The Verge

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Super Nintendo's launch in Japan (where it was called the Super Famicom) designer Gustavo Bonzanini created an homage that blends 90s fashion and technology. The AIR SNES are a heavily customized version of the Nike Air Max 90 inspired by other gaming-themed sneakers like Bull Airs' ShoeBoys, but [...]

Hello and welcome back to Regulator. It's been a very long two weeks away from your inboxes, but luckily for us, Big Tech and Big Government did not stop fighting. In fact, it's gotten even spicier. Let's get into it. Last week, I was following up on several rumors that Donald Trump would sign an [...]

Character.AI, under threat from several lawsuits over its alleged negative impact on teen mental health, is banning underage users from open-ended chats on its site. Instead, teens will be allowed to use a new Stories" format that, unlike regular chats, offers structured" choose-your-own-adventure-style experiences with the AI characters on its platform. The feature is available [...]

Let's get this out of the way: The Samsung Frame is not a good TV. None of the displays that I'd classify as art TVs are - at least not in the ways that we usually think about TVs. They only get a fraction as bright as comparably priced TVs, picture quality is middling, black [...]

OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot are both leaving WhatsApp thanks to upcoming changes to the messaging app's terms of service that will prohibit using it to distribute AI chatbots not made by Meta. OpenAI announced its planned departure a few weeks ago, with Microsoft following it this week. Both companies attributed the departures to Meta's [...]

Hoto exists because someone got bored. CEO Lidan Liu, the company's founder and a notable industrial designer, tells The Verge she was tired of advising from her consultancy Designaffairs China. I have to build something on my own, she thought. And back then, she was spending a lot of time in her workshop surrounded by [...]

Xiaomi spin-off brand Poco has partnered with Bose to help its new F8 phones stand out in an increasingly crowded market. Both the F8 Pro and F8 Ultra feature stereo speakers designed collaboratively with the audio company, and the Ultra goes one step further by including a subwoofer too. Both new F8 phones feature the [...]

Uber and WeRide are now deploying fully driverless vehicles as part of its robotaxi service in the United Arab Emarites. Customers in Abu Dhabi who request an UberX or Uber Comfort may be matched with a fully autonomous WeRide vehicle if the route is part of the company's service area. Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle [...]

When Qualcomm announced its high-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset in November, it mentioned that a non-Elite version was on the way, designed to power a more affordable tier of flagship phones. Now, that chip has finally arrived, with some drops in performance but the same core feature set. Qualcomm compares the 8 Gen [...]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee released a package of 19 bills aimed at protecting kids on the internet, teeing Congress up for a chance at passing some of the most substantive internet regulations in recent history, alongside a fight over online speech rights. The subcommittee on commerce will consider the bills during a hearing [...]

On Wednesday, a rumor began popping up in Washington about a momentous policy change: the White House, it was said, would issue an executive order on Friday that would finally preempt state AI laws, handing over those regulatory powers to the federal government. The minute it leaked online, lawyers and policymakers began to scour every [...]

Warner Music Group has struck a licensing deal with the AI music creation platform Suno. Under the agreement, WMG will allow users to create AI-generated music on Suno using the voices, names, likenesses, images, and compositions of artists who opt in to the program. WMG, which owns record labels that have signed musicians like Ed [...]

In case you missed it, Paramount Plus is raising prices by $1 a month starting on January 15th, 2026, taking the ad-supported Essential plan from $7.99 to $8.99 and the ad-free Premium plan from $12.99 to $13.99. Thankfully, Paramount's Black Friday promo has arrived just in time to (somewhat) soften the blow. Now through December [...]

Perplexity is ramping up its AI shopping experience going into the holiday season, just like OpenAI and Google, with a free AI-powered shopping feature that is available now to US users. Its AI assistant looks similar to what we've seen from ChatGPT's shopping research, as users type in what they're looking for and refine the [...]

Wyze has announced an unorthodox approach to outdoor security cameras with its new Window Cam that monitors your yard and property from inside your home. This Rear Window approach to security means the camera doesn't need batteries, Wi-Fi range extenders, access to an exterior power outlet, or weatherproofing. The company already offers window mounts for [...]

There's no better time to save on headphones and earbuds than Black Friday. We've been covering deals on audio gear all year, and right now we're seeing some fantastic discounts on new and old releases, including models from Apple, Sony, Bose, Sonos, and more. For example, we're currently seeing the best prices to date on [...]

It was only just a couple of weeks ago that Apple's AirPods 4 dropped to a new low price; however, if you missed out on the former deal, you now have a chance to snag the excellent entry-level earbuds for even less. Right now, the AirPods 4 are on sale for around $69 ($60 off) [...]

Last year, Arturia launched its first stage keyboard, AstroLab. Unlike a synthesizer, stage keyboards are more focused on delivering performance-ready presets than sound design. They're geared towards touring and performing musicians who need access to a range of sounds with minimal fuss, rather than bedroom tinkerers. But, while the first entries in the series were [...]

A month of Apple TV costs $12.99, which is a good value if you're into its blend of sci-fi, sports, kids content, and a staggering number of shows and movies that start with S." It's the only major streaming service that doesn't have ads, and it'll be the exclusive home to F1 starting in 2026. [...]

Microsoft is previewing default game profiles on its ROG Xbox Ally gaming handheld. The new profiles will automatically optimize frame rates and power consumption for 40 games, including Fortnite, Gears of War: Reloaded, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Forza Horizon 5, Minecraft, and others, saving you from manually tweaking game settings. The ROG Xbox Ally will automatically [...]

When Stranger Things first premiered in 2016, Netflix was still courting new subscribers with splashy original projects that were meant to have broad audience appeal. The company had solidified itself as a major player in the streaming wars with massive hits like House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, and a collection of live-action [...]

Reto, a Hong Kong-based camera maker that licenses the Kodak brand, has announced a new 35mm film camera called the Snapic A1 that ships next week. Although its design, with either a rhino gray or ivory white plastic housing, gives off disposable camera vibes, for $99 the Snapic A1 should be a capable shooter with [...]

Thanksgiving is an interesting holiday. Some celebrate it as an American tradition. Others look at it as simply an excuse to get together with family to watch some football. And still others just enjoy getting an extra day off from work or try to ignore it altogether. But however you regard it, there are often [...]

One thing we talk a lot about on The Vergecast is how to engage with technology without losing your mind. One version of that discussion has to do with fitness, and the so-called quantified self: what does it take to make use of the tools and trackers available to you, without letting exercise take over [...]

If you're going to prove to your siblings that you're still the family's Mario Kart champion, you're going to need an extra controller to make sure it's a fair race. Fortunately, 8BitDo's Ultimate 2 Bluetooth Controller - which is compatible with the Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, and Windows machines - is marked down to a [...]

Three movies in, Knives Out is really showing its range. After starting out with a mystery on a cozy New England estate, followed by a sequel set on a Greek island owned by an Elon Musk-style tech bro, the series gets much darker with Wake Up Dead Man. This time, director Rian Johnson crafted a [...]

We know a little more about Google's long-gestating plans to combine the best parts of Android and ChromeOS into a single OS thanks to a job listing for a product manager to work on Aluminium OS." The job ad describes it as a new operating system built with Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the core." Android [...]

The first Chinese-made car Omar Rana ever drove was a gas-powered SUV that he rented while on a trip overseas in 2015. To say it didn't leave much of an impression would be an understatement. "It sucked really bad," Rana, aka OmarDrives, tells me. "A horrible experience." Flash forward nearly a decade to last year, [...]

Huawei has just launched its Mate 80 series in China, and the top-spec 80 Pro Max stands out for a dual-layer OLED display that Huawei says can hit an unmatched 8,000 nits of peak brightness. The Mate 80 phones are joined by a new Mate X7 foldable with IP59 dustproofing. There are four Mate 80 [...]

Ikea is launching two new Bluetooth speakers next month as part of a larger collection announced earlier this year, following the end of the company's partnership with Sonos. Like the Blomprakt speaker lamp that launched in the US last month, both the new Solskydd and Kulglass speakers blend technology and design so they'll function as [...]

"Developing superintelligence is now in sight," says Mark Zuckerberg, heralding the "creation and discovery of new things that aren't imaginable today." Powerful AI "may come as soon as 2026 [and will be] smarter than a Nobel Prize winner across most relevant fields," says Dario Amodei, offering the doubling of human lifespans or even "escape velocity" [...]

Michael Crider's headline at PCWorld today perfectly captures how ridiculous the PC memory shortage has become: stores like the San Francisco Bay Area's Central Computers are beginning to sell RAM at market prices, like you'd pay for the catch-of-the-day at a seafood restaurant. Costs are fluctuating daily as manufacturers and distributors adjust to limited supply [...]

"It's a wrap ... Don't forget to buy an 'i survived Belem' shirt," reads the opening line of an email I got Saturday, the final day of highly anticipated United Nations climate negotiations in Belem, Brazil. The email was sent from Shravya Jain-Conti, the US climate diplomacy lead at the Global Strategic Communications Council (GSCC), [...]

The Department of Justice has announced a settlement with RealPage, the widely used rent-setting software that it accused of engaging in collusion to drive up rent prices by sharing previously private information from competing landlords. The settlement puts limits on RealPage's ability to collect and use that data, and blocks it from being used to [...]

OpenAI is making it easier to plan out holiday shopping with ChatGPT's latest feature, called shopping research." Any shopping question in ChatGPT will trigger this new feature, which is rolling out to all ChatGPT users on free and paid plans on mobile and web, with nearly unlimited usage" available during the holiday shopping season. Now, [...]

For the first time, Meta is offering trade-in discounts for its smart glasses with a pilot program that's only running through December 31st. According to a legal page on Meta's website, trade-in discounts can be applied to the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 1, Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2, Oakley Meta HSTN, and Oakley Meta Vanguard. Notably, the [...]

Christ. Fine. So over the weekend, a strange Substack post from what appears to be a CEO of a pet relocation company went very viral. This post - which to be clear, is bullshit - alleges that Nvidia is engaged in what may become the largest accounting fraud in technology history." That's a load-bearing may," [...]

Microsoft is loving Crocs at the moment. After releasing Windows XP-themed Crocs earlier this year, the software maker is now putting an Xbox controller on your feet with a new limited edition pair of Crocs. Available on November 25th for $80, the Xbox Crocs mimic the Xbox One X's controller with fixed buttons and joysticks. [...]

Signal is launching secure backups on iOS, allowing you to save and restore your messages in case you lose or break your phone. With the free version of the feature, you can store up to 100MB of text messages, along with the past 45 days' worth of photos, videos, GIFs, and files. There's also a [...]

The US Consumer Protection Safety Commission issued a stark warning about Rad Power Bikes' e-bike batteries Monday, linking them to dozens of fires and saying they pose a risk of serious injury and death." The batteries can unexpectedly ignite and explode," especially when water or debris leaks in to cells or the harness, the agency [...]

The AI labs never sleep - especially the week before Thanksgiving, it seems. Days after Google's buzzworthy Gemini 3, and OpenAI's updated agentic coding model, Anthropic has announced Claude Opus 4.5, which it bills as the best model in the world for coding, agents, and computer use," claiming it has leapfrogged even Gemini 3 in [...]

Earlier this month, Junghun Lee - CEO of Nexon, the parent company behind current live-service shooter du jour Arc Raiders - made waves in the game development community with a straightforward statement. "It's important to assume that every game company is now using AI," he explained. Indie developers were quick to loudly and vociferously call [...]

If you're thinking of ways to spend time with (or avoid) your family during Thanksgiving or Christmas, you can currently sign up for a year of HBO Max with ads for $2.99 a month ($8 off). The ongoing Black Friday promo is available to both new and returning subscribers, runs until December 1st, and saves [...]

On Monday, Amazon announced Leo Ultra, the first antenna for its satellite internet service, which is launching in a private preview ahead of a commercial rollout sometime next year. Leo Ultra is made for business and government customers," unlike the other two, smaller Leo antenna options. No pricing or availability details have been announced, but [...]

Aqara's latest wireless smart lock features a sleek backlit keypad with support for Amazon Alexa and Google Home for the budget-friendly price of $99.99. With Wi-Fi built in, Aqara's B50 smart lock doesn't require a hub and offers a few different unlocking options, including the ability to enter a passcode, use voice commands, control it [...]

If you're looking for a way to entertain parents and kids this holiday season, look no further than a subscription to Hulu and Disney Plus. Now through December 1st, new and returning subscribers can snag an annual ad-supported subscription to both streaming services for just $4.99 a month ($8 off). The Black Friday deal saves [...]

Meta allegedly gave accounts engaged in the trafficking of humans for sex" 16 chances before suspending them, according to testimony from the company's former head of safety and well-being, Vaishnavi Jayakumar. The testimony - along with several other claims that Meta ignored problems if they increased engagement - surfaced in an unredacted court filing related [...]

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and former Apple designer Jony Ive have been keeping the finer details of the first mysterious OpenAI hardware under wraps, but it sounds like they've settled on a design. In an interview with Laurene Powell Jobs at Emerson Collective's 2025 Demo Day, they said they are currently prototyping the device, and [...]

Earlier this year, it looked like time was up for ZRX: Zombies, Run!, a popular fitness app that mixed couch-to-5K plans with postapocalyptic audio storytelling. Now, cocreator and author Naomi Alderman has announced that she's bought back the franchise from the brink. Zombies, Run! was first founded in 2012 with about 10 million users worldwide. [...]

When an AI model release immediately spawns memes and treatises declaring the rest of the industry cooked, you know you've got something worth dissecting. Google's Gemini 3 was released Tuesday to widespread fanfare. The company called the model a "new era of intelligence," integrating it into Google Search on day one for the first time. [...]