The Verge

NBC's upcoming NBA coverage will include the AI-generated voice of Jim Fagan, a longtime sports narrator who died in 2017. In an announcement on Tuesday, NBC said the AI-generated voice of Fagan will appear across select title sequences, show opens, and promos when the network resumes airing NBA games in October. Fagan's voice appeared in [...]

Google has a new AI tool that can help iPhone users to better grasp complicated or confusing writing online. The Simplify feature, rolling out in the Google app on iOS starting today, generates a simpler, more digestible version of any highlighted text without leaving the current web page. Simplify is built on Google's Gemini AI [...]

Opera has added new tab features to its Android web browser that give users more control when organizing web links. Opera says version 89 of its browser introduces the best tab management system for Android devices," providing new tab layout options, grouping features, and capabilities for searching, muting, and restoring tabs. This update includes Tab [...]

At long last, the deadline to get a REAL ID is here. On May 7th, after nearly two years of kicking the can down the road, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will finally require travelers to have REAL IDs - or other compliant forms of identification (more on that later) - to board domestic flights [...]

More than a year after Microsoft announced plans to start releasing games on rival platforms, the publisher seems to have hit its stride on PlayStation. Sony released its monthly most-downloaded charts for PS5 games, and for April, the top three titles in both Europe and North America all came from Microsoft. No sales numbers were [...]

The US Department of Justice filed a plan in court to make Google divest its advertising marketplace and ad management platform, part of a proposal to address the company's decade-long campaign of exclusionary conduct," which a judge has declared violates antitrust law. On Monday, the DOJ and Google both filed requests for remedying the tech [...]

Nvidia has announced a May 19th release date for its $299 RTX 5060 graphics card and the first laptops, which start at $1,099, that will feature it. The company says they'll be available to buy from retail partners starting at 9AM PT / 12PM ET. At 3,840 CUDA cores, the RTX 5060 has nearly 800 [...]

The first hands-on experience I had with the $360,000, ultraluxury Cadillac Celestiq was as a backseat passenger. It was mid-April, and I was on the way to a dinner in West Hollywood. While GM insists most Celestiq buyers are drivers, the company wanted to create a vehicle that could be especially compelling for those who [...]

It's been quite some time since Rockstar set the internet on fire with the first Grand Theft Auto VI trailer, and then subsequently delayed the game, but now we finally have a second look. The new trailer is - like the first - pretty heavily focused on setting up the characters and world, without much [...]

Microsoft has just announced two new Surface devices, and neither comes with the company's Surface Connect charging port. The Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch can now only be charged through USB-C ports on the devices, after years of Microsoft equipping its Surface laptops and tablets with the company's proprietary magnetic charging port. While [...]

Following a ruling on April 30th by the Epic Games v. Apple judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, Apple can no longer collect a 27 percent commission on purchases made outside of apps or restrict how developers can direct users to alternate payment options. Apple has appealed the decision, but is also complying with it in the [...]

Oura is doubling down on metabolic health with two new AI-powered features: glucose tracking and meal logging. The former comes a few months after announcing a strategic partnership with Dexcom, which released its over-the-counter Stelo continuous glucose monitor (CGM) last year. Meanwhile, meal logging is the third experimental feature to come out of the company's [...]

"Do your own research," Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advised parents considering vaccination for their children during an 80-minute televised interview with Dr. Phil last week. He offered the loaded directive with some of his go-to antivax falsehoods: common shots are neurotoxic, the measles mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is "leaky," the MMR vaccine hasn't been [...]

Backbone's new gaming controller looks like it should have a phone inside. The Backbone Pro has the same basic shape as the company's previous device, the excellent Backbone One - its two oblong halves are connected by a strip of plastic and metal that expands enough to dock your smartphone into the exposed USB-C port. [...]

Instacart is launching Fizz, a new app that will let partygoers order and pay for their own snacks, drinks, and party supplies - all for a flat $5 delivery fee. With Fizz, hosts can create a cart that everyone can access through a link, allowing guests to add items and see what their friends are [...]

Microsoft is revamping the Windows 11 Start menu and adding a glut of new AI features over the next month, coming first to Windows Insiders running Snapdragon X Copilot Plus PCs like the newly announced Surface devices. The new Start menu, first discovered last month in an early build preview, is roomier and gives easier [...]

Samsung is making it easier for Galaxy phone users to quickly send money to friends and family. A contactless Tap to Transfer feature will be available for Samsung Wallet users in the US later this month" that allows users to directly pay into someone else's bank account without using third-party services like Venmo or Cash [...]

One of Netflix's biggest shows is about to end - and you can get a brief glimpse at it in the first teaser trailer. The streamer just released a new clip of Squid Game's third season, and while it doesn't show much, it manages to evoke the series' distinct brand of tension, this time with [...]

Google just accidentally revealed its next big Android redesign: Material 3 Expressive. In a now-deleted blog post spotted by 9to5Google, the company describes the change as the most researched" update yet, with the goal of making its interface more appealing and easier to use. You can find an archived version of the deleted webpage on [...]

Rivian is receiving $16 million in state incentives to help construct a new 1.2 million-square foot supplier park near its EV manufacturing plant in Normal, Illinois, according to Illinois Governer JB Pritzker and Rivian, who both made official announcements today. As part of the deal, Rivian will invest nearly $120 million towards the project, which [...]

YouTube is testing a YouTube Premium subscription plan designed for two people to use, Moneycontrol reports (via Android Authority). Company spokesperson Alex McQuiston confirmed to The Verge that the pilot is taking place in India, France, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. We're experimenting with new ways to provide greater flexibility and value to our YouTube Premium [...]

DJI hasn't even announced a 360-degree camera yet, but the DJI Osmo 360 has now spilled its guts all over the web. Leakers Hakasushi and Igor Bogdanov have published over a dozen pictures of a prototype dual-lens camera, including both external and internal photos and images of its Quick Start Guide. Together, they suggest that [...]

Last week, OpenAI pulled a GPT-4o update that made ChatGPT overly flattering or agreeable" - and now it has explained what exactly went wrong. In a blog post published on Friday, OpenAI said its efforts to better incorporate user feedback, memory, and fresher data" could have partly led to tipping the scales on sycophancy." In [...]

When Ford poached Doug Field from Apple in 2021, the company had high hopes for the mild-mannered engineer. Field would lead the charge on developing "the next-gen Blue Oval Intelligence tech stack to deliver smart, connected vehicles, and services that improve over time through constant updates," it said in the release. Now, as Ford grapples [...]

Epic Games plans to use its Sweden developer account to submit Fortnite to Apple's US iOS App Store, according to CEO Tim Sweeney. On Wednesday, following the major ruling in Epic Games v. Apple that blocked Apple from collecting fees on purchases outside of apps, Sweeney said that Fortnite would return to the US App [...]

A hacker has obtained direct messages and contact information from TeleMessage, the Israeli software company that offers modified versions of Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram, and other apps to the US government, according to a report from 404Media. Last week, a photo of former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz appeared to show him using a Signal clone [...]

Microsoft just announced Gears of War: Reloaded, a remaster of the original game that's launching on August 26th for Xbox Series X / S, PlayStation, and PC for $39.99. Gears of War: Reloaded is a celebration of one of gaming's most iconic franchises," according to an Xbox Wire blog post. Featuring 4K resolution, 120 FPS [...]

Pinterest is using AI to try and help you find the fashion accessories you're looking for, even if you can't describe them in your own words. The company is using a Visual Language Model" to generate descriptive words of styles and the overall vibes" of image Pins on its site, and will let you click [...]

For the longest time, we considered the Beats Fit Pro to be the best gym earbuds around. However, with the arrival of the Powerbeats Pro 2 in February, Beats' last-gen earbuds have become somewhat dated and a lot harder to recommend at full price. That's especially true today, given the Powerbeats Pro 2 are now [...]

Literary journals might have a stuffy reputation. But since its conception in 1998 by author Dave Eggers, McSweeney's Quarterly has been anything but, opting instead to be an endlessly mutating delivery system for writing and art. It has been a hardcover book, a paperback, a newspaper. Once it was a bundle of mail; another time, [...]

Waymo said it recently received its last delivery of Jaguar I-Pace SUVs, which will be retrofitted with sensors and autonomous driving technology at its factory in Arizona, before joining its robotaxi fleet. In a blog post published today, the Alphabet company said it currently has 1,500 Jaguars operating across its four main markets: San Francisco, [...]

After announcing a new company called Core Devices and a pair of new smartwatches running the now open-source PebbleOS, the Pebble's creator, Eric Migicovsky, has launched a podcast. In the first episode of Tick Talk w/ Eric Migicovsky, he gives a brief demo of the Core 2 Duo that's still in development, talks about potential [...]

If you took Pinterest, mashed it together with everything annoying about Threads, and sprinkled generative AI prompts on top - that'd pretty much sum up the newly launched Meta AI site's social feed. So far, prompting AI chatbots - those are the questions or requests you make - has primarily been a private affair. You [...]

After a stinging rebuke in the lower courts over its legal battle with Epic, Apple filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit on Monday. The appeal will challenge last week's ruling that prevents the company from charging developers fees on purchases made outside the App Store. In 2021, the Epic v. Apple lawsuit [...]

Apple's rumored super-slim iPhone Air" isn't expected until this fall, but supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says development has already begun on a redesigned version with a bigger screen. According to Kuo, Apple's second iPhone Air / iPhone Slim" model is planned for launch in the fall of 2026 as part of the usual annual [...]

"When I knew it was over was when I downloaded Skype." All the way back in 2003, Michael Powell, then the chairman of the FCC and the United States' chief regulator of the telecom industry, told a roomful of academics and executives at the University of California at San Diego that he had seen the [...]

President Donald Trump says his administration will institute high tariffs on movies that fit the nebulous category of "produced in foreign lands," a definition that could include anything from anime to the latest Marvel films. In a Sunday evening Truth Social post, Trump claimed that "Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw [...]

Roku is investigating user reports of washed-out colors when streaming HDR content from Disney Plus, according to a thread on the Roku issue tracking board. However, the issue seems to go beyond that, affecting almost any app for Roku TVs, suggest user comments on the thread over the last week. The problem appears to be [...]

Earlier this year, accessory maker Genki showed off a 3D-printed mockup it said was based on the Nintendo Switch 2's official dimensions just days before the console's first official reveal. The company has since started offering Switch 2 accessories that it says will be compatible with the system at launch. Now, Nintendo is suing the [...]

South Texas voters mostly employed by Elon Musk's SpaceX have approved a measure to incorporate as Starbase, a new city in Texas' Cameron County near the company's Boca Chica Beach launch site on the Gulf of Mexico. The final tally was 212-6 in support of the measure, reports The Associated Press. The election took place [...]

You are a negro bunny bound for greatness in the New World, as if the old were simply a mistake. You can't stop thinking about Sylvia Wynter and something like New World natives; you stall, with everyone else, rather than negotiate a true critique of the present, rather than pause Final Fantasy XIV as ordered [...]

Shotgun Cop Man is a strange platformer. You play as a square man with a round, bald head who's chasing Satan to arrest him. At the beginning of each of the game's nine worlds, Satan gives you the middle finger. And you don't just use guns for fighting, but for traversal as well. You start [...]

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 81, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, happy Finally Feels Like Summer Week to at least everyone who lives near me, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading [...]

Longtime Verge readers might recall the unusual story of how the music video for a Janet Jackson song, Rhythm Nation," could cause certain Windows laptops to crash just by being around when it's playing. Now, in a blog post spotted by PCWorld, Microsoft employee Raymond Chen has revealed that a filter created to deal with [...]

Apple is planning to shuffle its iPhone release schedule next year as it releases the first foldable iPhone to make things more manageable, reports The Information. The plan is for the foldable to come out with the iPhone 18 Pro and Air" models, while the standard iPhone 18 gets shunted back to the spring of [...]

The Trump administration has released a proposal to cut about a quarter of NASA's 2026 budget, slashing both International Space Station crew sizes and the amount of research done there. At the same time, it sets up new funding that would likely benefit Elon Musk's SpaceX by prioritizing human missions to Mars, and refocuses on [...]

While we all wait to find out what effect the upcoming - well, maybe upcoming - tariffs will have on prices, many of us are making mental lists of some of the items we might need that, hopefully, won't demand a bank loan to be affordable. Last year, we asked the staff members here at [...]

Polygon, The Verge's former sister site dedicated to covering gaming and entertainment, is now owned by Valnet, a company that owns more than 27 different brands covering gaming, entertainment, sports, travel, and more. The transition is, let's say, ongoing: a day after the acquisition, the site still said it was a Vox Media property, and [...]

Google is notifying parents using its Family Link parental controls via email that their kids will soon be able to access Gemini AI Apps on their monitored Android devices, The New York Times reports. The company says kids will be able to use Gemini to do things like help them with homework or read them [...]