The Verge

Google will soon cast an even wider net with its AI age estimation technology. After announcing plans to find and restrict underage users on YouTube, the company now says it will start detecting whether Google users based in the US are under 18. Age estimation is rolling out over the next few weeks and will [...]

If you're a parent with kids in school or kids who are independently exploring their neighborhood for the first time, then there's a good chance you've considered stashing a tracker somewhere on their person for added peace of mind. Skechers is making that a little easier with a new line of sneakers for kids that [...]

Starting today, DJI's Amflow electric mountain bike range isavailable to buyin the United States. It comes over a year since the showcase for DJI's very impressive Avinox drive system was launched in Europe, sending shockwaves through the industry and leaving stalwarts like Bosch and Specialized struggling to respond. What's most impressive about the Avinox system [...]

On July 25th, the UK became one of the first countries to widely implement age verification. Its Online Safety Act requires sites hosting porn and other content deemed "harmful" - including Reddit, Discord, Grindr, X, and Bluesky - to verify that users are over the age of 18. The early results have been chaotic. While [...]

I reported last week that OpenAI is planning to launch GPT-5 in early August, as part of an effort to simplify and combine its large language models. Just a day after my report, references to GPT-5 were spotted inside Microsoft's Copilot web app, hinting at a new smart mode. Sources familiar with Microsoft's AI plans [...]

While you can now start collecting Pokemon TCG Pockets Johto-themed Wisdom of Sea and Sky expansion, two of the set's rarest cards are being changed in response to concerns about art theft. Soon after dataminers began posting images of Wisdom of Sea and Sky's cards on Tuesday, Chinese artist lanjiujiu took to their X account [...]

Elon Musk's Boring Company has announced plans to dig tunnels under Nashville, creating a loop that will connect the city's downtown with the Nashville International Airport. The Boring Company says it will begin construction immediately" following approval and expects the first 10-mile phase to be operational as early as next year, as reported earlier by [...]

The first season of Twisted Metal was almost like a prologue. Peacock's adaptation of the long-dormant PlayStation game series spent 10 episodes setting up its car-focused post-apocalyptic world and most of the major characters, all while rattling off a never-ending barrage of jokes. But it never really felt all that much like the games it [...]

If you need a laptop for school or work, our top recommendation is Apple's 13-Inch MacBook Air with the M4 chip, which is at an all-time low price of $799 ($200 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. The machine is thin and light, yet its M4 chip is powerful enough to handle more intense workloads, [...]

President Donald Trump and other Republicans have railed for years against foreign regulation of US tech companies, including online safety laws. As the US fights a global tariff war, it may bring those rules under fire - just as some of them are growing teeth. Over the past weeks, Trump has touted a blitz of [...]

The 2025 TV Shootout went down over the weekend, and the results are shocking: yes, the Sony Bravia 8 II won the overall competition and my personal award for silliest name, but the LG G5 came in last place by a huge margin. I was one of the judges, and I think I have a [...]

TikTok is officially rolling out Footnotes, a community fact-checking program that's supposed to add helpful context to videos. With this update, US-based users will start seeing Footnotes on videos in the coming weeks, and will also get the option to rate them. After allowing people to join the Footnotes pilot in April, TikTok says almost [...]

Now that the Switch 2 is out, and the console's biggest exclusives - Mario Kart World, and Donkey Kong Bananza - are delighting fans, it's time to see what else this thing can do. Nintendo's hosting its next Direct presentation on Thursday July 31st bright and early at 9 AM ET. You can watch the [...]

Adobe is finally releasing Windows on Arm versions of Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, and Media Encoder this week. All four apps are available as public beta versions, but they do lack some features or have some known issues compared to the versions available for Intel-powered systems. The native ARM64 version of Premiere Pro won't [...]

It's the flip phone paradox: if you want to be more mindful about your mobile device usage, you need more screen, not less. I know. But I swear it's true: with a bigger cover screen, you get more than just a new way to check notifications. You can actually get shit done. Things that are [...]

If last year's Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 was tried and true, this year's Galaxy Watch 8 is a bit more like tried and fine. This isn't overtly bad. Most smartwatch newbies will be delighted by the $349.99 Galaxy Watch 8 - provided they can stomach the new squircle design. It's more that if you've been [...]

Evidence is mounting that Google's Pixel 10 series will support Qi2 wireless charging, including built-in magnets, finally offering a mainstream Android alternative to Apple's MagSafe. The latest sign is a leaked image of the Pixel 10 with what appears to be a magnetic wireless charging puck attached to the back. The leaked image comes from [...]

It seems YouTube is finally giving its TV app the AI feature that lets you skip to the most interesting parts of a video. Android Authority's Mishaal Rahman reports that the Jump Ahead perk for YouTube Premium subscribers appeared on his Nvidia Shield TV yesterday, a feature that was previously exclusive to YouTube's web and [...]

YouTube videos with strong profanity in the first seven seconds (words like fuck") are now eligible for full monetization, according to a video from Conor Kavanagh, YouTube's head of monetization policy experience. Previously, these kinds of videos were only eligible for limited ad revenue." Changes to YouTube's inappropriate language policies have long been a sore [...]

Lovense, the maker of internet-connected sex toys, left user emails exposed for months - even after it became aware of the vulnerability. In a blog post spotted by TechCrunch and Bleeping Computer, security researcher BobDaHacker found that they could turn any username into their email address," which they could then use to take over someone's [...]

LG's StanbyMe 2 has all the ingredients of a good follow-up gadget: the 27-inch display is 1440p instead of 1080p, and instead of being trapped on its rollable stand, the screen is detachable for you to use wherever and however you want. It can hang on the wall if you buy a compatible strap, or [...]

Microsoft has used avariety of tricksto convince people to keep using the defaults of Bing and Microsoft Edge in Windows over the years, including modifying Chromedownload sites and usingmalware-like popups. Now, Opera is fed up of what it calls Microsoft's manipulative design tactics" and filed a competition complaint in Brazil today, alleging that Microsoft is [...]

Sharge has demonstrated again and again that the chargers and power banks you use to keep your devices running don't need to look like boring gray bricks. The company has updated its transparent Retractable 65 wall charger, released earlier this year, with a 10,000mAh battery so it's no longer completely dependent on an outlet. The [...]

OpenAI is adding a new study mode for ChatGPT that helps you work through problems step by step instead of just getting an answer," according to an OpenAI blog post. It will be available today for ChatGPT Free, Plus, Pro, and Team users and for ChatGPT Edu users in the next few weeks." When you [...]

If you spend a lot of time gaming on the PlayStation 5, you may want a controller that can offer more customization than the standard DualSense. The pro-style DualSense Edge is worth considering, especially now since it's currently down to $170 ($29.99 off) on the PlayStation website with the code EVO2025 through August 4th. The [...]

Two of the biggest digital games stores have stopped selling thousands of titles following pressure from a coalition of anti-porn advocates and the world's biggest payment processing companies. It's happened before, will likely happen again, and is suppressing art, free expression, and marginalized creators. Last week, the indie gaming storefront itch.io sent out a sudden [...]

YouTube will soon begin using AI-powered age estimation technology to figure out which users are under the age of 18. Starting August 13th, YouTube will detect underage users in the US based on their activity and the age of their account, allowing the platform to automatically apply restrictions. These accounts will get the same protections [...]

Google's NotebookLM is getting a new Video Overviews feature that uses AI to create slideshows with narration. The feature is rolling out now in English, and Google says that support for more languages" is coming soon. You can think of these as a visual alternative to Audio Overviews: the AI host creates new visuals to [...]

There are plenty of wireless keyboards that incorporate an easy access volume knob, but Seenda's MOU-302 is one of the first wireless mice to include the convenience. Featuring an ergonomic vertical design with its primary buttons and scroll wheel tilted 57 degrees, the mouse includes dedicated buttons for navigating forwards and back in a browser, [...]

Google is bringing a bunch of new features to AI Mode, and is positioning the update as a way to help students study for tests or dig deeper into what they're learning. Today, the company announced that it will now let users upload images to AI Mode on desktop, allowing them to ask questions about [...]

Yelp is going to use AI to stitch together user-posted content about restaurants, food, and nightlife businesses to make short videos about those businesses. The company initially started testing the AI-stitched videos last year, but they're now available nationwide on the iOS app's TikTok-like vertically scrolling home feed. Business operators can't currently see the videos [...]

Few things scratch my brain like a good beef. Kendrick vs. Drake. Justin Baldoni vs. Blake Lively. On my beat, it's usually two companies fighting over health tech patents. So-and-so copied a feature from so-and-so. The latest dispute on my radar is all about semantics. More specifically, the exact meaning of wellness. Let me catch [...]

The Tile Pro is a helpful gadget that lets you more easily find your stuff, whether you're gearing up for summer vacation or heading back to school. Attach it to anything from dorm keys to luggage, and its 500-feet Bluetooth range (combined with Tile Network and Amazon Sidewalk) boosts your chances of finding things you [...]

Cameron Faulkner describes himself as a New York City transplant who's lived in Brooklyn since 2012." He continues, When I'm not at work, I try to get as far away from my computer as I can (I don't always succeed), spending time with my wife, 15-month-old son, and two cats. I enjoy walking around, playing [...]

Google Workspace is launching a new security measure to help prevent the same type of account takeover attack that impacted Linus Tech Tips. The feature, which is rolling out in beta for Chrome users on Windows, is designed to block bad actors from remotely stealing the cookies that keep you logged into your Workspace account. [...]

Last night, Nintendo quietly added Mario Paint to the Nintendo Switch Online's catalog of Super Nintendo games. Originally released back in 1992, Mario Paint was a unique SNES title, because although it included a handful of mini games, it was first and foremost a creative tool letting players draw, paint, animate, and even compose music [...]

Elgato is launching its Facecam 4K webcam today, which brings the price of 4K resolution and 60fps recording down to $199.99. While the Facecam 4K is $100 less than the Facecam Pro, it also has support for optional lens filters - a first for a webcam. The Facecam 4K will support any 49mm lens filter, [...]

Adobe is launching some new generative AI features for Photoshop that make it easier than ever to convincingly add or remove people and objects in photographs. An update rolling out today introduces AI image upscaling, improved object removal, and an automatic composition tool that can seamlessly blend new elements into images in just a few [...]

Cash App is introducing a new peer-to-peer feature that allows you to pool money together for group payments, even with people who aren't Cash App users. When a pool is created, the organizer can request contributions with in-app $Cashtag" invitations, or via texts and shareable links for group members who use Apple Pay and Google [...]

Netgear has launched the Orbi 370, the latest and most affordable addition to its Wi-Fi 7 mesh router portfolio. At $349.99 for a three-pack (which includes a router and two satellites), it costs a fraction of the price of Netgear's other Wi-Fi 7 systems, like the high-end Orbi 870 and 970, or the $999.99 Orbi [...]

The Trump administration put out its vision for AI infrastructure in the US last week. It's a dream for the fossil fuel and chemical industries - and a nightmare for wind and solar energy and the environment. An "AI Action Plan" and flurry of executive orders Donald Trump signed last week read like manifestos on [...]

The summer isn't halfway over, and Home Depot already wants you to start thinking about Halloween. After introducing a limited-edition animated version of its 12-foot-tall skeleton decoration last year, the hardware company is hoping for more viral fame this year with a new Ultra Skelly. At 6.5 feet tall, it's much smaller than the original [...]

Unauthorized merch promoting Donald Trump - from hats and mugs to signs and T-shirts - is everywhere online. Go to a Trump rally or other MAGA political event and you're bound to find people hawking their DIY Trump wares. The Trump Organization apparently isn't too pleased. A lawsuit filed last week claims online sellers on [...]

Samsung's One UI 8 update seems to prevent users from unlocking their device's bootloader to load custom ROMs, as spotted earlier by SammyGuru. Over the weekend, users on the XDA Developers forum noticed that Samsung appears to have disabled the option on devices in regions outside the US, where the option had already been locked [...]

Sony is suing Tencent to attempt to stop the release of Light of Motiram, which Sony describes as a slavish clone" of its Horizon series of games, as reported by Reuters. Light of Motiram was announced last year with a trailer featuring an aesthetic that's quite similar to the Horizon franchise - including huge robot [...]

This time next year, the corporate entity known as Warner Bros. Discovery will be no more, and the two companies it's splitting into have some very inspired names. Today, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that Warner Bros." and Discovery Global" are the names of the two new businesses that will exist after it completes its restructuring [...]

Another user has reported their Pixel 6A catching fire - but this time, it appears to have occurred after applying Google's recent battery performance update that was intended to prevent overheating issues, as spotted by Android Authority. In a post on Reddit, a Pixel 6A user says they awoke to a horrible smell and a [...]

An app designed to help women spot the "red flags" of men they date has incidentally put its users at risk. 404 Media reported that Tea was hacked by 4chan users last week, resulting in the selfies and driver's licenses of its mostly women users being posted to 4chan. An independent researcher for 404 Media [...]

Tractive, an Austrian company that makes smart location and activity trackers for dogs and cats, is expanding its presence in the US by acquiring a competitor, Whistle, from Mars Petcare. As a result of the acquisition, the Whistle platform is being shut down and its pet tracking devices will stop working on August 31st, 2025. [...]

Another San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone, and while there were no explosive reveals like last year's surprise appearance of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, there were quite a few interesting developments. That includes several Star Trek spinoffs, a new sci-fi show on Apple TV Plus, trailers for everything from Peacemaker to Gen [...]