The Verge

First announced just a few weeks ago in late July, the Ayaneo Pocket DS dual-screen handheld is now available for preorder through Indiegogo starting at $519 but discounted to $399 for the earliest backers. Shipping is expected to start as early as October 2025. Although the company is concurrently running another Indiegogo campaign for a [...]

Spotify is testing a new audio mixing feature that allows you to customize track transitions for your playlists. Now rolling out in beta for eligible Premium users," the Mix feature provides an option to automatically blend transitions between tracks, or manually adjust aspects like volume, EQ, and effect curves while looking at waveform and beat [...]

Robots are coming, but are we ready for them? All the big consumer tech companies are working on robotic companions for our homes. There's Amazon's Astro, Samsung's Ballie, LG's AI Agent, and whatever it is that Apple is dreaming up in Cupertino. Clearly, home robotics is approaching a major moment. But what will these robots [...]

Any way you look at it, Android is in the lead. Google has shipped actual AI features on phones. And I don't mean a silly AI image generator or a tool to rewrite your email like Shakespeare. I mean stuff that's actually useful: putting six different events from an email on my calendar in one [...]

Nanoleaf has announced a new version of its 4D immersive TV lighting kit that includes an LED light strip adding an ambient glow behind your TV, connected to a camera that it uses to match what's on the screen. As with the original that debuted in early 2023, the new Nanoleaf 4D V2 is a [...]

1kWh power stations like Anker's new Solix C1000 Gen 2 are in the sweet spot for most people in need of a big-ass battery. Its long-lasting LFP chemistry and 2,000W inverter combine during a blackout to keep devices like a router, fridge/freezer, and some lights running for a few hours, and it's portable enough for [...]

Adobe is introducing a new Acrobat platform that combines the PDF app with its Adobe Express content creation service and AI assistants that can automate specific productivity tasks. Acrobat Studio allows users to upload up to 100 documents and consolidate the information together into a single workspace. The idea is to evolve Acrobat beyond being [...]

SoftBank will invest $2 billion into Intel as the struggling chipmaker pulls back on spending and lays off thousands of workers. In an announcement, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said the investment aligns with the firm's belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States." SoftBank's investment in Intel makes it [...]

It's almost time for Geoff Keighley's next major gaming show. The 2025 edition of Gamescom's Opening Night Live event kicks off at 2PM ET today, and you can watch everything on the official livestream on The Game Awards' YouTube channel. Ahead of the main event, there will also be a preshow at 1:30PM ET featuring [...]

The United Kingdom will no longer force Apple to provide backdoor access to secure user data protected by the company's iCloud encryption service, according to US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Over the past few months, I've been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside@POTUS and @VP, to ensure Americans' private data [...]

It's been two and a half years since Nvidia's GeForce Now cloud gaming service got a big boost in graphics, latency, and refresh rates - this September, Nvidia's GFN will officially add its latest Blackwell GPUs. You'll soon be able to rent what's effectively an RTX 5080 in the cloud, one with a whopping 48GB [...]

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be the first game to get Nvidia's new RTX Hair features next month. Instead of using triangles to model hair, Nvidia will use spheres to improve Harrison Ford's virtual hair in the Indiana Jones game. RTX Hair is designed to improve lighting and shadows, all while maintaining performance [...]

The Nvidia app is getting improvements to DLSS override, more control panel features, and Project G-Assist changes this week. Nvidia has been gradually improving its new app over the past 18 months since its release, and it's getting closer to fully migrating all the legacy control panel options. This week's Nvidia app update will include [...]

Nvidia's GeForce Now is getting a big upgrade next month - and it's also part of an intriguing new experiment. Nvidia, Discord, and Epic Games have teamed up for an early test of instant game demos for Discord servers, which could theoretically let you immediately try a game without buying it, downloading it, or signing [...]

Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer now known for his science-focused stunts he publishes to more than 70 million subscribers on YouTube, will launch a competition show on Netflix in 2026. Rober will also bring some of his most beloved, ambitious, and informative experiments to Netflix later this year," Netflix says. The Wall Street Journal [...]

Google has announced that users of the US and UK versions of the 3rd gen Nest Learning Thermostat and the Nest Thermostat E can now schedule temperature adjustments using the Google Home app. Newer versions of the Nest thermostats already allow you to manually set schedules in the Home app, but those older models required [...]

Two years ago we learned, thanks to the FTC, that Microsoft was working on a separate dedicated" version of Xbox Cloud Gaming. Microsoft Gaming CFO Tim Stuart then hinted, a few months later, that there could be a free version Xbox Cloud Gaming in exchange for ads. Now, Microsoft is hinting at making Xbox Cloud [...]

Roblox is updating its policies prohibiting romantic or sexual content to also forbid content, settings, or behavior that implies sexual activity," according to a Friday post from chief safety officer Matt Kaufman (emphasis Kaufman's). The changes follow recent lawsuits against the company, including one from Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill that alleges the platform creates [...]

Prime Video has released new photos from season two of Fallout. Lucy (Ella Purnell), the Ghoul (Walton Goggins), and Maximus (Aaron Moten) return as a trio of Wasteland Wanderers whose adventures will bring them to the post-apocalyptic playground of New Vegas. Take a look. Kyle MacLachlan, who plays Lucy's father Hank, also returns to the [...]

Just two weeks after raising the prices of its cameras by up to $800, Fujifilm is warning customers about another increase for US customers. In a statement provided to DPReview, the Japanese company says it will further adjust prices" as it contends with volatile market conditions." The change will go into effect on August 30th, [...]

Welcome to Decoder! This is Casey Newton, founder and editor of Platformer and cohost of the Hard Fork podcast. I've had a lot of fun guest-hosting a few episodes of Decoder while Nilay is out on parental leave this summer. If you listened to the last couple of Monday shows, you know I've been doing [...]

If you're interested in a long-lasting smartwatch, and like to stay within Apple's hardware ecosystem, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the best choice. It's Apple's most durable, longest-lasting smartwatch, and it's currently on sale for $649.99 ($150 off), an all-time low price at Amazon and Best Buy. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 comes in [...]

Anthropic's Claude AI chatbot can now end conversations deemed persistently harmful or abusive," as spotted earlier by TechCrunch. The capability is now available in Opus 4 and 4.1 models, and will allow the chatbot to end conversations as a last resort" after users repeatedly ask it to generate harmful content despite multiple refusals and attempts [...]

MSNBC is about to look a lot - and sound - a lot different. The cable news network will soon go by My Source News Opinion World (MS NOW) and drop its peacock logo, as reported earlier by Deadline. The change comes as Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, plans to spin off its cable business, including [...]

The Fan Edition Galaxy Buds 3 have ditched the blob for a stemmed design popularized by Apple and found in Samsung's higher end Galaxy Buds 3 models launched last year. The Galaxy Buds 3 FE arrive with improved sound, enhanced active noise cancellation, and IP54 resistance to dust and rain, according to Samsung. For music, [...]

Grammarly is launching several new AI agents for specific writing challenges, from educators trying to detect plagiarism and AI-generated text to students looking to gauge reader reaction to their paper, needing help with citations, and even seeing their predicted grade. The specialized AI agents are available in docs - which is Grammarly's new AI-native writing [...]

During the last half month, we've covered a lot of interesting gadgets and apps and thought we'd highlight a few that caught our attention the most. For example, we have a robovac that can mop the edges of your walls (something that my manual mop usually fails at), a charging cable that with any luck [...]

Microsoft first introduced a dark mode option in Windows 10 in 2016, but there were still plenty of areas of the operating system that looked like a mish-mash of light and dark modes. Nearly a decade later, the latest preview build of Windows 11 now includes even more darkened UI elements. Windows watcher Phantomofearth spotted [...]

In a recent episode of Post Games, host Chris Plante explores how video games can help players understand death. He's interviewing Kaitlin Tremblay, who is working on Ambrosia Sky, a game about death. "What is it about games that is so useful for exploring the topic?" Plante asks. "I think there's something really lovely about [...]

How it started I carry a lot of different phones around, and I rarely get questions about them because most people stopped talking about which phone they own around 2017. I could be using an unreleased iPhone 18 Pro Max Air Ultra to pay for my coffee and nobody would raise an eyebrow (present company [...]

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 94, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, did you hydrate today, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I'm visiting LinkedIn way too much because of Mini Sudoku, looking at the [...]

Some people like to stay on the cutting edge of technology. If that's you, you already know that Google is going to officially unveil its Pixel 10 phones (including a new Fold) during its August 20th event. But if you're someone who prefers to use these opportunities to save on last-gen tech, you've been rewarded [...]

Dead Take, the second game from Tales of Kenzera: Zau developer Surgent Studios, is a quiet horror game where the monster is ambition and the lengths a person will go for stardom. Like a lot of horror games, Dead Take relies on jumpscares to get the heart pumping. But playing this game, my deepest, most [...]

At the end of July, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) convened a three-day public hearing to investigate January's mid-air collision over Washington, DC that killed 67 people. After the hearing, two conclusions were inescapable. First, the disaster should have been prevented by existing safety rules. And second, the government regulators responsible for air safety [...]

For all the power she wields with the White House's affairs, Laura Loomer does not have the traditional tools that her rivals in the MAGA influencer industrial complex have - the highest follower count, the most political power, the most internet platforms, etc. But the fact remains that she's the influencer responsible for getting Donald [...]

The state of Louisiana has filed a lawsuit against Roblox, alleging that the company has permitted and perpetuated an online environment in which child predators thrive, directly contributing to the widespread victimization of minor children in Louisiana." Roblox sees more than 111.8 million daily active users, and it's hugely popular with children, with users under [...]

There's a meme currently going around Bluesky where people are posting their first purchases on Steam. Taking a look presents a neat time capsule, offering a glimpse of who we used to be. It also gives us a chance to compare our gaming habits now with what they were 10 or more years ago - [...]

Now that Congress has passed a bill that will defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS is taking drastic measures to stay alive. In an email sent out to PBS station managers on Wednesday, PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger announced that the organization plans to cut its budget by 21 percent in order to [...]

If you've ever juggled a phone, a smartwatch, and a pair of wireless earbuds, you know the struggle of keeping them all charged. Rather than go through the process of charging them one by one, a quality charging station can help you manage the chaos and reduce cable clutter. The Anker MagGo Wireless Charging Station [...]

The nations of the world have been on the precipice of reaching a global agreement to curb plastic pollution for a few years now. Delegates from 184 governments met in Geneva this month to try to hammer out a final treaty, but in the end, they walked away without a deal. This is not necessarily [...]

Anthropic has updated the usage policy for its Claude AI chatbot in response to growing concerns about safety. In addition to introducing stricter cybersecurity rules, Anthropic now specifies some of the most dangerous weapons that people should not develop using Claude. Anthropic doesn't highlight the tweaks made to its weapons policy in the post summarizing [...]

Lamborghini makes fast cars; this is an indisputable fact. So when the iconic Italian automaker says it's new plug-in hybrid is both the most powerful V12 every built" and the fastest Lamborghini ever," you should pay attention. At Monterey Car Week, Lamborghini unveiled its new Fenomeno plug-in hypercar that will be part of the automaker's [...]

As economists speculate whether the stock market is in an AI bubble that could soon burst, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has just admitted to believing we're in one. "Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI?" Altman said during a lengthy interview with The Verge and other reporters last [...]

Last week, we ran into an issue: no one on the show had ever vibe coded. So for today's episode, we set out to fix that. Everyone came prepared with a vibe coded project - and some misadventures to go along with it. This week on The Vergecast, we're discussing the fallout of the messy [...]

Even if you've never played a Pokemon game before, you can probably figure out how the type chart works. Fire types are weak to water types, water is weak to grass, and grass is weak to fire. Type matchups are foundational to Pokemon battles, far before you get into the weeds of stats and strats. [...]

On Friday, Lucid Motors introduced an off-road version of its Gravity SUV, a few hours after shooting down a report that it had only sold 9 of the luxury EV in the first six months. The off-road concept includes redesigned front and rear fascias, improved approach and departure angles, a widened track, lifted ride height, [...]

Last week, on GPT-5 launch day, AI hype was at an all-time high. In a press briefing beforehand, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said GPT-5 is "something that I just don't wanna ever have to go back from," a milestone akin to the first iPhone with a Retina display. The night before the announcement livestream, Altman [...]

On Thursday, I had dinner with Sam Altman, a few other OpenAI executives, and a small group of reporters in San Francisco. Altman answered our questions for hours. No topic was off limits, and everything, with the exception of what was said over dessert, was on the record. It's uncommon to have such an extended, [...]

I recently installed the biggest smart home antenna I've ever seen, and it helped open up new areas in my smart home, from the attic to the chicken coop. The towering 12-inch-tall Home Assistant Connect ZWA-2, which launched this week for $69, plugs into any Home Assistant system via USB and can connect to any [...]

Google gave us the first official look at its upcoming Pixel 10 Pro Fold on Tuesday, but now the full specifications have leaked ahead of the device being launched at next week's Made by Google event. According to a spec list seen by WinFuture, the flagship Pixel foldable will carry an IP68 rating that provides [...]