The Verge

Rec Room, a Roblox-like social gaming platform that lets users create games and experiences for others to play, is shutting down on June 1st. Despite reaching more than 150 million players and creators and, at one point, being valued at $3.5 billion, the company says in a blog post that "we never quite figured out [...]

Amazon's Big Spring Sale is underway, so naturally, a lot of the deals are geared toward the season, including plenty of gadgets to help with spring cleaning. We've already rounded up a selection of great robot vacuum deals, but they're just one part of a much broader swath of Verge-approved tools that can make tidying [...]

There are so many great smart locks out there. But one of best models that iPhone owners should consider buying now is Aqara's U400, which offers hands-free unlocking when you get close enough. It has Apple's U1 ultra-wideband chip integrated to authenticate you and unlock the door hands-free, so all that you have to do [...]

For iPhone owners, the AirPods Pro 3 are a fantastic all-around set of wireless earbuds, even for working out. Their value is especially tough to beat at $199.99; however, even with five sizes of silicone tips, they aren't the best fit for some people, or for some kinds of workouts. If earbuds tend to fall [...]

iPhone and Android users might be able to make interoperable video calls through their messaging apps - eventually. Last week, the GSM Association (GSMA) announced that the finalized RCS Universal Profile 4.0 standard will let users turn 1-to-1 or group RCS chats into video calls thanks to a feature called MessagingInitiated Video Calls (MIVC). "MIVC [...]

Robot vacuums are great for keeping floors clean on a regular basis, but they don't catch everything. If you're looking for a tool to handle the finer details your robovac might miss - room corners, edges, hard stairs, entryways, etc. - Dyson's PencilVac Fluffycones is one of the lightest, most versatile stick vacuums you can [...]

Although paper is a more environmentally friendly packaging material than plastic, it's often contaminated with additives, such as adhesives used to create a secure seal. That complicates the recycling process and reduces the quality of recycled paper. Now, German researchers at four Fraunhofer institutes have developed an alternative process that can seal paper packaging without [...]

The launch of the Google Pixel 11 is still months away, but leaked renders shared by Android Headlines may give us an idea of what to expect. Based on the images, the Pixel 11 could come with slimmer bezels than its predecessor, along with a completely black rear camera bar. The Pixel 10, which launched [...]

It may be the end of March, but gaming companies are already getting ready for the summer. First up is Xbox, which just announced that it will be holding its next major showcase event on June 7th. That's a typical window for Microsoft - last year's edition took place on June 8th - and fits [...]

It was January 2008, and Steve Jobs had just pulled the MacBook Air out of a manila envelope onstage at Macworld. Within minutes, Windows PC executives everywhere lost their minds. They grabbed the nearest office envelope, tried to shove in their plastic laptops, and tore straight through the paper. Engineers were summoned. Assistants were dispatched [...]

It's 1989. To play a video, listen to a song, or show photos on a desktop computer requires bolting on expensive hardware, built by a different company, using different software. There are no standards, no portability, no sharing. Tyler Peppel, Apple product marketer: It should have been a natural area for Apple to be in, [...]

Fifty years ago, on April 1st, 1976, Apple Computer Company was founded. Today it's one of the most valuable companies in the world, celebrated for producing ubiquitous products like the iPad and iPhone to now-nostalgia bait like the iPod Mini and PowerBook. Over the last five decades, the company has seen ups and downs but [...]

In 2025, Patrick McGee published Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company, a deeply-reported look at the tech giant's investment in - and growing reliance on - China. The following excerpt, pulled from Chapter 9 of Apple in China, examines the company's relationship with Foxconn, today the infamous builder of iPhones. Foxconn [...]

Vivo has launched the X300 Ultra in China today, the company's latest flagship that really puts the "camera" in cameraphone. The device is "designed for professional photography," according to Vivo's press release, and features a set of Zeiss camera lenses that are optimized for specific shooting styles, including telephoto close-ups, wide-angle, and videography. My colleague [...]

When you think of Apple, you probably think of the iPhone, or maybe the Mac, or perhaps you've got fond memories of the iPod. But Apple's 50-year run of creating tech products that people fall in love with - sometimes a lot of people, sometimes just a hardy few - would never have happened if [...]

KitchenAid calls its new Artisan Plus Stand Mixer the biggest upgrade to the appliance since 1955. If you've ever been frustrated by the limited speed settings on the brand's iconic mixers, you might agree. Not only does the new Artisan Plus introduce an additional half-speed setting for gently folding and incorporating ingredients like egg whites [...]

If you want to feel truly invincible when driving in the snow, you need a set of studded snow tires. They're illegal in some places, typically restricted to the frigid months of the year in others. Spring for a set, though, and they'll see you through the worst, slipperiest, snowiest driving conditions you can imagine. [...]

"I'm pleased to report to you that Apple's back on track." It was May of 1998, and Steve Jobs was about 10 months into his second stint leading the company he'd cofounded more than two decades earlier. (It was also a bit more than a decade after that company forced him out.) Jobs took the [...]

AI has touched every part of the music industry, from sample sourcing and demo recording, to serving up digital liner notes and building playlists. There are technical and legal challenges, fierce ethical debates, and fears that the slop will simply crush working musicians through sheer volume. Is it art or just an output? What exactly [...]

The latest app from the team behind Bluesky is Attie, an AI assistant that lets you build your own algorithm. At the Atmosphere conference, Bluesky's former CEO, Jay Graber, and CTO Paul Frazee, unveiled Attie, which is powered by Anthropic's Claude and built on top of Bluesky's underlying AT Protocol (atproto). Attie allows users to [...]

It's rare for a movie to get technology right. And it's even rarer for that movie to be a thriller or horror, where realism takes a backseat to scares and tension. But Red Rooms mostly gets it. Nothing takes me out of a film quicker than a tech MacGuffin that might as well be literal [...]

Amazon loves to manufacture an event. March is historically a dry spell for deals; however, with Amazon's third annual Big Spring Sale, which runs through March 31st, the retail behemoth is hoping to lure in would-be shoppers with the promise of steep(ish) savings and discounts on more seasonal, spring-centric items to hold folks over until [...]

The $50 Epilogue GB Operator has a brand-new trick up its sleeve. In addition to backing up Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges and saves to a PC (and writing saves back to carts again!), it can now plug into your phone with a brand-new Retrace app for Android and iOS. [...]

In the coming years, HBO wants its new Harry Potter series to become "the streaming event of the decade" as it adapts each of the franchise's seven original books. The show could very well become a hit that captures the imaginations of a new generation of fans who weren't there for the first wave of [...]

Bird feeders have come a long way since their inception in the early 1900s. These days, it's not all that surprising to see feeders kitted out with cameras and solar roofs, two marquee features you'll find on feeders from both BirdBuddy and Netvue. And while modern hoppers can command a pretty penny, Amazon's Big Spring [...]

Apple's most legendary computer has two legacies: there's the computer itself, and there's the commercial. That commercial. Only a couple of days before Steve Jobs debuted the computer that would both help cement his legacy and contribute to his unceremonious exile from Apple, the company dropped a Super Bowl ad that is still one of [...]

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the legal travails of Big Tech, follow Adi Robertson. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started The year was 1998, and reigning personal computer [...]

Suno just released one of its biggest updates yet with v5.5 of its AI music model. Where previous updates focused mostly on improving fidelity and creating more natural vocals, v5.5 is about giving users more control. It includes three new features: Voices, My Taste, and Custom Models. In the release notes, Suno says that Voices [...]

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless came out almost four years ago, yet it's still one of the best gaming headsets you can buy. Turns out, it's not easy for other companies to duplicate all that SteelSeries got right with this one - mixing multiple audio sources, active noise cancellation, a retractable mic, hot-swappable batteries, [...]

I've been struggling to tell whether the ads appearing in my TikTok feeds have been made with generative AI tools. As someone who spends a great deal of time scrutinizing images and videos for the usual "tells" that something was synthetically generated, some of the promotions I've seen have definitely sparked suspicion. For several weeks, [...]

Is social media not just bad, but illegally bad? Should tech companies pay for making it that way? According to two US juries - and no shortage of outside commentary - the answer to both questions is "yes." Earlier this week, two juries - one in New Mexico, one in Los Angeles - held Meta [...]

The Legend of Zelda games are grand adventures, but they can also be very comforting, with quaint villages to explore and warm landscapes to take in. Under The Island takes that idea a step further. It still offers the sense of exploration and puzzle-solving that makes Zelda games so satisfying, but it also takes place [...]

We have a pretty good understanding of which deals Verge readers will gravitate toward. After all, what products and services resonate with our audience - and the quality of the deal itself - are what help us determine what to cover on any given day. And yet, we never know for sure how people will [...]

On Tuesday morning, everything was business as usual at OpenAI. By the end of the day, the company had announced that it would scrap its video-generation app, Sora, and reverse plans for video generation inside ChatGPT; it would wind down a $1 billion Disney deal; it would shuffle the role of a high-level executive; and [...]

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 121, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, good luck in the Elite Eight, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading about Will Wright and sync music and the [...]

There are always a few reasons people give for not buying a foldable phone. Some - price, battery life, camera quality - are mostly a matter of manufacturers balancing spec sheets to offset the added cost of the folding hardware. Others - durability, size - were practical design problems that have mostly been solved. But [...]

We don't review many solar panels at The Verge, but the tech inside Bluetti's incredibly portable Sora 500 panel makes it worth a deeper look. The new N-Type panels made by Bluetti and others give you more bang for the buck, pound, and square inch. That's a big deal for vanlifers like me who depend [...]

Sony has announced that as of March 27th, 2026, the company is no longer accepting orders for nearly all the products in its CFexpress and SD memory card lines. The list of affected memory products includes CFexpress Type A, Type B, and SDXC/SDHC cards, although a few models of Type B and low-end SF-UZ series [...]

If you spend a lot of time presenting or chatting over video, you know how big a difference a decent webcam can make. Thankfully, if you're looking to level up your setup at home or at work, the last-gen Insta360 Link 2C is currently available for $119.99 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H [...]

A new official White House app on Android and iOS takes the content from the White House website and copies it into app format. A tweet announcing the app on Friday morning appeared alongside a video joking about missile launches that also appears to feature an iPhone, rather than the elusive Trump Phone. There's no [...]

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. We've reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone's whereabouts. This week I think I've found an FCC listing for the phone, showing it's received certification to launch in the US. Last week I issued a reminder that Trump Mobile's [...]

Massive new data centers are the physical foundation for tech companies' hopes and dreams for AI. But the rush to expand warehouses full of energy-hungry servers has also kicked up fights across the world over their impact on power grids, utility bills, nearby communities, and the environment. From audacious plans to launch data centers into [...]

If you're constantly switching between working at home and on the go, Anker's latest 160W Prime Charger can lighten your load by replacing multiple chargers with a single device. It's normally $149.99, but right now you can buy it at both Amazon and Anker's online storefront (with coupon code WS24MNV8G7) for $99.99 thanks to Amazon's [...]

The Nuki Smart Lock is the best retrofit smart lock currently available for people who want a minimalist, feature-packed upgrade to their preexisting deadlock. It's currently selling for $149 at Amazon - its cheapest price ever - during the Big Spring Sale. Its fast unlocking speed, Matter-over-Thread support, and broad smart home compatibility impressed my [...]

xTool, a company best known amongst makers for its laser-based cutting and engraving tools, has announced a new multi-function crafting machine called the WonderPress. It's not an all-in-one device that can help you get an Etsy store off the ground, but the WonderPress can help turn designs from other machines, like Cricuts or sublimation printers, [...]

Despite the fact that spring isn't often associated with big discounts, Amazon seems keen to turn every season into one filled with savings. Case in point? The retailer is currently hosting a spring sales event, which will run through 2:59AM ET on April 1st. Retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, and Newegg have also hopped aboard [...]

While most flagship phones have been steadily getting slimmer over recent years, the upcoming 2026 version of the Motorola Razr Ultra could end up being a bit chunkier than its predecessor. Leaked measurements of the phone shared by XpertPick and OnLeaks on Thursday show that it will be slightly thicker than the 2025 version, about [...]

Members of a convoy that delivered humanitarian aid to Cuba were detained and interrogated by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) upon returning to the United States on a charter flight from Havana. Of the 20 US citizens who were pulled for secondary inspection at Miami International Airport on Wednesday morning, 18 had their phones and [...]

Three children stare at the dilapidated remains of a battlefield, with trees and man-made structures mostly razed to the ground, save for the sturdy frame of a lone trebuchet. It's a pensive snapshot of the bloodshed in A Plague Tale: Innocence by virtual photographer Ludovic "Shinobi" Helme - but it's no mere screenshot. It's a [...]

This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday 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. Influencer after influencer says the same thing about Gruns. The gummy vitamins are delightful, chockful of whole organic [...]