The Verge

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge A federal judge has ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly in the US. The market reality is that Google is the only real choice" as the default search engine, Judge Amit Mehta said in his decision, and he determined it had gotten that way unfairly. It's a ruling that could portend big changes for the company, but we yet don't know how big, and we might not for years.Mehta declared on Monday that Google was liable for violating antitrust laws, vindicating the Department of Justice and a coalition of states that sued the tech giant in 2020. The next step - deciding on remedies for its illegal conduct - begins next month. Both parties must submit a proposed schedule for remedy proceedings by September 4th and then appear at a status... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Microsoft has responded to Delta Air Lines' criticism of Windows and CrowdStrike after the giant IT outage last month. Delta CEO Ed Bastian wants compensation from both CrowdStrike and Microsoft for the estimated $500 million Delta lost due to the outage. Now, Microsoft says Delta refused its free help on multiple occasions and even ignored an email from CEO Satya Nadella to Bastian.Microsoft empathizes with Delta and its customers regarding the impact of the CrowdStrike incident. But your letter and Delta's public comments are incomplete, false, misleading, and damaging to Microsoft and its reputation," says Mark Cheffo, co-chair of Dechert's global litigation practice, in a letter on behalf of Microsoft to Delta's lawyers.The... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election, as reported earlier by multiple news outlets including The New York Times. The news follows weeks of speculation during an accelerated campaign since President Joe Biden ended his candidacy and endorsed his VP for the role.The choice comes weeks before the Democratic National Convention and just ahead of a virtual roll call vote where Harris is expected to become the party's official nominee. Harris will appear in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with her VP pick, Walz, later today.

Hand required to add cream. | Image: Keurig I just used Keurig's new hybrid K-Brew and Chill machine that can quickly cool down freshly brewed pod coffee (and fruity refreshers") to a temperature as cold as, if not colder," than an iced coffee and sweet drinks you could order at a local coffee shop. For me, there was something unexpectedly satisfying about making an instantly cold drink from a standalone and solidly built machine - even if the cup of La Colombe medium roast it made tasted disappointingly burnt.I'm not sure why I was expecting a better taste - it's not like the machine uses some premium new coffee. It starts with just your run-of-the-mill K-Cup and does not support any of the company's fancy K-Carafe, K-Mug, Vue, or Rivo pods. Like many models, you pop one into... Continue reading...

The Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) is a complete redesign of the iconic smart thermostat that first launched in 2011. | Photo by Owen Grove / The Verge This week, almost a decade after Google last updated its flagship thermostat, the company has announced the Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen). The thermostat has an all-new design, several new features, and support for the smart home standard Matter. So, yes, it now works natively with Apple Home.At $279.99, the fourth generation of the Nest Learning Thermostat is more expensive than the third-gen Nest, which launched in 2015. However, it now comes with a new Nest Temperature Sensor (2nd gen) to monitor temperature in other rooms. Both are available for preorder now and will ship on August 20th - in the US and Canada only. Photo by Owen Grove / The Verge The Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) is the biggest... Continue reading...

Image: Pamela Guest for The Verge Equipping a student for school, especially campus life, takes more than some composition books and a few No. 2 pencils. Continue reading...

Trump and Ross stream from the interior of a Tesla Cybertruck, a gift from Ross to Trump. | Image: Kick / Adin Ross Donald Trump's presidential campaign took an interesting detour today as the former president appeared in a livestream hosted by streamer Adin Ross. The livestream was hosted on Kick and, at its peak, had over 580,000 viewers.Ross is a streamer known for courting controversy. At the height of his popularity on Twitch, he accumulated over 7 million followers. He's hosted influencer Andrew Tate, who is currently facing charges in Romania for rape and human trafficking. He was repeatedly banned from Twitch for using racial slurs, before being permanently banned last year after featuring a chat stream where users spammed racial and antisemitic slurs. Ross migrated to the alternative streaming site Kick, where continued his antics which... Continue reading...

The Ultra 2 is like a souped-up Apple Watch Series 9 with better battery life and durability. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge It's possible Apple may release a slew of new wearables in the fall, but until then, the 49mm Apple Watch Ultra 2 remains the most capable smartwatch in Apple's arsenal. It's also the most expensive at $799, but right now, you can pick it up at Amazon with an Ocean Band, an Alpine Loop, or a Trail Loop for $699.99 ($99 off). That's not its lowest price to date - we've seen it fall to $642 in select configurations before - but the Ocean Band model rarely dips below $719, unlike the others.Powered by Apple's S9 SiP processor and second-gen ultra wideband chip, the Apple Ultra 2 allows for onboard Siri processing and Apple's new double tap feature, which lets you control the watch by tapping your index fingers and thumb together twice.... Continue reading...

Image: Laura Normand / The Verge A federal judge ruled that Google violated US antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in the search and advertising markets.After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly," according to the court's ruling, which you can read in full at the bottom of this story. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act."Judge Amit Mehta's decision represents a major victory for the Department of Justice, which accused Google of illegally monopolizing the online search market. Still, Mehta did not agree with all of the government's arguments. For example, he rejected the claim that Google has... Continue reading...

Photo: Sean Hollister / The Verge Lenovo seems to have unintentionally bolstered rumors of a new Legion Go PC gaming handheld with details published on its own product page in a since-removed FAQ spotted by VideoCardz. The page hinted at a console with a 7-inch or 8-inch display," an HDMI port, and dual fans - things the original Legion Go lacks - before it was apparently removed.You can still find the FAQ on The Internet Archive, where I found snapshots as far back as May 4th, 2024, and as recently as yesterday. In addition to those details, Windows Central suggests that the console will be named the Lenovo Legion Go S," not Lite," as has been rumored until now.The current version of the Legion Go features an 8.8-inch screen and a single fan and outputs video... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images Here at The Verge, we've been doing our best not to uncritically publish every random statement and half-cocked idea that comes out of former President Donald Trump's mouth for several years now. He just says stuff, especially about tech, and most of it doesn't come to anything.But last week, Trump casually mentioned to Fox's Maria Bartiromo that Google has to be careful" because they've been very irresponsible" and that he had a feeling Google is going to be close to shut down, because I don't think Congress is going to take it."In classic Trump fashion, he said this after noting that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had called him after the assassination attempt, and nobody called from Google." So it's tempting to put this down as... Continue reading...

It's not an ambitious smartwatch, but honestly, it doesn't have to be. Continue reading...

Image: The Verge CrowdStrike refutes Delta Air Lines' allegations that the cybersecurity firm is to blame for a dayslong flight disruption following last month's catastrophic system outage, saying that the airline rejected repeated offers to help restore impacted systems.In an interview with CNBC last week, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the outage cost the company $500 million after more than 6,000 flights were grounded, and that the airline has no choice" but to seek legal compensation from CrowdStrike and Microsoft.While the CrowdStrike issues impacted millions of Windows machines across multiple industries globally, Delta struggled to bring systems back online for several days longer than other affected airlines, and is currently being investigated... Continue reading...

The Apple Watch SE in its current form looks just like an Apple Watch. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge It's impressive watching Apple sell people virtually the same Apple Watch design year in and year out, adding a feature here and there but changing precious little about the way it looks. It's also fine - nobody actually needs to buy a new watch annually, but it does make the yearly refresh sort of ho-hum.But there's something rumored on the horizon that might invigorate things: the plastic Apple Watch SE. I found the rumor intriguing last month when Bloomberg's Mark Gurman set it loose, but haven't thought much of it since. However, today he wrote to his Power On newsletter subscribers that Apple is using plastic to make the watch more kid-friendly," adding that this could allow for a better array of colors." Then it clicked. There's... Continue reading...

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge ROMhacking.net, a longtime stalwart of the online classic gaming world mostly turned the lights off on Saturday. Nightcrawler, who created and runs ROMhacking, announced that the site, which has hosted community-made alterations for classic games, has stopped taking submissions and will only post news going forward.ROM hacks like those the site hosted can be as minor as replacing the original Mario sprite with his Super Mario Bros. 3 incarnation, or as thorough as Mario Builder 64, essentially a game in its own right that lets you create your own levels for Super Mario 64, a la Super Mario Maker - a Nintendo series that arguably owes a lot to the ROM hacker community.Hobbyist contributors to ROMhacking regularly submitted tweaks for... Continue reading...

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Judi Dench, Keegan-Michael Key, and Awkwafina are among multiple actors and influencers" whose voices could become part of Meta's AI offering, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The company is apparently working to wrap up deals quickly so it can develop and show off the new voices at its Meta Connect conference in September.Specifically, at least one tool will be a digital assistant product called MetaAI," according to multiple unnamed sources in a New York Times report. Meta is negotiating with all of the top talent agencies in Hollywood to secure the voices, the Times writes. And it may pay the actors who sign on millions of dollars." Meta doled out similarly fat stacks to the celebrities represented by the recently-discontinued Meta... Continue reading...

Image: Warner Bros. M. Night Shyamalan's latest is a pitchy mess about who gets a pass. Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Nvidia has reportedly told Microsoft and at least one other cloud provider that its Blackwell" B200 AI chips will take at least three months longer to produce than was planned, according to The Information. The delay is the result of a design flaw discovered unusually late in the production process," according to two unnamed sources, including a Microsoft employee, cited by the outlet.B200 chips are the follow-up to the supremely popular and hard-to-get H100 chips that power vast swaths of the artificial intelligence cloud landscape (and helped make Nvidia one of the most valuable companies in the world). Nvidia expects production of the chip to ramp in 2H," according to a statement that Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo shared with T... Continue reading...

Promotional art for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which was the final cover game for Game Informer. | Image: BioWare Following GameStop's sudden announcement that it would be shutting down Game Informer after 33 years - which includes GameStop making all of the work on Game Informer's website disappear and reportedly laying off the entire staff - people across the video game industry are sharing their tributes to the gaming magazine.As someone who grew up poring over each issue, it was such a thrill and an honor to see our games grace Game Informer," said Neil Druckmann, head of creative at The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog and an executive producer on the hit HBO show. Sad that such a staple of our industry is now gone. Good luck to everyone involved. Your work will be missed."Thank you for what you have brought to the video game industry,"... Continue reading...