amazon Prime subscribers or $19.99 a month otherwise.

While Reuters doesn’t say Alexa Plus isn’t available to customers yet, it does quote an analyst who said, “There seems to be no one who actually has it.”

The outlet also reported that its efforts to find any real-world Alexa Plus users came up empty, writing that it had “searched dozens of news sites, YouTube, TikTok, X, BlueSky and Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, as well as Amazon’s Twitch and reviews of Echo voice-assistant devices on Amazon.com.” It added that it spoke with two people who’d posted on Reddit claiming to have used Alexa Plus, but that they “did not provide Reuters with hard evidence and their identities could not be corroborated.”

Still, Engadget reported today that a wave of emails had gone out on Friday, inviting Amazon Alexa users to try out Alexa Plus. The outlet also reported that an Amazon spokesperson had told it “hundreds of thousands” of customers have tried the assistant.

Amazon started rolling out its early access program to a few customers at the end of March. At the time, it was missing features like the ability to order takeout from Grubhub using conversational context, or identify family members and remind them about chores. A page on Amazon’s website notes that some features are still “coming soon,” like being able to access Alexa Plus in a web browser or on a Fire TV or Amazon tablet. The company has said it’s prioritizing those who own certain Echo Show devices above others.

A former DoorDash delivery driver pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to a wire fraud conspiracy that scammed DoorDash out of over $2.5 million, the US Attorney’s Office in California’s Northern District announced on Tuesday. He and others made it happen over a period of months using fake customer accounts, deliveries that never happened, driver accounts, and access to DoorDash employee credentials.

Here’s how the Attorney’s office describes the scheme. The driver, Sayee Chaitainya Reddy Devagiri, placed expensive orders from a fraudulent customer account in the DoorDash app. Then, using DoorDash employee credentials, he manually assigned the orders to driver accounts he and the others involved had created. Devagiri would then mark the undelivered orders as complete and prompt DoorDash’s system to pay the driver accounts. Then he’d switch those same orders back to “in process” and do it all over again. Doing this “took less than five minutes, and was repeated hundreds of times for many of the orders,” writes the US Attorney’s Office.

Devagiri faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and is scheduled for a status hearing in September. He and four others were charged in August for their roles in the scheme, which prosecutors say was carried out between November 2020 and February 2021. The DoorDash employee whose insider credentials they used, Tyler Thomas Bottenhorn, was charged separately in 2022 and pleaded guilty the following year, the Attorney’s Office wrote in October.

Just in time to make the most of the warmer weather, REI is slashing prices on a bunch of our favorite outdoor gadgets and goods as a part of its annual anniversary sale. Now through May 26th, the outdoor retailer is taking up to 30 percent off a large number of items, from Garmin watches and water filters to stoves, satellite communicators, and one of the best camping / backpacking chairs around.

Below, we've rounded up some of the best deals to help you gear up for your summer adventures. In some instances, other retailers like Amazon are matching REI's pricing, giving you additional ways to save. Also, keep in mind that REI members can save an additional 20 percent on one REI Outlet item or get 20 percent off on one qualifying full-price item when they use coupon code ANNIV2025 at checkout.

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• Many of our favorite Garmin smartwatches are also on sale right now, including the Garmin Forerunner 265, which is our top pick for runners. Normally $450, you can buy the smartwatch in either its 42mm or 46mm sizing at REI and Amazon for $349.99 ($100 off), which matches its best price to date. The 265 features a vibrant OLED display, up to 15 days of battery life, and multi-band GPS f …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Epic is asking District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to order Apple to review — and approve if compliant with Apple’s guidelines — Epic’s submission of Fortnite to the US App Store in a new court filing. The company argues in the document that Apple is once again in contempt of the judge’s April order restricting it from rejecting apps over their use of outside payment links.

In a letter from Apple that Epic shared late Friday, Apple writes that it won’t “take action on the Fortnite app submission until after the Ninth Circuit rules on our pending request for a partial stay of the new injunction.” Epic claims the delay is retaliation for its legal fight with the company, and notes in its filing that Apple “expressly and repeatedly” told it and the court that it would approve Fortnite if the app complied with Apple’s guidelines, which it insists its current submission does.

Following Gonzalez Rogers’ decision in April, Epic said Fortnite would return to the US App Store. The company has since submitted the game twice, most recently to include content from an update to the EU version of the game. But instead of Apple approving Fortnite in the US, the game disappeared from the EU App Store.

Epic claimed that was because it can’t release in the EU because of Apple’s decision to block its US submission. Apple said it had merely asked that it resubmit the app without including the US storefront, “so as not to impact Fortnite in other geographies.” But in a post announcing its new filing, Epic claims that would mean it has to submit multiple versions of the app, which it says is against Apple’s guidelines.

Epic is asking that the court enforce its injunction, find Apple in contempt again, and require the company to “accept any compliant Epic app, including Fortnite, for distribution on the U.S. storefront of the App Store.”

The hitch here is that throughout this case, Judge Gonzalez Rogers hasn’t gone so far as to require Fortnite’s return to the store, finding in her 2021 ruling that Epic had still knowingly broken its developer agreement with apple. 9to5Mac writes that the judge would likely need to agree that Apple is once again in contempt of court, as she did in her April 30th ruling. The difference between now and then — and what could work in Epic’s favor — is just how annoyed she seemed with Apple in the text of that ruling.

Apple did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

Graduation is one of those unique milestones in life that’s both exciting and nerve-wracking. It’s worth celebrating, but it also marks a new chapter that can feel overwhelming. That’s why your grad will surely appreciate a little support as they step into the next phase of their life, whether that be college or their first job.

Lucky for you, we’ve put together a list of gifts that are designed to make the transition into post-grad life a little smoother. Our picks cover essentials they might need for their first apartment or dorm — from kitchenware to tools — along with a few gifts to remind them of home. We’ve also sprinkled in a ton of gadgets to set them up for success, including e-readers and portable chargers. And because they’ve certainly earned some downtime, we’ve included a selection of other ideas to help them unwind and celebrate a job well done.

Last fall, Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber was roundly ridiculed after suggesting the company would like to produce a "Forever Mouse" - a mouse with a monthly subscription fee for software updates. It seemed to betray a lack of understanding: many people who buy mice don't want software at all, much less software they have to pay for; the idea they'd pay every month is ridiculous.

But as I sit here with a perfectly good Logitech mouse, the best I've ever owned, I'm starting to think some sort of "forever mouse" wouldn't be such a bad idea. Logitech has an opportunity and a responsibility to make its mice last longer, and I have part of the proof right underneath my palm. I use a great mouse that is slowly disintegrating.

In some ways, my wireless Logitech G502 Lightspeed is already a forever mouse. I may never have to charge or replace its battery again, because I use Logitech's magic wireless charging mouse pad to automatically keep its battery at the perfect level. I haven't plugged in this mouse once in nearly three and a half years.

Luckily, the mouse's buttons and sensor have held up well over the same period, as far as I can tell. But the soft rubber grips that let me hold t …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Let's get one thing out of the way immediately: you shouldn't buy Huawei's trifold phone, the Mate XT. And that's alright, because you probably couldn't if you wanted to - while it's no longer exclusive to China, it's only on sale in a handful of countries, and not in the US or Europe.

Besides, I can reel off a list of major problems with the Mate XT: at almost $4,000 it's far too expensive, it doesn't have native support for Google apps (though you can get around that more easily than you might think), it's limited to 4G, and there are some pretty obvious reasons to worry about its durability. Any one of those individually would be a good reason to steer clear of buying the Mate XT. Taken together, they're insurmountable.

But this isn't a phone you're meant to buy, at least not outside China. It's a phone you're meant to gawk at on the internet, to marvel at Huawei's technological prowess, to ooh and ahh about its many and varied folds. This is Huawei showing off, proving to the world that it's still got it. And in fairness, it has.

As I sit and write this - more than six months after Huawei first released the Mate XT in China - it's still the only one of its kind. Rumor has i …

Read the full story at The Verge.

If you like games with parrying, there are two great new ways to get your fix: Doom: The Dark Ages and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. These very different games - one is a fast-paced first-person shooter, the other a turn-based fantasy RPG - approach the mechanic in very different ways.

Let's start with Doom. One of the big new additions to the game is a giant shield for the Doom Slayer, and you can use it to block projectiles or enemy attacks. The game helpfully signals anything that you can parry in a bright neon green that's easy to see as you're rushing around and destroying hordes of demons.

When a green projectile gets within range or an enemy does a green attack, you can press the parry button at the right time to deflect the danger with a huge reverberation of your shield and an action-movie-like moment of slow motion. Like most of modern Doom's action, it all looks, feels, and sounds very satisfying. But parries are also critical for fights, as they can open up an opportunity to hit the enemy with a punch or a few shots from whatever monstrous gun you're wielding.

Stay keen for something green

In intense battles, I'm always hunting for green glints to find things to par …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Android is getting its biggest visual update in years, and rather than unveiling it for the first time at its big annual developer conference, Google announced Material Three Expressive at a pre-show event broadcast on YouTube the week before. If a major design language shift for the world's most popular mobile OS doesn't qualify as a headliner at I/O, then what does? You guessed it: AI.

We expect Google to talk all about Gemini during I/O, which kicks off on Tuesday, and how it's improving it and bringing it to products in areas that consumers will see even more.

If you've paid attention to the past couple of I/O keynotes, this won't be a surprise. Android was barely mentioned in 2023, and CEO Sundar Pichai said AI so many times that we lost count. Last year's keynote was more of the same, except that Pichai saved us some trouble and counted mentions of AI for us. All of this reflects the very obvious, inescapable shift that Google and every other tech company have made recently to pump out AI features at a breakneck pace.

But in a way, less news about the newest Android OS at I/O is actually a good thing.

Google has made a big effort in recent years to bring new features to …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Meta’s building a new AI data center so massive in Louisiana that the local utility company has plans to construct three new gas-fired power plants to provide it with enough electricity. Now, advocates and lawmakers are pressing Meta for answers about how it’ll clean up pollution stemming from the data center’s energy consumption.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, shot off a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday demanding answers about how much energy the data center would use and the greenhouse gas emissions that would be generated. Powering the new data center with gas “flies in the face of Meta’s climate commitments,” the letter says.

Tech companies are rushing to build out data centers to train and run new AI tools, driving up electricity demand. In this case, power utility Entergy wants to meet that demand with new gas infrastructure, raising concerns about the impact Meta’s data center will have on the environment and local residents.

“We urgently need corporate responsibility”

“Meta’s backslide from its own climate pledges risks triggering broader economic harm at a time when we urgently need corporate responsibility,” Sen. Whitehouse said in a statement emailed to The Verge.

In 2020, Meta pledged to reach net-zero emissions across its operations, supply chain, and consumer use of its products by the end of the decade. But the company’s carbon footprint is larger now than it was when it set that goal, according to its latest sustainability report, as it doubles down on AI. 

The company has tried to reduce its emissions by matching its electricity use with equal purchases of renewable energy. It’s a strategy Meta and other big companies often take: pay to support new clean energy projects to try to cancel out the environmental effects of your facilities plugging into a power grid that runs on dirty energy. Environmental advocates are increasingly concerned that this strategy still burdens communities with local pollution, and that the pressure to meet rising electricity demand from AI is boosting fossil fuel use rather than renewable energy. 

We’re seeing that tussle play out in Richland Parish, Louisiana, where Meta has plans to build its largest data center to date. It’s spending $10 billion on the project, the company announced in December. Once complete, the campus would span 4 million square feet, about as large as 70 football fields. But the project is moot unless Meta can ensure there will be enough electricity available for all those servers, a problem it’s working with Entergy to solve. Entergy proposed building three entirely new gas plants with a total capacity of 2,260 megawatts to support the data center, but it has to get regulatory approval first.

Some advocates contend that there hasn’t been enough transparency around Meta’s data center plans to help the public understand the potential impact on the local power grid. The New Orleans-based Alliance for Affordable Energy and the Union of Concerned Scientists filed a motion in March asking the Louisiana Public Service Commission to add Meta as an official party to proceedings over whether to approve construction of the new gas plants. Doing so would compel the company to disclose more information, and the commission is scheduled to consider the motion on Monday. 

“It’s hard to wrap your brain around [whether] a facility like this either might be good for your community or bad for your community without understanding the possible impact to your electrical system, your bills, and your water,” says Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy.

There are already forecasts that rapidly growing data center electricity demand could raise electricity bills in the US. Meta said in December that it would contribute $1 million a year to an Entergy program that helps older adults and people with disabilities afford their bills. Data centers have also been notorious water-guzzlers, although Meta says it would invest in projects to restore more water than it would consume.

Sen. Whitehouse’s letter, meanwhile, asks Meta to answer a list of questions by May 28th. On top of questions about the data center’s electricity use and greenhouse gas emissions, Whitehouse wants to know what the justification is for building gas-fired power plants rather than renewable energy alternatives. And it presses Meta to explain how the proposal aligns with its 2030 climate goal.

Meta maintains that it’ll continue matching its electricity use with support for renewable energy, including a commitment to help fund 1,500 megawatts of new solar and battery resources in Louisiana. It also said it would help fund the cost of adding technology to at least one power plant that would capture carbon dioxide emissions. Whitehouse wants to know how much funding it will provide and how much carbon will be captured. Carbon capture tech has been prohibitively expensive to deploy and costs are often offset by using the captured CO2 to produce more fossil fuels through a process called enhanced oil recovery.

“We received the letter and look forward to providing a response,” Meta spokesperson Ashley Settle said in an email to The Verge. “We believe a diverse set of energy solutions are necessary to power our AI ambitions – and we continue to explore innovative technology solutions.”

Entergy didn’t immediately respond to inquiries from The Verge. It has a goal of making sure that 50 percent of its generating capacity is carbon pollution-free by 2030. But the utility said that gas “is the lowest reasonable cost option available that can support the 24/7 electrical demands of a large data center like Meta,” in a statement to Fast Company, which first reported on Whitehouse’s letter.