The Verge

One of the best features of Amazon's new Alexa Plus is that I don't have to "speak Alexa" anymore. I've been testing the voice assistant for about a week now, and it understands what I say, regardless of how I say it - there's no more need for precise phrasing to get Alexa to do [...]

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 90, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope you're staying cool, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I have been watching The Bear's fourth season, preparing for the deluge of [...]

I seldom sleep in the same place for more than a couple of weeks at a time, so I'm a big fan of portable all-in-one projectors. They're small and set up quickly, making them ideal for vanlife, gaming parties, outdoor movie nights, or an evening in on the couch - but they usually sacrifice quality [...]

The forthcoming Galaxy Z Fold 7 is Samsung's thinnest foldable yet. Our own Allison Johnson just published her full review ahead of the phone's launch on July 25th, and while there's certainly no denying it's a spendy device, know that various carriers and retailers are offering a host of preorder incentives, many of which will [...]

When you crack open your mailbox, it's almost as if your letters just appear. Long before the days of speedy, overnight mail deliveries, postal service workers meticulously sorted through letters by hand and transported mail on horseback. For more than 250 years, the US Postal Service has worked behind the scenes to build a faster [...]

"I'm probably the only architect who created a final home," Bob Hendrikx tells The Verge. Tombs and catacombs aside, Hendrikx might be the only one to make a final home using mushrooms. Hendrikx is the founder and CEO of Loop Biotech, a company that makes caskets out of mycelium, the fibrous root structure of mushrooms. [...]

Nothing says that the Phone 3 is its "first true flagship phone," and it has put its money where its mouth is. The phone is getting a full US launch, and at $799, it costs exactly the same as a Pixel 9, Galaxy S25, or iPhone 16. That makes reviewing the Phone 3 refreshingly simple, [...]

I've been using the Galaxy Z Fold 7 for a week, and I've run out of ways to say "It's so nice." It's not essential, or life-changing; it's nice. It's an understatement, though. Samsung joins the likes of Honor and Oppo in making a folding phone that's almost as thin as a regular phone, and [...]

The Switch 2 technically launched with an F-Zero game, as F-Zero GX was available on Nintendo Switch Online's premium tier as part of the GameCube lineup. But if you're looking for a new F-Zero or Wipeout, the console has a spiritual successor that costs just $14.99: Shin'en's Fast Fusion. Fast Fusion pits you in futuristic [...]

After 40 years and six generations, 2025 marks the beginning of a new generation of the BMW M5: the G90 chassis. Featuring a ground-up redesign and a new plug-in hybrid powertrain, the specs are impressive. It's not just its horsepower and torque numbers but its curb weight of 5,390 pounds, too. That's no small figure, [...]

Flash floods have wrought more havoc in the US this week, from the Northeast to the Midwest, just weeks after swollen rivers took more than 130 lives across central Texas earlier this month. Frustrations have grown in the aftermath of that catastrophe over why more wasn't done to warn people in advance. Local officials face [...]

Happy Friday. I'm back from vacation and still getting caught up on everything I missed. AI researchers moving jobs is getting covered like NBA trades now, apparently. Before I get into this week's issue, I want to make sure you check out my interview with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas on Decoder this week. It's a [...]

After the year of self-induced tumult that Sonos has been through, I can understand why some people are reluctant to spend money on the company's products. But interim CEO Tom Conrad has shown that he's determined to get back on track and revitalize Sonos as the leading whole-home audio brand. The contentious mobile app is [...]

Even with the ability to take excellent photos with our phones and instantly share them across the world, there's something magical about the old-school instant camera. With just a click of a button, you can capture a moment in a photo that you can see and touch almost immediately. Images captured by an instant camera [...]

Keeping multiple devices charged while traveling usually means packing several wall warts and cables. Thanks to the clever design of the Twelve South Butterfly SE 2-in-1 Qi2 Charger, however, you can power two devices with a single, compact accessory. Best of all, the foldable charger is now on sale at Amazon and Best Buy starting [...]

In a landmark victory for the crypto industry, President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, establishing a regulatory framework for a type of digital currency known as stablecoins. The GENIUS Act creates rules for entities that issue stablecoins, whose value is tied to an asset like the US dollar. Those rules govern who's [...]

Think of OpenAI's new ChatGPT Agent as a day-one intern who's incredibly slow at every task but will eventually get the job done. Well... most of the job. Or... at least part of it. Usually. It's been one day since OpenAI debuted ChatGPT Agent, which it bills as a tool that can complete a wide [...]

Personally, I think electric scooters are a little goofy, but I'm glad they exist. I know a lot of people who don't want to drop a couple thousand dollars on an electric bike, but still want the joy and freedom of zipping around town at a modest 18mph, while being able to hop on a [...]

RealPage, the algorithmic rent-setting software company, has announced plans to acquire Livble, a service that lets people pay their monthly rent in installments. Livble describes itself as a flexible" rent payment solution. Renters can split payments into up to four installments throughout the month. The service bills itself as helping tenants avoid late fees and [...]

Four months after President Donald Trump defied Supreme Court precedent to remove two Democratic commissioners from the Federal Trade Commission without cause, one of those commissioners is returning to work. US District Court Judge Loren AliKhan called the attempted firing unlawful, finding that Rebecca Kelly Slaughter "remains a rightful member of the Federal Trade Commission" [...]

Netflix used generative AI to create a scene in the sci-fi series The Eternaut - a first for one of the streamer's original shows or films. During an earnings call on Thursday, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said the use of AI was faster than using traditional visual effects tools and helped cut costs. That VFX [...]

Ring has once again started letting police request footage from users. Axon, a law enforcement technology company and maker of Taser, announced in April that it's partnering with Ring to allow customers to share relevant video with law enforcement to help solve crimes faster and safeguard neighborhoods," as spotted earlier by Business Insider. The move [...]

The Android ecosystem is all about choice. While iPhone owners have a smaller pool of new devices to pick from when it's time to upgrade, there's a wider range of choices on Android. Some Android phones even fold in half! Imagine. On the flip side, all that choice can make for some hard decisions. Here's [...]

Spotify has launched two new Audiobooks Plus add-on subscriptions that allow Premium users to double their audiobook listening limit to 30 hours. They're available to individual Premium subscribers and users who manage Family and Duo plans. Other users on Premium accounts can now also request 15 hours of audiobook access from their plan manager.However, the [...]

The US federal government's consumer watchdog has issued a recall for "about 24,000" batteries sold with cheap VIVI e-bikes at retailers like Walmart, Amazon, and AliExpress for prices between $365 and $950. At least 14 incidents of overheating batteries have been reported, with three reported fires. No injuries have been reported, but owners are urged [...]

Microsoft has suddenly shut its movies and TV store on Xbox consoles and Windows PCs. As of today, you can no longer purchase new movies or TV shows from the Microsoft Store on Xbox or Windows, but you will still be able to access previously purchased content on your devices. Downloads will continue to be [...]

When Nintendo first announced the Switch 2's slate of launch titles, people were very quick to cry foul about how few original, exclusive games the company had lined up for its latest console. There were ports from other systems and updated versions of original Switch games. But Mario Kart World was the Switch 2's only [...]

I can't open LinkedIn without seeing a new post from a Microsoft employee who lost their job in the company's latest round of layoffs. Around 15,000 jobs have been eliminated at Microsoft over the past couple months - the biggest cuts at the company in more than a decade. I've spoken to more than a [...]

Would you like Siri more if it had a face? Ever since Elon Musk added a weird anime girlfriend to Grok, I've been wondering if there's a not-so-distant future where all of our AI assistants are much more clearly personified. Grok makes it feel deeply uncomfortable, but I'm not so sure it has to be [...]

Perplexity has just launched its agentic answer to Google Chrome - it's called Comet, and it knocked out a slate of tasks on my behalf, though I think I could've done some faster myself. The new AI-powered browser is currently only available to Perplexity Max subscribers or through an early access waitlist, and it's supposed [...]

Delta Air Lines is leaning into dynamic ticket pricing that uses artificial intelligence to individually determine the highest fee you'd willingly pay for flights, according to comments Fortune spotted in the company's latest earnings call. Following a limited test of the technology last year, Delta is planning to shift away from static ticket prices entirely [...]

Apple has sued the well-known leaker Jon Prosser for the alleged theft of trade secrets related to iOS 26. Prosser has been accused of tasking another man, Michael Ramacciotti, with secretly accessing an Apple employee's development iPhone and using that information to report on Apple's planned changes in the then-unannounced iOS 26. According to the [...]

Late last year, Nintendo hosted a mysterious Switch Online playtest, and on Thursday, the company announced that it would be doing another test as part of the Nintendo Switch Online: Playtest Program" and that it will be opening applications soon. This second round will be a test of the same service" as before. Last time, [...]

Subaru doesn't have the deepest bench when it comes to EVs. There's the Solterra, now in its third model year, and the upcoming Trailseeker, which promises to be the Outback to the Solterra's Impreza when it comes out in 2026. Now we can add a new member to the lineup. The 2026 Subaru Uncharted is [...]

The crypto industry is beginning to see a return on one of its most prescient investments: Donald Trump. On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed three bills that industry supporters believe will bring more legitimacy and predictability to the digital currency space - and that critics warn could enrich the president's own family and hand [...]

In September, Apple launched its latest smartwatch, introducing the Apple Watch Series 10 alongside a black rendition of the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Each wearable has its own pros and cons, as does the second-gen Apple Watch SE, but the introduction of Apple's newest wearables also means there are now more Apple Watch models on [...]

Netflix says it's on track to double" its advertising revenue this year as the company continues ot build out its ad tech platform. The streaming giant shared the news as part of its second-quarter earnings results released on Thursday, which revealed that Netflix raked in $11.08 billion in revenue over the past few months, marking [...]

A company called iStore has issued a recall for its 5,000mAh Magnetic Wireless Power Bank (model IST-09991/W05) because its lithium ion battery can overheat and ignite while charging," posing a fire and burn risk. iStore has received three reports of the power banks exploding during charging, resulting in a minor burn for one user and [...]

We saw a ton of great Apple deals during Prime Day, most of which have disappeared. It's okay if you missed out, though, as some of our favorite deals like the M2 MacBook Air have either stuck around or have returned, like the low price on Apple's entry-level AirPods 4. Right now, you can pick [...]

The current trend in USB chargers isn't adding more power or ports, it's integrating charging cables that disappear when not in use. Anker was one of the first companies to release a charger with a built-in retractable USB-C cable last October, but its latest charger brings the same convenience to the desktop alongside three AC [...]

A subscription to Peacock is about to cost more. NBCUniversal announced on Thursday that it's raising the price of its ad-supported Peacock Premium from $7.99 to $10.99 per month, while its ad-free Premium Plus plan will go from $13.99 per month to $16.99 per month. News of the price hike was first reported by Vulture. [...]

Razer's new Pokemon collaboration is a missed opportunity. The four PC gaming peripherals in this lineup are simply reskinned versions of products that already exist, and which cost $20 to $40 more than their all-black counterparts. You really should be getting more for your money here. For example, the themed BlackWidow V4 X keyboard should [...]

Today is Donkey Kong Bananza launch day, and what better way to celebrate than with a discount? The Nintendo Switch 2-exclusive game is currently $62.99 ($7 off) at Costco for members. Nintendo games rarely go on sale, even after several months on shelves, so any amount off the retail price is a big win on [...]

For nearly two years, students at Columbia University have warned that they're being targeted - and put in serious danger - by right-wing Zionist organizations like Canary Mission and Betar US. Canary Mission's goal was initially to "expose" students it deemed antisemitic, ideally in the hopes that they'd be denied jobs and other opportunities. In [...]

I've been using the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 for the past week, and I think I can finally say it: I get folding phones. The Z Fold 7 so slim and so nice to use, that I'm looking at the whole category in a whole new light. It's great timing, because it looks like [...]

We're in an age where you can realistically delegate tasks to smart hunks of metal, whether it's a self-driving car or a robot that can clean on your behalf. Most of us probably won't be able to afford the helpful sentient humanoids being developed in our lifetimes, but robot vacuums are an affordable way to [...]

So far, 2025 has been a great year for watching new, must-see TV shows and movies on subscription services. But if you, like many of us, have more concurrent subscriptions than you care to admit, you'll agree that keeping up with the latest stuff every month can get expensive. They may not cost as much [...]

The massive budget bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on Independence Day didn't include everything on Big Tech's wishlist, but the industry's largest players stand to gain significantly from several provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Republican-backed legislation is best known for its tax cuts on tips, deduction caps that [...]

The News/Media Alliance, a trade association behind major news publishers, announced that it has successfully secured" the removal of 12ft.io, a website that helped users bypass paywalls online. The trade association says 12ft.io's webhost took down the site on July 14th following the News/Media Alliance's efforts." 12ft.io - or 12 Foot Ladder - also allowed [...]

OpenAI is going all-in on the most-hyped trend in AI right now: AI agents, or tools that go a step beyond chatbots to complete complex, multi-step tasks on a user's behalf. The company on Thursday debuted ChatGPT Agent, which it bills as a tool that can complete work on your behalf using its own virtual [...]