The Verge

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 [...]

Microsoft is starting to comply with the UK's Online Safety Act by prompting Xbox players to verify their age today. The prompts will be shown to Xbox players who indicate they're over the age of 18 and will be shown when you sign into an Xbox account in the UK. Microsoft says it's also exploring [...]

People across the United Kingdom have been faced with a censored and partially inaccessible online landscape since the country introduced its latest digital safety rules on Friday. The Online Safety Act mandates that web service operators must use "highly effective" age verification measures to stop kids from accessing a wide range of material, on penalty [...]

Microsoft is starting to test a new experimental Copilot Mode inside its Edge browser today. The AI-powered mode allows Copilot to search across all your open tabs and handle tasks like booking a restaurant, and it brings the Copilot chatbot to your new tab page. Copilot Mode is somewhere between the limited Gemini integration that [...]

Sony has shared more details about its arcade-style controller for the PlayStation that was first teased during the State of Play event in early June. Originally codenamed Project Defiant, the fight stick is now called the FlexStrike and features a rechargeable battery, mechanical switch buttons, restrictor gates that limit the joystick's movements, and the ability [...]

The first trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash is finally here, and it looks like James Cameron might have made another banger. Though Avatar: The Way of Water ended on a hopeful note with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), and their family finding a new home with a different group of Na'vi, Fire [...]

Hello, and welcome to Decoder! I'm Jon Fortt - CNBC journalist, cohost of Closing Bell: Overtime, and creator of the Fortt Knox streaming series on LinkedIn. This is the last episode I'll be guest-hosting for Nilay while he's out on parental leave. We have an exciting crew who will take over for me after that, [...]

Temu users in the European Union are at high risk" of coming across illegal products while shopping on the platform, as reported earlier by the Financial Times. Preliminary findings from the European Commission's investigation into the platform uncovered baby toys, small electronics, and other items considered counterfeit, unsafe, or non-compliant." Last year, the EU designated [...]

Microsoft will let Gamescom attendees play a demo of the long-awaitedHollow Knight: Silksongon the newROG Xbox Ally handhelds. It's part of more than 20 titles that will be available at the Xbox booth at Gamescom, including a new theater experience to demonstrate The Outer Worlds 2. Silksong will be available to play on the new [...]

On July 18th, a federal judge in Texas scheduled what will likely be the final hearing in the case of United States v. The Boeing Company. After five years of litigation, the end result can only be described as a victory for Boeing - and a permanent setback for those who hoped that the company [...]

Enforcement of the UK's new online safety rules started on Friday, forcing a variety of platforms to roll out mandatory age verification tools for Brits. We already know that the age-gating checks are easy to bypass with a VPN, but what we didn't know is that the face scanning tools used by platforms like Reddit [...]

The X-E5 is Fujifilm's tiny powerhouse. It's part of a line of cameras that has often been described as similar to the X100, except with an interchangeable lens. But the X-E line has evolved this year and is taking on a new shape. It used to be seen as a budget option, but at $1,699, [...]

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 91, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, how is summer more than a month over already, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I'm pondering the leaked Pixel 10 lineup, marveling [...]

We're in the heart of summer fun, but it's already time for back-to-school planning, especially if that involves buying a new laptop. The dizzying number of different laptops and configurations can feel overwhelming, especially if you want something that doesn't cost too much but will still last a long time. My general guidelines are to [...]

When it comes to defending Donald Trump from the worst accusations, the MAGA influencer-industrial complex, whether out of loyalty or self-preservation, often defaults to whataboutism, arguing that the Democrats are just as guilty as Trump, or (ideally) worse. This principle has held true with the current Jeffrey Epstein saga, and as their audience's anger against [...]

Point-and-click adventure games often tell silly, lighthearted stories. For me, the mishaps of the pirate Guybrush Threepwood in the Monkey Island series come to mind. The nature of the genre - wandering around, talking to people, and trying to solve puzzles - lends itself well to humor, as every interaction with a person or object [...]

The OnePlus Nord 5 does exactly what the company's Nord phones have always done: deliver strong specs at a relatively low price. It's one of the more powerful phones at this price point and should easily outstrip Samsung and Google's more expensive alternatives. This is a function-over-form phone, one where the key selling points are [...]

When new employees start at Weta Workshop, they're herded into a meeting room with a long, unassuming conference table. On the walls, behind panes of glass and in between statues, swords, and masks, are five Oscars. Four of them were awarded to the studio for its efforts on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings [...]

Yesterday, I mentioned how GPD is teasing the most potent handheld yet made - a GPD Win 5 that will house the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip, with AMD's most powerful integrated graphics yet, inside a PlayStation Vita-shaped machine. If you've been wondering how that huge chip could even fit, handheld expert Cary The Phawx" [...]

DJI barely sells drones in the United States anymore. The shelves are bare; resellers are jacking up prices. It appears an unofficial ban at US customs is to blame. But on Amazon, you can now buy a drone that's a a dead ringer for the DJI Mini 4 Pro - the SkyRover X1 - for [...]

This week, I take a look at the surprisingly strong state of Google, Meta gets a new chief AI researcher, and more. If you haven't already, be sure to check out this week's Decoder episode about deepfakes and where they are headed. Also, do you use an AI coding tool like Cursor or GitHub Copilot? [...]

Streaming has become a tangled web of subscriptions, and now Comcast says it can help by putting all your services into one hub. Comcast is launching a new hub on its set-top boxes, called the StreamStore, where you can buy and manage subscriptions for more than 450 streaming apps and channels. The StreamStore lives within [...]

As promised, Apple has finally revealed Pluribus, a new show from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan that's coming to Apple TV Plus. In addition to a very brief teaser involving some gross donut behavior, the streamer also confirmed that the show will premiere on November 7th. The show has been in the works for a [...]

Activists around the world are calling attention to harassment they've faced on Meta's platforms. More than 90 percent of land and environmental defenders surveyed by Global Witness, a nonprofit organization that also tracks the murders of environmental advocates, reported experiencing some kind of online abuse or harassment connected to their work. Facebook was the most-cited [...]

In March, charging giant Anker announced it would spin out its 3D printer business into an "independent sub-brand," stating that the new EufyMake would "continue to provide comprehensive customer service and support" for its original 3D printers the AnkerMake M5 and M5C. Now, the 3D printing community is wondering whether that was all a euphemism [...]

Perhaps we've been thinking the same thing, you and I. That there won't be a long-standing drought of Nintendo Switch 2 availability after all. The console has been easy to buy online from several retailers this week, including Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. Amazon, which didn't sell the Switch 2 at launch, is currently selling [...]