The Verge

Get ready for more AI characters in Fortnite. Developer Epic Games is going to let Fortnite creators publish experiences featuring characters with AI-powered voices starting on July 30th, and ahead of that launch, it's created 36 characters with "consistent voices and personas" that creators can use as NPCs. The characters include Fortnite staples like Agent [...]

Samsung's Frame is different from your average 4K TV. Its biggest selling point involves what it does when you aren't actively using it. It can display art, turning your living room into a gallery. The Frame has bezels that make it look like - you guessed it - framed art, and its matte finish can [...]

Netflix says roughly 300 titles on its platform used generative AI, most of which occurred in post-production. The streaming service revealed the news in its second-quarter earnings report released on Thursday, saying it's "increasingly leveraging these tools to deliver higher quality output more quickly and at a lower cost." It also provided some examples of [...]

CD sales are apparently going up, reportedly thanks to fans realizing they're an affordable way to support their favorite artists. According to a new report from research firm Luminate, 16.3 million CDs were sold in the first half of 2026 in the US, a 16 percent increase year-over-year. The growth in CD sales was driven [...]

Kalshi users betting on what President Donald Trump would say during his speeches were reportedly up against tough competition: the president's teleprompter operator. ABC News reports that federal investigators believe Gabriel Perez - Trump's teleprompter operator since 2016 - used inside information to make bets on Kalshi, a major prediction market platform that allows users [...]

New York Governor Kathy Hochul might have just signed a moratorium on new AI data centers in the state, but she's not against using the technology herself. During an interview with Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast, Hochul said that her team is using "AI to analyze every single rule, regulation, [and] policy" to check for outdated [...]

Sometimes it feels like keeping your floors clean is one of those never-ending chores, which is why it's nice to have a versatile robot vacuum take it off your hands. The Ecovacs Deebot X11 robovac / mop hybrid is designed to do just that, and it's now $699 ($400 off) at Amazon and directly from [...]

Today, the European Union ordered Google to give its AI rivals greater access to Android, the open-source operating system that powers billions of devices worldwide. The demand is hardly surprising. It may look like a defeat on paper for Google, which has spent years resisting exactly this kind of access, but it is a regulatory [...]

Roblox is about to let people make games with AI right inside its mobile app, which could make a platform that's already filled with content of questionable quality feel even more overloaded. The company has embraced AI with open arms, including a preview of an ambitious take on AI world models similar to Google's Project [...]

Google is giving its AI note-taking app a new name. The company announced on Thursday that NotebookLM is becoming Gemini Notebook, but will remain a standalone app even as it integrates more deeply across Gemini and Google Search. Google first revealed Gemini Notebook - then called Project Tailwind - in May 2023 before widely releasing [...]

Splatoon Raiders' July 23rd launch day is almost here, so your window to preorder the physical version at a $10 discount is about to close. The digital version is $49.99, and so is the game on cartridge if you preorder at Walmart. Amazon previously honored the preorder discount, but it's selling the game at full [...]

The Tesla driver who fatally struck a woman after crashing into her home "manually overrode" the vehicle's Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology by pressing the gas pedal to 100 percent, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed in a preliminary report on Wednesday. After examining the car's electronic data, investigators found that the Tesla Model 3 [...]

The iPad Mini could get an OLED display upgrade as soon as October, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. It would be the most significant refresh for the Mini since its 2021 redesign. An OLED iPad Mini has been rumored for months now, with Gurman previously reporting last year that it will also come with a [...]

Google must give rival AI assistants and search engines greater access to key parts of Android and Google Search after the European Union ordered the company to comply with the bloc's digital antitrust rules. The two decisions, handed down Thursday, could weaken Google's control over two of the tech industry's most important platforms and have [...]

I stood before a hulking glass and brick structure in the heart of Fort Worth, Texas. Thousands gathered inside to see what had been billed as "the future of policing in the digital age." As press, I was prohibited from entering, but from a number of nearby locations, I met with attendees who told me [...]

OnePlus has confirmed what industry observers have long expected: it's quitting the US and European markets, and will no longer launch new products in either region. Parent company Oppo promises that it will honor existing support and warranty agreements, with devices transitioning to its ColorOS for future updates. "Software updates and after-sale support will be [...]

Skullcandy announced a new version of its Crusher wireless headphones today featuring a few of Bose's audio technologies including its QuietControl ANC and head-tracking spatial audio. The Crusher headphone line differentiates itself from the competition through the use of both full-range and dedicated bass drivers in each ear cup to boost deeper frequencies. Skullcandy admits [...]

With storage and memory prices still at an all-time high, we're happy to tell you about a solid deal on a good laptop when we find one, rare as they are. Best Buy is selling the HP OmniBook X Flip 2 in 1 for $999.99 (usually $1,649.99) with an Intel Core 7 Ultra CPU, 16GB [...]

An AppleCare Plus subscription for a Mac or iPad will cost more soon, with prices going up by $0.50 per month or $5 per year for new sign-ups while remaining the same for existing subscribers, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman says that under the new AppleCare Plus pricing, "a plan for a new 13-inch [...]

Valve has been incredibly friendly to customers who need repairs - which is why it was so surprising to hear that Valve was already discontinuing the battery for the Steam Deck LCD handheld. It would have meant you could no longer just buy a battery from iFixit and install it yourself. Why would Valve stop [...]

The Elon Musk-owned xAI is suing a South Carolina man who allegedly used the company's Grok AI chatbot to generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM). In a lawsuit reported earlier by Reuters, xAI claims Terry Wayne Harwood "knowingly and intentionally used Grok to circumvent safeguards, alter nonconsensual images, and generate and distribute CSAM," breaching the [...]

The Federal Communications Commission will vote next month on whether a single company can own broadcast stations that reach more than 39 percent of US TV households. In a Breitbart op-ed on Wednesday, Republican Chair Brendan Carr announced an August 6th vote to end the national ownership cap rule, which was intended to prevent one [...]

Roblox will be shutting down Roblox Connect, its video calling service introduced in 2023. Roblox Connect let you video chat with other people using your Roblox avatar, which would be able to mimic the movements you were making in real life. You could also run around with people on the call in a shared virtual [...]

This weekend, cinephiles across the world will march to their local theaters to feast their eyes on Christopher Nolan's new adaptation of The Odyssey. It's on track to rake in anywhere between $80-$100 million in just a few days. People are clearly excited to see how Nolan uses cutting-edge filmmaking tech to make the Homeric [...]

Bryan, a food broker from Michigan, wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it to urgent care in time. He started feeling off on Thursday, and by Saturday, he was having to use the bathroom every 15 to 30 minutes. "It's no joke about the explosive diarrhea," Bryan, who asked that his last name [...]

A new teaser for Google's upcoming Pixel 11 lineup reveals that the phones will feature some kind of glowing orb on the camera bar, as reported by 9to5Google. Google's store page for the Pixel 11 has a short video that shows the glowing, color-shifting orb to the one side of the camera bar. The store [...]

Suno data obtained in a hacking incident has exposed that the AI music generator was trained by scraping millions of songs and lyrics from online audio platforms, including YouTube Music, Deezer, and Genius, 404 Media reports. Given that Suno has avoided revealing what's in its training datasets and how they were acquired, this a rare [...]

Lucid Motors found itself in a tough bind this week, fending off bankruptcy rumors and watching its stock price plunge as a result. The company quickly denied the report, calling it "completely false" and pointing to its available free cash flow as evidence that it has enough runway to operate into next year. But despite [...]

Netflix just can't let Stranger Things go. Since the final episode aired on New Year's Eve there's been a behind-the-scenes documentary, an animated series that expands the story, and now, on the 10th anniversary of the show's original release, Netflix has released a new version of the show's first season. The episodes have all been [...]

Samsung gave a sneak peek of the "brand new shape" for its upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 8 in a new teaser for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The video includes a few shots of Spidey taking a foldable phone off a 3D printer and opening it book-style, but each shot is heavily obscured by lens flares. [...]

OpenAI is finally releasing some hardware. No, it isn't the mysterious AI-powered device the company is developing with former Apple designer Jony Ive, a project already tangled up in a messy lawsuit. Instead, it's a product designed to be used with its coding platform, Codex. The device, a square-shaped block of buttons called Codex Micro, [...]

The US is getting closer to observing daylight saving time year-round. On Tuesday, the House advanced the Sunshine Protection Act on a 308 to 117 vote, which would turn clocks one hour ahead permanently, as reported by CBS News. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social in May that the bill would save the "hundreds [...]

Sure, Bluetooth speakers are awesome to have for picturesque beach trips, camping weekends, and other outdoor adventures. But they're just as good to have for some sprinkler time in the yard with the kiddo, or for blasting some tunes or a podcast while you make food. No matter the use cases you have in mind, [...]

Both 8BitDo and GameSir announced tiny gamepads designed to turn smartphones into Game Boy-inspired handhelds at CES 2026. GameSir released its Pocket Taco months ago, but the longer wait for 8BitDo's FlipPad has been well worth it. While the Pocket Taco may be a better fit for some players and devices, the FlipPad is a [...]

At its peak, around 12 million people subscribed to World of Warcraft so that they could explore the realm of Azeroth together. The audience for PointlessQuest is quite a bit smaller. On launch day, the game hit a peak of 15 concurrent players... and no, that sentence isn't missing a word. Then again, basically everything [...]

Motorola has launched the Edge 70 Max, its latest flagship phone that's designed for power intensive tasks like streaming video and mobile gaming. Alongside having a huge battery and rapid wired charging support, the Motorola Edge 70 Max is the first Android phone to support full 25W wireless Qi2 charging since Google launched the Pixel [...]

The Home Depot is once again upgrading its 12-foot-tall skeleton to help keep the viral piece of Halloween decor popular as spooky season creeps closer. Skelly is borrowing some of the tech introduced in the smaller 6.5-foot Ultra Skelly last year, including letting you speak through the skeleton's moving mouth using a mobile app. The [...]

Samsung has unveiled a new flexible display technology for foldable phones that's designed to be slimmer, more durable, and less prone to creasing. The Flex Titanium tech is the culmination of everything that the company has learned over seven generations of foldables, according to Samsung, and will debut with the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 8 [...]

Spotify founder Daniel Ek's body-scanning startup, Neko Health, is setting its sights on the United States after raising $700 million from a star-studded group of celebrities, entrepreneurs, and investment firms. It plans to open its first clinic in New York this year before expanding rapidly across the country. Neko operates private clinics offering full-body scans [...]

The video game industry is in turmoil. Microsoft and Sony are starting to pivot to their next consoles, but it's not looking great: Prices are soaring, Sony is killing the video game disc, and Microsoft is jettisoning studios ahead of the transition. What could entice people to pay? On the Xbox front, we genuinely can't [...]

SpaceX's latest residential dish - the Starlink V5 - is now available in "select areas." It's notably smaller and lighter than the V4 dish with improved power efficiency. It'll be available in more places as SpaceX ramps up production to meet global demand. The company notes that Starlink V5 is not intended for in-motion use [...]

Epic Games and Google have just jointly withdrawn their attempt to retroactively settle the lawsuit that's changing how Android app stores work in the United States - and that means Google will be forced to carry rival app stores inside of its own. In fact, Google tells the court, it's ready to begin carrying third-party [...]

While most fitness trackers are losing the screens to keep the price low, the CMF by Nothing Watch 3 Pro is a bit different. The budget-friendly smartwatch with a 1.43-inch OLED display is even cheaper than usual at Amazon, where it costs $69 in every color (the price fluctuates between $79 and $99). Some notable [...]

Microsoft just released a long list of improvements for Windows 11 as part of its bigger patch Tuesdays, patching at least 570 security holes, almost triple the number fixed in last month's record-breaking release, according to Krebs on Security. It also includes the ability to pause updates indefinitely, as reported earlier by Windows Central. This [...]

OpenAI's first device is set to be a smart speaker that lets you talk with ChatGPT, according to a report from Bloomberg. The device apparently won't have a screen, but will use a camera and additional sensors to "understand" your environment. The report comes just days after Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI that accused [...]

SpaceXAI's Grok Build AI coding tool was spotted uploading users' entire codebases to Google Cloud before it was reported, and the company turned it off. The Register reports that Cereblab published findings on Monday showing how the Grok Build CLI was packaging and uploading entire code repositories, "including files it was told not to open [...]

Although most of Prime Day's unusually good Philips Hue deals have ended, a few remain, and some, including the black Philips Hue Twilight Sleep and Wake-Up Light, are even cheaper. None, however, have fallen to a new all-time low price like Philips Hue's Essential starter kit. Right now, you can buy a bundle containing four [...]

Plex services experienced some major issues on Tuesday, with multiple users reporting problems on Plex's forums and on Reddit. Many people use Plex as a way to stream shows and movies they host locally, but users are upset because today's problems were reportedly affecting their ability to do that. "Basically all Plex is down unless [...]

Discounts on the Nintendo Switch 2 are rare, but they do happen on occasion. There's one happening now, actually, on the company's $499.99 console bundle that includes a digital game (Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, or Pokemon Pokopia). Usually, the bundle saves you $20 or $30, depending on the game you choose, but for [...]

A group of 26 former Meta employees is suing the company over claims that it used AI tools to unfairly target workers on leave with layoffs, as reported earlier by Reuters. In the lawsuit, the employees allege Meta determined which workers to dismiss based on performance data collected by a "constellation" of internal AI tools, [...]