The Verge

Xbox is launching a new division, called "XP," that's dedicated to Xbox experiences that aren't video games, including films and TV adaptations, consumer products, live events, and partnerships with creators and brands. Different teams at Xbox already do this work, but it will all now fall under the centralized XP division. XP formalizes four "investment [...]

Cupertino brings the tech backlash to the CBS procedural - an initially awkward combination, but with rewarding results. The show starts off just slightly unsure, but quickly figures out what to do with these strange times, creating fictionalized dupes of the Zizians, Polymarket, Jeff Bezos' looksmaxxing obsession, OpenAI stealing Scarlett Johansson's voice, and the fight [...]

While much of the automotive world sits dumbfounded as China gobbles up all its customers, BMW continues to roll out extremely well-crafted, technologically advanced electric vehicles that impress in both drive quality and price. The latest is the BMW iX4, a coupe-shaped SUV that puts a sportier spin on the automaker's iX3. The iX4 is [...]

Teenage Engineering founder and CEO Jesper Kouthoofd told Highsnobiety that it plans to stop making synths. And yes, that includes the iconic OP-1, which put the company on the map. TE isn't just a music gear maker; it's also a sought-after design firm. It's collaborated with Ikea, Nothing, and Playdate, among others. But almost everything [...]

A common misconception I've seen with Googlebooks is that the Quick Insert and Google logo keys are new. They're not, as they first debuted a couple of years ago on some Chromebooks. But there is something new for Googlebooks that's ripped straight from Android phones circa 2014. On every Googlebook keyboard, the F1, F2, and [...]

Getting in on the Prime Day action doesn't have to result in an empty wallet. Just as we found a couple handfuls of goodies that are under $25, there are plenty of deals during Amazon's October sale that are $50 or less, many of which offer a lot of practical value. Everything from chargers to [...]

Just over a week ago, we covered a deal at Amazon that knocked around 30 percent off Roku's new (and first-ever) OLED TVs. The deal expired, but has returned for the final day of October Prime Day. The 55-inch Pro Series OLED is $699.99 at Amazon, which is 30 percent off its list price. The [...]

OpenAI is launching a new Intelligent UI feature in ChatGPT that allows the chatbot to answer your questions with interactive visuals. The update, which is rolling out to all users alongside GPT-6, gives ChatGPT the ability to combine a text response with diagrams, charts, forms, tappable buttons, and more. In a blog post explaining the [...]

The first array of laptops powered by Nvidia's new RTX Spark chip are designed to compete with high-end MacBook Pros - and they've got some high-end prices to match. The flagship Surface Laptop Ultra and RTX Spark laptops from Dell, Lenovo, MSI, HP, and Asus start as low as $2,599 for configurations with an 18-core [...]

For the first time in years, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - better known as ICANN - is accepting applications for new top-level domains. These are the suffixes at the end of all URLs, and you may know them as things like .com, .org, and .pizza. ICANN just announced the 1,615 applications [...]

Microsoft just wrapped up a big Windows and Surface-focused keynote in San Francisco. The biggest announcement was arguably the release details about the Surface Laptop Ultra, its new laptop that's powered by Nvidia's RTX Spark Arm-based chip. The machine will start at $2,599 for a configuration with an 8-core CPU, 24GB of RAM, and 512GB [...]

At today's Windows and Surface event, Microsoft showed off an upgrade to its Copilot AI system that will give it access to local files on your PC and the ability to take actions across the OS. It's part of an idea Microsoft is calling "Hybrid Intelligence," where apps and tools rely on a mix of [...]

Before Microsoft releases a laptop to the public, it needs to put the device through its paces. That all happens inside a windowless, warehouse-like lab on the company's Redmond, Washington, campus, where the team developing Surface devices programs robots to press their buttons thousands of times, pelts devices with radio waves from giant antennas, and [...]

Until the end of Amazon's October sale later tonight, you can grab the 128GB Meta Quest 3S for just $297.49 (usually $349.99) at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy. While the lenses and displays aren't quite as sharp as the Quest 3, the underlying chipset is the same, and this is a much more reasonable price [...]

OpenAI is bringing new tools to ChatGPT for Teens, a mode for teens introduced in August with safeguards and break reminders, to help users with the college application process. "College Planner brings together application requirements, deadlines, tasks, and financial-aid steps for schools on a student's list in one plan," OpenAI says. "Students applying to several [...]

Xreal launched its xbx A01 Plus display glasses over the summer for $299, and they're a decent value. The design and fit are more or less on-par with the company's pricier 1S that are $399, though they don't have my favorite feature: built-in three degrees of freedom to let you lock the virtual screen in [...]

After launching nearly a month ago and spending several weeks as the top free app in Apple's App Store, the latest update to Meta's Muse iOS app introduces native support for the iPad. A Mac version of Meta's agentic AI tool (designed to compete with OpenClaw, ChatGPT's Dots, and Grok Bot) was released about a [...]

Google DeepMind, Meta, and AI drug discovery startup Isomorphic Labs are jointly investing $300 million into Biohub, the nonprofit biomedical research organization founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, as reported by Reuters. The funding is part of a $1.8 billion initiative to build AI datasets that could allow researchers to "ask, predict, [...]

Following a report from Bloomberg yesterday that Apple is collaborating with LG for a new collection of smart home devices and accessories, a reliable leaker known as "pdfu" on X has revealed more details about several of the new products, including a thermostat with a "Far Sight Display" that sounds similar to what Nest offers. [...]

Amazon announced its first smart lock that eliminates the need for a physical backup key should its rechargeable battery die while you're away from home. While other smart locks lean on hidden USB ports or metal contacts for connecting a 9-volt battery to replenish a dead battery, the new Ring Smart Lock incorporates a more [...]

For a while, I swore by Bissell's Little Green carpet cleaner. I liked the sub-$100 price, the fact that it was small enough to fit on a closet shelf, and that it does a good job of cleaning up little messes. However, after you clean enough spots around the place, eventually the entire carpet needs [...]

Most people know that Amazon collects data about your shopping history to serve up personalized product recommendations. But what some of us didn't realize is that you can check exactly what Amazon knows - or thinks it knows - about you in your settings menu. One user's findings went viral on Threads after she discovered [...]

Microsoft is heading to San Francisco this morning to reveal what's coming next for Windows and Surface and a "conversation on how local AI will shape the next chapter of the PC." That conversation will include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and Windows and Surface chief Pavan Davuluri. I'm expecting to hear [...]

When David Fincher's The Social Network premiered in 2010, many people still thought of Mark Zuckerberg as a genius who had revolutionized the world by creating Facebook. Writer Aaron Sorkin's script was critical of Zuckerberg's character and his ruthless approach to doing business, but it also helped mythologize the co-founder at a time when the [...]

Google has detailed an update bringing a slew of new features to its Pixel Buds 2A and Pro 2, which the company says are rolling out now. The new features were first teased in August. The biggest update is Pixel Watch-powered sleep detection, rolling out to both pairs of earbuds. If you're wearing a Pixel [...]

DoorDash, the leading food delivery app, processed 970 million orders in its second quarter this year and generated $4.5 billion in revenue. A 10-person startup called Bites is a blip in comparison: It has just around 300 restaurants signed up in the Bay Area, where it's operating as a pre-seed startup. But this summer, Bites [...]

Two weeks ago, journalists in the San Francisco Bay Area got to try two hot new wearables that weigh only around 100 grams: the just-revealed Meta VR Glasses, and the long-awaited transparent Google XR glasses built in partnership with Xreal. It turns out they're going head-to-head. Xreal has just opened Aura pre-orders starting at $1,279, [...]

Google today announced Playground, a new browser-based platform for making custom games from AI prompts. Playground will be available today in the US for users who are 18 and older at playground.google. The company is pitching it as an "experimental gaming platform" that "lowers the barriers to creation" and doesn't require coding experience. "With Playground's [...]

The Type 01, Jaguar's most important and divisive car in years, has arrived. The production follow-up to the polarising Type 00 concept, Jaguar says the electric, four-door grand tourer is its most powerful road car ever. Even though the Type 00's design chief was reportedly fired earlier this year, most of its aesthetic has carried [...]

Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that offers reviews of apps, services, and entertainment with a focus on youth safety, today said that OpenAI's ChatGPT for Teens is an "unacceptable risk." ChatGPT for Teens, introduced in August, has guardrails for teens and is designed to help students learn, but Common Sense Media says that the teen [...]

OpenAI has revealed solutions to a number of long-standing mathematics problems produced by an unreleased frontier model in a batch of 722 manuscripts, covering 372 result families that group related papers. It extends a run of breakthroughs that have both impressed and unsettled parts of the mathematical community while raising questions about research ethics and [...]

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told employees that Microsoft is getting ready to do something around Grand Theft Auto VI that "no other platform holder is doing" during an employee all-hands this morning. According to sources familiar with Microsoft's plans, Sharma's brief teaser was actually about Xbox managing to land a deal for game streaming rights [...]

Spending too much time constantly sweeping and mopping? If you have the money to delegate those chores to a robot cleaner, you could save a lot of personal time. Thankfully, it's cheaper than usual to buy a robot vacuum / mop hybrid during Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days, and some of our favorite models are [...]

Apple is collaborating with LG on a new lineup of smart home devices, including a video doorbell, thermostat, indoor camera, and more, according to a report from Bloomberg. The products will reportedly feature LG branding but integrate with the company's rumored smart home hub that's expected to launch during an event on October 13th. Sources [...]

Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco is facing backlash from fellow comics who claim his takeover of SiriusXM's Raw Comedy channel is harming up-and-coming talent, as reported earlier by Deadline. Many established comics, including Patton Oswalt and Margaret Cho, have posted videos online calling on Maniscalco to carry on Raw Comedy's legacy by highlighting newer comedians on his [...]

Google announced a new agreement to update six nuclear power plant sites across the US as the tech giant seeks to generate more electricity for its power-hungry data centers. Google signed the 20-year deal with Constellation, the leading nuclear power plant operator in the US. The power purchase agreement is meant to guarantee the revenue [...]

Calling something last-gen" usually means it comes with big compromises compared to the latest version. That's not as true for the last-gen Kindle Paperwhite as it is with some other tech. The newer version can open books 30 percent faster (not the same as page-turning speed), and its aluminum design is a millimeter thinner - [...]

Is Sony about to announce a new PlayStation Portal game streaming handheld? The Wi-Fi Alliance recently certified two unannounced PlayStation products of some kind, and the certification documents indicate that they could be updates to the PlayStation Portal, which might mean we're getting the OLED screen rumored earlier this year. The two devices, which are [...]

If you've been using an older Amazon Echo device as a speaker through its 3.5mm aux input, Alexa voice commands to play or pause from line in may stop working. Ars Technica points to this Reddit poster claiming they received a message from Amazon about the change, which the company has confirmed. According to Amazon [...]

The Sonos Beam Gen 2 soundbar is on sale for $359 at Amazon and Best Buy during October Prime Day, a healthy $140 discount from its usual price, and $10 lower than the previous Prime Day price. The biggest draw here may be obvious - its native connectivity to other Sonos products - though it's [...]

Apple TV has had a really great run in 2026 - and a cozy new addition is helping expand its lineup even more. As the streaming service has attempted to grow in order to better compete with the likes of Disney and Netflix, it has steadily broadened the range of its series. This year has [...]

For frequent travelers who like to pack light, the Anker Nano 100W universal travel adapter packs multiple USB ports and is equipped with the ability to adapt to outlets in over 200 countries and regions with its US, UK and EU plugs. During October Prime Day, it's only $63.99 (usually $79.99) at Amazon. The adapter [...]

We spotted a variety of discounted headphones and earbuds during October's Prime Big Deals Days, with some of our favorite options discounted to at (or near) their all-time low prices. While some deals on Amazon require a Prime subscription, there are plenty that are available to anyone, and other retailers have gotten in on the [...]

With AI hardware, tech companies are pushing the definition of what does and doesn't constitute a recording. For most of gadget history, it'd be reasonable to assume that a device with a microphone or camera is either recording you or it isn't; it's either on or off, without much gray area. Microphones capture sound. Cameras [...]

HBO Max and Paramount Plus will become one streaming service under Paramount's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. In a press release announcing the completion of the deal, Skydance - the name of the combined companies - says both streamers will "unify into a single service over time." Skydance CEO David Ellison hinted at [...]

There's no denying that Nothing knows how to make eye-catching headphones. If you're considering a new pair of over-ear cans, the Nothing Headphone 1 pack style and great sound, and they're on sale for $189 at Amazon. That's a big discount considering the usual price drifts between $240 and $299. In addition to the unique [...]

Arturia's AstroLab series was already amongst the best stage keyboards out there. They essentially put the company's AnalogLab suite of vintage synth emulations, sampled pianos, and original instrument plugins into playable hardware. But they were ultimately glorified preset browsers. You could lightly tweak patches using the four macro controls, or dial in some effects, but [...]

Normally $169.99, the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro are discounted to $135.99 during Amazon's October sale, beating their previous low price of $149.99, and coming in $14 lower than the AirPods 5. While these earbuds stand out for a number of reasons, like great ANC and a handy screen on the charging case, our favorite aspect [...]