The Verge

Garmin just took the wraps off its new line of rugged Fenix 9 smartwatches, with the base model featuring an OLED display with a brightness of up to 3,000 nits, making it twice as bright as its predecessor. Starting at $999.99 for the 43mm case option, the Fenix 9 has 50 percent more RAM and [...]

In the span of a few hours on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would be implementing a fee of over $103,000 on H-1B visas, and news broke that the State Department plans on revoking the visas of up to 200,000 asylum seekers - which, according to The Associated Press, would be [...]

If you watched the Gamescom 2026 announcements, you might have caught a trailer for the bizarre, frenetic Pony Island 2: Panda Circus, a game from Daniel Mullins. In case you haven't heard of him, get a crash course with a fantastic discount on Inscryption. Humble is currently selling Steam versions of the secret-packed deckbuilder for [...]

CD Projekt Red is remastering The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the hit RPG that first launched in 2015, and the updated game will be available starting September 29th. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered will bring improvements to visuals and combat, a "reimagined" skill tree, and more, and it also includes the first two [...]

Dreame, the Chinese vacuum company that aspires to be a global technology giant, is reportedly shutting down its automotive project after funding from the government dried up. According to CarNewsChina, the company's automotive division called "Project Starry Sky" once employed over 1,000 people, but now only a handful legal and HR staffers remain, charged with [...]

The new Designed for Xbox 25th Anniversary collection features a handful of limited edition gadgets available for pre-order today. Paying homage to the Halo special edition of the original Xbox, almost everything in the collection is translucent "OG Green," matching the Xbox Series X25 limited edition console it announced in June at E3. That includes [...]

Bose may be best known for its QuietComfort headphones, but the brand's Bluetooth speakers have earned a great reputation for featuring great sound and build quality. The compact Bose SoundLink Micro - its most compact Bluetooth speaker - is currently discounted to $79.99 at Amazon, a pretty great discount from its usual $129 price tag. [...]

The Geoff Keighley-hosted Opening Night Live event at Gamescom just wrapped up. Arguably the biggest announcement was the closer: a remastered version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt from CD Projekt Red that's launching in September. But the show also featured a bunch of trailers for others games, including Gears of War: E-Day, Capcom's upcoming [...]

Instagram is launching a new Reels-editing feature that automatically trims your video clips to focus on the highlights. The feature, called First Draft, is rolling out to Instagram's iPhone app and provides a "starting point" that you can build upon with other edits, according to an announcement on Tuesday. An example shared by Instagram shows [...]

With the new design of Nothing OS 5.0, app icons and widgets can use adaptive color to get color tints pulled from your wallpaper, which update whenever your wallpaper changes. Alongside Android's built-in Dynamic Colors, the company says it allows you to have specific elements change to match your wallpaper "while Nothing's predominantly monochrome character [...]

Nvidia's GeForce Now cloud gaming service will officially support Valve's Steam Controller and Steam Machine starting later this year. With Steam Controller support, you'll be able to play games with Valve's great new gamepad when using the GeForce Now app on your Steam Deck or Steam Machine. If you're using GeForce Now on Windows or [...]

Polestar said the Trump administration strung it along for months before finally rejecting its request to continue selling its electric vehicles in the US under a rule outlawing vehicles with connected software from China. In an August 18th letter sent to dealers and obtained by The Verge, Polestar said it doesn't have a clear answer [...]

Apple just dropped a new polishing cloth, and unlike its refreshed Mac Mini models, it comes with a price cut, as spotted earlier by MacRumors. The polishing cloth is still "made with soft, nonabrasive material" but costs $9 instead of $19. It doesn't look like anything else has changed, as the description matches an archived [...]

OpenAI says its new AI chip, Jalapeno, completes tasks more efficiently and returns responses faster than other AI systems, according to a blog post published on Tuesday. During a briefing with reporters, OpenAI hardware vice president Richard Ho said Jalapeno offers the "best of both worlds" with lower latency and higher throughput, as AI systems [...]

Apple has announced two new processors, the M6 and M5 Ultra, as well as updated Mac Mini and Mac studio machines powered by them. The new machines are already available for preorder directly from Apple, with shipping for most configurations starting on September 22nd, 2026. The Mac Mini starts at $899, $300 more than the [...]

Nintendo didn't design its Switch dock with travel in mind. Genki's Covert Dock is a much smaller alternative my family has been using to connect our Switch to hotel TVs for years, but I've come to realize I much prefer having a stand for the console when using it this way. So when it came [...]

Uber is updating its teen account feature to allow parents to use the selfie cameras on Uber drivers' phones to check in on their teenage children during ridehail trips. Since first launching teen accounts in 2023, Uber has touted the myriad ways parents can keep tabs on their children, from PIN verification to live GPS [...]

Apple has announced a new M6 chip for Macs, along with an M5 Ultra that it says is its "most powerful chip ever," designed for tasks like 3D rendering and running frontier AI models. The M6 is Apple's first 2nm chip, which Apple says will bring improvements in performance and power efficiency, and it also [...]

Apple is announcing a new generation of the Mac Mini, once again offering two models: one with a new M6 chip and a higher-end model with the M5 Pro found in this year's MacBook Pro. The new Minis have the same tiny design and footprint as the 2024 M4 / M4 Pro models, but with [...]

Apple is announcing new models of the Mac Studio, now using the existing M5 Max and a new M5 Ultra. This reunification under one chip generation comes over a year after Apple awkwardly split the Studio between M4 Max and M3 Ultra offerings. (The older sounding M3 Ultra was actually the more powerful one, and [...]

The Asus Xbox Ally X20 looked like it could be one of the best handheld gaming PCs yet made - but originally, Asus wanted you to buy a bundle pairing it with pricy AR glasses. In July, we told you that bundle would no longer be necessary, and today it's official: you can pre-order a [...]

Without thinking, I scribbled over what I'd just written. It's what I would have done if I was writing with pen and paper. But I didn't have a pen in my hand; my canvas was an LCD and the letters on my page were just pixels. Score one point to the TCL Note A1. TCL's [...]

The current EV market is flush with variety. I've driven single-motor economy-minded machines, dual-motor EVs with all-wheel drive, tri-motor vehicles that dial up the performance stakes, and even wild quad-motor performance cars, like the Rimac Nevera. But this is the first time I've ever driven a five-motor EV, one with the agility and speed to [...]

Alabama's attorney general issued a subpoena to OpenAI on Monday as part of an investigation into how one of its AI agents escaped a supposedly secure testing environment and autonomously hacked another company last month. The investigation seeks to determine whether OpenAI's safety practices violated state consumer protection laws and pose a risk to Alabama [...]

Google is rolling out a new Android feature that's been proven to reduce, or even eliminate, motion sickness when using a phone inside a moving vehicle. Dubbed Motion Assist by Google, it's very similar to Apple's Motion Cues, first introduced in 2024. The Android 17 feature appears to be rolling out in phases, with some [...]

When a company's software update turns your computer into a useless brick, should fixes be free? Framework, the modular computer startup, apparently thinks so. But it's not clear that computing giant Lenovo will go that far. Three weeks after a Redditor presented a nearly $300 repair bill for their handheld gaming PC - among other [...]

The creator of the world's first 3D-printed gun claims he's developed a way to thwart government-mandated software meant to block 3D printers from making firearms. It's an opening volley in what's shaping up to be an evolving battle between regulators trying to stem the tide of ghost guns and individuals trying to create workarounds. Cody [...]

The FTC and Zillow have announced a settlement that ends the case alleging that a 2025 "partnership" between Zillow and Redfin violated antitrust laws. The FTC had alleged Zillow agreed to pay Redfin to syndicate its listings, while Redfin would end its own advertising contracts and promise not to compete with Zillow for multifamily listings. [...]

Robotaxis are expanding. So is the fight over the rules governing them. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul withdrew a proposal earlier this year that would have opened the door to driverless robotaxis outside New York City after taxi drivers, unions, and state lawmakers opposed it. Six months later, commercial driverless service remains illegal in [...]

CD Projekt Red is aiming to launch The Witcher 4 sometime in 2028, joint CEO Micha Nowakowski says in a new video. CD Projekt Red has been working on its next mainline Witcher title for years and has shown videos of it, but now the studio is providing a target release window for when the [...]

ESPN is hiking the price of its subscription on September 17th, a change that will also impact its bundles with Disney Plus. In a support page spotted earlier by Sports Media Watch, ESPN says its ad-supported Select membership will cost $13.99 instead of $12.99 / month, while its Unlimited plan will rise to $31.99 from [...]

Raspberry Pi's head of social, Ashley Whittaker, acknowledged the cyberdeck trend today, saying "we haven't been able to get away from cyberdecks this year." Tiny portable computers made out of things like purses, jewelry boxes, and other thrifted or recycled parts have gone viral on TikTok and other social media platforms over the past year, [...]

Apple's four-pack of second-generation AirTags is down to $79 (originally $99) at Amazon and at Target, which is the bundle's lowest price yet. You can get an AirTag for $24 right now piecemeal, but getting four together as a set is a way to save even more. Why pay $96 for four when you can [...]

GrapheneOS, an open source version of Android that prioritizes security and privacy, has detailed its plans for supporting Motorola smartphones. Official support is set to arrive next year, starting with traditional flagships, before rolling out to Motorola's foldable phones and perhaps cheaper models, eventually. In a Mastodon thread, the GrapheneOS Foundation announced that it will [...]

The 9.58-second 100-meter dash record set by Usain Bolt in 2009 has been outpaced by Chinese robots participating at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing. In a preliminary heat on Saturday, Tiangong Ultra, made by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, ran the distance in 9.39 seconds, followed by the Honor-developed Lightning at 9.47 [...]

It's been over a decade and two console generations since GTA V came out, and its sequel is still a work in progress. GTA VI has faced multiple delays, with developer Rockstar Games bumping back its predicted release date twice, first to May 26th, 2026, then again to November 19th, 2026, a full year after [...]

Jane Schoenbrun's latest film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, is making a splash in theaters right now. So it seems like the perfect time to revisit their first film, We're All Going to the World's Fair. I fell in love with this film when I first saw it at Sundance in 2021. We [...]

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on GTA VI and the state of the video game industry, follow Andrew Webster. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Four years ago, fans [...]

I remember having a Spirograph as a kid and being obsessed with it. Its geometric patterns are hypnotic and gorgeous. I also love generative music composition. So bringing those two things together in a browser tab, I'm hooked. Musical Spirograph is a relatively simple concept. A set of points dash around the screen according to [...]

W. Kamau Bell is one of those people who has always just seemed to be there. From Totally Biased, to Politically Re-Active, United Shades of America, and We Need to Talk About Cosby, his blend of comedy, social commentary, and political activism has helped him stand out. He's won a Peabody and four Emmys, been [...]

Citing "significant increases in memory and storage component costs," Amazon has raised prices on Echos, Kindles, Fire TVs, and Eeros by up to 60 percent, as first reported by Fortune. The cheapest products in Amazon's lineup were hit hardest, with the Echo Dot smart speaker jumping from $49.99 to $79.99. The Fire TV Stick 4K [...]

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 141, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, I'm newish here too, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been getting back into the Installer groove, trying out some ergonomic Switch [...]

I am so sorry, fellow US gadget fans: the FCC's drone ban appears to have struck again. The HoverAir Versa - a baby steadycam with snap-on propeller wings that transform it into a drone - has already stopped taking US orders just three days after its Indiegogo debut, and may be forced to abandon shipping [...]

The US Department of Justice announced on Friday that TikTok will pay $400 million to settle a lawsuit filed in 2024 over allegedly violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In the lawsuit, the DOJ alleged that TikTok collected data from children without notifying parents or obtaining consent and did not delete the accounts [...]

LinkedIn actually announced a "Seems like AI slop" button on July 30th, and the company says that a lot of people have already used it. According to a Thursday post from chief product officer Hari Srinivasan, "over a million people" have clicked on the button, which is accessible from the three dots menu on a [...]

Apple is laying off staff on the Siri and the Vision Pro teams, according to Bloomberg. The cuts include "largely shutting down" a Vision Pro gaming team and "reducing the size" of the team that makes Vision Pro immersive content, the publication says. More than 200 jobs were cut. Apple said in a statement to [...]

The best gift card deal we've spotted this year is happening Saturday, August 22nd, at Best Buy stores for one day only. In celebration of the retailer's 60th anniversary, you can purchase a $100 Best Buy gift card for $60. The deal is only good for as long as supplies last at your local store, [...]

Walmart will soon allow you to pay for your items with Google Pay or Apple Pay. In an announcement on Friday, Walmart says it's going to bring tap-to-pay capabilities to "select" Walmart and Sam's Club locations starting August 24th, before rolling out support to all US stores by the end of 2026 and gas stations [...]

Following several apparent video leaks of Grand Theft Auto VI, Take-Two Interactive has subpoenaed Microsoft and Discord over content that "infringes copyrights" held for the game, Kotaku reports. In the subpoenas, filed on Thursday, Take-Two says copyrighted material includes "audiovisual content, artwork, images, dialogue, or other creative elements" and it is looking to identify "alleged [...]