The Verge

Spotify has announced a redesigned version of its Apple TV app that the company says has been rebuilt from the ground up for a faster, smarter, more visual experience." The tvOS version of the Spotify app is also gaining several welcome features from the mobile version, but the biggest updates include the addition of video [...]

In case you didn't know, the last-gen Kindle is nearly just as good as the current model. Not only is the reading experience nearly identical, it also has the same sharp 300PPI display with dark mode, an adjustable front light, and USB-C charging. If you want a great e-reader, but you also want to save [...]

Last week, General Motors CEO Mary Barra caused a stir when she said that the company would eventually kill Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in all of its gas cars. The company had already successfully removed phone mirroring capabilities from most of its electric vehicles, and now it was plotting how to drop support from [...]

Today, I'm talking with Sean Fitzpatrick, the CEO of LexisNexis, one of the most important companies in the entire legal system. For years - including when I was in law school - LexisNexis was basically the library. It's where you went to look up case law, do legal research, and find the laws and precedents [...]

After last week's major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage took Signal along with it, Elon Musk was quick to criticize the encrypted messaging app's reliance on big tech. But Signal president Meredith Whittaker argues that the company didn't have any other choice but to use AWS or another major cloud provider. The problem here is [...]

If you're in the market for workout earbuds, now's your chance to make a move. The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 are back down to $199.99 ($50 off) in multiple colors at Amazon and Walmart. Although we saw the wireless earbuds drop to $179 earlier this year, they weren't discounted during Amazon's most recent Prime Day [...]

Fitbit's new Gemini-powered health coach is debuting in preview tomorrow, as part of an entirely new app experience that was announced back in August. Premium subscribers in the US on Android will have access to it first as it starts rolling out, with plans to expand to iOS "later this year," according to Taylor Helgren, [...]

Tesla's board of directors issued a stark warning to shareholders today: approve Elon Musk's unprecedented $1 trillion pay package or risk losing him as CEO. It's a familiar threat, one that the board has used before, and if history offers any clues, it's likely to work again. Tesla's executive team is in full lobbying mode [...]

Qualcomm is launching a pair of new AI chips in an attempt to challenge Nvidia's dominance in the market. On Monday, Qualcomm announced plans to release its new AI200 chip next year, followed by the AI250 in 2027 - both of which are built on the company's mobile neural processing technology. The new chips are [...]

Threads is launching a new feature called theghost post:" a post it will automatically archive after 24 hours. These posts will come in handy if you want to share a thought, but don't want to keep it on your profile. It's also a feature that users on X, formerly Twitter, have long requested, leading them [...]

OpenAI's new deepfake machine, Sora, has proven that artificial intelligence is alarmingly good at faking reality. The AI-generated video platform, powered by OpenAI's new Sora 2 model, has churned out detailed (and often offensive or harmful) videos of famous people like Martin Luther King Jr., Michael Jackson, and Bryan Cranston, as well as copyrighted characters [...]

X is preparing to put Twitter.com out to pasture, and the official @Safety account posted on Friday warning anyone using physical security keys or passkeys for 2FA that they will need to re-enroll them. According to X, if the login methods aren't updated by November 10th, the associated accounts will be locked until the update [...]

Between increased tariffs and price hikes, it's not a great time to buy a PlayStation 5 console. That is, unless you head over to GameStop, which is selling the 825GB PS5 with a disc drive in its original (thicker) design along with 24 months of PS Plus Premium included for just $579.99 (previously $749.99). Given [...]

Faking wealth has always been big business, from buying designer dupes to renting private jet sets" for photoshoots. But these days, people are using AI to make it a little more personal: creating photos of themselves living in leisure and luxury not to chase clout, but as a form of personal escapism or an attempt [...]

Earlier this month, Lyra Health announced a "clinical-grade" AI chatbot to help users with "challenges" like burnout, sleep disruptions, and stress. There are eighteen mentions of "clinical" in its press release, including "clinically designed," "clinically rigorous," and "clinical training." For most people, myself included, "clinical" suggests "medical." The problem is, it doesn't mean medical. In [...]

After a steady stream of spec teases, OnePlus has launched its new OnePlus 15 flagship in China today. Release plans elsewhere are still unconfirmed, but the company promises that the phone's global launching will be soon." We've known what the 15 would look like since September, when OnePlus also confirmed it would be powered by [...]

Samsung warned us last month that ads were coming to the giant Android tablets embedded in its Family Hub smart fridges. I've been eyeing mine ever since - and the first ones are about to arrive. Starting November 3rd, the $2,000-plus connected fridges will get a new widget that serves up ads, Shane Higby, head [...]

There are only a handful of albums that I think qualify as genuinely scary. You Won't Get What You Want by Daughters, and Swans To Be Kind both immediately come to mind. But those records come with... let's say, baggage. I've Seen All I Need to See lacks some of the atmospheric spookiness of To [...]

Adobe's computational photography app, Project Indigo, had a bit of trouble adapting to the new square-format selfie sensor in the iPhone 17 series. For the last month or so, the app simply didn't support Apple's latest phones at all. Adobe was working behind the scenes to get things up and running, and posting occasional updates [...]

"Sharp Dressed Man," by ZZ Top. Hard on a good day, Medium when my friends were over, Expert once and then never ever again. That was my Guitar Hero sweet spot. And for years, it seemed like everybody had one. The plastic guitar controllers became a staple of living rooms everywhere, and the songs - [...]

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the legal morass of AI, follow Adi Robertson. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started The song was called "Heart on My Sleeve," and [...]

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 103, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, sorry everything's so expensive this week, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading about gooning and Costco and protein bars and [...]

Right now, there are robots stocking convenience store shelves in Japan. We haven't embraced that tech here in America yet, but it's hard to imagine 7-11 or Walmart won't at least experiment with it soon. Walmart gave up on its shelf-scanning robots in 2020, but machine vision and AI have improved a lot in the [...]

Apple's AirTags have become one of my essentials while traveling, namely because they let me check whether my luggage is in the right place instead of panicking at the baggage claim. And right now, you can get a four-pack of AirTags at Amazon and Walmart for $64.99 ($35 off), which is just a few cents [...]

It's easy to get into the weeds on a hobby, especially if you're into PC gaming and dreaming of the highest levels of graphical performance. But how much is too much for hardware? Spending top dollar on graphics power, processing, RAM, storage, etc. - like many things - eventually leads to diminishing returns. When it [...]

As Immigration and Customs Enforcement carries out raids across the country, the agency is working rapidly to expand an online surveillance system that could potentially track millions of users on the web. Federal records uncovered by The Lever reveal that ICE is paying $5.7 million to use an AI-powered social media monitoring platform called Zignal [...]

It took me a while to get into Ball x Pit. The new roguelike blends elements from games like Breakout, Vampire Survivors, and even city builders, creating a complex mix of ideas. But as is the case with many roguelikes, once I figured everything out well enough to get a taste of my first win, [...]

During a recent all-hands meeting, Waymo's chief winter weather expert laid it out for all the company's engineers and product managers: if Waymo wants to expand to new cities and new markets, it's robotaxis will need to be able to confidently and safely handle the snow. In its first few years of operation, Waymo has [...]

When people sign up for a dating site like Tinder, they don't expect their profiles and personal information to be searchable - especially by a scorned lover, or worse. But that's what popular apps like Cheaterbuster or CheatEye seem to be doing under the guise of being able to "catch cheaters." Last week, 404 Media [...]

It's dusk, and bugs are chirping all around me. I'm wandering through the middle of a big, virtual swamp toward the sound of thumping bass off in the distance. There isn't much else nearby - some trees, a couple of other players. It's mostly just me and the sound emanating from a large wooden structure [...]

This is an excerpt of Sources by Alex Heath, a newsletter about AI and the tech industry, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. Sam Altman has tapped Mikhail Shapiro, an award-winning biomolecular engineer, to join the Merge Labs brain-computer interface startup he's set to announce soon with co-founder Alex Blania. While Shapiro's [...]

Earlier this week, Jon Prosser, who is being sued by Apple for allegedly stealing trade secrets, told The Verge that he has been in active communications with Apple since the beginning stages of this case." But Apple, in a new filing on Thursday that was reported on by MacRumors, said that while Prosser has publicly [...]

Want to flex your Wordle habit beyond just keeping your streak? The New York Times has added badges to recognize certain achievements in Wordle, Spelling Bee, and Connections. Have you achieved the infamous Wordle in 1? What about the Perfect Connections Puzzle? How many Pangrams are under your Spelling Bee belt? Badges are rewards you [...]

Halo Studios has created something special for the 25th anniversary of Halo next year. Halo: Campaign Evolved is a full remake of the original Combat Evolved that launched alongside Microsoft's first Xbox console in 2001. It has a fully rebuilt campaign with 4K visuals, new weapons and vehicles, a four-player online co-op mode, and brand-new [...]

I use a DJI Osmo Pocket 3 every single week to help film Today I'm Toying With, and I love it to pieces. The baby steadicam's one of the most popular gadgets the company's ever sold, because it's so good at automatically capturing stabilized video of whatever I want, far better than a phone. What [...]

Halloween parties are fun. The preparation and cleanup? Not so much. Luckily for those looking to make life a little easier next week, Eufy's X10 Pro Omni is available from Amazon for $499.99 ($300 off) when you clip the on-page coupon, which matches the all-time low we last saw during Amazon's October Prime Day event. [...]

Two years after US-based Neato Robotics closed up shop in 2023, its robot vacuum cleaners have reached the end of the road (or rather, hallway). Users are receiving emails notifying them that their Neato robovacs will no longer have access to cloud services, meaning they can't be controlled through the robots' MyNeato app anymore. In [...]

The latest Nintendo Direct on October 23rd brought us an hour-long dive into Kirby Air Riders, as well as a surprising accessibility announcement. Hosted by game director Masahiro Sakurai, the Direct showed off more features, gameplay, and modes for the racing game releasing for the Switch 2 on November 20th. Tucked toward the end of [...]

When the Epomaker P75 launched last year, it impressed us with its build quality and laundry list of features, especially for a board that retails for less than $100. And while the mechanical keyboard has since been discontinued, it remains an excellent choice you can still pick up with either the linear or tactile switches [...]

Netflix has shut down Boss Fight Entertainment, the studio behind the mobile game Squid Game: Unleashed, according to posts from staffers on LinkedIn. Netflix acquired Boss Fight in March 2022, with an executive saying at the time that the studio's extensive experience building hit games across genres will help accelerate our ability to provide Netflix [...]

Nike's new neuroscience-based footwear" is designed to activate an athlete's brain before and after a big game. The two shoes, a mule (the $95 Mind 001) and a lace-up sneaker (the $145 Mind 002), feature a distinctive array of 22 orange foam nodes embedded in each sole. Nike says the nodes each move up and [...]

Outlook users have only just got over the webification of Microsoft's email client in recent years, and already there are major changes on the horizon. Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans tell me that the company recently reorganized its Outlook team under new leadership with a focus on rebuilding the email client for the AI era. [...]

Alongside a powered footwear system called Project Amplify and new performance apparel with improved airflow, Nike yesterday debuted a new jacket allowing athletes to regulate their body temperature without having to add or remove layers of clothing. Leveraging the company's longtime use of air bladders to improve the cushioning in its shoes, the Nike Therma-FIT [...]

Just eight months after introducing the Osmo Mobile 7 Pro, DJI has already announced a follow-up. The new Osmo Mobile 8 doesn't reimagine the now well-established design of the company's smartphone stabilizers. But it introduces new functionality, including the ability to rotate and pan a smartphone a full 360 degrees, and support for Apple's DockKit, [...]

Verizon is launching a new Lite" home internet plan for people in areas previously not covered by its fiber and 5G internet. The new plan offers download speeds of up to 25Mbps, but it costs as much as $60 per month without any discounts. Verizon says its Lite plan is best for light" internet usage [...]

We are saturated with superhero media to the point where even self-criticism has been done to death with franchises like Watchmen and The Boys. But with its debut choice-driven narrative adventure, AdHoc Studio has managed to find a unique angle for the superhero genre. In Dispatch, the story focuses on an office-based lackey and corporate [...]

OpenAI has launched a new ChatGPT feature that makes it easier to search for workspace information without switching between apps. The company knowledge" ChatGPT update for Business, Enterprise, and Education users is powered by a version of GPT5 that directly connects with tools like Slack, SharePoint, Google Drive, and GitHub, allowing the chatbot to sift [...]

Snacking giant Mondelez is using generative AI to slash marketing costs and is preparing to release AI-generated TV ads next year, a senior executive told Reuters. Jon Halvorson, Mondelez's global senior vice president of consumer experience, said the company has spent more than $40 million on an AI video tool that can halve production costs. [...]

Web browsers have looked and worked basically the same way for more than a decade, to the point where they all have roughly the same features, in the same places, and are often even built around the same engine. But just about every company in tech suddenly wants to change them, all spurred by AI [...]

Trump is demolishing the East Wing of the White House to make way for a gilded grand ballroom. The president says taxpayers won't be footing the $300 million bill and that private donors, himself included, will pick up the tab. Big Tech will be paying for a lot of it, if the list of donors [...]