The Verge

If you like to read by the pool or at the beach, the 2021 Kindle Paperwhite remains one of the best e-readers available despite its age. That's because, unlike Amazon's latest entry-level Kindle, the last-gen Paperwhite is waterproof. And now through June 14th (or while supplies last), it's on sale at Woot with ads, 16GB [...]

Motorola's latest Razr Ultra proves that its flip foldable format has evolved to become more than just a nostalgic gimmick. I'd understand if you're not interested in shelling out $1,499.99 for the 2026 model, but the similar 2025 Motorola Razr Ultra with 512GB of storage is a much more palatable $699.99 unlocked at Best Buy [...]

The most memorable part of 007 First Light is something that's typically pretty boring: the tutorial. In many games, you're forced through a series of tedious lessons in how to play, presented in a way that feels disconnected from the story itself and at a plodding pace. But First Light does something different. Because the [...]

Anthropic is releasing Claude Opus 4.8 on Thursday, and the company is touting the model's "honesty." According to Anthropic, it trains "all [its] models to be honest - for instance, to avoid making claims that they can't support." But it notes that "a general problem with AI models is that they sometimes jump to conclusions, [...]

If you've been waiting for a smaller version of the Oura Ring, the company's latest wearable is now available for preorder ahead of its June 4th release from Oura and various third-party retailers, including both Amazon and Walmart. The Oura Ring 5, which starts at $399, is 40 percent smaller than its predecessor, thanks to [...]

Next month's Tribeca Festival will include the premiere of an AI-generated film: Dreams of Violets. The 75-minute film is a fictional dramatization of the Iranian government's mass killing of protestors in January, with the people and images fully created by AI, as reported earlier by The Hollywood Reporter. Dreams of Violets cost $2,000 to make [...]

Activision is planning to drop support for PS4 and Xbox One consoles in Call of Duty: Warzone later this year. Players will need to upgrade to a PS5 or Xbox Series S / X console to continue playing Call of Duty: Warzone once season 6 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 finishes later this [...]

New features coming to YouTube could make it better for listening to podcasts, rolling out to Premium subscribers starting today on Android and coming later to iOS. A new "on-the-go mode" shifts YouTube into an audio-first layout, with larger, simplified playback buttons, a still image in place of the video, and a timeline showing video [...]

Nearly 10 years ago I reviewed my favorite Surface device. Microsoft hand-delivered its Surface Studio all-in-one PC to me, and I was hooked from the moment I switched it on. It had a beautiful floating touchscreen that you could push all the way down into a drawing board mode, making it unlike anything I had [...]

Activision has officially announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and says the game will launch on October 23rd, 2026. Modern Warfare 4, which is developed by Infinity Ward, will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X / S, PC - and it will also be the first Call of Duty title to launch on [...]

This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. Roughly 10 years ago, someone told me that Roku was making "cheap hardware to sell to Walmart customers in flyover states." The remark was meant to be an insult, belittling [...]

After several months of testing, Waymo is finally ready to invite non-employee passengers into its newest vehicle, the Zeekr RT minivan, which has been rebranded as Ojai. Waymo says it will begin offering "select riders" access in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, before "gradually" expanding to more riders and cities. Trips will be free [...]

Fosi Audio announced a new sound card today with a unique feature designed to give FPS players an advantage. The C3 Gaming Sound Card, which sits outside your PC or laptop and connects with a USB-C cable, includes the company's StepSense "audio enhancement technology" powered by a model that was "trained on extensive FPS audio [...]

Apple's long-awaited Siri overhaul, expected to arrive in iOS 27, might look a lot like ChatGPT with a splash of Liquid Glass. Renders from Bloomberg offer a preview of iOS 27, including the new app and chat interface for Siri. The renders are "based on information viewed by Bloomberg and people with knowledge of [Apple's] [...]

CNN has filed a lawsuit against Perplexity, claiming that the startup's AI tools generate "verbatim" copies of its work, as reported earlier by CNN. The lawsuit, filed in a New York court on Thursday, also alleges that Perplexity provides users with information locked behind CNN's subscription. Perplexity, which offers an AI "answer" engine along with [...]

Today, I'm talking with Wassym Bensaid, the chief software officer at Rivian, and the co-CEO of Rivian's platform joint venture with Volkswagen, which everyone just calls RV Tech. That joint venture kicked off about a year and a half ago with a nearly $6 billion investment from Volkswagen. It effectively puts Wassym in charge of [...]

The Nintendo Switch 2 can be enjoyed right out of the box, but it's even better with the right accessories. Some of these add-ons are more crucial than others, especially if you're deciding what to buy early on. For example, a case and a screen protector can keep your console safe from scuffs, scratches, and [...]

They started at $1,000. Then $700. Then $600 budget machines. Now, Qualcomm says the price of its Arm-based Windows laptops will hit $300 this year. Even though RAMageddon has yet to subside and PC prices keep climbing, the company says it's built a new budget laptop platform called Snapdragon C - "C" as in "Compute" [...]

Intel is barely in the handheld gaming PC space - but that might be about to change. After the embarrassment that was the first MSI Claw and the excellent MSI Claw 8 AI Plus that followed it, Intel announced it would create custom handheld gaming chips. Today, it's formally announcing them as the Arc G3 [...]

Xiaomi has announced the 17T and 17T Pro, two cheaper spins on its 17 series flagships. As is usual for the T-series, the focus is more on performance than photography, with the biggest batteries Xiaomi has included on any of its phones outside China yet. The 17T includes a 6,500mAh silicon-carbon battery, while the 17T [...]

Wherever I go, whatever I do, people point at my finger and ask, "Is that an Oura Ring?" Lots of people find they like the design, and they tell me why they're thinking about switching to a smart ring from a smartwatch. But the people who scrunch up their noses? They usually say something along [...]

I first realized there was an issue with Kia's flagship EV9 when I tried to unlock my car last year. The hulking three-row SUV was sitting on my driveway completely dead. The key didn't work, the app connection to the car was gone, and I was already late to an appointment. Luckily, I had prepared [...]

Temu has been fined 200 million (about $232 million) by the European Commission after it found that consumers are "very likely to encounter illegal items" on the popular Chinese e-commerce platform. According to the commission, Temu breached Digital Service Act (DSA) rules by failing to identify and assess the systemic risks of illegal products being [...]

Google Home is rolling out a new Gemini-powered automation feature that can trigger smart home routines based on what your security cameras can see. This is one of several updates announced yesterday for Gemini for Home, including enhanced voice command support and general stability improvements, following its early access launch in October. "We are introducing [...]

YouTube is launching a new AI feature that creates a personalized video feed based on descriptions of what you want to watch. In its announcement, YouTube says custom content feeds can be built around your specific interests, moods, or favorite topics, which you can then pin to the top of your YouTube homepage - making [...]

For a few glorious years, a $399 portable gadget could run almost anything you'd want to play. In 2022, the Steam Deck finally made PC gaming portable and affordable. I played through the vast majority of Elden Ring on a Steam Deck, agape that such a rich world could comfortably fit between my two hands. [...]

Federal prosecutors charged a Google employee with fraud after he allegedly made $1.2 million on Polymarket bets related to Search-related trends in 2025, as reported earlier by ABC News. In their now-unsealed complaint, prosecutors allege that Michele Spagnuolo "knew the outcome of these wagers before the trading public did because he had accessed Google's confidential, [...]

If you want an iPad that's more powerful than the entry-level model but less expensive than the iPad Pro, the latest iPad Air is the one to buy, and it's down to one its best prices to date. The 11-inch Air with 128GB of storage and Wi-Fi connectivity is available at Amazon starting at $519.99 [...]

Ferrari fans don't like the design of the new Luce EV, an electric four-door sedan that just doesn't look like the Ferraris of old. It was designed with help from Jony Ive's LoveFrom, but what worked for Ive at Apple isn't working for Ferrari. The Luce's launch immediately preceded a stock drop that even an [...]

After first being announced in December 2024, Lux Optics has finally released the latest version of its Halide camera app for the iPhone and iPad. The Halide Mark III app's most compelling feature is a new film simulation engine and a collection of five new Looks that can be applied to photos as they're taken. [...]

After announcing tests of premium subscriptions for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp earlier this year, TechCrunch and Bloomberg report that Meta is launching a global rollout over the next few weeks and is also starting to test subscriptions for Meta AI. With the new offerings, Meta joins many other tech companies in changing up its subscription plans [...]

In Las Vegas, the blazing sun beats down on a makeshift Olympic-length pool. Cody Miller stands on the starting block of lane one. His arms are raised in victory. MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" thumps over the loudspeakers as he rips off his swimming cap, throwing it to the ground. Miller lets out a [...]

Valve has significantly increased the price of the Steam Deck - but now, it's also in stock. The 512GB Steam Deck OLED now costs $789, up from $549, while the 1TB model costs $949, up from $649. As I write this, both models are available to buy on Steam with an estimated delivery date of [...]

Graduating from college is exciting, but it can also feel slightly terrifying. Along with celebrating a huge accomplishment, many grads jump right into looking for a job. Some might be getting their first apartment, too, which brings on a whole new set of responsibilities. That's why getting the right graduation gift is so important: They [...]

xTool has announced a new multi-purpose crafting machine that could potentially be one of the most affordable ways to start an Etsy shop. Its modular design facilitates a CMYK print head that works on multiple materials including paper, wood, and felt. It can later be swapped with laser-based cutting and engraving tools. You can use [...]

Motorola says that recently discovered behavior, which saw some of its phones sending users to an affiliate tracking website before opening the Amazon app, was "unintended" and has been "promptly corrected." The company didn't explain how the error was introduced in the first place. "Recently, Motorola acted quickly to resolve an issue that was identified, [...]

Even without E3, the transition from spring to summer is a busy time for the gaming industry. Summer Game Fest is right around the corner, and Sony is kicking things off with a State of Play on June 2nd with an extended look atInsomniac's upcoming Wolverine game. To mark the occasion, Sony is also hosting [...]

The first wave of RGB LED TVs are fighting for their spot in the TV hierarchy. They need to outperform OLED TVs in brightness and color (because they'll never match OLED's contrast), and they need to outperform regular LED TVs in everything (because their price is so much higher). It's now time for Sony to [...]

By the time that the Democratic primary for New York's 12th congressional district wraps up in June, Anthropic and OpenAI will have spent millions on their battle over the political future of AI: who gets to regulate it, or who will be punished for trying to regulate it. But the real winner of their feud [...]

After a flood of complaints about the Google Health app that just replaced Fitbit, Google has responded with a list of changes that will roll out starting this week. Google is addressing some of the biggest complaints users had, like the Today dashboard that can only show users' chosen health metrics in the top half [...]

Sony has a tradition of marking down its PlayStation 5 hardware a couple of times a year, and one of those opportunities to save is here through June 10th. Its latest Days of Play sale is happening at multiple retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart, and at Sony's site as well. It loops in [...]

Robinhood is opening its trading platform to AI agents. In an announcement on Wednesday, Robinhood says traders can now create a separate account for an AI agent and add a specific amount of money, allowing the agent to buy and sell stocks across the market. The company pitches the feature as a way for traders [...]

Since moving to South Carolina's Lowcountry, I've been spellbound by the myriad of beautiful birds that share the coast with us - ospreys raising their babies in towering nests beside the road to my daughter's school, roseate spoonbills wading in the marsh on my morning walks, eagles circling over my son's tennis matches, and a [...]

It may be the NBA playoffs but right now Ferrari is getting dunked on more than anyone. Whether they own a Ferrari or just have a poster of a Testarossa on their wall, fans in the Ferrari-verse are frothy about the Luce, the company's first all-electric vehicle. According to one highly rated Verge commenter: "looks [...]

The James Bond franchise is nothing if not a spectacle: Aside from the explosions and gunfights, even its calmer moments are dripping in the pomp and glamour of elite ostentation and luxury locales. Bond, however, has always been an odd mascot for the espionage profession, which ordinarily operates under silence and shadows. With 007 First [...]

When people learn I work for The Verge, they inevitably ask: Do you get to keep the gadgets?" Now that I film Today I'm Toying With, a video series where I share the joy of tech, I get that question more than ever. The answer is no, we don't keep them! Our ethics policy is [...]

After rolling credits on Mina the Hollower, I did something unusual for me and immediately started a new file. I'm not typically one to replay games right after I beat them. But Mina, a new action-adventure title from Shovel Knight creators Yacht Club Games, offers something that got me to jump right back into a [...]

In the wake of Google expanding its AI verification efforts at I/O, YouTube is now finally going to start taking AI labeling seriously. YouTube has announced that it's relocating AI disclosures on Shorts and long-form videos to make them easier to spot and will start automatically identifying and labeling AI-generated content on the platform. For [...]

The fourth Witcher game may be a ways off, but fans won't be without Geralt of Rivia for long. CD Projekt Red just announced Songs of the Past, the third expansion for The Witcher 3, which will be launching in 2027. Aside from the title, there aren't many details about the expansion just yet. It's [...]

Augmented reality wearables provider Xreal has launched a new "X By Xreal" (XBX) subbrand, with its first customizable, lightweight smart glasses coming to the US in July. The new a01 AR glasses will be available starting at $299, featuring a "highly stable anti-shake mode" and interchangeable front frames. While the a01 lacks the degrees-of-freedom (DoF) [...]