Thursday Morning Minute

There's More on Biden Wearing That Trump Hat in Shanksville - and It's Hilarious

It’s Still the Economy (and the Border and World Chaos), Stupid!

GM and Hyundai executives announced a new partnership to codevelop vehicles. | Image: Hyundai Auto tie-ups are nothing new, but they have become more frequent and wide-ranging in the age of clean energy and alternate fuel sources, as companies seek to spread out the cost and risk of adopting expensive new technologies. The latest alignment is between General Motors and Hyundai, which are joining forces to codevelop new passenger and commercial vehicles, including EVs and hydrogen fuel cells. They will also explore ways to save money on the acquisition of raw battery materials and steel, among other crucial supplies. The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to “look for ways to leverage their complementary scale and strengths to reduce costs and bring a wider range of vehicles and technologies to customers... Continue reading…

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge These days, there are so many digital subscriptions out there — music, movies, fitness, cloud storage, software, podcasts, audiobooks, Patreons, security cameras, AI bots, and more — that it’s perfectly understandable if you start losing track of what exactly you’re signed up for. To make things even more complicated, you may be paying some subscriptions monthly and others annually. Then, there are those insidious free trials: you sign up to test something out, forget all about it after a few days, and then get billed unexpectedly (this is an occupational hazard for tech journalists). And of course, both Apple and Google make it immensely easy to sign up for various services almost instantly using their account. Luckily, Apple and... Continue reading…

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images We’ve been covering the rise of AI image editing very closely here on Decoder and at The Verge overall for several years now — the ability to create photorealistic images with nothing more than a chatbot prompt has the potential to completely reset our cultural relationship with photography and, in particular, how much we instinctively trust photos to reflect the truth. But the debate over image editing and the inherent truth of photos is nothing new, of course. It’s existed for as long as photography has existed, and it’s raged since digital photo editing tools have become widely available. You know this argument; you’ve heard it a million times. It’s when people say, “It’s just like Photoshop,” with “Photoshop” standing in for the... Continue reading…

Image: The Flappy Bird Foundation A self-described “team of passionate fans committed to sharing the game with the world” says they’ve acquired the rights to Flappy Bird, the iconic mobile game whose creator took it offline less than a year after it was released. Now, “The Flappy Bird Foundation Group” will relaunch the game on Android and iOS in 2025. But it’s unclear whether the original creator of Flappy Bird, Dong Nguyen, is a part of the game’s relaunch. The Verge reached out to Nguyen with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back. His account on X and the website for his game development company don’t show any recent updates. The Flappy Bird Foundation said they acquired the rights to the game from Gametech, LLC, which isn’t associated with Nguyen. F... Continue reading…

Disney’s current promo runs through September 27th and extends to both new and returning subscribers. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Like most streaming services, the price of a Disney Plus is about to go up in the not-so-distant future. Fortunately for those dreading the $2 price hike — which is due to take effect on October 17th — both new and returning subscribers can sign up for three months of Disney’s ad-supported Basic plan for $1.99 a month through September 27th, saving you $6 a month or $18 over the entire promo period. If you can do without the ability to download content for offline viewing, Disney’s ad-supported plan is virtually identical to the ad-free plan. Both provide access to the same Disney Plus shows and films — including the full Star Wars and Marvel slate — along with National Geographic and Pixar content. That means you’ll be able to stream... Continue reading…

For the first time in 110 years, the tomb of St. Teresa of Avila, who died in 1582, was opened to allow medical experts and scientists to examine her remains. Even though she has been encased inside her marble-covered silver coffin for nearly 450 years, her body has not decayed to any noticeable degree. This is remarkable, given that no special effort was made to preserve her body at the time of her death. “Today the tomb of St. Teresa was opened and we have verified that it is in the same condition as when it was last opened in 1914,” Father Marco Chiesa of the Carmelite Monastery of Alba de Tormes, where the remains of St. Teresa are kept, said in an August 28 announcement published in the National Catholic Register. St. Teresa died in the village of Alba de Tormes in the province of Salamanca in western Spain on October 4, 1582, and her body has been at rest there ever since. The new examination of St. Teresa’s remains, which took place over the last four days of August, was carried out under the watchful eye of the Diocese of Avila, and of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites that has been responsible for keeping her coffin safe and secure for more than four centuries. Permission to open her tomb and exhume her body was granted in July by Pope Francis, in response to a request from the Bishop of Salamanca, Luis Retana. Read moreSection: NewsHistory & ArchaeologyHistoryFamous PeopleRead Later 

A lot of Americans are on the fence regarding annual flu and COVID shots, a new survey finds. More than one-third of those polled (37%) said they'd gotten vaccines in the past but don't plan to this year, according to results from a nationwide Ohio State University Wexner...