The Verge

I'm not a drone guy. In fact, I've always been a bit nervous to play around with them too much. They're big, fragile, and expensive, which is a dangerous combination for someone with my hand-eye coordination. But I've always sort of wanted one, mostly because I've been jealous of the mid-air photos and videos I've [...]

Animal Crossing, like Kirby, has come back when it seems like the world needs it most. In 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons released on the Nintendo Switch. The game instantly became a smash hit, providing a much-needed place to safely gather with friends amidst the global shutdown of the covid-19 pandemic. In the almost six [...]

Microsoft is getting ready to show the first gameplay of Forza Horizon 6 next week, and it might also be ready to put a date on its release, too. X poster Xbox Infinite claims they received a Forza Horizon 6 preorder notification inside Forza Horizon 5, implying that the release date of the new title [...]

NBC Sports introduced a new AI-powered player tracking system that will let viewers on mobile devices zoom in and focus on their favorite athletes. It's the first time the viztrick AiDi technology, which was developed by Japan's Nippon Television Network, will be used by another broadcaster. NBC Sports plans to implement the feature for its [...]

Animal Crossing fans looking to return to the cozy island life can do so earlier than expected. While New Horizons' next major update, which brings the life sim game to version 3.0, was originally slated to launch on January 15th, it's now available to download. To be clear, this is not the paid Switch 2 [...]

As its sales continue to slip and its robotaxi strategy seems to falter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said today that the company would stop selling its Full Self-Driving feature as a standalone package. Instead, starting on February 14th, the Level 2 driver-assist system would be offered as a monthly subscription only. The news marks a [...]

Honda announced that the next-generation Acura RDX will be the brand's first SUV to feature a two-motor hybrid system. While this next-gen platform is under development, Honda said it would suspend production of the current RDX, which launched in 2018 and has sold nearly 740,000 units in the US. Honda confirmed that current RDX production [...]

Nvidia is rolling out a new app update today that includes its latest DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution and Nvidia Surround settings. DLSS 4.5 includes Nvidia's second-generation Super Resolution transformer model, designed to improve image quality and reduce the artifacting found in DLSS 4. While DLSS 4.5 was available in the beta version of the Nvidia [...]

Fujifilm is launching a new Instax Mini smartphone printer that produces finer details than its predecessors. The Instax Mini Link Plus features enhanced image processing compared to older Instax printers, and a similar industrial design to the Instax Mini Evo Cinema camera announced last week, which Fujifilm has now also revealed pricing for. The Instax [...]

The chief constable of one of Britain's largest police forces has admitted that Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant made a mistake in a football (soccer) intelligence report. The report, which led to Israeli football fans being banned from a match last year, included a nonexistent match between West Ham and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Copilot hallucinated the [...]

Hello and welcome to Regulator, a newsletter for Verge subscribers about the technology, broligarchs and brainrot rapidly transforming politics and civic society. Not subscribed to The Verge yet? You should! It can materially improve your life. Last week was a grim reminder that no matter what sort of horror is being perpetrated or how many [...]

President Donald Trump made an unconventional pick for his nomination to the Federal Trade Commission: WeatherTech founder and CEO David MacNeil. MacNeil founded the company, which makes weather-resistant car floor mats, in 1989, according to its website, and he owns 100 percent of the company. WeatherTech has made it a mission to keep its manufacturing [...]

You might find it kind of sad to put your hard-earned Switch 2 into a protective case. To me, it's freeing. Sure, it can take away from the slick design. But using a case relieves me of the worry that the console will accumulate tons of little scratches, or worse. I've tested several types of [...]

Because there was such a long gap between the releases of 28 Weeks Later and 28 Years Later, it was surprising to hear that writer-director duo Alex Garland and Danny Boyle already had plans for their latest collaboration to be the first chapter of a new horror trilogy. Sony seemed keen on fast-tracking the pair's [...]

The Senate passed a bill that could give people who've found their likeness deepfaked into sexually explicit images without their consent a new way to fight back. The Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act (DEFIANCE Act), would let victims sue the individuals who created the images for civil damages. The bill passed with [...]

Haven't you heard? Phones are boring now. And that's just fine! Most people buying a new phone just want something familiar that works better than the device they're replacing. If that's your MO, then you're sure to find something reliable in my recommendations below. But even if you're looking for something a little more extra, [...]

Mike Krieger, the Instagram cofounder who joined Anthropic two years ago as its chief product officer, is moving to a new focus at the AI startup: co-leading its internal incubator, dubbed the "Labs" team. The Anthropic Labs team started in mid-2024 with just two members; now, the company has decided to expand it, with a [...]

Whether you're wearing them for the morning commute, while traveling, or if you're simply trying to find some peace and quiet while working at home, noise-canceling headphones are a more essential piece of kit nowadays than ever before. And you've got a slew of great options to pick from; it's hard to make a bad [...]

The Trump administration announced last week that it wants Americans to consume more protein, churning out a colorful illustration of an inverted food pyramid that prominently features a big, red steak, a wedge of cheese, and a carton of whole milk at the top and claiming it's "ending the war on protein." It may seem [...]

Meta is laying off about 10 percent of its Reality Labs metaverse division, and the cuts include closing down some of its VR gaming studios. Twisted Pixel Games, the developer of Marvel's Deadpool VR, Sanzaru Games, the developer of the Asgard's Wrath franchise, and Armature Studio, which worked on the Resident Evil 4 VR port, [...]

The Lego Smart Brick won our Best in Show award at CES 2026, and it was no wonder after watching Lego designer Maarten Simons' expert demo there. So I thought: why not let you virtually attend the same tech demo I did? Before I left Las Vegas, I snuck back into Lego's suite to film [...]

Verizon can keep phones locked to its network for longer after the Federal Communications Commission agreed to waive the carrier's 60-day unlocking requirement, as reported by Ars Technica. Following this decision, Verizon must follow a looser set of guidelines set by the CTIA wireless trade group, which says carriers should only unlock a customer's postpaid [...]

Wireless phone chargers are now common in vehicles, but they're typically missing one very useful feature. Nissan announced last month that it will be the first automaker in the US to offer wireless chargers with a magnetic mount, ensuring charging coils remain aligned for faster charging of mobile devices, even while a vehicle is in [...]

Mercedes-Benz is pausing the roll-out of Drive Pilot, an "eyes off" conditionally automated driving feature that was available in Europe and the US. As first reported by German publication Handelsblatt, the revised S-Class will not have the Level 3 system when it arrives at the end of this month. Mercedes was one of the first [...]

Google is making its Veo 3.1 AI video model pay closer attention to the reference images you want generated clips to be based on. The company is releasing new visual improvements for the "Ingredients to Video" tool that was introduced last year, alongside expanding native vertical video support and resolution upscaling features. The Ingredients to [...]

Around 10 percent of Meta's Reality Labs division, which develops its XR products and services, will be laid off beginning on Tuesday, as reported by Bloomberg. Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton confirmed the layoffs in a statement to The Verge: "We said last month that we were shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward Wearables. [...]

If you compare the value proposition of getting one of Remarkable's Paper Pro E-Ink tablets versus buying a laptop, the latter will win in most scenarios. Laptops are more capable, with more ports, apps, and versatility - but they're much more distracting, too. Avoiding distractions during work or while writing for leisure isn't easy, and [...]

Apple has announced Apple Creator Studio, a new software suite for Apple products that bundles popular creative apps into an all-in-one subscription service. Apple Creator Studio will be available on the App Store on January 28th, and includes access to Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage - providing a rival [...]

Former NYC Mayor Eric Adams has come under fire after his new cryptocurrency token crashed just hours following its launch on Monday. As reported by CoinDesk, Adams' "NYC Token" hit a $580 million market capitalization at its peak before plummeting to around $130 million at this time of writing. Data from the blockchain analysis platform, [...]

Dreame, a Chinese company known for its unique robot vacuums and floor cleaners, expanded its offerings at CES 2026, such as a $700 floor lamp that doubled as a hair dryer. But more interesting is the debut of the company's first action camera. The Leaptic Cube features a design similar to the DJI Osmo Nano [...]

A little over a year ago, Marvel spent the better part of an entire day slowly revealing the massive cast for Avengers: Doomsday. More recently, the studio started dropping teaser trailers featuring some of the movie's more notable superhero team-ups and returning characters. There was already plenty of hype around the project, which seems poised [...]

It looks like the wave of campaigns against data centers are getting under big tech companies' skin - and Microsoft is the latest giant to promise to address frustrations on the ground in communities around their data centers. The company announced a five-point plan today that it calls "Community-First AI Infrastructure." That includes paying more [...]

We spent last week running to meetings, demos, and the convention floors to see as much as we could at CES 2026. And now that we've (sort of) recovered, it's time to answer any questions you still have. Did we replace Dom with his clone? Did Jen survive a robot falling on her? Is Vee [...]

For years, Apple and Google have had a will-they-won't-they type of relationship, as far as which AI company Apple would pick to underpin its Siri virtual assistant and give it new AI-fueled personalization and agentic capabilities. Apple has spent the last year or two playing the field, reportedly considering working with OpenAI or Anthropic to [...]

The most interesting story at this year's CES was just a little tiny bundle of technology. One way to look at Lego's new Smart Brick is as something like a Raspberry Pi, an endlessly remixable gizmo with infinite hacking potential - it can be anything, in the best possible way. Another way to look at [...]

Insta360 has announced new Pro versions of its Link 2 and Link 2C webcams that first launched in September 2024. As with the previous versions, the new Link 2 Pro and 2C Pro can track the movements of onscreen subjects to ensure they're always in frame, making them ideal for those presenting on a video [...]

The PC market is bracing for a turbulent year ahead, but shipments managed to exceed expectations in the recent holiday quarter. IDC reports that shipments grew nearly 10 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, reaching 76.4 million in total. Microsoft's end of Windows 10 support undoubtedly helped push PC shipments up, but IDC [...]

Microsoft is removing its Lens scanner app from iOS and Android in the coming months. Microsoft Lens, or Office Lens as it's known to most, will no longer be supported on February 9th, and the app won't be functional after March 9th. The portable scanner features of Lens are available in OneDrive instead, making a [...]

Robot vacuums are impressive devices that will clean your floors well and - thanks to bigger batteries and better robot brains - rarely get tired of doing their job. Over the last few years, these floor-sweeping bots have gone from utilitarian devices to full-fledged home robots that vacuum and mop your home, clean themselves, and [...]

A UK employment tribunal rejected a request from fired Rockstar Games employees to receive interim pay while waiting for a full hearing about their dismissal, according to Bloomberg and IGN. After Rockstar fired 34 employees last year - 31 from the UK and three from Canada - the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) [...]

Just weeks after raising the price of its RAM modules, Framework has announced that it's also increasing the price of its desktop PC in response to the global memory shortage. The Framework Desktop with 32GB of RAM and an AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 chip now starts at $1,139, instead of $1,099. "We held off [...]

Meta's Reality Labs team is expected to lose around 10 percent of its staff, with layoffs concentrated on the division's metaverse employees, as reported by The New York Times. The layoffs are apparently a side effect of Meta's AI ambitions, which are pulling focus away from its virtual reality division. According to the Times, Meta's [...]

If you're planning on traveling at all this year, the Baseus EnerCore CG11 Universal Travel Adapter is worth a look. The adapter can power up to six devices at once, and now through the end of today, January 12th, it's on sale for just $34.19 (about $36 off) at Amazon, matching the all-time low price [...]

The UK is bringing a law into force that makes creating nonconsensual intimate deepfake images, like the ones that have proliferated on X because of the Grok AI chatbot, a criminal offense, as reported by the BBC. "The Data Act, passed last year, made it a criminal offence to create - or request the creation [...]

It's a weird time in the Stranger Things community. Following a monthslong lead-up to a finale that was so big it screened in theaters, the show's superfans have been spending their time dissecting the fifth season in order to prove that a hidden ninth episode is coming that represents the true ending of Stranger Things. [...]

Anthropic wants to expand Claude's AI agent capabilities and take advantage of the growing hype around Claude Code - and it's doing it with a brand-new feature released Monday, dubbed "Claude Cowork." "Cowork can take on many of the same tasks that Claude Code can handle, but in a more approachable form for non-coding tasks," [...]

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is making kids' online safety a cornerstone of her administration, and she's eyeing a platform that has often flown under the radar: Roblox. As progress in Congress has stagnated, states have become the primary drivers of internet reforms meant to protect kids, including age verification laws and new requirements for [...]

The Nintendo Switch 2 can be enjoyed right out of the box, but it's even better with the right accessories. Some of these add-ons are more crucial than others, especially if you're deciding what to buy early on. For example, a case and a screen protector can keep your console safe from scuffs, scratches, and [...]

The path forward for the Democratic party after its 2024 defeat includes less tech influence and more populist policies, according to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Warren delivered this message in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on Monday, where she charted a vision for the future of a party that's still [...]

Homeowners in search of grid independence have another option today with the launch of Anker's Solix E10 big-ass battery system. It joins companies like Tesla and EcoFlow in offering whole-home backup solutions in the US market meant to counter blackouts and reduce monthly energy bills, or even eliminate them completely. The base $4,299 E10 system [...]