The Verge

Blizzard has announced that it will make exceptions to its hardcore permadeath policy and allow some characters to return to life. According to a report in Ars Technica, Blizzard made the pronouncement in response to a string of DDoS attacks that seemed specifically targeted to cause the in-game deaths of members of a high-profile raiding [...]

Video game menus tend to fade into the background a but thatas not the case with Metaphor: ReFantazio. Like the Persona games before it, the fantasy RPG has an interface thatas slick, aggressive, and certainly not the kind of thing youall forget. And according to lead interface designer Koji Ise, the intent was to create [...]

I can tell you the entire story of the 11th-generation iPad by explaining the results of one benchmarking test. Itas called Geekbench, and itas a cross-platform tool that simulates a bunch of real-world activities to give each device a score that roughly approximates how powerful it is. Itas not perfect (no benchmark is), but it [...]

The Nissan Leaf is back, and it's not a frumpy looking hatchback anymore. The Japanese automaker is dusting off its pioneering EV and giving it new technology and a new form factor. The Leaf will return as a crossover SUV with a Tesla plug (!!), casting off its outdated appearance that previously led to rumors [...]

On March 24th, The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg published a damning story about being added to the Houthi PC Small Group' on Signal by Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz. In it, he described inadvertently becoming privy to high-level military operation planning that should never have taken place on Signal by people who really should [...]

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy is The Verge's smart home reviewer, and she's mind-bogglingly impressive in the number of devices she covers. As she says, On any given day, I can be evaluating anything from robot vacuums, smart locks, and lights, to smart chicken coops, smart ovens, and connected coffee makers." Jennifer has been a journalist for [...]

The latest update for No Man's Sky is going back in time. Called Relics, the expansion launches today and introduces paleontology and archaeology elements to the sci-fi exploration game; players can now unearth the bones of alien creatures, piece them together, and even erect museums. Perhaps most interesting is that players will be able to [...]

The US has added 80 organizations and companies to a trading export blacklist in an effort to prevent China from acquiring computing technology for military purposes. The new restrictions announced by the US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) are the latest attempt to block foreign access to cutting-edge American chips, despite [...]

When Princess Mononoke first debuted back in 1997, it marked a major turning point for Studio Ghibli. The studio had already dabbled in computer-generated imagery and digital compositing with films like Isao Takahataas Pom Poko and Yoshifumi KondAas Whisper of the Heart. But Mononoke was the first instance of Ghibli really embracing CGI as a [...]

Transport for London (TfL) has announced that all non-folding e-bikes will be banned from the majority of London's public transport network. The ban has been driven by the fire risk from regular bikes converted into e-bikes using DIY kits, but extends to purpose-built e-bikes too in the name of easier enforcement. The new ban comes [...]

12-year-old browser game GeoGuessr is getting a belated port to PC, with a new listing for the game now in the Steam Store. Despite its age, GeoGuessr will launch in Early Access when it goes on sale some time in April 2025. GeoGuessr first launched in 2013, and tasks players with figuring out their coordinates [...]

If you're looking for some solid evidence that Microsoft's strategy to bring Xbox games to PS5 is seeing some early success, look no further than Sony's own PlayStation Store today. The top preordered games in the US PlayStation Store are Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Forza Horizon 5, with the $99.99 premium versions [...]

As a part-time vanlifer, Iam constantly looking for opportunities to be alone in the world. But I also want to feel safe when parked overnight at an abandoned train station where thereas a non-zero chance of starring in a Netflix true-crime drama. Thatas why I always travel with an axe, my reactive beagle, and a [...]

Porsche is upgrading the infotainment in the upcoming 2026 model year Taycan, 911, Panamera, and Cayenne with more responsive" software and features such as an Alexa personal assistant. The 2026 Porsche Communication Management (PCM) will get the Porsche App Center introduced in the Macan Electric. It provides direct access to a large number of apps" [...]

After Google and OpenAI offered up AI news on Tuesday, Microsoft has followed with announcements of its own, including details of two deep reasoning" agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot that it claims are the first of their kind, dubbed Researcher and Analyst, as well as new capabilities for custom AI agents. Researcher relies on OpenAI's [...]

Chatbot service Character.AI is adding a new Parental Insights' feature, which lets teens send a weekly report of their chatbot usage to a parents' email address. As outlined in an announcement from the company, this report includes the daily average time spent across web and mobile, the characters that a user most frequently interacted with, [...]

After delivering a new open" AI model with better performance on a single GPU, Google has now introduced an update to the AI models for its products with Gemini 2.5, which combines a significantly enhanced base model with improved post-training" for better overall performance. It's claiming that the first release, Gemini 2.5 Pro experimental, leads [...]

Environmental Protection Agency workers took to the streets across the US today to protest drastic cuts President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE have made at the federal agency whose mission is to protect human health and the environment." Musk, the face of DOGE and the target of growing protests at Tesla dealerships, was a [...]

Pick-your-own" promotions are a personal favorite of mine, so I'm stoked to see the return of Amazon's deal that lets you grab three 4K Blu-rays, standard 1080p Blu-rays, or DVDs for the price of two. All you have to do is add any three items included on this page and head to checkout, after which [...]

Game Informer is back, and so is its entire staff. On Tuesday, editor-in-chief Matt Miller announced that Gunzilla Games has acquired the rights to the gaming magazine, helping to bring the site and its archives back online. GameStop, which previously owned Game Informer, shut down the beloved magazine last August and laid off its entire [...]

AT&T will cut its autopay and paperless billing discounts in half starting April 24th. In a statement to The Verge, AT&T spokesperson Kyle Loomis confirmed reports that customers enrolled in the program will get $5 off their monthly bill instead of $10 when paying with a debit card. AT&T is also doing away with the [...]

When we reviewed the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition late last year, one of our biggest gripes was the e-reader's initial starting price of $279.99. It's a high price to pay for an ebook reader, particularly given its smaller 7-inch display and lack of stylus support, but those shortcomings are more forgivable now that the ebook [...]

Waymo announced that Washington, DC will be its next robotaxi city. The company aims to launch its Waymo One ridehailing service in the nation's capitol in 2026 - though it acknowledged that it will first need to change the city law prohibiting fully autonomous vehicles without safety drivers. Currently, companies that want to test autonomous [...]

It's extremely hard to beat Anker's A1695 InstaCord" 25,000mAh portable battery when it comes to value and price, especially now that it's 20 percent off thanks to Amazon's Big Spring Sale. Originally $109.99, it's currently available from Amazon and Anker for an all-time low $87.99 - not bad considering the high-capacity power bank offers 165W [...]

In their quest to build a coast-to-coast EV charging network, GM, EVgo, and Pilot announce they have installed electric vehicle chargers at 130 locations across 25 states. The partnership, which launched in 2022, aimed to install 2,000 DC fast chargers at 500 Pilot and Flying J truck stop locations nationwide. In a press release, the [...]

Kristen Radtke is creative director at The Verge. I work with the art team on the overall look and feel of the site across illustrations, photos, and branding," she explains. I also design feature stories and custom packages." One of her favorite software packages is Calligraphr, and so we asked her about it. What exactly [...]

Though it took Amazon MGM quite a while to wrest the James Bond franchise away from longtime producers Barbara Broccoli Michael G. Wilson, the studio has already found the duo's replacements. Today, Amazon MGM announced that it has tapped veteran producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman to produce a new untitled Bond feature. Pascal, best [...]

OpenAI is integrating new image generation capabilities directly into ChatGPT starting today a this feature is dubbed aImages in ChatGPT.a Users can now use GPT-4o to generate images within ChatGPT itself. This initial release focuses solely on image creation and will be available across ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, and Free subscription tiers. The free tieras [...]

After Samsung first revealed its glasses-free 3D monitor last year, the company is finally letting customers reserve preorders for the display, with a since-removed Best Buy page showing a price of $1,999.99. The 27-inch Odyssey 3D G90XF comes with a 4K display that uses eye-tracking to deliver a natural-looking high-definition 3D image." You'll need to [...]

Apple has set the date for this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), with the event kicking off with an in-person experience to watch the keynote and Platforms State of the Union on June 9th at Apple Park and running through June 13th. Announcements will focus on the upcoming versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and [...]

Discord is finally updating the themes on its desktop app to include a full dark mode that's ideal for OLED monitors. The new Onyx dark mode is part of a number of UI updates to the Discord desktop app that make it closely match the mobile version of the app, alongside a much-improved overlay. The [...]

Update, March 25th: Amazon is no longer offering the XM5 for $249.99; however, you can still pick them up at Amazon, Best Buy, and Sony for around $318 ($82 off). I'm not the type of person who assumes that the best tech for me is something that was just announced this week. Take, for example, [...]

Hoto makes tools for DIY tinkerers who have a preference, not just for how their tools perform, but how they look, too. Not to be hyperbolic, but they're the slickest tools we've seen, so we love to tell Verge readers every time its products go on sale. And, wouldn't you know it, the reliable Hoto [...]

Sony has announced a successor to its budget-minded WF-C700N wireless earbuds from 2023. The new WF-C710N still lack a memorable name but introduce improvements like upgraded active noise cancellation and features borrowed from Sony's more premium earbud offerings. And despite the rising cost of many electronics, the WF-C710N are available for preorder today for $119.99 [...]

Instagram is rolling out a new program to fast-track moderation reports made by school districts. After a district joins the new Schools Partnership program, any post or account they flag for potentially violating Instagram's rules will be automatically prioritized for review." The school's account will then receive notifications about the status of their report, and [...]

A growing body of evidence points to mounting health risks posed by climate change. Despite this, it seems the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will quit funding that kind of research. ProPublica first reported the news on Monday, citing internal records that the investigative outlet viewed. NIH gave directions to staff members last week that [...]

Since early February, Tesla has been the target of protesters opposed to CEO Elon Musk's unprecedented takeover of the federal government. As Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) eliminates humanitarian aid programs and fires tens of thousands of government workers, demonstrators are expressing their rage by picketing Tesla showrooms and demanding Tesla owners sell their [...]

Sometime earlier this month, Apple updated a section of its website that discloses how it collects and uses imagery for Apple Maps' Look Around feature, which is similar to Google Maps' Street View, as spotted by 9to5Mac. A newly added paragraph reveals that, beginning in March 2025, Apple will be using imagery and data collected [...]

Netflix has added support for HDR10 Plus - a move that will finally allow Samsung TV owners to take better advantage of their device's ability to stream with better clarity and color. The streaming service now offers HDR10 Plus through its Premium plan, with the format accounting for around 50 percent of eligible viewing hours." [...]

The UK's Consumer Markets Authority (CMA) has provided an update into its investigation of Ticketmaster after the sale of Oasis reunion tour tickets resulted in grossly inflated ticket prices and numerous consumer complaints. The CMA said that the results of the investigation warranted, consulting with the ticketing platform on changes to ensure fans receive the [...]

Last May, I told you how 3D printers still aren't easy enough for the mass market, but Bambu Lab had built the easiest yet. Now, instead of making it easier, Bambu is building its biggest and most sophisticated model to date - a Swiss Army knife of 3D printers that can also cut, draw, and [...]

In the robot vacuum world, thereas Roomba and thereas everybody else. iRobotas autonomous cleaner may not have been the very first of its kind, but it was the first one most people knew about, and for many years it was clearly the best one you could buy. But now, more than three decades after iRobot [...]

Twelve South has released a new version of its AirFly Pro dongle, promising better performance when connecting wireless headphones to devices that lack Bluetooth support. Although the AirFly Pro 2 is marketed as a way to hook wireless headphones to airplane seatback entertainment systems, it's still compatible with any device featuring a 3.5mm headphone jack. [...]

Otter, the AI-powered automated transcription service, is launching a trio of artificial intelligence agents that aim to provide quick assistance and boost productivity during calls and meetings. The most notable is the aptly named Otter Meeting Agent, a voice-activated meeting assistant that's capable of using company data to answer questions and complete tasks. Otter says [...]

Nvidia's G-Assist was originally anApril Fools' prank in 2017 before becoming a real tech demo last year and a functioning AI assistant for RTX GPU owners today. Project G-Assist is now available inside the Nvidia app, and will help to optimize game and system settings, measure frame rates, and even change the lighting on connected [...]

A report in the New York Post on Monday revealed the existence of a new 10-person FBI task force focused on vandalism and other activity aimed toward Tesla in response to the actions of Elon Musk. Like Attorney General Pam Bondi's re-announcement last week of old charges against people accused of targeting Tesla locations for [...]

Getting added to the wrong group chat is a common problem, but what if that group chat is describing an upcoming military strike? That's what happened to The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who was added to a Signal group chat formed by high-ranking members of the Trump administration to discuss plans for military strikes on [...]

Connor Moucka, accused of stealing large amounts of customer data from companies that used Snowflake's cloud storage services, has agreed to be extradited to the US to face charges, Cyberscoop reports. Around 165 companies were affected by the Snowflake breaches, including AT&T and Ticketmaster. Alexander Connor" Moucka, who was arrested in Canada on October 30th [...]

Three Democratic senators are urging President Donald Trump to work with Congress to save TikTok from going dark in the US after April 5th, rather than plow ahead with plans that could leave TikTok's service providers open to hundreds of billions of dollars in liability. Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Cory [...]