The Verge

The new Thread Networks Diagnostics Tools app from Thread Group, the standards body behind the wireless IoT protocol, officially launches in beta today. The app, which arrives on iOS and has been available on Android in alpha for a few weeks, is the first dedicated tool to provide visibility into your Thread-based smart home network. [...]

Jackery is jumping on the fridge-battery trend with what it says is the "world's slimmest." FridgeGuard also looks nice; a break from power stations that tend to look more at home at a job site than the kitchen or living room. Measuring just 2.63 inches (67mm) thick, the Jackery FridgeGuard power station is meant to [...]

The smart home networking protocol Thread is adding a new way to onboard devices without a Thread border router. The feature, called Thread Direct, is designed to let users set up Thread-powered devices - such as smart plugs and smart locks - using only a phone or mobile device equipped with a Thread radio. Current [...]

After teasing it on X last week, GuliKit announced a new version of its TV Docking Station today that now supports the Switch 2 as well as previous versions of the console, including the original Switch and OLED model. The new version of the dock carries forward a similar design as the original and looks [...]

Google's first new smart speaker in six years starts shipping on June 29th, narrowly missing its promised spring launch window. Preorders for the Google Home Speaker open today, June 17th. Nothing has changed hardware-wise in the nine months since the $99 speaker was announced. It has the same slightly squished round design, with touch-capacitive buttons [...]

LinkedIn is trying to make it easier for users to prove their proficiency with apps that are relevant to their current or future jobs. A new "connected apps" feature is launching today that allows users to link a selection of supported apps to their LinkedIn profile, with each app providing a "simple, specific description of [...]

Matter, the smart home interoperability standard, might finally get a feature that should have been there from day one: a single shared Matter network managed by multiple ecosystems. With this feature, called Joint Fabric, smart devices added to the network will be controllable by any authorized platform - Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and [...]

Let's be real: There's no shortage of Zelda-style games to play right now. That's true even if you've exhausted all there is to see in Tears of the Kingdom or Echoes of Wisdom. Indie developers keep finding new ways to refresh the formula, whether it's fusing it with a Soulslike, making it cozier, or simply [...]

I'll admit it. I was wrong. Wildly colorful lighting is delightful for your smart home - well, outdoors, at least. Smart lighting is one of my favorite features of the smart home - it combines convenience with ambiance, letting you change the entire look of your room with just a press of a button. But, [...]

The next humanoid robot might not have a head. It might not have legs. It might even sit on a wheeled base and fold down like a deck chair. But, as Genesis AI puts it, "humanoid robots don't need to look human." That explains the look of Eno, the new robot from the French startup [...]

Father's Day is nearly here. Hopefully, you already got a gift for dads you care about, but if not, here's a quick, easy recommendation for anyone who enjoys a good comic strip. The Complete Calvin and Hobbes contains every one of Bill Watterson's beloved strips made during the comic's ten-year run from 1985 through 1995, [...]

Google's Android 17 update includes highlights like new floating Bubble" app windows for easier multitasking, a Screen Reaction recording mode, and a 50/50 split gaming mode for foldable phones. Meanwhile, Wear OS 7 brings Live Updates and better battery life for smart watches, and it prepares connections for new Android XR smart glasses that will [...]

Following its official debut last month, Google is now rolling out Android 17 to compatible Pixel phones, alongside additional exclusive features as part of the June Pixel Drop. Not every feature announced alongside the OS at the pre-I/O Android Show is available today, though. Android 17 itself is arriving on Pixel phones today, and Google [...]

Google's Wear OS 7 update is starting to roll out today for the Pixel Watch 2, 3, and 4, adding a new Live Updates feature that tracks live events from your Android smartwatch. Live Updates will now sync with Wear OS devices, so updates like sports scores or an ongoing meal delivery will show up [...]

Verizon is launching a new Simplicity plan that starts at $30 / month for new customers, or $45 / month for existing ones. In its announcement, Verizon says the plan drops activation and upgrade fees, while offering one flat price for each line. The $30 price for new customers is an "initial promotional offer" that [...]

Now that we're clear of WWDC and all of the new AI-powered features coming to Apple's platforms, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has more details about rumored new hardware, like the camera-equipped AirPods he'd previously written about. He says they are currently on schedule for a late 2027 launch, and that while we're checking out beta [...]

Smart glasses are still a nascent category, but chipmaker Qualcomm is hard at work upgrading the silicon to power the next wave of XR devices: the Snapdragon Reality Elite. Although Qualcomm is announcing the chip today at Augmented World Expo, we've technically already gotten a hands-on with a device powered by the new chip at [...]

The Project Aura glasses collaboration between Xreal and Google is now one step closer to being something you can buy. Reservations for the second Android XR device, now dubbed the Xreal Aura, are available for $99 starting today, with a full launch in the US, UK, Japan, Canada, and South Korea expected sometime this Fall. [...]

Snap is finally launching augmented glasses for the public. Specs, which Snap describes as "a wearable computer built into see-through augmented reality glasses," will cost $2,195. You can preorder a pair of Specs now at specs.com with a $200 refundable deposit, and Snap says they're expected to ship "this fall" in the US, UK, and [...]

Amazon Prime Day 2026 is getting closer, and it's possible you might have some questions about the sale. When does it start? Why is it in June instead of July? And, most importantly, when will the deals go live? We have concrete answers to those questions, and we'll have a lot more Prime Day coverage [...]

If you're looking for a cheap Father's Day gift that delivers more than you'd expect for the price, Nothing's Ear (a) are a good option. The wireless earbuds are currently on sale as part of a larger early Prime Day sales event, making them an even better value than usual. Right now, you can buy [...]

After a brief debut at the Cannes film festival last month, DJI announced all the details of its Osmo Pocket 4P stabilized camera today as part of its initial launch in China. While it doesn't match the 8K capabilities of the Insta360 Luna Ultra, the Pocket 4P features a new 1-inch sensor with improved dynamic [...]

Against all odds, the Tesla Cybercab is in production. And while Elon Musk's company may not have a very coherent plan for the tiny, autonomous two-seater, it's still taking the necessary steps to certify the EV's legitimacy. As such, Tesla recently filed paperwork with the Environmental Protection Agency that reveal many of the Cybercab's specs, [...]

By this time next year, Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch intends to have added Roku to his already expansive media empire. Should the acquisition go through, Fox will gain control of Roku's modest library of original programming, and the newly combined company will become "the third-largest player in U.S. television" in terms of viewing share. [...]

The state of Florida is suing TikTok over claims the company isn't complying with the state's child safety law, which bans kids under 14 from creating social media accounts, as reported earlier by Reuters. The lawsuit, filed on Monday, alleges that TikTok still allows 13-year-olds in Florida to use the platform and is "actively deceiving" [...]

Built-in television speakers are almost always underwhelming, so getting a soundbar is the best way to elevate any and all content. If you want to get the most for your money, Amazon's Fire TV Soundbar Plus with a subwoofer and satellite speakers provide a bigger sound than a standalone soundbar like a Sonos Beam. Ahead [...]

If you had asked me a week ago to recommend a thinner alternative to PopSockets' magnetic phone grips, I would have told you to buy the OhSnap Snap Grip 5. Ask me now and I'll redirect you right back to the company that accidentally invented the phone grip in 2012 when trying to come up [...]

Microsoft is launching new Surface Laptops and a Surface Pro with Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 processors. These are direct follow-ups to the Surface Laptops and Surface Pro from 2024 that launched with Snapdragon X1 chips and jumpstarted Microsoft's Copilot Plus PC initiative with Windows on Arm. The new X2 Surfaces are available today. The Surface Pro [...]

It's been more than a year since Schlage announced its first smart lock to support ultra wideband technology (UWB), but now it's finally almost available to purchase. Starting June 29th, the Schlage Sense Pro deadbolt lock will be available for $399 in the US, allowing customers to unlock their doors by simply approaching them with [...]

Most mechanical keyboards are great these days, with colorful looks and satisfying typing sounds - even in budget-friendly ranges. But every so often, one stops me dead in my tracks. In this case, two of them. I've been testing a pair of jaw-droppingly lovely keyboards that launched late last year. The Evoworks Evo75, a compact [...]

Apple's HomeKit Secure Video service is getting in on the Apple Intelligence party to bring more descriptive alerts from your connected cameras and let you search footage using natural language. The Apple Home app is also getting better notifications powered by AI and is finally adding support for energy reporting. These improvements were announced at [...]

Days after its massive IPO, SpaceX says it is spending $60 billion to buy Cursor - a bet designed to help Elon Musk's sprawling rocket / AI / social media behemoth win over lucrative enterprise customers and close the gap with AI rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI. The takeover was not entirely unexpected: SpaceX announced [...]

I'll just work from the car, I thought. But after a few minutes of staring at my screen on quick mountain switchbacks I could feel the first signs of cold, coagulated nausea bubbling up from that sweaty place in my gut. I looked to the horizon for relief, but nothing helped... until I remembered Apple's [...]

Lenovo announced a new version of its chonky speaker-filled Tab Plus tablet that once again puts a strong focus on audio. While the original Tab Plus launched two years ago with eight built-in speakers requiring a 13.58mm rear bulge to squeeze them all in, the new Tab Plus Gen 2 bumps that to nine speakers [...]

Despite being an objectively terrible digital camera, the Kodak Charmera has been incredibly popular thanks to a cheap price tag and several fun retro designs inspired by the iconic 1987 single-use Kodak Fling. Instead of entirely rethinking that formula, Reto, the company licensing the Kodak brand, is following up on the original Charmera with a [...]

Threads has surpassed 500 million monthly active users, Meta announced on Tuesday, hitting the milestone just shy of the platform's third birthday. Threads got off to a hot start in 2023, reaching 100 million users even faster than ChatGPT, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that he thinks Threads could hit 1 billion users. Meta [...]

When Christian Simpson, a retro gaming YouTuber also known as Peri Fractic, bought the remains of an early PC company called Commodore in 2025, he decided to pick up right where the original Commodore left off. Which meant starting product development in the mid-1990s. Simpson and his team first set to work reviving the company's [...]

As the rest of the country celebrated the USA's first World Cup win and the New York Knicks championship, Anthropic spent its weekend fighting the Trump administration over its latest model release. At 5:21 PM on Friday, the company received a US export control directive to suspend access to its Mythos 5 and Fable 5 [...]

Your public Facebook posts could help inform AI-generated results in Meta's new AI Mode. When you search on Facebook, the "AI Mode" option will appear alongside the usual search modes like "People" and "Marketplace." It's one of several new AI features Meta is rolling out starting today, including photo presets that swap sports jerseys onto [...]

Xbox is closing down Ninja Theory, the studio behind the Hellblade series, a source tells The Verge. Staffers were told on a call on Monday about the closure, but they are hoping the studio will find a buyer. The closure comes as "several" Xbox studios at Microsoft, including Compulsion Games and Double Fine, are in [...]

Fox is about to take over the TVs in more than 100 million homes worldwide. On Monday, Fox announced that it's acquiring Roku, the streaming middleman that serves as a portal for viewers to hop into services like Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, and more. The $22 billion deal may not change Roku's familiar purple interface, [...]

If your electricity bill climbs every summer, a smart thermostat could help keep cooling costs in check. The Amazon Smart Thermostat is an excellent option for its price, especially today. It's down to just $57.99 at Amazon as a part of Amazon's early Prime Day sale, which is the best price we've seen since Black [...]

Anthropic was already navigating one dispute with the government in its standoff with the Pentagon, and then came an order on June 12th to block off foreign access to its most recently released AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5. When they launched on June 9th, Anthropic said Fable 5's capabilities exceed those of any [...]

Amazon's earlier-than-usual Prime Day doesn't begin until June 23rd, but there are several even earlier deals on must-have products that you can check out right now. To name some examples, Apple's AirPods Pro 3 are selling at their cheapest-ever price. Also, you can grab Ring's latest battery-powered doorbell for $60 off and it includes a [...]

At Washington's request, Anthropic suddenly took its newest and most powerful AI models offline over the weekend. The American company said it had little choice after the White House demanded it block access for all foreign nationals, including its own employees. Abroad, the incident offered a sobering reminder that the US not only dominates frontier [...]

Google Chrome version 150 and 151, expected in late June and July, respectively, will cut off support for the last remaining workarounds for running older ad blockers, 9to5Google reports. Google phased out support for ad-blocking extensions built for Manifest V2, like uBlock Origin, in 2024. At that point, most Chrome users either switched to newer [...]

For months, Big Tech's Washington lobbyists have chased after the holy grail of pro-AI legislation: preemption. This would be a comprehensive federal law, passed in Congress and signed by the president, applying one set of AI rules across the entire country and overriding the legally messy state-by-state approach to regulation. For months, lobbyists have run [...]

Last week, Xbox boss Asha Sharma sent a memo warning of an Xbox "reset" ahead of expected layoffs, and today, Kotaku reported that Xbox plans to shut down Compulsion Games, the studio behind South of Midnight. Since taking over in February, Sharma has made some big decisions, including cutting the price of Xbox Game Pass [...]

Roblox's vice president of safety product policy, Eliza Jacobs, told NBC News that Roblox is "optimistic" that its new facial age estimation tech will "continue to get better," saying, "Ticking a box to say you're 13 or older, it's not enough anymore." NBC invited a group of kids to try out Roblox's new video selfie [...]