The Verge

After upgrading its original compact computer-in-a-keyboard with its more capable Raspberry Pi 5 microcomputer, the company has announced a new premium version of last year's model. The Raspberry Pi 500 Plus is the first to feature an M.2 2280 SSD socket for storage in addition to an SD card slot that can be used to [...]

After more than five years of machinations, secret meetings, legislative actions, and confusing messaging, it appears a deal is coming to keep TikTok alive in the US. On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order that didn't quite make a deal, but at least gave everyone space to make deal. It's a concept of a [...]

When Microsoft announced the launch date of its first Asus-powered handhelds without announcing prices, I had hoped it was a sign the leaked prices were too high. I had hoped Microsoft would subsidize them the same way it subsidized the Xbox itself. Maybe it would send a shockwave through the handheld market like the Steam [...]

The majority of OnePlus phones in use today may be vulnerable to a security flaw that leaves SMS and MMS data exposed, and it won't be patched until mid-October. Only OnePlus phones still running 2020's OxygenOS 11 or earlier are believed to be safe from the flaw. Security company Rapid7 was first to discover the [...]

The United Kingdom is introducing a national digital ID scheme in an effort to crack down on illegal migrant workers. A government press release on Friday announced that the digital ID will be stored on mobile devices through the GOV.UK wallet app currently in development, and will be a mandatory requirement for adults to work [...]

Meta is bringing its pay or consent" ad model to the UK after months of wrangling with regulators over the controversial policy. The update will force Instagram and Facebook users to pick between being served up personalized ads or shelling out for monthly subscriptions to ad-free versions. Subscriptions start at 2.99 a month, around $4, [...]

Today, Microsoft and Asus are officially opening preorders for the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X at $599 and $999 respectively in the US. They're $799 CAD and $1299 CAD in Canada, 599 and 899 in Europe, 499 and 799 in the UK, and $799 AUD and $1599 AUD in Australia. They both [...]

Japanese keyboard brand Realforce is teaming up with the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise and releasing four limited edition mechanical keyboards inspired by popular Gundam designs. The four keyboards are based on the Z Gundam and Hyaku Shiki from Zeta Gundam and the Nu Gundam and Sazabi of Char's Counterattack fame. Realforce's Japanese site indicates reservations [...]

One of Nintendo's most recognizable names is stepping down. Today the company announced that the aptly named Doug Bowser, who took over as president of Nintendo of America from Reggie Fils-Aime in 2019, will be retiring. He'll stay on until the end of the year - December 31st, to be precise - and will be [...]

Nvidia is open-sourcing Audio2Face, its AI-powered tool that generates realistic facial animations for 3D avatars - all based on audio input. The change means developers can now use the tool and its underlying framework to create realistic 3D characters for their games and apps. Nvidia's Audio2Face works by analyzing the acoustic features" of a voice, [...]

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order recognizing the framework of a deal between ByteDance and the US that would satisfy the TikTok divest-or-ban law. The deal values TikTok's US operations at $14 billion and puts it under the control of companies based in the US. I spoke with President Xi [Jinping], we had [...]

In a four-part series of religious lectures in San Francisco, Peter Thiel - yes, that Peter Thiel - has argued that the End Times are nigh and that a biblical Antichrist - yes, that Antichrist - will come to Earth in the form of onerous government regulations placed on science, technology, and AI. These are, [...]

Microsoft is making advances with a new way to cool microchips that it says could lead to more energy-efficient data centers in the future. It's a method called microfluidics that involves liquid coolant flowing directly into the silicon. After lab tests, Microsoft found that this strategy can remove heat up to three times better than [...]

Amazon's October Prime Day event (also known as Prime Big Deal Days) doesn't officially start until October 7th, but that doesn't mean you have to wait to find a good deal on charging accessories. Many speedy wall adapters, power banks, and large battery backup solutions are already on sale now from brands like Anker and [...]

Avenir Telecom is making a line of new Energizer-branded laptops aimed at marathon battery life. There are three productivity-focused models: the Energizer EnergyBook Pro 15, EnergyBook Pro XL 18, and flagship Energizer EnergyBook Pro Ultra. The Pro Ultra sports a giant 18-inch display with a meager 1920 x 1200 resolution and an absolutely massive 192Wh [...]

Twitch is launching a feature this week I've wanted for a very long time: the ability to scrub back on a livestream right from a streamer's main channel page. You can already look back at previous parts of livestreams as they're going on by clicking through to the Videos section of a streamer's profile, but [...]

Nine months after Google infused Gemini AI into Google Sheets, the AI system graduated from text and charts to taking on formulas. (Even those plopped into messy wedding planning spreadsheets, I found.) Gemini's chatbot appears on the right-hand side of Sheets. Now, when you ask how to manipulate data, Gemini will respond with suggested formulas [...]

Two weeks ago, record company Hallwood Media signed a deal with Telisha "Nikki" Jones after negotiations that purportedly included an offer of $3 million, Billboard reported. Jones is a Mississippi-based lyricist behind the R&B artist "Xania Monet" whose most popular song on Spotify racked up over 1 million listens, and whose Reels regularly top 100,000 [...]

OpenAI's latest personalization play for ChatGPT: You can now allow the chatbot to learn about you via your transcripts and phone activity (think: connected apps like your calendar, email, and Google Contacts), and based on that data, it'll research things it thinks you'll like and present you with a daily "pulse" on them. The new [...]

Jackery's new Explorer 240D is a 256Wh portable power station that weighs less than seven pounds, and it's currently available at Amazon for an early-bird price of $139 ($70 off). It offers pure DC output of up to 200W, and can power up to four gadgets at once when no outlet is nearby. For instance, [...]

LG is launching a new TV in South Korea designed specifically for elderly users who may struggle to navigate and operate modern smart TVs. The LG Easy TV features a simplified home screen with a larger font and a smaller selection of apps that cater to seniors. The TV offers picture and sound adjustments tailored [...]

Amazon MGM Studios is working on a Spaceballs sequel, and a new cast photo confirms that Rick Moranis will be back after a decades-long break from live-action films to reprise his role as Dark Helmet. Moranis' last live-action movie was Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, released in 1997, and while Deadline reported earlier this year that [...]

Google DeepMind says its upgraded AI models enable robots to complete more complex tasks -and even tap into the web for help. During a press briefing, Google DeepMind's head of robotics, Carolina Parada, told reporters that the company's new AI models work in tandem to allow robots to think multiple steps ahead" before taking action [...]

Microsoft is blocking the Israeli military's access to cloud and AI services that have been used in the mass surveillance of Palestinian civilians. Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith announced the decision in an internal memo to employees on Thursday, after The Guardian and others reported last month that the Israeli government stored recordings [...]

Amazon has agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission, which claimed it tricked millions of customers into subscribing to Prime and made it hard to cancel. Under the agreement, Amazon will pay a $1 billion civil penalty, along with $1.5 billion that it will pay back to an [...]

This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. Amazon is moving ahead with plans to replace Android with its custom-built Vega operating system on Fire TV devices: The new Linux-based system will launch on TV streaming hardware before [...]

Have you ever thought your favorite mobile games would be improved by awkward ergonomics, a dreadful D-pad, and a couple of camera lenses blocking a third of the screen? Then oh boy, does Xiaomi have the phone for you. Today it announced its flagship 17 series phones in China, led by the 17 Pro and [...]

A new report from Senate Democrats claims members of Elon Musk's DOGE team have access to the Social Security Numbers of all Americans in a cloud server lacking verified security measures, despite an internal assessment of potential catastrophic" risk. The report, released by Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), cites numerous disclosures from whistleblowers, including one who [...]

Have you heard? EV sales are expected to dip significantly in the coming weeks as the federal tax credit expires, and automakers are responding by canceling models, delaying factory plans, and boosting hybrids as a short-term solution. The latest model to get the axe is the Acura ZDX, an electric crossover that had both Honda [...]

A critic might accuse Xiaomi of copying Apple a little too closely in its launch event for the Xiaomi 17 phones, while a fan might say the company is trying to beat Apple at its own game. Either way, it's pretty clear that the Chinese giant had Cupertino in mind when announcing its new flagship [...]

Hey there, and welcome to Decoder! I'm Hayden Field, senior AI repoter at The Verge -and your Thursday episode guest host. I have another couple of shows for you while Nilay is out on parental leave, and we're going to be spending more time diving into some of the unforeseen consequences of the generative AI [...]

Following a significant price bump in 2021 from $550 to $695, American Express once again increased the annual fee for its Platinum card to $895 last week, making it one of the most expensive credit cards you can sign up for. To soften the blow when the price increase goes into effect for existing cardholders [...]

Microsoft's Windows ML platform is now generally available for production use, making it easier for developers to add AI to their Windows apps. In its announcement blog, Microsoft says Windows ML is supported on all devices running Windows 11 24H2 or newer, and provides a local AI inference framework that helps to build more responsive, [...]

Things have been weird for PlayStation of late. After years spent cultivating an image akin to the HBO of video games through single-player franchises like The Last of Us, God of War, and Horizon Zero Dawn, the company shifted focus, jumping on the live-service bandwagon to mostly disastrous effect. Aside from a few standouts and [...]

Things haven't started out so well for FBC: Firebreak, Remedy's multiplayer spinoff of its Control universe. When it launched in June there were complaints about repetitive gameplay and a lack of Remedy-style narrative flourishes. In a launch week update, the studio admitted that Several things have gone well. Clearly, not everything has." Now Remedy has [...]

Proton has launched a major update for its encrypted Mail app, which not only adds a refreshed layout but also includes a new offline mode. That means you'll now have full access to your inbox when you don't have an internet connection, giving you the ability to read, write, and compose emails. Your messages will [...]

As AI music generators like Suno and Udio make it easy to churn out passable music, streamers like Spotify are getting flooded with AI-generated content, leaving audiences and artists alike to wonder what is real" music anymore. On Thursday, Spotify announced new policies that attempt to tamp down on three problems the platform has with [...]

The FCC's efforts to shut down Jimmy Kimmel's platform have seemingly blown up in its face, with the return of Kimmel's talk show breaking viewership records on YouTube. Tuesday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! contained Kimmel's most-watched monologue ever on the video platform, a 28-minute segment addressing the censorship which has reached over 19 million [...]

Windows 10 end of support is approaching in less than three weeks, and Microsoft has now been forced to make its extended security updates truly free, without a catch, in certain markets in Europe. When Windows 10 goes end of support on October 14th, some European customers will no longer be required to turn on [...]

OnePlus has revealed a few details about its next flagship phone at a Qualcomm event in China: it'll be called the OnePlus 15, and it will come with Qualcomm's freshly announced Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset and a 165Hz refresh rate display. You didn't blink and miss the OnePlus 14, if you're wondering about [...]

Uber is launching a new discount program aimed at fighting against rising produce prices. The company is launching a new feature called Fresh Days," in which customers will receive discounts of up to 50 percent on local fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy." The exact day and discount amount will vary from market to market, but [...]

Apple says it's having to delay bringing some product features to Europe because it's struggling to make them compliant with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). In a statement published on Wednesday, Apple said that DMA rules have created more complexity and more risks for our EU users," blaming the obligation to open Apple features [...]

Playground Games is launching the next instalment in the Forza Horizon franchise next year, and this time it's set in Japan. After revealing Forza Horizon 6 a little early on the official Forza Horizon Instagram account this morning, Microsoft unveiled an official teaser trailer during the Xbox Tokyo Game Show stream. The teaser trailer doesn't [...]

Nothing has announced that it plans to spin off its sub-brand CMF, which focuses on cheaper smartphones, earbuds, and wearables, into a standalone subsidiary based in India. Founder and CEO Carl Pei announced the move on X, claiming he plans to build CMF into India's first truly global consumer tech brand." Nothing is partnering with [...]

Honor has revealed the design of its upcoming Magic 8 Pro flagship in a selection of images shared exclusively with The Verge, confirming that the phone will include a dedicated AI button. When the Magic 8 series launches in China next month, the phones will be among the first powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite [...]

The Supreme Court is Google's last hope to avoid an Epic reckoning in October," I wrote last week. Google apparently agrees. Today, it's finally elevated its Epic v. Google case, the one that might fracture its control over the entire Android app ecosystem, to the Supreme Court level. Google has now confirmed it will appeal [...]

Nintendo is releasing a new Fire Emblem mobile game, Fire Emblem Shadows. The company says the game is a spinoff of the series and introduces a new style of battles featuring role-playing and social deduction." The company's description of the game indicates that Shadows will have Among Us-like elements of treachery: One of the three [...]

One of the biggest stories out of Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit in Maui isn't just about Qualcomm - it's how Google is finally merging Android and ChromeOS to create a new operating system for computers. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon revealed that it's finally happening, and now, a Google exec has revealed when it's happening, too. It's [...]

Lumafield has released the results of a new study of lithium-ion batteries that reveals an enormous gap in quality between brand-name batteries and low-cost cells" that are readily available through online stores including Amazon and Temu. The company used its computed tomography (CT) scanners, capable of peering inside objects in 3D using X-rays, to analyze [...]