The Verge

Microsoft may once again be struggling to keep up with its own climate goals, according to its 2026 sustainability report. As reported by GeekWire, the report states that Microsoft's carbon emissions increased 25 percent in 2025, totalling 34 million metric tons "without select interventions." Microsoft says this was "driven primarily by the expansion of our [...]

OpenAI's Fidji Simo is departing her full-time role as the company's AGI chief and is transitioning to being a "part-time advisor," she said on X. The news follows Simo's original announcement in April that she would take a few weeks of medical leave due to a neuroimmune condition, shortly after she had taken on the [...]

Netflix is thinking about adding always-on channels that would stream specific shows and movies, according to The Wall Street Journal. The move sounds like a Netflix version of always-on services like Pluto TV and Tubi, except the big hook for those is that they're free - because of the ads you have to watch. Netflix [...]

OpenAI is already shutting down ChatGPT Atlas, its browser that could do tasks for you on your behalf, less than a year after launching it. Atlas was announced in October, but as part of its wave of news about ChatGPT Work today, the company confirmed that it will be "sunsetting" Atlas and is targeting an [...]

Bluetooth speakers with big sound and great features are hard to find for under $100, with most offerings being some variation of the same basic (and often small) design. Thankfully, through July 10th Woot has the Anker Soundcore Boom 2 on sale for $69.99, which is $20 cheaper than the discounted price at other retailers [...]

You can see if ads on Google Search, Google Discover, and YouTube were made or edited using AI from a new section in Google's "My Ad Center," as reported earlier by TechCrunch. The update, announced on Thursday, adds a "created or edited with AI" label under the "how this ad was made" tab. Users can [...]

If you're looking for a relatively affordable way to cut down on cooling costs, Google's Nest Thermostat can help. It's packed with smart controls and energy-saving features, and right now it's on sale in white for $79 ($50 off), which is its best price of the year, at Amazon. The smart thermostat is quick to [...]

Windows 11 updates could soon include fixes for more security issues at once. Microsoft said in a blog post on Thursday that it's now using AI to "identify potential issues earlier," which means "customers will see a higher volume of security updates included in each security release." Hackers, even amateurs, have increasingly been using AI [...]

About two weeks after OpenAI's GPT-5.6 was caught up in regulatory drama - rolled out only to government-approved organizations during a "limited preview" period - the company has received the Trump administration's greenlight for a public rollout of the model. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it "the best model we have ever produced." To celebrate, [...]

The Schlage Sense Pro is a beautiful smart lock. Sleek, discreet, and simple to use, it's Schlage's smartest lock to date. Thanks to ultra-wideband (UWB), it unlocks as I walk up to my front door; I don't need to enter a code or tap my phone or press my finger against it. I've tested several [...]

If you're looking for a discount on a great pair of active noise-canceling headphones for your summer adventures (even if they're indoors), you're in luck. The Sonos Ace headphones in black are currently on sale for $279 (usually $399) at a variety of retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and directly from Sonos. Weirdly, the [...]

Personal digital assistants like the iconic Palm Pilot were one of many devices we thought went extinct with the arrival of the smartphone. But similar to Canon resurrecting a nearly decade-old digital camera to appeal to point-and-shoot fans, Talisman Design is crowdfunding a clamshell PDA called the PocketMage that combines a tactile keyboard with both [...]

After reentering the AI race with its first in-house Muse Spark model in April, Meta is now opening up the doors to developers with a new model that can plug into AI coding software with the new Meta Model API. Meta says that Muse Spark 1.1 is a "step-change" from the first generation, with improvements [...]

Last year, Image Line introduced Gopher for FL Studio, an AI chatbot that was basically a glorified instruction manual. You asked it how to do something, and it would serve up the relevant instructions. It's the kind of thing I actually use AI for on a semi-regular basis. But in the new release, Gopher can [...]

SpaceX is currently ahead of last year's record-setting pace for Starlink satellite deployments. SpaceX launched 1,589 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit in the first half of 2026, according to launch data compiled by Jonathan McDowell's satellite tracker, compared to 1,489 satellites deployed at the same point in 2025. 2025 was already a record year for [...]

Meta might be the next company to make an always-on AI wearable. The company is working on prototype "super sensing" always-aware smart glasses that could continuously record audio and snap photos "every few seconds," according to the Financial Times. The wearer could then ask Meta AI about the captured audio and images. However, the images [...]

Even though they haven't been officially announced yet, Samsung is giving you a chance to save some cash when you preorder what we're expecting to be the brand's updated Galaxy Z Fold phones. The next Galaxy Unpacked event will take place on July 22nd, 2026, and features the tagline A new shape unfolds." In addition [...]

As part of Microsoft's big Xbox "reset," which includes layoffs affecting 3,200 staffers, jettisoning studios, and shifting investments to focus on "higher priority projects," Obsidian Entertainment is changing its plans. The studio, behind games like Grounded and The Outer Worlds, is starting work on a new Fallout title and has canceled "multiple projects," including a [...]

When searching for an affordable electric vehicle these days, there are always tradeoffs. How much range are you willing to sacrifice, how much leg room and storage space, how many features, in the pursuit of that magic sticker price that won't break the bank? The Fiat Topolino is basically the ultimate embodiment of those tradeoffs. [...]

A little robotic switch-flipper has become my sidekick in combating cockroaches. Before I got the SwitchBot Bot Rechargeable, I'd tiptoe through the dark every morning, hoping I wouldn't step on one of those terrible bugs scurrying around as I made my way to the light switch across the room. Now I'm ready for battle before [...]

This week, Microsoft took a huge ax to its Xbox business. The company announced that it would be laying off 1,600 workers now, 1,600 more over the next fiscal year, and that it would be shedding four studios. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma hasn't been shy about why she's making such dramatic cuts, saying in a [...]

If you've got a summer trip coming up, the last-gen Twelve South AirFly Pro is one of those gadgets that can make a long flight feel a little shorter. It lets you use your wireless headphones with in-flight entertainment systems, and right now it's on sale for $39.99 ($15 off) at Amazon. That's the best [...]

OpenAI is overhauling ChatGPT's voice mode with a new model that it says is more like "talking to another person." The new GPT-Live-1 is designed to interrupt you less and will also wait for you to continue speaking if you pause mid-conversation. During a press briefing, OpenAI research lead Kundan Kumar called GPT-Live-1 the company's [...]

What if you had a drone that wasn't a buzzy, annoying fly people wanted to swat - but rather a cute dog that runs and jumps? What if it could do tricks on command and film your tricks as well? What if it could get right back up after a nasty-looking crash, dozens of times [...]

Google's upcoming Pixel lineup might cost more than last year's. A report from Dealabs spotted by 9to5Google suggests that Google could raise the starting price of its 41mm Pixel Watch 5 to $399, while adding LTE could bump the price to $499. That's a $50 jump from the base Pixel Watch 4, which starts at [...]

It's not a great time to shop for a gaming laptop. The unprecedented rise in cost for RAM (and storage to a slightly lesser extent) has made laptops with low-to-midrange specs cost much more than they should. Recent deals on gaming laptops worth your attention have been uninspiring, but one recently caught my eye: MSI's [...]

Fi Ultra is the first Starlink-enabled pet tracker you can buy. It expands on GPS and LTE trackers, adding automatic failover to T-Mobile's T-Satellite-branded direct-to-cell service when venturing into cellular dead zones. That lets owners tap into SpaceX's constellation of low Earth orbit Starlink satellites to track their pets anywhere in the US. But it [...]

For the last couple weeks, I've been in an extremely lucky position: I've been spending a lot of time playing games on Valve's Steam Machine. We gave the Steam Machine a 6, and I don't disagree with my colleague Sean Hollister's review. But even though I already own a PS5 and an Xbox Series X, [...]

For more than a decade, one question has loomed over the race to build autonomous vehicles: Are cameras alone enough to safely replace human drivers, or do truly driverless cars need additional, overlapping sensors like lidar and radar to navigate the world reliably? Tesla has bet billions of dollars that artificial intelligence and cameras are [...]

Samsung has announced that its next Galaxy Unpacked launch event will be held on July 22nd, with the tagline: "A new shape unfolds." It's long been rumored that Samsung is about to expand its foldable phone line to a third format, with a shorter and wider version of its big book-style foldables, to match Huawei's [...]

Amid public backlash over its smart glasses, Meta announced that it will be updating its glasses with a new feature that will disable the camera when it detects that someone has tampered with or destroyed the glasses' privacy LED light. The update is meant to address modders who have taken actions such as physically drilling [...]

Even though Netflix is the world's most popular paid streaming service, the company has been struggling to keep viewers watching its series after their first seasons. Beef - the streamer's anthology about people locked in feuds - lost 70 percent of its viewership when it returned earlier this year. There seems to be some confusion [...]

Starting on August 3rd, Netflix's streaming library will include video content from dozens of digital media brands including BuzzFeed, Conde Nast, Hearst Magazines, People Inc, and Tastemade. As reported earlier by TechCrunch, the deal includes a mix of licensed past videos and new ongoing series that would have typically been published on YouTube or other [...]

Meta is launching the first AI image generation model made by its Superintelligence Labs division. The Muse Image model now powers the image-making tools across the Meta AI app, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and it's coming soon to Facebook and Messenger, according to an announcement on Tuesday. It's part of the growing Muse family of AI [...]

While the auto industry wrings its hands over the electric vehicle market, sweating details like aerodynamic efficiency and range anxiety, a new EV startup based in Lisbon, Portugal, is zagging in a different direction. Amble's new electric buggy won't impress anyone with its 0-60 time or its self-driving features (it has none). Instead, it takes [...]

ABC is firing back at the Federal Communications Commission after the agency opened an investigation into The View's airtime of political candidates. In a letter to the FCC on Tuesday, ABC argues that the agency's actions pose a risk to editorial independence by targeting programs "perceived as unfriendly to the current administration," as reported earlier [...]

Starting Tuesday, Anthropic's Claude Cowork AI platform will be available on mobile and web for the first time. The expanded access is rolling out first to Max subscribers and coming to Claude users on other plans "in the coming weeks." Claude Cowork was previously only accessible through the Claude desktop app for macOS and Windows, [...]

Google is hosting its next Made by Google launch event for Pixel hardware on August 12th in New York City, according to an invitation sent by Google to The Verge. Unusually, the event is taking place in the evening: It'll kick off at 6PM ET that day. The email also includes a brief animation teasing [...]

As part of the mass layoffs hitting Xbox, Doom developer id Software has laid off around 50 percent of its staff, according to Game Developer. One source claimed to the publication that the cuts equate to more than 90 redundancies. Another source said that id's QA department was significantly impacted. The report was published the [...]

Discord says a bug affecting its safety system caused it to mistakenly ban more than 8,000 accounts since May. The platform's statement follows a wave of reports from users over the past week, who say they've been banned for posting images containing grids, such as chessboards, game textures, and even Minecraft inventories. Stanislav Vishnevskiy, Discord [...]

You might have a great bed and a good sleepy time routine, but if you're still struggling to fall (or stay) asleep, Anker's Soundcore Sleep A20 are worth considering. They're designed to help muffle distracting sounds, and they've hit a new all-time low price of $99.99 ($80 off) at Best Buy and Target. In his [...]

Microsoft is addressing a Windows 11 bug that caused a folder to take up several gigabytes of storage space. As spotted earlier by Windows Latest, Microsoft included the patch in its optional June 2026 update (KB5095093), which "improves disk space usage for the CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal file." The CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal file is installed on Windows 11 PCs by [...]

Solos announced a new version of its AirGo smart glasses, one that forgoes cameras for a sleeker design and an AI assistant that relies on voice interactions. Last year's AirGo A5 weighed 36 to 40 grams depending on the frame style, but the new AirGo A6 weigh around 19 grams. Part of the weight savings [...]

Google is going to give content creators and website owners a better idea of how people find their social media profiles and YouTube content through Search. With a new feature in the Google Search Console called "platform properties," Google says that you'll be able to "easily track which search terms lead people to your Instagram, [...]

iFixit is best known for its detailed gadget teardowns and toolkits designed to help you crack open and troubleshoot your own electronics. Today it announced a new toolkit that's instead tailored to household repairs or DIY projects like fixing appliances or assembling flat-packed furniture. iFixit describes its $34.95 Megalodon Driver Kit as a "compact kit [...]

Marshall announced new versions of its Acton and Stanmore Bluetooth speakers today with upgraded tweeters, bass ports, and internal designs that improve their ability to fill a room with sound. Both the Acton IV and Stanmore IV replace their four-year-old predecessors with a new focus on repairability. Parts including knobs, feet, and the speakers' front [...]

It's another bad week for the video game industry. Microsoft outlined a series of layoffs on Monday that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma described as "the most significant restructure in Xbox history." But buried in Sharma's memo was a curiously optimistic statement: "I want Xbox to be one of the few companies that entertains more than [...]

In the summer of 2024, former Army National Guard member Andrew Scott Hastings spent a sweaty afternoon carefully packing boxes with parts he made using his 3D printer. These weren't novelty figurines or replacement Ikea pieces. The boxes were instead filled with a handful of homemade firearm lower receivers and more than 100 "switches," small [...]