The Verge

Verizon is trying to streamline its customer service experience by overhauling it with more chatbots and AI tools. The My Verizon app is being relaunched today with a new AI-powered Verizon Assistant" that aims to help consumers manage upgrades, add new lines, ask billing questions, take advantage of savings, and more," according to the telecom [...]

Riot Games is closing the studio behind Hytale, its Minecraft-like game that has been in development for nearly a decade. Hypixel Studios, which Riot acquired in 2020 for an undisclosed sum, is shutting down over the next few months," according to Hypixel CEO Aaron Noxy" Donaghey. After years of pushing forward, adapting, and exploring every [...]

Microsoft is testing a new feature in Windows 11 that will let you move hardware indicators pop-ups like volume and screen brightness to the top-left and top-center positions of a display. The customization feature is part of a new Dev Channel build of Windows 11 that also includes a new Recall homepage that lists the [...]

The Raleigh One e-bike is now official afterThe Vergefirst published details of it last week. It was developed for the Accell Group's Raleigh brand with help from VanMoof's cofounders, Ties and Taco Carlier, according to my sources. The announcement never mentions their involvement, which could be viewed as good or bad - good if you [...]

Thanks to a related trademark lawsuit, we know what OpenAI and Jony Ive's first AI device won't be. In court filings submitted this month, leaders from io - the consumer hardware team OpenAI recently acquired from Jony Ive's design studio for $6.5 billion - testified that the first device they plan to release won't be [...]

The Yale Smart Lock with Matter is launching tomorrow, June 24th, for $189.99 - $20 more than when it was first announced in March. Yale tells The Verge the price increase is due to the impact of tariffs.The lock will be available on Amazon and Yale's website. According to Yale, the new smart lock was [...]

Samsung's summer Unpacked is officially on, starting at 10AM ET on Wednesday, July 9th. The invitation features a jazzy little bop and the words Ultra Unfolds," so I think it's safe to assume we're getting that foldable Ultra phone the company previously hinted at. The event is set to take place in Brooklyn, but you [...]

After spending the first half of the year in beta testing, T-Mobile's Starlink-powered satellite service will go public on July 23rd. While it will only include messaging at launch, the company has some ambitious plans to expand the service before the end of the year. When it goes live next month, T-Satellite" will be available [...]

If you missed the chance to pick up Nintendo's new GameCube Controller for the Switch 2, your time has come. It's back in stock for $64.99 at the My Nintendo Store. To add one to your collection, you'll need to have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, which starts at $19.99 a year for individuals. Once [...]

Apple's first macOS Tahoe 26 developer beta introduced a big change to the Finder icon that I really didn't like, but thankfully, the company has reversed it with the second beta released today. A big feature of macOS 26 is Apple's new Liquid Glass design language, which it has applied across the operating system to [...]

If you've been itching to get a handheld, but the Switch 2 isn't quite up your alley, now you can get your hands on a Steam Deck OLED. As spotted by @Wario64, Valve has started selling the device on its online store again after it was out of stock in the US and Canada for [...]

The all-Republican Federal Trade Commission agreed to approve a $13.5 billion ad merger if it includes a ban on steering ad dollars away from platforms or publishers based on political or ideological viewpoints." The order, which was reported by The New York Times earlier this month, would prevent ad giant Omnicom from wholesale avoiding platforms [...]

Smart lighting company Hue has released a new version of its Smart Button, one of the simplest ways of controlling Hue's colorful smart lights. The new Smart Button has a bigger design and a bit of price hike - in the U.S., at least, where it now costs $32.99 compared to $29.99 for its predecessor. [...]

My biggest complaint with Liquid Glass in the first iOS 26 developer beta was that it sometimes made Control Center nearly unreadable, but Apple has seemingly fixed that with the second beta, which is out now. In the first beta, the glassiness of everything meant that you could still see a fair amount of what [...]

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced plans today to develop a new nuclear power plant, the first to be built in the state in decades. It's the latest signal that nuclear energy could see a comeback in the US thanks to wide-ranging support from some strange bedfellows: the Trump administration purporting to seek energy dominance"; [...]

Last year, I lost my old AirPods in my apartment and relied on my old-school Lightning EarPods for months before upgrading to an iPhone 16. Honestly, aside from missing wireless connectivity, I hadn't noticed much difference. That's why I still think they're a good investment in 2025, and why I'm considering picking up the newer [...]

Microsoft is rolling out a new update to its Xbox Home UI that allows Xbox owners to pin apps and games on the homescreen. It's part of a number of customization changes to the Xbox Home UI, including the ability to hide system apps and reduce the number of apps and games listed in the [...]

The House of Representatives has banned staff members from using WhatsApp on government devices, according to a report from Axios. In an email viewed by the outlet, the House's chief administrative officer (CAO) tells staffers that the Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high-risk" because of a lack of transparency in how it protects [...]

Update, June 23rd: Best Buy has sold out of both the standalone console and the Mario Kart World bundle. The Nintendo Switch 2 has been difficult to find in stock since its June 5th launch, though restocks are beginning to ramp up. If you're looking for one, head over to Best Buy's site or use [...]

Many people gravitate toward compact laptops for their convenience, but there's a subset of gamers who want a big ass gaming laptop that offers desktop-class performance. If you fall into the latter bucket, you may appreciate knowing that HP is offering 20 percent off its latest Omen gaming laptops, which are equipped with Nvidia's powerful [...]

New strains of misinformation about climate change are spreading, meant to slow the growth of renewable energy needed to fix the problem. Rather than flat-out denying the mountains of evidence that show that humans are causing climate change, more recent talking points aim to mislead people by casting doubt on potential solutions. Renewable energy has [...]

JLab has announced a new Party line of wireless speakers that continues an industry trend of adding animated RGB lighting to anything that plays music. That even includes the new budget-minded JLab Pop Party speaker - which is small enough to squeeze into a pocket but still features customizable LEDs. The $19.99 Pop Party is [...]

Microsoft is starting to test its new aggregated gaming library in its Xbox PC app on Windows. Xbox Insiders will now be able to see their Steam and Battle.net games all within the Xbox app this week - making it a single launcher for most installed PC games. This new consolidated library will roll out [...]

Apple has taken down a new ad just one day after posting it, making it the fourth one removed in just over a year, as spotted earlier by MacRumors. The nearly eight-minute-long ad, titled The Parent Presentation," featured comedian Martin Herlihy giving students advice on how to convince their parents to buy them a Mac. [...]

Today, I'm talking with Hinge founder and CEO Justin McLeod. Hinge is one of the biggest dating apps in the United States - it's rivaled only by Tinder, and both are owned by the massive conglomerate Match Group, which has consolidated a huge chunk of the online dating ecosystem. A fair warning here: I've never [...]

As part of his appearance on the Decoder podcast, Hinge co-founder and CEO Justin McLeod says that the company would like to introduce an alternative payment service by the end of this year. With a Hinge-run alternative payment service, Apple won't be able to take a cut of any purchases, and that changes the equation" [...]

Google announced a handful of new Gemini AI features for Chromebook Plus laptops, including a sleek, new 14-inch flagship device from Lenovo that I got to handle recently. The new AI functions include select to search, which allows you to long press the launcher icon or take a screenshot and do a Google search based [...]

In the online world of fanfiction writers, who pen stories inspired by their favorite movies, books, and games, and share them for free, there are unspoken codes of conduct. Among the most important: never charge money for your fanfic, and never steal other people's work. It makes sense then that fanfic writers were among the [...]

It took me a long time to appreciate Death Stranding. I'm not even sure I fully got it after my initial playthrough, which was equal parts mesmerizing and dull. The game, in which you play as a postapocalyptic delivery man in a world ravaged by a breach with the afterlife, demands a lot from players. [...]

While Nothing is gearing up to officially unveil its first over-ear headphones next week, leaked images and videos have given us a good idea of what they look like. The Nothing Headphone 1 sports an unusual design that appears consistently across leaks from multiple sources, featuring a squircle earcup with the company's signature transparent elements [...]

Tesla finally did the damn thing. The company launched its hotly anticipated robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, June 22nd -and we're now starting to see some of the first reactions roll in. But first, we have to get a few important caveats out of the way. Tellingly, the service is not open to [...]

OpenAI has scrubbed mentions of io, the hardware startup co-founded by famous Apple designer Jony Ive, from its website and social media channels. The sudden change closely follows their recent announcement of OpenAI's nearly $6.5 billion acquisition and plans to create dedicated AI hardware. OpenAI tells The Verge the deal is still happening, but it [...]

Andru Marino is an audio and video producer at The Verge. I make videos on our YouTube / TikTok / Instagram channels, and have produced our podcasts like Vergecast, Decoder, and Why'd You Push That Button?" He also keeps a lot of notes, and his latest favorite places to keep them are the Triangle and [...]

Monotype is keen for you to know what AI might do in typography. As one of the largest type design companies in the world, Monotype owns Helvetica, Futura, and Gill Sans - among 250,000 other fonts. In the typography giant's 2025 Re:Vision trends report, published in February, Monotype devotes an entire chapter to how AI [...]

I jumped on the smartwatch bandwagon a bit late, but now I can't go a day without mine. Beyond delivering helpful notifications, it's perfect for setting timers, tracking workouts, and monitoring my sleeping habits (which are terrible). If you haven't yet joined the smartwatch party or you're looking to upgrade, Samsung's Galaxy Watch 7 is [...]

The Final Fantasy Magic: The Gathering set is here, and there's never been a more perfect assemblage of Magic cards. The set features cards taken from every mainline Final Fantasy title, including the two MMOs, so there's something for every generation of Final Fantasy lovers. And while Magic has featured other video game crossovers in [...]

I wouldn't have preordered a Nintendo Switch 2 just for myself. The price is high, there's no new Smash Bros. or Metroid Prime (yet), and I've got a perfectly good original Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck that keep me plenty busy. At first, I could only justify the $450 because I write about gaming tech [...]

The music industry's nightmare came true in 2023, and it sounded a lot like Drake. "Heart on My Sleeve," a convincingly fake duet between Drake and The Weeknd, racked up millions of streams before anyone could explain who made it or where it came from. The track didn't just go viral - it broke the [...]

The future of the internet will be determined in one building in Washington, DC - and for six weeks, I watched it unfold. For much of this spring, the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in downtown Washington, DC, was buzzing with lawyers, reporters, and interested onlookers jostling between dimly lit courtrooms that hosted everyone from the [...]

At this point, it's becoming easier to say which AI startups Mark Zuckerberg hasn't looked at acquiring. In addition to Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence (SSI), sources tell me the Meta CEO recently discussed buying ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab and Perplexity, the AI-native Google rival. None of these talks progressed to the formal [...]

While it wasn't the first film to feature fast-moving ghouls, there is no denying how much of an impact 28 Days Later had on modern zombie movies. It was a gripping and nauseating wonder, whose action felt uniquely visceral thanks, in part, to director Danny Boyle's inspired use of a digital video camera. And there [...]

If you've been curious about trying out a Mac for the first time or need a small computer powerful enough to be your home media server, we strongly recommend the latest Mac Mini. Thankfully, the step-up M4 model with 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM is on sale at Amazon and B&H Photo for [...]

Applebee's and IHOP plan to launch an AI-powered personalization engine" that could help its restaurants provide recommendations and customized deals, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The personalization engine would use a customer's past purchases - or the orders of customers similar to them - to make recommendations. Justin Skelton, the chief [...]

Amazon Prime Day is one of the biggest shopping events of the year outside of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and in 2025 it's even longer than usual. It's running from July 8th through the 11th. The four-day shopping affair will grant Prime members access to some of the best prices of the year on [...]

Amazon released a new software update for several recent Kindle models last week. The company's release notes only mention performance improvements, bug fixes, and other general enhancements," but the update includes notable upgrades when it comes to adjusting text and line spacing, improving legibility and accessibility for many users, as spotted by The eBook Reader. [...]

Earlier this month, Microsoft's Family Safety feature, primarily used by parents and schools as a set of parental controls and filters, started randomly blocking Google's Chrome browser from opening on Windows. The first reports surfaced on June 3rd, with some Chrome users noticing the browser kept closing or wouldn't open. Microsoft has introduced a bug [...]

Tesla has begun sending out invitations for its highly anticipated robotaxi service, but there's one significant caveat: it's installing a safety monitor" in the front passenger seat, as previously reported by Electrek. The invites, which were sent to Tesla influencers and investors, say the human monitor will accompany you on your trip" when rides begin [...]

The idea behind Trump Mobile is relatively straightforward. It's easy to launch a mobile carrier these days, and it can be extremely lucrative - just ask Ryan Reynolds! You should know, though, that Trump Mobile is a pretty bad deal. And the network's supposed flagship phone? We're willing to bet that this $500, made-in-America, coming-soon [...]

Meta is announcing its next pair of smart glasses with Oakley. The limited-edition Oakley Meta HSTN (pronounced how-stuhn") model costs $499 and is available for preorder starting July 11th. Other Oakley models with Meta's tech will be available starting at $399 later this summer. Like the existing Meta Ray-Ban glasses, the Oakley model features a [...]

Join any Zoom call, walk into any lecture hall, or watch any YouTube video, and listen carefully. Past the content and inside the linguistic patterns, you'll find the creeping uniformity of AI voice. Words like "prowess" and "tapestry," which are favored by ChatGPT, are creeping into our vocabulary, while words like "bolster," "unearth," and "nuance," [...]