The Verge

I walked into Blackdot's tattoo studio in Austin's east side on a sweltering May afternoon. After shaking my sweat-soaked hand, founder and CEO Joel Pennington led me up into an office building and opened the door to a small, three-room space. Critics have unflatteringly compared the studio to a sterile hospital room - a comparison [...]

Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 7 has been given the thinner, sleeker glow-up we expected, if leaked hands-on photos are any indication. The trio of images posted by leaker @Jukanlosreve seemingly show what the next-gen Galaxy foldable will look like in the real world from a few different angles. The new photographs mostly line up [...]

The new Fairphone 6 is smaller and more modular than older models in the series, but it's just as repairable. The phone picked up a perfect score in iFixit's teardown test, despite no longer offering tool-free battery replacements. It helps that the only tool you do need - throughout the phone - is a T5 [...]

Bicycle phone mounts have been a regular part of my life in bike-obsessed Amsterdam ever since 2008, when I got my first phone with built-in GPS and turn-by-turn navigation. I've used dozens of mounts since, until they were either lost, broken, or stolen, or something better emerged. I could have saved a ton of money [...]

Slate Auto's American-made electric pickup -the one with no paint, no stereo, and no touchscreen- is no longer priced under $20,000." The increase is a result of Trump's Big, beautiful bill," which willend the federal EV tax creditson September 30th when signed into law later today. That sub-$20,000 price for theIndiana-built pickup was a big [...]

The most frequently curated content on the White House Wire, the Trump administration's attempt to aggregate pro-Trump "real news" from across the right-wing media, doesn't come from Truth Social, Breitbart, or even Fox News. It comes from YouTube - notably, from the White House's own channel. The White House Wire was launched at the end [...]

You want your games to play the smoothest they possibly can - but sometimes, screen technology gets in the way. That's why some of the latest TVs and handhelds feature variable refresh rate (VRR) screens that can compensate when your graphics can't deliver a consistent 60 or 120 frames per second. The Nintendo Switch 2 [...]

A Freedom of Information Act request has produced letters that the US Department of Justice sent to Google, Apple, Amazon, and several other companies in order to assuage their concerns about breaking a law that banned US web services from working with TikTok. The documents -obtained by Zhaocheng Anthony Tan, a Google shareholder who sued [...]

One name is popping up a lot across tech startup social media right now, and you might've heard it: Soham Parekh. On X, people are joking that Parekh is single-handedly holding up all modern digital infrastructure, while others are posting memes about him working in front of a dozen different monitors or filling in for [...]

The Republican-controlled US Congress has passed a budget bill that includes cuts to social programs like Medicaid and more funding for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), alongside provisions that discourage wind and solar energy production. Passed after a marathon debate in both houses, it will allow President Donald Trump to realize policy goals he's so [...]

E Ink has developed a new touchpad for laptops featuring the same electronic paper technology found in e-readers. It's not the first company to look at the ever-growing size of laptop touchpads and see the potential of additional functionality, but instead of serving as a second smaller screen for the computer's OS, E Ink is [...]

If you're looking for an affordable way to kick off your July 4th weekend, Paramount Plus has a deal worth checking out. Just in time for the July 17th premiere of the third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, new subscribers can enjoy two months of Paramount Plus Premium (normally $12.99 per month) or [...]

Whether you've still got the original band that came with your Apple Watch, or if you're hungry for more band color options, Woot has a bevy of bands available at up to 70 percent off their normal prices. The Solo Loop band is the most affordable option, costing just $14.99 at Woot in a range [...]

On Monday, the long-running indie rock band Deerhoof made an announcement: it was pulling its music from Spotify. The impetus was Spotify founder Daniel Ek's newest investment in Helsing, the German defense group that makes AI and drones. Helsing raised 600 million euros in its most recent funding round, which was led by Ek's venture [...]

The tragedy of a niche product is if it sees any success, two things will happen. First, rivals big and small will copy its ideas. Then, to combat that existential threat and appease investors, there'll be an appeal to the larger mass market. A handful of niche products survive the transition to the mainstream. Most [...]

Arrowhead Game Studios' Helldivers 2 will make the jump to the Xbox Series X and S consoles on August 26th, costing $39.99. This is the first PlayStation-published title to launch on Xbox. The title will ship with cross play between all platforms. The cooperative PvE third-person shooter was an unexpected hit when it first launched [...]

At 468-pieces it's no where near as elaborate as Lego's buildable Pac-Man machine, but this 6-inch tall Arcade Machine set will only set you back $39.99 when it launches on August 1st, 2025. At this scale Lego wasn't able to make this arcade machine playable like Pac-Man is, but it still managed to include some [...]

Apple's AI capabilities have been less than impressive to date, but there's one new feature coming with iOS 26 that's actually really handy: adding stuff to your calendar with a screenshot. I've been testing this feature out for the past few weeks in the developer beta, and I'm pleased to report that it works, easily [...]

Samsung may have inadvertently given us a first look at its upcoming multifold" device in the latest One UI 8 build update. Some animations spotted by Android Authority show what the trifold Samsung flagship might look like, including the dual-hinge folding mechanism, display layout, camera setup, and NFC location. The device is speculated to be [...]

In a 92-minute interview with Tucker Carlson on Monday, RFK Jr. drilled down on his vision for the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Artificial intelligence - arguably, a uselessly vague umbrella term - came up multiple times. (As did conspiracy theories and disinformation on vaccines and autism, the medical establishment, and covid-19 [...]

It's that time again: for a third year running, the summer is looking pretty great for streaming some science fiction. There's just something about cool fictional futures that's a good fit for hot summer days spent indoors, and it seems the various streaming services agree. It's been a pretty good year so far for the [...]

Google is giving Workspace users a way to access Gems" - customizable versions of its Gemini AI assistant that specialize in specific tasks - without opening the Gemini app. Gems are now available directly in the side panel of Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Drive, and Gmail, allowing users to access custom chatbots they've created or [...]

Racist videos that appear to be created with Google's AI video generation tool Veo 3 have raked in millions of views across TikTok, according to findings from the nonprofit media watchdog Media Matters. The AI-generated videos uncovered by the organization are filled with racist tropes, many of which target Black people. Media Matters determined that [...]

Microsoft's layoff of roughly 9,000 employees is continuing to have downstream effects at the company's subsidiaries. Aftermath reports that as many as 100 developers at Blizzard have been impacted, and as a result the studio is winding down development on its mobile tower defense game Warcraft Rumble. In an announcement, Blizzard wrote that while the [...]

A mandatory update for Google's mid-range Pixel 6A phones is coming next week that is meant to reduce the risk of the battery overheating on some devices. According to a support page post, Google is issuing the mandatory Android 16 update starting July 8 to all Pixel 6A devices. However, only users with Impacted Devices" [...]

On July 2nd, Microsoft announced sweeping layoffs affecting as many as 9,000 employees, and they had a big impact on the company's Xbox studios. Microsoft canceled Perfect Dark from The Initiative and closed the studio. Rare's Everwild, announced in 2019, was canceled, too. And Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios will lose more than 70 [...]

There's always a reason why universal USB-C ports don't "just work" like you'd expect. In the early days, it was incompetence or naivete. Later, manufacturers often cheaped out. But in the case of Nintendo's Switch 2, it appears to be intentional. With the Nintendo Switch 2, it should be easy to plug your new, more [...]

Microsoft says that Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming CEO and the head of Xbox, isn't retiring anytime soon." The company has responded to rumors of Spencer's retirement, which have spread online today following Microsoft's major layoffs. Phil is not retiring anytime soon," says Kari Perez, head of Xbox communications, in a statement to The Verge. The [...]

Banks are facing renewed pressure to protect their customers from scams on Zelle, the payment network owned by JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, and other big banks. In letters to the banks, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) asked them how often their customers report [...]

A court in France has sentenced three former Ubisoft executives for sexual and psychological harassment. Serge Hascoet, Tommy Francois, and Guillaume Patrux each received fines and suspended prison sentences for their actions that were discovered as a part of a years-long investigation into sexual harassment and bullying at the game publisher. According to The Guardian, [...]

With less than a week until Prime Day kicks off, we're already seeing some exciting early deals pop up. And now we can add two more great discounts to the list: the refurbished ad-supported Kindle Paperwhite is down to $106.99 ($37 off) at Amazon, while the refurbished Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is $126.99 ($53 off) [...]

The subtitles for one of Crunchyroll's newest anime series make it pretty clear that the company is going all in on ChatGPT. This week as viewers logged on to Crunchyroll to check out Studio Gokumi's Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show, many were surprised to see that the series' subtitles were filled with typos, grammatical [...]

Neil Druckmann, co-creator of The Last of Us video game and co-showrunner on the HBO adaptation, will be stepping away from the television series moving forward. In a statement, Druckmann - who is also studio head at The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog - said the decision was made to focus on the studio's [...]

Microsoft is canceling its Perfect Dark and Everwild games as part of sweeping cuts to its Xbox division. Matt Booty, Xbox president of game content and studios, revealed that Microsoft will be closing The Initiative, the studio behind Perfect Dark, in an internal memo to Xbox employees today. The cuts are part of layoffs affecting [...]

Microsoft announced layoffs today affecting as many as 9,000 employees, and as part of the changes, more than 70 people will be let go at Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios, according to a source familiar with the situation. The cuts were made on a call with Microsoft HR representatives this morning, and are hitting [...]

Lorde fans are clearly struggling to play the CD version of her new album. Customers who purchased the special edition of Virgin released on a transparent plastic disc are reporting on Reddit and TikTok that many CD players, car stereos, and other sound systems they've tried are unable to play it. The transparent CD, promoted [...]

The entire point of Jurassic World Rebirth is to get the franchise back into audiences' good graces with a new set of characters and a story meant to tap into the spectacular energy that made the original such a huge hit. All the same ingredients are there - dinosaurs running amok in a tropical paradise, [...]

Amazon's early Prime Day sale started off slow, but as the event draws closer to its official kickoff on July 8th, it's beginning to pick up steam. Right now, for example, Prime members can grab an Amazon Echo Hub at Amazon for just $119.99 ($60 off), marking a new low price. As you might expect, [...]

Microsoft confirmed that it's laying off as many as 9,100 employees, or about 4 percent of its workforce, in yet another round of cuts this year, reports The Seattle Times. Employees in Microsoft's Xbox division, known as Microsoft Gaming, are being hit hard by these layoffs, although exact numbers and divisions are not yet known. [...]

ICEBlock, an app that lets users anonymously report sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, has soared up App Store charts after receiving criticism from Donald Trump's administration. On Monday, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem responded to CNN's coverage of ICEBlock in a post on X, calling it an obstruction of justice." Following [...]

The new Nuki Smart Lock ($159), the company's first designed for US deadbolts, is the most advanced retrofit smart lock I've tested. It features a sleek, compact design that looks and works like a regular doorknob, but it's much more than a doorknob. It can automatically unlock as you approach, lock behind you, unlock using [...]

The alien invasion continues, as Apple just confirmed the next season of Invasion will be streaming this summer. The new season will premiere on Apple TV Plus on August 22nd, with weekly episodes running on Fridays through to October 24th. Alongside the announcement, Apple also released a very brief teaser, which, if nothing else, suggests [...]

Tesla sales hit a new low, with the company reporting a 14 percent drop in second-quarter vehicle deliveries compared to a year ago. The company said that it produced a total of 410,244 vehicles between April-June of this year, including 396,835 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, as well as 13,409 other vehicles" like the [...]

After launching its first portable power stations last year, DJI just launched the Power 2000 with double the capacity, more output power, and big scalability. Unlike a fixed Tesla Powerwall solution, DJI's followup to the Power 1000 I reviewed last year is designed to scale in support of your day-to-day energy needs no matter where [...]

Honor has announced the Magic V5, which it says is the thinnest foldable phone in the world right now - though only if you ignore the raised camera module, and only for its white version. The phone launches today in China, but Honor says an international release is coming soon." At 8.8mm thick when folded [...]

The Google Photos app has been updated to make it easier to navigate your gallery and view image information. Google says the photo view - the screen that appears when you open an image in Google Photos - has been redesigned to provide a simpler, more modern, and more intuitive UI" while adding a new [...]

Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to resolve President Donald Trump's lawsuit against its subsidiary CBS, clearing a path for the administration to approve the media giant's multibillion-dollar merger with Skydance Media. In a statement seen by CNN on Tuesday night, Paramount said the settlement payment is inclusive of Trump's legal fees and costs, [...]

Figma, the platform that specializes in collaborative interface design, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO). The company will trade under the ticker symbol FIG" as it prepares to double down" on its investments in AI. Figma was nearly acquired by Adobe for $20 billion in 2022, but the two companies scrapped the deal [...]

X is launching a way for developers to create AI bots that can write Community Notes that can potentially appear on posts. Like humans, the AI Note Writers" will be able to submit a Community Note, but they will only actually be shown on a post if found helpful by people from different perspectives," X [...]

Google Home's latest update will make it easier to decide who in your household can control your smart home. It comes with a new feature, which Google first started testing last year, that will let you assign people Admin" and Member" roles. People with Admin status have full control of all the devices, services, and [...]