The Verge

If you like the idea of spring cleaning but not the part where you actually have to clean, both the Ecovacs Deebot X8 Pro Omni and newerX9 Pro Omnihave dropped to their lowest prices to date ahead of Amazon's Big Spring Sale, which officially kicks off on March 25th. The X8 Pro Omni is available [...]

Social media platforms are currently awash with conspiracy theories claiming that Benjamin Netanyahu has been killed or injured and replaced by AI-generated deepfakes. Between clips that supposedly show the Israeli Prime Minister sporting extra fingers and drinking from a bottomless, gravity-defying cup of coffee, only one thing is apparent: reality used to be much easier [...]

Nvidia added two leading Chinese automakers, BYD and Geely, to its robotaxi program, as the chipmaker seeks to put its stamp on the growing autonomous vehicle market worldwide. At its GTC conference today, Nvidia announced that BYD and Geely, as well as Isuzu and Nissan, would use the chipmaker's Drive Hyperion platform, which combines the [...]

You know Olaf. Before KPop Demon Hunters, before the Wicked movies, it was Disney's Frozen that blasted show tunes like "Let It Go" and "Into the Unknown" into our lives. My little girls loved belting those tunes. So when I met Olaf, the Disney Imagineering robot, I kept thinking: I can't wait for my kids [...]

Sony's upgraded PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) technology is rolling out to several titles on the PS5 Pro, including Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Silent Hill 2, and more. Digital Foundry got a chance to test some of them and found that the "new upscaler delivers the kind of upgrade we were looking for [...]

On Friday, Encyclopedia Britannica and dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster filed a lawsuit against OpenAI alleging that it used their copyrighted content to train its AI, then generated responses that were "substantially similar" to their content, as previously reported by Reuters. According to Britannica, OpenAI repeatedly copied its content without permission, stating, "GPT-4 itself has 'memorized' much [...]

Since Amazon rolled out its redesigned Fire TV OS, Amazon's latest streaming sticks are even better than ever. And right now, both the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Fire TV Stick 4K Plus are back at their best prices yet during Amazon's early Big Spring Sale event. You can buy the Fire TV Stick [...]

While Amazon's previous lineup of Echo speakers and smart displays was boring, frankly, its late 2025 hardware refresh brought better hardware, improved performance, and Alexa Plus to several models. If you feel like your room(s) could benefit from speakers to deliver tunes, audiobooks, or podcasts to more corners of your home, or screens to show [...]

Apple has just announced the AirPods Max 2 with better noise cancellation and sound quality. The second generation of Apple's over-ear headphones starts at $549 and comes equipped with an H2 chip that powers a bunch of new features, including AI-powered live translation, which translates speech to your preferred language in real-time. As noted by [...]

Last week, a few posts about a so-called virtual "embodied fly" tore through X, boosted by AI hype accounts and excited commenters who didn't seem to understand what it was they were excited about. The videos came from San Francisco-based Eon Systems, which says it's working toward "digital human intelligence" and claims it wants to [...]

If you've already given your iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max a retro '80s facelift with Spigen's Macintosh 128K and Apple Lisa-inspired Classic LS cases, you might as well make your wireless earbuds match. But instead of making the AirPods Pro 3 look like a decades-old desktop computer, Spigen's case turns them into a replica [...]

OpenAI's delayed "adult mode" for ChatGPT is expected to support saucy text conversations at launch, but not the chatbot's ability to generate images, voice, or video. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, an unnamed OpenAI spokesperson described content that will be provided by the upcoming feature as smut rather than pornography, allowing ChatGPT users to [...]

One of the first major crashes I experienced as a chronically ill person happened on an unusually sunny January day in New York City. It was 2023, and I was riding my bike with a friend, flying high from the exercise. We'd covered just over 40 miles on mostly flat ground, a longish ride, but [...]

Aether OS puts a full-fledged desktop in your browser that ties directly into the AT Protocol. That means it connects to your Bluesky account and other public records. It offers a pretty full suite of apps, 42 in total, covering text editing, task management, and social media. There's even a rudimentary tracker for making chiptunes, [...]

Shout out to subscriber N_Gorski for today's pick. They popped into the comments on last week's recommendation to ask what I thought of the new Sotomayor record. Well, I hadn't actually heard it yet, but now I'm obsessed. The group consists of siblings Raul and Paulina Sotomayor from Mexico City. Wabi Sabi is their first [...]

David Sacks, the White House's AI and crypto czar, has warned that a continued war in Iran could be catastrophic. On the All In podcast, Sacks said that "we should try to find the off-ramp." He expressed concern that Iran could demolish oil and gas infrastructure across the Middle East, but more alarmingly, that it [...]

If you've got strong creative instincts, the ability to authentically portray emotion, and are capable of staying true to a character's voice throughout a scene, there's a job listing calling for your experience. The catch: You won't be performing in a theater, a film studio, or an underground performance space. You'd be using your talents [...]

Samsung promised "more than a design refresh" for its new top-end Galaxy Buds - it added upgraded woofers for improved, dual-amped hi-fi sound, a new blade design, clearer call performance, and better noise cancellation. Ultimately, while the $249.99 Galaxy Buds 4 aren't a huge leap forward over the previous model, they keep what was good [...]

In 2020 and 2021, the social media world seemed to be on the verge of complete change. A new app called TikTok was ascendant, bringing a whole new kind of vertical video to phones everywhere. And another app - not as popular, but growing fast, and already hugely influential among the tech set - looked [...]

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the slow-motion disaster of live-service games, follow Andrew Webster. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Two years ago, I stood at the top [...]

Last fall, President Donald Trump's executive order raising the fee for H-1B visas to $100,000 - like many of his immigration policies - led to near-immediate chaos. Thousands of workers who had flown overseas to renew their visas ended up stranded abroad. Details about who would be affected only emerged after the fact. Six months [...]

In September, Donald Trump claimed that "the United States is getting a tremendous fee" for brokering the TikTok deal. Now sources tell the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times that fee is expected to be in the range of $10 billion. The money is supposedly being paid by new investors, including Oracle and [...]

According to Reuters, Meta is looking to offset spending on AI and data centers with a massive round of layoffs. Sources familiar with the matter say the company could lay off as much as 20 percent of its staff, eliminating roughly 15,800 positions. That would be the largest series of layoffs at the company since [...]

Happy Saturday, all! This week, we found a number of deals that should help you unwind and relax over the next few days (and beyond). If you're planning to stream the Oscars on Sunday, there's still time to take advantage of a great deal on Hulu and Disney Plus, as well as Google's latest 4K [...]

Though it was weird to see the Golden Globes partner with Polymarket for its most recent awards show, the collaboration wasn't shocking given the way that people have begun using prediction markets to gamble on basically anything. Prediction markets are being used to bet on everything from when wars might break out to who will [...]

You may recognize Jonathan Djob Nkondo's work from animated projects like the surreal sci-fi series Scavengers Reign or the recent Gorillaz short film The Mountain, The Moon Cave and The Sad God. But before that the French artist and animator made self-published comics that depicted strange alien worlds and future societies. Now he's revisiting that [...]

The Cetra Open Wireless aren't like most other gaming earbuds. They're large, with an open-style design that rests just outside of your ears, letting game audio mix with sounds in your environment. These allow for immersion, but only if your environment is quiet enough. And turning them up might let those nearby hear what you're [...]

"Someone might be watching everything I'm doing on my screen," I tell myself in public. Even when I'm doing nothing of consequence - just making my little Wordle guesses - there's a sense of unease that stays with me. It's never bothered me too much, and I generally save the sensitive stuff like banking for [...]

I just got back from the GDC Festival of Gaming, a big industry-focused event in San Francisco that was formerly known as the Game Developers Conference. While the show is mostly about educational sessions and networking opportunities for working developers, there were also a bunch of games that I got to play. Here are some [...]

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 119, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope your agents are well, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading about Pixar's future and flight MH370 and sports gambling [...]

Some European retailers have stopped selling certain headphones after an EU-funded study found that they contained hormone-disrupting chemicals. The study included leading brands such as Apple, Beats, Samsung, Bose, JBL, and Sennheiser. Online stores Bol.com, Coolblue, and Mediamarkt didn't respond to inquiries from The Verge about which headphones they pulled, but local news outlets report [...]

The Live Nation-Ticketmaster trial is back on. Dozens of states are expected to move forward with their claims against the company's alleged concert industry monopoly beginning on Monday, following a brief hearing on Friday. The Justice Department and a handful of states have accepted settlements with the company, but the majority of the 40 state [...]

Spotify Premium users in New Zealand will be the first to experience the service's latest personalization feature. The company is letting users view and make changes to their Taste Profile directly. If your algorithm is serving up too much Bieber, you can politely tell the algorithm to ease up. Beta testers will be able to [...]

Xbox is getting ready to launch its Gaming Copilot AI assistant on "current-generation consoles" this year, according to a report from GamesRadar. Sonali Yadav, Xbox's product manager for gaming AI, revealed the news during a panel at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), adding that the company will also add the assistant to "more services that [...]

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. This week, I wanted to see how Trump Mobile stacks up to its conservative carrier competition. Trump Mobile isn't unique. I mean, it is in some pretty specific senses - it's not every day the president's family launches a phone company while [...]

It's only been a year since Digg founder Kevin Rose, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, and a few others announced the link-sharing site would relaunch, promising a "social discovery built by communities, not by algorithms." Now, two months after opening its Reddit-like platform to the public, Digg is announcing a "hard reset" that's shutting down operations [...]

Instagram will no longer support end-to-end encrypted messages starting May 8th. In a statement to The Verge, Meta spokesperson Dina El-Kassaby Luce says the platform is discontinuing the feature because "very few people" were using E2EE in their DMs. Instagram has begun notifying impacted users about the change inside its app, and has also posted [...]

I'm not entirely sure why the Pixel 10A exists. Google hasn't upgraded the chipset, cameras, or battery in the new phone, and the tweaks it's made elsewhere are minimal at best. The flatter camera island is good, I guess! In one sense this isn't a big problem: The Pixel 9A is an excellent device, and [...]

Mobile gaming has come a long way over the course of the last decade or so, but we all know that smartphones simply can't match the visceral, tactile feel you get while playing with a dedicated controller. Luckily, Backbone makes some excellent mobile options - including last year's Backbone Pro, which is on sale at [...]

Adobe says it will pay $75 million to resolve a lawsuit filed by the US government alleging that the creative software giant harmed consumers by making its subscriptions intentionally hard to cancel and concealing termination fees. The payment aims to resolve the complaint raised in June 2024, in which the US Justice Department accused Adobe [...]

If you've ever wanted more control over what goes into your ice cream, the Ninja Creami 5in1 Ice Cream Maker makes it easy. The ice cream maker lets you whip up dessert exactly as you want it from the comfort of your home, and right now it's on sale for $169 ($30 off) at Walmart. [...]

Starting April 10th, Amazon's ad-free Prime Video subscription will be rebranded as Ultra as its price increases to $4.99 per month from the current $2.99. Once it launches, it will also be the "exclusive" way to access 4K/UHD streaming, removing 4K streaming access from Prime subscribers who don't pay extra. Paying the extra five bucks [...]

They may be great for fan engagement and selling ads, but the Big 12 has decided to replace the innovative glass-covered LED floors at Kansas City's T-Mobile Center with a traditional hardwood finish. It will be used for the remainder of the tournament during semifinal matches and the championship game. The LED floors, which were [...]

On Thursday, Rivian revealed its most important vehicle to date: the R2, a midsize SUV that eventually will start at under $50,000. As a distinctive EV with an attractive sticker price, the R2 is designed to take Rivian to the next level. In fact, the company is banking on it. If they succeed, then Rivian [...]

I upgraded from the Pixel A-series buds released in 2021 to the Pixel Buds Pro 2, and two things were immediately apparent: the A-series buds have no business sounding so good for their sub-$100 price, and the Pixel Buds Pro 2 were everything I wanted in a successor. They're even smaller and have a silicone [...]

Epic Games announced this week that Fortnite's in-game V-bucks currency would be getting more expensive with a somewhat glib statement: "The cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot and we're raising prices to help pay the bills," the company wrote. The price hike will go into effect on March 19th, the same day [...]

When you open your Peacock mobile app this summer, you might see a portal leading to the AI likeness of TV host Andy Cohen on your homepage. In an announcement on Friday, NBCUniversal said Cohen's avatar will serve as a guide through Peacock's "infinitely swipeable" feed of clips from Bravo shows, like Love Island, The [...]

Peacock is rolling out a native vertical video format for live sports, allowing you to watch games without turning your phone sideways. The feature will roll out to NBA games first this spring and will use an algorithm to track players and zoom in on the action. The launch of this feature comes just months [...]

It was a little surprising to see Apple decide to leap fully into the affordable laptop market, to try and compete with devices the company typically prefers to just look down its nose at. It was also a little surprising to see Apple basically nail it on the first try. On this episode of The [...]