The Verge

Today, I'm talking with Hank Green, a longtime friend of Decoder and the cofounder and now former owner of Complexly, an online education company he started with his brother John in 2012. I say former owner because Hank and John have just converted Complexly into a nonprofit and given up their ownership of the company [...]

Xbox fans had been anticipating the retirement of Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer for years, but what most hadn't expected was the departure of Xbox president Sarah Bond too. For many outside the company, Bond seemed like Spencer's natural successor, a deputy of sorts. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Microsoft CFO Amy Hood clearly didn't [...]

After teasing the upcoming launch of its midrange Phone 4A last week, Nothing has now revealed what the rear of the device looks like. An official render of the Phone 4A shared on X shows off the brand's familiar transparent-industrial stylings, alongside a new "Glyph Bar" lighting feature located to the right of the triple [...]

Uber is moving aggressively into robotaxis, striking deals with new partners and promising big investments to support future fleets - basically everything it can do except design and build the vehicles itself. (It tried that once, unsuccessfully.) Now, the ridehail giant is launching a new initiative to support its third-party robotaxi partners called Uber Autonomous [...]

Light-based internet provider Taara, which spun out of Alphabet's "moonshot" incubator last year, just launched Taara Beam to provide 25Gbps connectivity within cities over invisible beams of light - line of sight permitting. Unlike last year's Taara Lightbridge, which connects communities separated by water and mountains at distances up to 20km (over 12 miles), the [...]

Last November, the House Oversight Committee had just released 20,000 pages of documents from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, and Luke Igel and some friends were clicking around, trying to follow the threads of conversation through garbled email threads and a PDF viewer that was, frankly, "gross." In the coming months, the Department of Justice [...]

In addition to summoning Bixby or Gemini, Galaxy S26 users will be able to call on Perplexity by saying "hey, Plex." The integration of Perplexity into Galaxy AI is just one element of the company's embrace of a "multi-agent ecosystem." Often, people will use different AI agents for different tasks, depending on where their strengths [...]

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Laurie Spiegel for the site. As preparation for the interview, I spent a lot of time over the last couple of weeks revisiting Spiegel's records, most notably The Expanding Universe, her 1980 masterpiece that blends synth experimentalism with early examples of what would eventually be called ambient music, [...]

Donald Trump threatened that there would be "consequences" for Netflix if it didn't fire board member Susan Rice. Rice served in both the Obama and Biden administrations, and recently appeared on Preet Bharara's podcast, where she said corporations that "take a knee to Trump" are going to be "caught with more than their pants down. [...]

Tetris has been immortalized in a playable McDonald's plastic chicken nugget, a playable fake 7-Eleven Slurpee cup, and a playable wristwatch. But the most intriguing way to play Tetris yet is encased in paper. Last year the Tetris Company partnered with Red Bull for a gaming tournament that culminated in the 150-meter-tall Dubai Frame landmark [...]

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the dire state of tech regulation, follow Adi Robertson. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started In 1973, long before the modern digital era, [...]

There's been a surge of interest over the last few years in inexpensive digital cameras. Younger folks are snapping up old point-and-shoots because they view the aesthetic as more authentic and more appealing than smartphone images. Companies are even rereleasing old tech at new prices. And there are cameras like the original Camp Snap: a [...]

Arturia launched a new version of its flagship effects suite, FX Collection, which includes two new plugins, EFX Ambient and Pitch Shifter-910. FX Collection 6 also marks the introduction of an Intro version with a selection of six effects covering the basics for $99. That pales in comparison to the 39 effects in the full [...]

For all his bluster about voter fraud, Elon Musk has been one of the most flagrant flouters of US election law. Now his America PAC has been slapped with a reprimand by the Georgia State Election Board for sending out pre-filled absentee ballot applications. State law prohibits anyone, other than an authorized relative, from sending [...]

The suspect in the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Jesse Van Rootselaar, was raising alarms among employees at OpenAI months before the shooting took place. This past June, Jesse had conversations with ChatGPT involving descriptions of gun violence that triggered the chatbot's automated review system. Several employees raised concerns that her posts could [...]

Welcome to the weekend, folks! The Reviews and Guides team here at The Verge is gearing up for all things Unpacked, but Samsung isn't the only one readying new phones. Google just announced the Pixel 10A, which, for you early adopters, is already up for preorder with a $100 gift card. Elsewhere in deal land, [...]

I've always wanted to go skydiving. Aerial_Knight's DropShot, from indie developer Aerial_Knight, lets me live out that dream - at least in a safe, virtual kind of way. It also lets me shoot bullets from finger guns, wield laser skulls, and wear cool sunglasses while I'm falling through the air. So maybe it's better than [...]

Demand for EVs has gone glacial, and one automaker after another is running aground: General Motors threw $7.6 billion overboard. Ford washed $19.5 billion off its books. Leave it to Stellantis to face the most titanic charge yet, a $26.5 billion bill for its own misplaced bet on EVs. The Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler parent [...]

The Soundcore Nebula X1 Pro is too weird to exist. It takes the excellent 4K projector and karaoke microphones from Anker's Nebula X1 and stuffs them inside a powerful five-speaker Google TV party on wheels. It's so absurd that it feels like a gadget fever dream - and I'm here for it. At the heart [...]

Any ebook reader will let you cram a Beauty and the Beast-sized library's worth of books in your pocket, but so will your phone. An ebook reader offers a more book-like reading experience, with fewer distractions and less eye strain, and many include extra features, like adjustable frontlighting. Some really are pocketable. Others are waterproof [...]

Xbox has new leaders today, now that Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond are out - and you'd be forgiven for assuming that means yet another round of layoffs and shuttered studios, especially one day after Sony jettisoned a beloved developer. Not yet, it seems. "To be clear, there are no organizational changes underway for our [...]

The US Supreme Court struck down some of Donald Trump's tariffs on foreign imports, which have become a hallmark of the chaos of the second Trump administration. The court's ruling deals specifically with duties levied using a law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), something no other president has done - the 1977 [...]

Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer has just announced he's leaving the company after 12 years leading Xbox and nearly 40 at Microsoft in total. His replacement: Asha Sharma, formerly head of development for Microsoft's AI enterprise teams. Before that, she was COO of Instacart for three years, and spent four at Meta in charge of [...]

Xbox chief Phil Spencer has just announced to employees that he's leaving Microsoft after 38 years. In a memo entitled "A new chapter for Microsoft Gaming," Spencer reveals to Xbox employees that he made the decision to retire from Microsoft last fall. He also reveals Xbox president Sarah Bond is leaving Microsoft, triggering a big [...]

Xbox chief Phil Spencer is leaving Microsoft after nearly 40 years at the software giant. Xbox president Sarah Bond is also leaving Microsoft, in what is a major shake-up to the management of Xbox and Microsoft's gaming efforts. Asha Sharma, currently president of CoreAI product, is taking over as CEO of Microsoft Gaming. Microsoft CEO [...]

Sarah Bond, the president and COO of Xbox, is leaving the organization, along with CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer. Her departure was announced at the same time as Spencer's, with Asha Sharma moving into the EVP and CEO of Gaming role and Matt Booty being promoted to EVP and chief content officer. In a [...]

The Trump administration just tossed out Biden-era restrictions on mercury and other toxic pollutants from power plants. It's repealing Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) just as electricity demand in the US ticks up with the buildout of new AI data centers. Those standards are particularly impactful when it comes to pollution from coal plants [...]

If the PlayStation 5 is your console of choice -and you're not satisfied with the DualSense gamepad it comes with - the DualSense Edge may be what you're looking for. Luckily, if its high asking price of $199 was keeping you away, Sony is now offering the white and black controller via the PlayStation Direct [...]

For decades, America's auto industry was the envy of the world, driven by mass production, the rise of Detroit's Big Three automakers, and the iconic stylings of the 1950s and '60s. Then, through a series of blunders and missteps, things started to unravel. There was the fuel crisis of the 1970s, which led to an [...]

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is urging broadcasters to air "patriotic, pro-America content" in celebration of the US's 250th anniversary. The initiative, called the "Pledge America Campaign," encourages broadcasters to run public service announcements, short segments, or specials to promote "civic education, inspiring local stories, and American history." Carr says broadcasters can "voluntarily choose [...]

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. This week, we explain how the presidential phone company connects to an older company that's really running the show. We've long known that Trump Mobile was linked to Liberty Mobile, a carrier that's traded for years using freedom-themed branding to sell cheap [...]

Prediction markets will let you bet on just about anything, from how many tweets Elon Musk will post this week to the next president of the United States, with predictions sometimes showing shockingly (or suspiciously) spot-on accuracy. Polymarket's CEO Shayne Copland has even claimed that prediction markets are the most accurate thing we have as [...]

When Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrived at a Los Angeles courthouse on Wednesday, he did so with a team that appeared to be wearing Meta's camera-equipped Ray-Ban smart glasses. Judge Carolyn Kuhl was concerned. According to CNBC, Kuhl warned anyone recording with the glasses, "If you have done that, you must delete that, or you [...]

Amazon Web Services suffered a 13-hour outage to one system in December as a result of its AI coding assistant Kiro's actions, according to the Financial Times. Numerous unnamed Amazon employees told the FT that AI agent Kiro was responsible for the December incident affecting an AWS service in parts of mainland China. People familiar [...]

OpenAI's first hardware release will be a smart speaker with a camera that will probably cost between $200 and $300, according to The Information. The device will be able to recognize things like "items on a nearby table or conversations people are having in the vicinity," The Information says, and it will have a Face [...]

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond launched on the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 in December, but if you're itching for some more lore, Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Retrospective is a nice way to dig in, especially now that it's on sale. Normally $49.99, you can currently buy the hardcover version for $36.59 (about $13 off) [...]

Substack has updated its partnership with betting platform Polymarket, "introducing native tools that make it easier to share, discuss, and debate prediction market data directly on Substack." Additionally, Polymarket will effectively pay "a cohort of creators," including Matt Yglesias, to use its data though the newsletter platform's pilot sponsorships program. This is just the latest [...]

Juggling multiple chargers for your gadgets while you're commuting, working from a cafe, or traveling can get heavy (and pricey!) fast, which is why today's deal on the Anker Prime Power Bank (20K, 200W) is worth checking out. It can quickly charge three devices at once - including laptops - and it's down to just [...]

Samsung unleashed a new batch of Galaxy Z TriFold units after selling out initial stock of the behemoth foldable that turns into a 10-inch tablet. It took less than ten minutes to sell through today's supply, which either speaks to the phone's surprising popularity or, rather, just how few of them the company is making. [...]

Tamron has announced a new USB-C dongle that wirelessly connects compatible lenses to mobile devices and laptops so they can be customized and controlled remotely. It works with 16 of the company's lenses to start. The $50 Tamron-Link dongle is available now, and while its Bluetooth range is limited to just over 16-feet, it's one [...]

What up, Verge-heads! Wait. "Vergesters?" "Verge-igans?" Nope, that ain't it... GREETINGS, DEAREST VERGE SUBSCRIBERS! Antonio here. I'm your friendly neighborhood laptop reviewer, and I'm hosting an exclusive subscriber "AMA" today at 11AM PT / 2PM ET. I review laptops ranging from MacBooks and Chromebooks to weird-but-awesome tablets and a $6,000 gaming laptop. So I [...]

This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they're going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here. While scrolling through my TikTok feed, I often find myself thinking of Elizabeth Bathory. Legend has it that [...]

Pokemon Day is always a big deal for Nintendo fans, but with this year being the franchise's 30th anniversary, the next Pokemon Presents stream is likely to bring the heat when it begins on February 27th at 9AM ET. With Pokemon Legends: Z-A behind us and Pokemon Pokopia right around the corner, chances are high [...]

I've written about a lot of different video game hardware over the years, from new consoles to retro gadgets to whatever you want to call the Playdate. But I can't remember ever being perpetually sore from testing a device; such are the joys of the Virtual Boy. Nintendo has turned its biggest flop into an [...]

Whenever I write about Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, I already know the comments I'm going to get. Cool hardware, but hard pass on anything Meta makes; will wait for someone else to come along. It's hard to imagine that sentiment changing anytime soon after The New York Times reported that Meta mulled launching facial recognition [...]

Tesla has announced a new all-wheel drive Cybertruck that starts at $59,990, the cheapest the controversial truck has been sold for yet - though still well above the $40,000 price tag Elon Musk had initially promised. It's been joined by a $15,000 price cut for the high-end Cyberbeast variant, as Tesla doubles down on its [...]

I met Will Stancil two days before he got booted from his neighborhood Signal chat. We were at the Uptown Minneapolis VFW at an event hosted by Rep. Ilhan Omar, a thank-you party for Minnesotans who fought ICE in ways big and small. There were tacos and drinks, and dancing, though I never saw Stancil [...]

Brian Boland spent more than a decade figuring out how to build a system that would make Meta money. On Thursday, he told a California jury it incentivized drawing more and more users, including teens, onto Facebook and Instagram - despite the risks. Boland's testimony came a day after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the [...]

Each episode of HBO's The Pitt features some degree of medical trauma that almost makes the hospital drama feel like a horror series. Some patients are dealing with gnarly lacerations while others are fighting off vicious blood infections that could rob them of their limbs, and the chaos of working in an emergency room often [...]

With Ring facing fierce backlash over its Search Party feature, a new program is challenging developers to move Ring doorbell footage off of Amazon's cloud - and into users' own devices. The Fulu Foundation, the consumer advocacy group cofounded by YouTuber Louis Rossmann, is offering an initial bounty of $10,000 to anyone who can integrate [...]