The Verge

Google Home users can now ask Gemini to complete more complex, multi-step tasks and combine multiple tasks in a single command. Google has updated Gemini for Home to Gemini 3.1, which it says will improve the smart home assistant's ability to interpret and act on requests. The upgrade will also make Gemini for Home better [...]

Apple has agreed to pay $250 million to settle a class action lawsuit that accused it of misleading customers about the availability of its Apple Intelligence features. The proposed settlement would apply to people in the US who purchased all models of the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 15 Pro between June 10th, 2024 and [...]

Xbox is "winding down Copilot on mobile" and "will stop development of Copilot on console," new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced on Tuesday. The move follows Sharma's reorganization of the Xbox platform team earlier on Tuesday, which added executives from Microsoft's CoreAI team - where Sharma worked before taking over Xbox - to the Xbox [...]

The next update to Apple's operating systems could allow users to choose their preferred AI model for running Apple Intelligence. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is planning to allow third-party chatbots to power its AI features system-wide in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27, all expected for this fall. In addition to running [...]

Nearly a year after rolling out Threads direct messaging to everyone on mobile, Meta is finally bringing the feature to the web. Meta says it's "testing" DMs on the web now, but plans to make the feature "available to more people soon." In your DM page on the web, you can see your inbox and [...]

Sam Altman and Elon Musk are facing off in a high-stakes trial that could alter the future of OpenAI and its most well-known product, ChatGPT. In 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding mission of developing AI to benefit humanity and shifting focus to boosting profits instead. Elon Musk took the [...]

OpenAI's newest default model for ChatGPT might not make stuff up as much. Hallucinations have been an ongoing problem for AI models, but OpenAI says its new GPT-5.5 Instant model has "significant improvements in factuality across the board." The company claims that, based on "internal evaluations," GPT-5.5 Instant produced "52.5% fewer hallucinated claims" than its [...]

Meta is facing a class action lawsuit filed by five major book publishers and one author over claims the company "engaged in one of the most massive infringements of copyrighted materials in history" when training its Llama AI models, as reported earlier by The New York Times. In their suit, Macmillan, McGraw Hill, Elsevier, Hachette, [...]

Microsoft's new Xbox chief, Asha Sharma, has spent the past couple of months making her mark on the Xbox organization. After focusing on highly requested Xbox console features, reducing the price of Game Pass, and moving Microsoft Gaming back to Xbox, Sharma is reorganizing the Xbox platform team at Microsoft today. The changes will see [...]

On the morning of May 5th, 1961, 37-year-old Alan Shepard woke up, ate a breakfast (consisting of a filet mignon wrapped in bacon, scrambled eggs, and orange juice), strapped into the Freedom 7 rocket, and blasted off into space, becoming the first American astronaut to do so. Shepard's historic flight - and the first crewed [...]

In terms of pricing, theoriginal AirPods Maxremained stubbornly high even years after their debut, which made them hard to recommend over the Bose QC Ultra or Sony's XM series headphones unless you were an Apple die-hard. The AirPods Max 2, however, have been out for just over a month, and we're already seeing a $40 [...]

The Telepathic Instruments Orchid has been unavailable for a few months now. But a new batch is ready to drop on May 11th for $649, and the company is celebrating with a limited edition clear Orchid: Arctic, which will cost slightly more: $699. The Orchid was designed in part with Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, [...]

OpenAI's first hardware product might be a phone instead of a mysterious Jony Ive gadget. As reported by MacRumors, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo shared details about the rumored phone, claiming OpenAI is "fast-tracking" it and aiming to start mass production in early 2027. According to Kuo, the phone will run on a "customized version [...]

Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI have agreed to allow the US government to review new AI models before they're released to the public. In an announcement on Tuesday, the Commerce Department's Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) says it will work with the AI companies to perform "pre-deployment evaluations and targeted research [...]

Still fresh off its recent $375 million jury verdict against Meta, New Mexico attorney general Raul Torrez's office began arguing for even greater asks in the second phase of a landmark trial. On Monday, an attorney for the state, David Ackerman, pressed the court for a $3.7 billion abatement plan that would require Meta to [...]

Starting tomorrow, Zombies, Run! fans will be able to download a new eight-part story for the fitness app. That's nothing short of a miracle. In 2012, Zombies, Run! was one of the first fitness apps to find a dedicated community. A big part of that success was that it combined a couch-to-5K plan with immersive [...]

The cars rolling off production lines right now are filled with old ideas. From beginning to end, the creation of a new vehicle can take five years or longer - which is plenty of time for a lot of tastes, politics, and gas prices to change. That's one reason car manufacturers are so enthusiastic about [...]

It's a big year for Remedy Entertainment. Last year was marred by the ill-fated launch of the multiplayer shooter FBC: Firebreak, which was so disastrous it led to former CEO Tero Virtala stepping down from his position. Now, with the much-anticipated sequel Control Resonant slated for later in 2026, the studio's new boss Jean-Charles Gaudechon [...]

Anthropic has spent years building itself up as the safe AI company. But new security research shared with The Verge suggests Claude's carefully crafted helpful personality may itself be a vulnerability. Researchers at AI red-teaming company Mindgard say they got Claude to offer up erotica, malicious code, and instructions for building explosives, and other prohibited [...]

About a week into the Musk v. Altman trial, we've heard from some of the most powerful people in tech - including OpenAI president Greg Brockman, Elon Musk's fixer Jared Birchall, and Musk himself. But one of the most prominent characters is hovering around the margins: Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind. Hassabis is the [...]

Ford isn't sending the clearest signals regarding its EV future. We got a glimpse of its Universal EV (UEV) Project last February, but then it pulled the plug on the F-150 Lightning, which is regarded as one of the more successful electric pickup trucks to date. The climate surrounding electric vehicles hasn't helped, either, between [...]

Last Thursday, in a staged home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I sat on a couch that was a bit too low and a tad too deep in front of a small, beige-colored smart speaker sitting on the middle of a trio of arched midcentury storage cabinets. On either side of the smart [...]

Facebook and Instagram have a new way to detect and remove users under 13: AI bone structure analysis. In a blog post on Tuesday, Meta - Facebook and Instagram's parent company - says its AI system will scan photos and videos posted to its platforms for "general themes and visual cues," including height and bone [...]

Staffers at Google DeepMind's headquarters have voted to unionize in an effort to prevent the AI firm's technology from being used by Israel and the US military. In a letter to Google management on Tuesday, employees requested that the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Unite the Union be recognized as joint representatives, with 98 percent [...]

Microsoft is finally giving up on showing the junk feed of MSN news when you open the widgets feature in Windows 11. After allowing Windows 11 users to disable the MSN feed more than two years ago, Microsoft says it will soon hide it by default as part of an effort to make widgets "quiet [...]

We still don't know when Valve will launch the Steam Machine, but we may not have to wait too long. Valve just imported roughly 50 tons of "Game Consoles" into the United States in the two-day period between May 1st and April 30th, according to import records viewed by The Verge. That's on top of [...]

The strongest witness for Elon Musk's case against OpenAI so far has been Greg Brockman's journal. Brockman himself is running as a close second. Brockman was called to the stand in a rather unusual way - he was cross-examined first, followed by a direct examination - and he had some serious high school debate club [...]

Last year, the SEC sued Elon Musk over the way his acquisition of Twitter (now X, and a part of SpaceX) started, and today it announced a settlement that looks like a massive bargain, while Musk's own lawsuit against Sam Altman continues to play out. A week before the Trump administration took over, the department [...]

When you're juggling more than just your own calendar, staying organized can be overwhelming. Fortunately, the Skylight Calendar 2 can help simplify things by syncing multiple calendars in a single spot, and now through May 7th, it's on sale at Best Buy and directly from Skylight for $259.99 ($40 off) in the run-up to Mother's [...]

If you want to give mom something that helps lighten the load, the SwitchBot Bot Rechargeable makes for a great, inexpensive gift. And now through May 10th, you can buy it for around $26.99 ($7 off) from Amazon and SwitchBot (with code FORHER20) as a part of its ongoing Mother's Day sale, which drops the [...]

Colin Angle, the maker of the Roomba and the man who helped put 50 million household robots into people's homes, is back with a new robot. But this one is designed as a companion, not a cleaner. The first robot from Angle's new company, Familiar Machines & Magic, is a dog-sized robotic pet that resembles [...]

Google's next round of Pixel phones could be a downgrade compared to the Pixel 10 lineup due to the ongoing RAM shortage. Leaked specs for the Pixel 11 lineup shared by MysticLeaks include a possible starting configuration with only 8GB of RAM, rather than the current 12GB, as Android Headlines reports. According to MysticLeaks, Google [...]

May the Fourth be with us all on this Star Wars Day. While things have been relatively quiet with the multimedia gold mine that is Star Wars, with just some murmurs about upcoming movies (The Mandalorian and Grogu excluded), a lone live-action show on the horizon, and a long way to the release of the [...]

Amazon might have a part in delivering all kinds of stuff to your door soon, as its massive shipping network opens up to other companies outside its marketplace, more directly competing with giants like DHL, UPS, and FedEx. The new Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) will offer freight, distribution, fulfillment, and parcel shipping to businesses [...]

The Hisense UR9 - the first RGB LED TV to be released this year - is now available for much less than originally revealed. The 65-inch UR9 is now $1,999, while the 75-inch model is $2,999 and the 85-inch is $3,999. (There's no updated price yet for the 100-inch.) That's between $1,500 and $2,000 off, [...]

Homebridge, the popular software solution that allows you to integrate non-HomeKit devices like Ring cameras into Apple Home, is adding support for the Matter smart home standard. Today, May 4th, Homebridge 2.0, which has been in beta for over three years, officially launches. Along with other improvements, the update brings the "initial groundwork for Matter [...]

Way back in the DS days, Nintendo decided to stop selling to Amazon. During a recent lecture at NYU, former Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said it was because Amazon was seeking preferential treatment that would have hurt its relationship with other retailers, and potentially broken the law. The two sides have since made [...]

If you're looking to pick up a pair of open-ear headphones for yourself - or your mom - Shokz is running a Mother's Day sale. Now through May 10th, the company's best pair of bone conduction headphones, the OpenRun Pro 2, are available from Amazon, Best Buy, and Shokz for around $139.95 ($40 off), their [...]

I love when my friends have their fridges covered in Polaroids. It's often a visual crash course of what's been going on in their lives chronicling recent adventures, get-togethers, and other fun moments. But I don't love the idea of schlepping around a clunky instant camera or paying a premium for instant film with hit-or-miss [...]

It's not hyperbole to call DualShot Recorder an overnight sensation. It took only 12 hours from the time it was released to hit number one on the App Store's list of top paid apps. It was a surprise success - but what's even more surprising is the app's origin story: it all started with a [...]

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on how AI is changing music and the music industry, follow Terrence O'Brien. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started The use of generative AI [...]

New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez won a historic sum of $375 million in a landmark child safety case against Meta earlier this year. But the next stage of the fight could be even more consequential for Meta and the social media industry at large. Beginning Monday, attorneys for Meta and New Mexico will return [...]

The ultra-low-cost air carrier Spirit Airlines shut down operations after 34 years in business and canceled all flights at 3AM ET on Saturday morning. Its website now redirects to spiritrestructuring.com, instructing fliers not to go to airports, with air traffic control records capturing controllers and pilots signing off to each other as its last flights [...]

Aura's digital frames are kind of like living photo albums that get better with time, which is why we often recommend them for Mother's Day. They're gifts that keep on giving, in a way, and right now, a number of Aura's connected frames are on sale ahead of the holiday. One of the best deals [...]

I'll never stop gushing about 2-in-1 USB-C cables. They're really nice to have because, at this point, I've amassed so many devices that charge via USB-C. It's also common for more than one to need to be recharged at a time, which is where they come in handy. I can charge my Nintendo Switch 2 [...]

It took me a while to get into Esoteric Ebb, a new CRPG from developer Christoffer Bodegard. The elevator pitch is basically Disco Elysium, but in the fantasy style of Dungeons & Dragons: You play as a cleric wandering around a small town who's trying to figure out, among other things, the mystery of why [...]

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 126, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, I need 10 or 15 skirts from Calvin Klein, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) Happy Ruthless Self-Promotion Week! We're dedicating almost all of this [...]

Nintendo recently announced a new pricing policy, which knocks $10 off the cost of digital versions of future first-party titles exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2. Splatoon Raiders, for instance, is available for preorder ahead of its July 23rd release for $49.99 digitally or $59.99 for the physical edition. However, Amazon andWalmartare the exception in [...]

Microsoft is testing its much-needed refresh for the Windows 11 Run menu, offering a modern interface that the company says is faster and comes with support for dark mode. The redesign is rolling out now to Windows 11 Insiders in the new Experimental Channel. In a blog post explaining the changes, Microsoft says it decided [...]