The Verge

Bluesky's Attie AI tool, which initially launched earlier this year as a way to use AI to build your own feeds, now lets you make "small" social apps like games, polls, and dashboards that you can then share with others as their own websites. In an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt, Bluesky CEO Toni Schneider said [...]

If you're a new user of Withings' fitness-tracking smartwatches or smart scales and want to sync and access your health data through third party apps like Apple Health or Google Health it's now going to cost you. According to a discussion on Withings' support forums spotted by MacRumors, new Withings accounts created from October 13th, [...]

Meta announced the Muse Spark Open AI model today, claiming that it's the "most capable US open-weight model to date." But the company also says that it's the "the first model in its class" that can "run on your desktop using two Apple M5 Ultra Mac Studios with the latest MLX framework." Meta and Apple, [...]

Sony has announced a trio of new Walkman portable media players that start at an already absurd $1,899.99 for the NW-ZX900 and climb all the way up to $5,899 for the gold-plated NW-WM1ZM3. Sandwiched in between is the $2,999.99 Walkman NW-WM1AM3, which is nearly identical to the WM1ZM3, just minus the gaudy gold shell. All [...]

Volvo plans to launch hands-free, point-to-point driving by 2030, powered by Nvidia's latest AI technology. The Chinese-owned, Swedish-designed automaker said Thursday it would use Nvidia's autonomous driving stack to power a new partially automated driving system similar to Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised). Volvo says the new point-to-point system will be Level 2++, meaning it can [...]

The Alienware AW3426DW is discounted to $742.22 at Amazon, just over $50 off its usual price of $799.99. It's not quite the lowest price we've seen on this well-equipped gaming monitor, but still a decent discount. The 34-inch screen just came out a couple months ago, and is equipped with Penta Tandem quantum dots for [...]

Google is updating its AI search results to make inline links appear "higher up in responses more frequently," according to a blog post. The company's search results from AI Overviews and AI Mode give you answers in a customized view instead of the traditional list of links, but there are concerns that the format reduces [...]

If you missed out on Prime Day's headphones deals, you're in luck. Sony's latest flagship headphones are selling for even less than they did during Amazon's big fall sale. As part of B&H Photo's Deals of the Day, you can currently pick up Sony's WH-1000XM6 noise-canceling headphones in silver for just $328 at checkout ($130 [...]

There's a growing trend in the consumer tech world: gadgets designed to spy on everything and everyone around you, regardless of whether or not anyone else actually consented to it. Now, with the advent of "AI personal assistants" like Meta's Muse, you're being cheerfully asked not just to give up your own data, but also [...]

E Ink announced the next generation of its Kaleido color e-paper screen technology today, delivering several welcome improvements. The company's existing Kaleido 3 displays can be found in e-readers and tablets from companies like Kobo, PocketBook, and Boox, while Amazon's Kindle Colorsoft uses a customized version to improve performance. The new Kaleido 4 technology addresses [...]

Fourteen years ago this month, Microsoft released an Nvidia-powered Windows PC that would become one of the greatest tech flops in modern history. The original Microsoft Surface, which ran a stripped-down version of Windows on an Nvidia Tegra chip, bombed so hard that Microsoft had to write off $900 million in inventory. The problem was [...]

We knew that a number of big tech firms were helping to fund the construction of Trump's ballroom, but we didn't know just how much they were giving to the cause. Now the Washington Post published a list of all the major donors to the White House ballroom project, along with how much each contributed. [...]

Following the launch of its $50 subscription-free security camera last month, Shelly announced another new accessory for smart home automation today that can keep track of multiple people as they move through rooms or large spaces without recording them. The Shelly Presence Gen4 sensor uses mmWave radar technology instead of a camera to detect the [...]

Microsoft has redesigned its Photos app for Windows 11, overhauling the editor and image viewer, and combining photos and videos from your PC, OneDrive, and iCloud into a single space. The new combined gallery experience aims to make it easier to manage and view your photos without jumping between apps or devices, while also improving [...]

The execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will not be livestreamed as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had previously announced. Donald Trump announced the plan was off in a post on Truth Social: I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how [...]

Microsoft and Nvidia held a launch party for the first wave of RTX Spark laptops last week in San Francisco, where a new wave of AI PCs took center stage amid a packed crowd and a lively hands-on area. A day after the media event, I was invited to a quieter Nvidia event to hear [...]

An Israeli ad tech firm worked with spyware companies to infect devices, including at Al Jazeera, by simply showing users an online ad, according to a joint investigation by security researchers at Citizen Lab and Confiant. It's the first time researchers have found technical evidence of a zero-click attack - a form of hacking that [...]

Apple's iPhone Duo foldable phone opens for preorder tomorrow, October 16th, at 8am ET / 5am PT, but you don't have to wait until then to get your order mostly sorted. The company's product page for the phone now lets you select the color you want, along with storage capacity, carrier preference, and whether you [...]

In hindsight, the post on Instagram should have raised more red flags. The image purported to show actress Mia Goth, just days after filing for divorce from actor and filmmaker Shia LaBeouf, posing in a T-shirt with a pointed message: MY EX IS MY BIGGEST FAN. To really drive home the point, the song "Single [...]

You could say we're in the eye of the storm right now. The storm, of course, being the fall and winter release calendar for new video games. Things started out with a hectic few weeks that were packed with major titles like Control Resonant, Marvel's Wolverine, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, and Gears of War: E-Day. [...]

The day is almost here, as Grand Theft Auto VI is just about a month away from finally coming out. But before that there's still one more look from Rockstar Games, which just put out a brief "launch" trailer for the game. It doesn't reveal much new, but the 90 second clip does give a [...]

Last month, Apple announced a feature called iPhone Handoff. Not to be confused with that Handoff; this is a new one. iPhone Handoff allows you to keep your number active on two iPhones at the same time so you can easily switch between them. According to Apple's support website, you pick one phone as your [...]

Google's intelligent AI shopping cart is finally here, and just in time to tempt users into Black Friday and seasonal holiday spending. The Universal Cart tool Google previewed at its I/O event in May is now rolling out in the US across the Gemini app and Google Search, with the aim of making it easier [...]

Ledger has announced its latest crypto-centric hardware effort, the Android-based Atom, a device that resembles a phone but is instead designed to be used alongside one. It arrives at a tricky time for Ledger, which has been forced to cease sales of some of its hardware across southeast Asia following hardware tampering in its supply [...]

Last year, Amazon bought Bee, a relatively unknown startup with a $50 always-listening AI wearable that summarized every conversation you had. Today, the e-commerce giant is announcing two new Bee devices - and a new subscription to go with them. First is the $74.99 Bee Frontier, an updated version of the original Bee device. And [...]

There's a new digital pet in town - a cute little marshmallow of a robot that can change its cartoony expressions to match your mood. But if you or your kids talk to "Eiliko" over Wi-Fi, it'll phone home to China. Its AI companion can store literally everything you tell it on Chinese servers, where [...]

Big Walk's co-op multiplayer walking adventure has proved popular since launching in August, but Xbox players have been excluded from the fun - and now the game's creators have explained why. Developer House House said in a blog post that it decided not to release Big Walk on Xbox consoles in accordance with the Palestinian-led [...]

Consulting firm McKinsey & Company is going to ask some entry-level candidates to have a 10-minute conversation with an AI simulation of a client as part of the interview process, according to The Wall Street Journal. The AI simulation "aims to reflect 80% of the scenarios McKinsey consultants might encounter in their day-to-day work," the [...]

I'm just going to come right out and say it. I love the approach Apple has taken with the HomeView. I think it's the shared, always-available household interface that my family might finally use. Is Apple's first smart display my dream smart home dashboard? No. But is it the right product for Apple Home at [...]

OpenAI is facing a new wave of lawsuits from eight US states that accuse the company of harming children and misleading customers about the safety of ChatGPT, as reported earlier by Reuters. The lawsuits, filed separately by Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana, allege OpenAI unlawfully put profits over safety when [...]

We've all gotten a scam text about a nonexistent parking ticket or a fake package delivery, but hopefully you'll start seeing fewer of them. Microsoft says it helped dismantle a marketplace for scammers sending phishing messages like those around the world. Through an investigation with Japan's National Police Agency, it tracked scam activity back to [...]

Last week, Anthropic and OpenAI looked like they had the AI race to themselves, pulling ahead with increasingly powerful models that left their rivals in the dust. Google seemed hopelessly far behind, while Meta, despite spending billions to revive its floundering AI ambitions, had yet to establish itself as a serious contender. Even the latest [...]

New York Attorney General Letitia James revealed a years-long multi-state investigation against Character.AI as they now seek to require protections on consumer data sold through its bankruptcy proceeding. James is among 40 bipartisan AGs who filed a notice of interest in Character.AI's bankruptcy case "to put all parties on notice of the regulatory issues that [...]

It's been four long years since the last Apple TV 4K was released, and in that time there have been lots of hopes and dreams for features in whatever comes next. A new chip, 4K/120Hz support, audio passthrough, a remote locator, better home control integration - the 2022 Apple TV 4K is a great box, [...]

YouTube is adding a "Made with AI" label to tracks that were "altered or fully generated" using AI, with a similar approach to its existing process for applying AI labels to videos. It doesn't sound like this will apply to any and all use of AI tools in making music, but according to YouTube, it [...]

While we cover a lot of deals on specific products, it's rare that we find worthwhile savings on gift cards that let you save on essentially anything the store sells. However, until October 19th, you can save up to twenty percent on gift cards when you buy them through the Google Play store. There are [...]

Apple only just announced on Tuesday that its first smart display, the HomeView, will arrive on November 13th, but you can already save a couple bucks on it. Right now, you can buy the display for $289.99 ($10 off) in gray and the creamy white starlight" colorway at Amazon. Sure, it's a small discount, but [...]

There's an entire cottage industry of iPod mods out there, but Sprout Pi and Sprout Pico are two of the few full motherboard replacements that combine many of the most popular mods into a single upgrade. Both versions add Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB-C, a microSD card slot, FLAC playback, and more. And while cracking open an [...]

Anbernic shared a new video of its upcoming dual-screen handheld it announced last week showing the device playing 3DS, Xbox, and PS3 games through emulation. While competitors like Ayaneo have been making dual-screen handhelds for a few years, Anbernic only recently introduced its own dual-screen devices including the RG DS and RG DS Plus. Those [...]

This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they're going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here. For the past 100 days or so, my mornings have had a new rhythm. When I wake up, the first [...]

OpenAI claims a former employee took more than 100 files related to its product plans before joining Apple. In a document filed on Wednesday, OpenAI accuses the unnamed employee of sending this information to a personal account and then presenting it to Apple leadership, including the vice president of the company's operations in Asia. The [...]

If you don't get AppleCare Plus for the iPhone Duo, any repairs are going to be pretty expensive. Apple published the estimated repair costs for the iPhone Duo without AppleCare Plus today, as reported by MacRumors, and they can be high: Battery service, for example, will cost $229, inner display damage will cost $999, and [...]

Microsoft is officially announcing its Xbox Nano controller today, a smaller and cheaper controller that's designed to fit into your pocket. The more compact controller is also designed for "younger players, smaller hands, or anyone seeking something portable for play on the go." The $49.99 Xbox Nano is Microsoft's smallest controller, and it's shorter than [...]

Old-school physics-based weather forecasting and even new AI models typically become less reliable beyond two weeks, a problem Microsoft claims to have solved using machine learning. Researchers with the company say they've found a new, cost-effective way to make more accurate weather forecasts two to six weeks in advance - allowing farmers and emergency responders [...]

Square is launching new hardware: a big kiosk for ordering things that has a touchscreen and lets you talk to an AI. It's called the Square Kiosk. Square says the Kiosk, which has a large pill shape, has an "agentic, conversational voice layer" that "fully understands a seller's menu and listens and responds in real [...]

Android is introducing new scam defense features that aim to make it easier for users to evade mobile fraud, including bolstered protection in Google Messages and additional safeguarding tools. Building on the Scam Detection feature in Google Messages, a new "enhanced protection" setting will be rolling out in the coming weeks that taps into cloud-based [...]

Are legions of smart devices - fridges, ovens, vacuum cleaners, lawnmowers, security cameras, and TVs - conspiring to take over the internet? No. But they could soon be unwitting hosts to self-replicating AI models that spread from device to device and prove remarkably difficult to contain. Welcome to the unsettling world of AI worms, where, [...]

Following a report last week that Netflix was planning to lay off five percent of the company, today the streamer's co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters announced in an email that it would actually be laying off six percent of its workforce, or around 1,000 employees, according to Variety, which obtained a copy of the [...]

There are several deals happening right now on video games and gaming-related tech that are worth sharing. To start, this month's Humble Choice drop of Steam PC games is really good. The $14.99 per month service is offering subscribers Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Price of Persia: The Lost Crown, Psychonauts 2, Deep [...]