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Leaked details hint Google might go with a custom wearable Tensor chip in 2026. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Starting in 2026, Google might go in-house with a custom Tensor processor for the Pixel Watch 5.The rumor comes courtesy of Android Authority, which cites leaked documents from Google's gChips division. According to the leaked plans, the wearable Tensor chip, codenamed NPT, sports a core configuration of an ARM Cortex A78 and two Arm Cortex A55s. These are older CPU cores, but that's a fairly typical move with wearable processors. Other than that, details are scant and it's currently unknown which process node technology the planned wearable Tensor chip might have.Chips aren't usually as heavy a focus for smartwatches as they are for smartphones. So long as performance is snappy, smartwatch makers tend to focus on ways to prolong... Continue reading...

Image: BioWare After 40 hours with BioWare's latest fantasy RPG, it feels like I'm just getting started. Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft is finally adding threaded conversations to its Microsoft Teams communications app. Threaded conversations in Teams won't arrive until mid-2025, but ahead of that, Microsoft is also combining its separate chats and channels UI inside Teams into a single view.I exclusively revealed Microsoft was planning a new chats and channels experience in my Notepad newsletter in August, and Microsoft is now bringing this unified UI to Teams in public preview in November. Image: Microsoft The new combined chats and channels view in Microsoft Teams. We've redesigned the chat and channels experience to simplify your digital workspace by bringing chats, teams, and channels into one place under Chat," explains Jeff... Continue reading...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Netflix is launching a new feature called Moments" that lets you save and share bookmarks to a specific spot in a show or movie. The feature seems like it could be a very useful way to share parts of something you're watching with friends or on social media.To capture a moment, tap on the screen while you're watching something on Netflix to see the various menu options, then tap on the new Moments" button to pop up a new menu, and then tap the save button. From the Moments menu, you can also see other Moments you've saved for that show or movie and share Moments to various apps. You can also copy a link to the Moment to your clipboard.Netflix gave me early access to the feature, so I used it to make a moment of the best scene in... Continue reading...

Image: Mr.Nelson design for The Verge / Getty Images The Verge's guide to Project 2025. Continue reading...

Image: Mr.Nelson design for The Verge / Getty Images Your vote matters. Here's how it will change the future. Continue reading...

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge Ever wondered why some of your Instagram videos tend to look blurry, while others are crisp and sharp? It's because, on Instagram, the quality of your video apparently depends on how many views it's getting. That's according to a video AMA from Instagram head Adam Mosseri, in which he explained why some videos are lower-quality than others.Here's part of Mosseri's explanation, from the video, which was reposted by a Threads user today:

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge While there aren't a lot of new features in Android 15, it does offer some useful additions for your phone - and one of the most interesting is called Private Space." Think of it as a separate app vault that locks away specified apps on your Android device.Of course, the main lockscreen already stops other people from accessing your phone, but Private Space puts an extra barrier in place. The idea is that if you lend someone your device to make a call or look at a photo, they won't accidentally (or deliberately) stumble into something they shouldn't. It's also an extra safety net if your phone is lost or stolen while it's unlocked.I tried the feature on a Pixel 8 phone running Android 15. Here's how it works.Setting up Private... Continue reading...

Image: Finji I used to hate jigsaw puzzles. I thought they were frustrating, messy, and took way too long to solve. But my wife showed me how those parts of jigsaw puzzles can actually be fun: there's something satisfying and meditative about working through those frustrations, sorting through the mess, and putting a picture together, one piece at a time, over the course of a few hours. (Or days.)The makers of Wilmot Works It Out, a new puzzle game, understand this, and everything about the game is designed to make solving puzzles fun instead of annoying.In the game, you play as Wilmot, an adorable white square with a face who has a puzzle-by-mail subscription. (He's the same smiley square from Wilmot's Warehouse, a 2019 puzzle game also made by... Continue reading...

Fear the Spotlight. | Image: Blumhouse Games More than most genres, survival horror feels rooted in time. It started with the methodical Resident Evil on the original PlayStation and is defined in part by limitation - a slow pace, grimy visuals, and scant resources to help amplify the scares. Many of those elements stemmed from the early, awkward days of 3D gaming, whether it was Resident Evil's clunky controls, which made zombie chases more terrifying, or Silent Hill's fog, which lent an iconic atmosphere while also letting the developers get around technical limitations of the time.And a few decades later, developers are still finding ways to bring the most important elements of those games - namely, the mood and scares - to modern horror without feeling dated.The most obvious... Continue reading...

Image: Remedy Entertainment Remedy's latest release is connective tissue for its growing video game universe. Continue reading...

Collage by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images When video game scholars want to study games that are no longer on sale, they sometimes have to drive many hours to do it legally - and that won't be changing anytime soon. The US Copyright Office has just denied a request from video game preservationists to let libraries, archives and museums temporarily lend individuals some virtual, remotely accessible copies of those works.Kendra Albert, who made the argument on behalf of the Software Preservation Network and the Library Copyright Alliance, says preservationists weren't asking for a lot: It was the thing that basically exists for all kinds of special collections in libraries: the library reviews the request, makes sure it's not harmful, and allows access to the work."While the... Continue reading...

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos | Laura Normand / The Verge The Washington Post's editorial page had drafted an endorsement of Kamala Harris for president when its owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, intervened to cancel its publication, The Washington Post reports. In its place, The Post ran a bizarre column by its current publisher (and former Rupert Murdoch henchman) Will Lewis, saying The Post would not endorse anyone.This is now the second American newspaper, after The Los Angeles Times, to kill a Harris endorsement at the owner's behestIn his editorial, Lewis cited the Post's decision not to publish an endorsement in the race between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960. Nixon would later be implicated in the Watergate scandal, which generated 69 indictments and 48 criminal convictions... Continue reading...

The powerful Asus ROG Ally is $100 off, which is nearly half the price of its successor. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge If you're a gamer looking to save but can't wait until another a month until Black Friday, it might be worth checking out Best Buy's three-day gaming sale. Now through October 27th, the retailer's offering discounts on gaming gear, but some of the best deals are on hardware specifically.For example, Best Buy has some notable deals on Windows handheld consoles, like the Asus ROG Ally, which is on sale with a Z1 Extreme chip for $549.99 ($100 off) (and even cheaper at $499.99 for My Best Buy Plus and Total members). That's $50 shy of its best price to date, and nearly half the price of its successor, the ROG Ally X. Admittedly, the ROG Ally X, offers more impressive performance and battery life, but the ROG Ally is still more powerful... Continue reading...

It's the Leica M's platinum anniversary, and this camera costs as much (or more) than most weddings. | Image: Leica Camera Leica is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the M rangefinder camera, but the most precious gift it's giving for the occasion is for only 250 rich people and costs $22,995. The ludicrously expensive Leica M Edition 70 set includes a platinum-plated Leica M-A 35mm film camera with Leicavit fast winder, a matching 50mm APO-Summicron-M f/2 lens, and a metallic film container with a roll of black-and-white film.Yes, the film container is also platinum, and yes, that's completely ridiculous.This anniversary edition commemorates when the Leica M3 was released in 1954 as the first M camera. Leica goes to great lengths to honor the M3 and the brand's legacy just about whenever it can. Back in 2014, the Leica M Edition 60 did the same thing... Continue reading...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta's AI chatbot will soon begin citing Reuters reporting while answering news-related queries. The two companies have struck what Axios describes as a multi-year deal" that will allow Meta to use Reuters content for its chatbot responses. The deal is the first of its kind for Meta, in an era of news outlets agreeing to provide their content to AI companies.We're always iterating and working to improve our products, and through Meta's partnership with Reuters, Meta AI can respond to news-related questions with summaries and links to Reuters content," Meta spokesperson Jamie Radice said in an email. While most people use Meta AI for creative tasks, deep dives on new topics or how-to assistance, this partnership will help ensure a... Continue reading...

Image: Amazon MGM Studios Like a Dragon proves that a quality adaptation doesn't always have to be a faithful one. Continue reading...

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images Adobe is going all in on generative AI models and tools, even if that means turning away creators who dislike the technology. Artists who refuse to embrace AI in their work are not going to be successful in this new world without using it," says Alexandru Costin, vice president of generative AI at Adobe.In an interview with The Verge, Costin said that he isn't aware" of any plans for Adobe to launch products that don't include generative AI for creators who prefer to manually complete tasks or oppose how AI is changing the creative industry.We have older versions of our products that don't use gen AI, but I wouldn't recommend using them," Costin said. Our goal is to make our customers successful, and we think that in order for them... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images OpenAI plans to launch Orion, its next frontier model, by December, The Verge has learned.Unlike the release of OpenAI's last two models, GPT-4o and o1, Orion won't initially be released widely through ChatGPT. Instead, OpenAI is planning to grant access first to companies it works closely with in order for them to build their own products and features, according to a source familiar with the plan.Another source tells The Verge that engineers inside Microsoft - OpenAI's main partner for deploying AI models - are preparing to host Orion on Azure as early as November. While Orion is seen inside OpenAI as the successor to GPT-4, it's unclear if the company will call it GPT-5 externally. As always, the release plan is subject to change and... Continue reading...

Image: Scout Motors This is how you revive an iconic brand. Continue reading...

The M3 Pro generation of MacBook Pros arrived about one year ago in October 2023. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Another round of Apple devices is about to arrive. After launching new iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods in September and a new iPad earlier this month, Apple is now gearing up to launch updated Macs. After weeks of rumors and speculation, Apple SVP Greg Joswiak came out and directly teased the arrival of new computers to be announced during the final week of October.We're expecting a fresh round of chip upgrades, at least one redesign, and maybe an October surprise or two (the good kind). Since there was no hyped-up save-the-date sent out for an in-person or livestream event, we're expecting a series of early morning press releases - in the past, Apple has tended to drop them around 9AM ET.Joswiak's teaser mentioned a week" of... Continue reading...