The Verge

Epic Games is announcing a big refresh of its PC games launcher today in preview, saying that the new version is "way faster" and now supports Linux. But the company, which has been publicly making a big push into AI-assisted development, also notes that the refresh was "vibe coded." "Programming is hard," Epic says in [...]

Epic is working on bringing Fortnite to Linux through its Epic Games Launcher. The new launcher is releasing in preview today, and for the first time on Linux, and while Fortnite isn't available there just yet, Epic wants to make that a reality. So far, part of the reason Fortnite hasn't been available on Linux [...]

Continuing the analog approach of the Instax Square SQ6 that launched in 2018 and follow-ups like the Square SQ1 and SQ40, the new Fujifilm Instax Square 2 skips digital functionality while still introducing the ability to customize the look and feel of instant photos. A new mood filter switch slides one of two colored filters [...]

Rockstar Games might not keep fans waiting as long for the next installment of Grand Theft Auto. As part of Bloomberg's expansive report on the making of GTA VI, Rockstar technical lead Phil Hooker said that the "engine, the tools and the team we've built during this project will allow us to do things more [...]

With its upcoming remake for the Switch 2, Nintendo might have nailed the best thing about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: its timelessness. The 1998 3D action adventure game for the Nintendo 64 that pioneered so much - 3D graphics, movement, exploration, openness - has been reengineered with changes that make it feel [...]

We have to talk about this screen. It's the first thing you notice, and maybe the only thing that matters, about the Alexa Tablet 12 Pro. It's a 12-inch, 2800 x 1840 panel with a new technology Amazon calls "Nanomatte" that is meant to decrease glare and increase the feeling that you can reach out [...]

For a car that's supposed to be one of the fastest ever made, the new Tesla Roadster certainly took its sweet-ass time getting here. It's been nearly a decade since Elon Musk made the surprise announcement about plans to build a next-gen Roadster. Now, the Tesla Roadster is finally expected to make its production-ready debut [...]

Repairable, ethical phone brand Fairphone has released its second pair of earbuds. The Fairbuds 2 are just as repairable as the first generation, but deliver improved audio and almost twice the battery life. The Fairbuds 2 are out now in the UK and Europe from 99 / 119, and a US launch at $119 will [...]

Apple's ad introducing its new HomeView smart display is a little unusual. It's fast-paced and unruly, depicting a family of five as they rush through the morning routine. There's yelling and mess, misplaced keys and discarded eggshells. Apple's typical vibe is clean, simple, orderly; this commercial is chaos. But the spot has parents - those [...]

An OpenAI engineer was arrested after the company said it discovered a "sophisticated recording device" hidden in one of its offices. The employee was identified as Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national. Alfozan is charged with using or endeavoring to use a device to intercept oral communications, according to a press release from the Department [...]

Apple Music's iconic red app icon has reportedly been replaced with a black-and-white version in the latest iOS 27.2 beta, 9to5Mac reports. The eighth note on the icon also appears to have a slightly sharper angle than the original. A new Apple Music logo was also spotted last month on the Apple Music Hall website, [...]

More AI agents will soon be able to browse and purchase from Shopify listings, marking an expansion of the company's agentic commerce ambitions. Shopify announced Tuesday it will let shoppers configure their AI agents to purchase products on their behalf, giving more agents access to over a billion listings in Shopify's catalog. (The catalog consists [...]

Retro gaming is going through a wild time at the moment, thanks to decompilations and recompilations that are letting gamers port classic titles to new devices, or merge code from two different games into a single new experience. Microsoft has witnessed skateboarding being modded into Call of Duty and Halo being played in a web [...]

One of the best deals we've seen today bundles together a great pair of headphones with a solid album. When you add the Nothing Headphone A in black or white and the CD version of the Charli XCX album Music, Fashion, Film to your Amazon cart, you'll save 33 percent on your order, bringing the [...]

Days after Ukrainian military drones took down several Russian data centers, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that the campaign had hurt Russia's disinformation efforts. "It suddenly became a little easier to breathe on many social platforms," Zelenskyy said Monday. "There was less hate, less division, and fewer provocations." Zelenskyy isn't the first to assert that the [...]

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe's startup Mind Robotics announced the appointment of Doug Field as president in a major coup for the CEO's secretive robotics project. Field was a VP of special projects at Apple, where he was the de facto head of the company's ultimately unsuccessful Project Titan effort to make an autonomous electric car. [...]

The other day I whizzed past several people while running in the park, my playlist blasting at full volume. The next morning, I smiled at a barista while ordering a caramel apple-flavored matcha latte. Afterward, I sat on a park bench reading a book, called up a pal to chat about her recent trip to [...]

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it's evaluating allegations that Tesla's 1,000 or so robotaxis using its automated driving system are exceeding "posted speed limits in active school zones." Waymo's robotaxis have also faced similar inquiries, including for illegally passing school buses and hitting a child near a California elementary school. NHTSA: The Office [...]

If you're looking for an e-reader that can easily fit in your pocket (or snap onto your magnet-equipped phone), the tiny Xteink X4 Pro might be worth a look. It features a 4.26-inch, 800 x 480 E Ink display, making it significantly smaller and thinner than Amazon's smallest six-inch Kindle. It's also quite a bit [...]

Facebook's new "Your Algorithm" feature will let you directly add and manage topics you want to see in your feed and Facebook Reels. Meta says your recommendations "respond right away" after you make updates using the new feature by hitting "interested" or "not interested" for different topics. Your Algorithm previously launched on Instagram earlier this [...]

The next time you vibe-code a custom app with Google's AI Studio, you won't have to connect your phone to a computer to install it. On Tuesday, Google announced a new feature in the US that will allow you to launch personal apps directly through the Play Store. Google first launched the ability to vibe-code [...]

The Google Play Store is getting a big update for cars with Google built-in. On Tuesday, the company announced that the Play Store's layout will now automatically adapt to the size and layout of your car's screen while making it easier to find and download new apps. The update, which is rolling out in the [...]

Apple has just announced the HomeView, its first smart home display - and I just got hands-on with the device, which features a gorgeous 7-inch square touchscreen and built-in Siri AI. It's designed as a smart home controller, personal assistant, and home hub for your household, so there was a lot to check out. The [...]

Earlier this month, news broke that actress Mia Goth had filed for divorce from actor and filmmaker Shia LaBeouf. An Instagram post from the account miagoth_ - marked with a blue verified checkmark - quickly spread. The post shows Goth in a T-shirt that reads "MY EX IS MY BIGGEST FAN" in bold black letters. [...]

We've just gotten a closer look at Apple's new video doorbell, security cameras, a door lock, and thermostats following the company's "Welcome Home" event on Tuesday. The six new devices are part of a new Apple Home Collection, which the company co-developed with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric. The LG smart lock costs $349 and [...]

After months sitting on the sidelines of the frontier AI race, Google has finally launched its long-awaited Gemini 4 Argon model, claiming it can compete with the best the industry has to offer. Google says Argon delivers "frontier reasoning and improved performance across complex workflows," while cutting down on hedging, repetition, and the cliches that [...]

The HomeView smart home display announced by Apple today comes in two models that both cost $299: one with a speaker base, and the other being a self explanatory "Wall Mounted" version. If you want the latter, however, you'll actually have to pay at least $59 more - the mounts required to actually affix the [...]

Apple is getting into smart displays with its new HomeView. It has a seven-inch squircle design, looking similar to a gargantuan Apple Watch mounted to a speaker base. The $299 HomeView is meant to be the centerpiece for Apple's big push into the home, as it's capable of controlling a host of smart home tech. [...]

Apple's HomePod Mini 2 is here, and we've gotten a close-up look at the second-gen smart speaker. The HomePod Mini 2 comes with an upgraded S10 chip capable of powering Siri AI, though Apple says support for new AI features will roll out as part of a future update. It also offers a sound glow [...]

Epic Games plans to use AI to generate code and art for an unannounced Disney game, which is now delayed from its original March release window, according to a report from Bloomberg. The project's developers have been given an "AI-first" mandate directing them to use tools like Anthropic's Claude more to finish the game. According [...]

After nearly six years, Apple debuted a new, improved HomePod Mini. The $149 HomePod Mini 2 will launch on Friday, October 30th, and you can place a preorder now through Apple. The speaker includes the S10 chip, which debuted in the Apple Watch Series 10, and it can power a host of features. It will [...]

When Nvidia originally showed off DLSS 5 earlier this year, the technology immediately got branded as gen AI for video games. To gamers, Nvidia had lost the plot. I personally couldn't get over how faces were transformed using DLSS 5. The 15-year-old student from Hogwarts Legacy suddenly looked much older, and Grace from Resident Evil [...]

Discovery Plus is raising prices across its ad-free and ad-supported plans. Starting Tuesday, the ad-supported plan will go from $5.99 to $6.99 / month, while the ad-free tier will jump from $9.99 to $11.99 / month. The price hike comes just one week after Paramount closed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which owned Discovery [...]

Apple debuted its latest Apple TV 4K - its first in four years - and it'll be available starting Friday, November 13th. It's powerful, with the A19 chip (the now-discontinued 2022 model has the A15 Bionic), and it features better wireless connectivity than its predecessor, too. Siri AI is a big part of this rollout, [...]

Apple just announced its long-rumored smart home hub, the HomeView, during its "Welcome Home" event taking place today. As part of the event, it showed a video featuring the new device, and if you want to see it for yourself, you can watch it right here. The HomeView is a 7-inch square display. It costs [...]

Getty Images intends to file for bankruptcy and go private as part of a restructuring agreement after its plans to merge with rival stock platform Shutterstock fell through earlier this year. On Monday, Getty announced it had secured $533 million from the Getty family and Charles Koch's investment firm to cut its debt and take [...]

Apple has partnered with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric to launch the Apple Home Collection, an assortment of smart home devices meant to be easy to set up and use. The collection is something of a smart home starter pack, including security cameras, a video doorbell, a door lock, and two thermostats. Apple is announcing [...]

It's finally here: Apple's long-rumored smart display, the Apple HomeView, has arrived. I got a first look at the device in New York City this week, and it's gorgeous. The HomeView puts a small, vibrant screen atop a speaker base for taking video calls, beautifully displaying photos, and providing information at a glance with Apple's [...]

Character.AI, one of the first breakout startups of the generative AI boom, has filed for bankruptcy and is selling some of its assets to Disney. The company, which builds various online bots for users to chat or roleplay with, has faced mounting scrutiny and lawsuits over the safety of its chatbots, but has continued releasing [...]

As important as some of the messages in The Social Reckoning are, the movie has been drastically underperforming at the box office. Per Variety, Aaron's Sorkin's follow up to The Social Network only grossed a measly $5.5 million this past weekend against a budget that's somewhere within the $30-42 million range. That would make it [...]

Meta is making up for lost time in the AI race. After launching Muse Spark, the first model from its revamped Superintelligence Labs division, and buzzy AI agent Muse, it's now launching two new models it claims can go toe-to-toe with the industry's best. The new models, Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full, are available [...]

Elon Musk has handed out at least $276 million to Republican groups since July, The New York Times reports, making him both the party's top known donor and the biggest established midterm donor. $158 million of that money - one of the largest political donations in American history - has been funneled into the Senate [...]

Multiple Ukrainian drone strikes over the last week have taken Russian data centers offline and reportedly caused online bot traffic to plummet - but in reality it's probably not the kind of bot activity most people associate with Russia. A chart citing Cloudflare data has been circulating around social media platforms, showing a sharp decline [...]

Most companies have slowed down releasing new Switch 2 cases, but one of my favorite accessory makers recently debuted its first, after a few delays. The $49 Basecase from Mechanism is a snap-on shell for the console that taps into the company's modular lineup of mounts. You could already mount the Switch 2 in numerous [...]

My first week with the new Android-powered laptops has been about as rocky as anyone's, but I've slowly learned to like them, even if love still feels a ways off. Every moment that's impressed me has been thanks to Android, whether I've been accessing a native version of a useful app or quickly checking my [...]

The No Man's Sky universe is about to get a little bit smaller - but in a good way. Hello Games announced that its long-running sci-fi exploration game will be coming to iOS, with versions for both the iPhone and iPad available starting on October 28th. According to Hello's Sean Murray, the mobile version of [...]

Today the OnePlus 16 launched in China, the company's first flagship phone since quitting both the US and European markets this summer. As luck would have it, it also looks like the company's best phone in some time. Like most OnePlus phones, the 16 is positioned around performance, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen [...]

The CMF Speaker Series are the first portable Bluetooth speakers from the budget-focused brand that Nothing created but is in the process of spinning off into an India-based standalone subsidiary. As with many of CMF's products, like the Headphone Pro that launched a year ago, the new speakers deliver affordability alongside unique designs and bright [...]

The Fitbit Edge may not be Google's best-kept fitness-tracking secret, but as of today, its existence is official. The tracker sits smack-dab between the recently launched Fitbit Air and the more powerful Google Pixel Watch 5 in the company's current wearable lineup. Basically, if you have smartwatch fatigue but don't want to give up notifications, [...]

Microsoft is announcing its third-generation Maia in-house AI chip today, designed to be the "primary AI inference system" for Microsoft's products and services. Maia 300 not only improves the cost and efficiency of running AI workloads in the cloud, it's also more capable of handling the latest reasoning models and agentic tasks. Maia 300 will [...]