The Verge

Donald Trump wants to mine the depths of the ocean for critical minerals ubiquitous in rechargeable batteries, signing an executive order on Thursday to try to expedite mining within US and international waters. It's a brash move that critics say could create unknown havoc on sea life and coastal economies, and that bucks international agreements. [...]

Interim DC attorney Ed Martin has written a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation - the organization behind Wikipedia - that calls into question its status as a nonprofit entity. In the letter, which was obtained by The Free Press, Martin claims he found that Wikipedia is engaging in a series of activities that could violate [...]

President Donald Trump recently announced that he would host a private dinner for the top 220 biggest holders of $TRUMP, the meme coin he launched days prior to taking office - and several U.S. Senators would like to know exactly why he's doing this. The dinner was publicly advertised on the $TRUMP coin homepage this [...]

Google is rolling out Gmail updates for mobile users across Android and iOS, with some design updates and new access to AI features. Android tablet and foldable owners will have a more flexible Gmail app interface that lets them drag the divider to adjust the list and conversation panes to whatever size they want in [...]

After stranding former US Agency for International Development (USAID) workers with devices holding sensitive information, the Trump administration says it will no longer physically collect their government-issued phones, laptops, and tablets. An email sent by USAID to workers on Thursday and obtained by The Verge says the devices will be wiped remotely, and then marked [...]

Chrome could eventually be up for sale, if the US Department of Justice gets its way in the remedies trial for US v. Google. And there are already buyers lining up at Google's door. Any potential sale might not happen for a very long time. The remedies trial is still ongoing, a decision in that [...]

Aravind Srinivas is battling Google to get his Perplexity AI assistant preinstalled on Android phones. At the same time, the CEO is refocusing his startup on what he predicts will be the next battleground in the AI race: your web browser. Perplexity plans to release its own browser called Comet next month, Srinivas tells me. [...]

On paper, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 doesn't seem to stand out amidst a recent wave of prestige RPGs, from the newly polished high fantasy of the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remake to the medieval warfare of 15th century Bohemia in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. For one, its fantastical conquests are set in a world reminiscent [...]

Last night, a new company called Slate Auto unveiled its first product, a spartan two-seat electric truck with a mere 150 miles of range and a world of possibility. There's no paint, no distracting infotainment screen, and no stereo or even radio. It doesn't tower over your average 12-year-old, and it may sell for under [...]

Japan's YKK, the world's largest zipper manufacturer (go ahead, grab the nearest zipper, it probably says YKK on the pull), has announced a prototype self-propelled zipper with a built-in motor and gear mechanism it can use to zip itself up at the push of a button on a wired remote. The days of being embarrassed [...]

Chromebooks on Arm processors are about to get a big boost as developers prepare new versions of ChromeOS with support for Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon chips, reports Chrome Unboxed. According to a new developer commit message posted in the Chromium project Gerrit code review, the SoCID for a Qualcomm X1P42100, aka the Snapdragon X Plus, is [...]

Infinity Nikki's next update will add some major new features. Bubble Season starts April 29th and will include a new area, new activities, and, of course, new (and returning) outfits. But the biggest addition is one that fans have been asking for since launch: co-op. Check out the trailer above. In the new season you'll [...]

If you're like me and you have a bit of an uncontrollable potty mouth, Microsoft has got you covered with its latest Windows 11 feature. The software maker is changing the way its profanity filter for voice typing works on Windows 11 soon, so you can disable the filter and let all your nasty swear [...]

Trump administration senior officials are facing harsh criticism after it was revealed that they had used the personal messaging app Signal todiscuss highly classified military intelligence in a group chat. The chat, in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid out plans for an upcoming military strike in Yemen, inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief ofThe [...]

Donald Trump's staggering tariffs on Chinese imports have hit nearly every category of consumer goods, from electronics and automobiles to clothing and footwear. One of the most vulnerable industries is the ultracheap e-commerce sites like Shein, Temu, and AliExpress that American shoppers have become accustomed to. It is already showing signs of a bloodbath. Last [...]

Maybe, like me, you bought the Xbox Series S with 512GB of storage and realized, after installing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, that you don't have much (or any) space left for any other games. And maybe, like me, you had to hunt for another drive so you could install other games to play. [...]

Google has just announced that it's ending software updates for the first-generation Nest Learning Thermostat, released in 2011, and the second-gen model that came a year later. This decision also affects the European Nest Learning Thermostat from 2014. You will no longer be able to control them remotely from your phone or withGoogle Assistant, but [...]

Federal agents arrested a Milwaukee judge Friday on obstruction charges for allegedly interfering with an immigration arrest. Judge Hannah Dugan of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court was arrested in the county courthouse and remains in federal custody, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), posted about [...]

Waymo may sell autonomous vehicles for personal ownership at some point in the future, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said during an earnings call last night. Pichai was asked about the long-term business model for Waymo, and he responded that it includes expanding partnerships like it has with Moove in Miami and Uber in Austin and, [...]

For months, a popular Australian radio station has used an AI-generated DJ to host one of its segments - and no one seemed to notice, as reported by the Australian Financial Review and The Sydney Morning Herald. The show, called Workdays with Thy, offers a four-hour mix of hip hop, R&B, and pop, with no [...]

On the first day of filming, a small crew set up in my parents' house in Long Beach, California. We were shooting a short documentary about my parents' experiences as Vietnam War refugees who were used as background extras in Apocalypse Now nearly 50 years ago. Though my parents played a variety of characters - [...]

Boox is expanding its Go Series with two new E Ink devices that are the first from the company to bring stylus support and note-taking capabilities to its smaller seven-inch e-reader models. It's functionality that Kobo already offers on its seven-inch Libra Colour, but the new Boox Go 7 and Go Color 7 Gen II [...]

For sale: one browser, very popular. As the remedies phase of the Google Search trial heats up, two things have become very clear. The US government would really like to force Google to sell Chrome, and there are a lot of companies interested in buying it. What do you really get when you buy the [...]

OpenAI is introducing a new version of its ChatGPT deep research tool that it says is cheaper to operate. The lightweight" model is available now to free users, as well as those on several of the company's paid tiers. Deep research (lightweight) is powered by a version of OpenAI's o4-mini model, and the company says [...]

Microsoft has revealed that it's created a minute-long advert for its Surface Pro and Surface Laptop hardware using generative AI. But there's a twist: it released the ad almost three months ago, and no-one seemed to notice the AI elements. The ad, which went live on YouTube on January 30th, isn't entirely made up of [...]

Ask just about anybody, and they'll tell you that new cars are too expensive. In the wake of tariffs shaking the auto industry and with the Trump administration pledging to kill the federal EV incentive, that situation isn't looking to get better soon, especially for anyone wanting something battery-powered. Changing that overly spendy status quo [...]

A group of tabletop game makers and other American small businesses are filed a lawsuit on Thursday against President Donald Trump and his administration to attempt to stop his tariffs. The lawsuit alleges the tariffs are unlawful and unconstitutional" and details how they are creating challenges for the plaintiffs' businesses. The tabletop companies that are [...]

Bluesky experienced a major outage on Thursday evening that lasted around an hour. On my desktop browser, my Bluesky feed wouldn't load at all, just showing a spinning loading circle. I saw something similar with the mobile app; I could log in, but when I did, the feed didn't show. Other Verge colleagues were also [...]

Ziff Davis, the owner of several digital outlets like CNET, PCMag, IGN, and Everyday Health, is suing OpenAI over claims of copyright infringement, as first reported by The New York Times. In the lawsuit, the digital media company accuses OpenAI of intentionally and relentlessly" creating exact copies" of its outlets' works without permission. The company [...]

Legacy search brand Yahoo has been working on its own web browser prototype, and says it would like to buy Google's Chrome if the company is forced by a court to sell it. The information came out during the fourth day of the Justice Department's remedies trial to rectify Google's search monopoly. The DOJ has [...]

From The Studio to Severance, Apple TV Plus is home to a variety of high-quality originals that we highly recommend. And now through the end of today, you can get access to the streaming platform's entire library for just $2.99 a month for the first three months. Given Apple TV Plus usually costs $9.99 a [...]

Today is Intel's Q1 2025 earnings call, and the first we're truly hearing from new Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took over the company on March 18th. But he didn't wait until the call to announce major changes at Intel, nor did he begin his reign by laying off 20 percent of the company's employees, [...]

Switch 2 preorders are sold out online everywhere. But some people have managed to snag one using once conventional but now antiquated means: going to GameStop and preordering one in store. In addition to offering online preorders for the Switch 2, its Mario Kart World bundle, and the various Switch 2 accessories, GameStop also allowed [...]

Meta is ramping up efforts to rid Facebook of spammy content, the company announced on Thursday. It's cracking down on accounts that try to game" the Facebook algorithm with lengthy posts and numerous hashtags. The platform is also taking action against accounts that create posts with captions completely unrelated to an image. Now, if Meta [...]

Donald Trump will sign an executive order that will target online election fundraising platforms that may allegedly process foreign campaign donations - an action specifically aimed at curtailing the activities of ActBlue, the primary online fundraising platform for the Democratic Party. Politico first reported that the executive order was imminent, was aimed at launching an [...]

Google's AI Overviews in Search now have 1.5 billion users per month," CEO Sundar Pichai said in a statement as part of Alphabet's Q1 2025 earnings. Google started to widely roll out AI Overviews last May. Despite some awkward suggestions found shortly after their launch, the company has continued to expand upon the tool with [...]

In a surprise move, President Trump's transportation department has decided to keep the Biden-era rule requiring automakers and tech companies to report crashes that involve fully or partially autonomous vehicles. But they're making a few changes that are likely to have a big impact on one company. In 2021, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationissued [...]

We called Bowers & Wilkins' PX7 S2e the best-sounding wireless headphones" in our noise-canceling headphones buyer's guide, but the company's latest could be a new contender for that title. Bowers & Wilkins says its PX7 S3 headphones have a re-imagined industrial design" that's more comfortable with a new button layout that's more intuitive. The headphones [...]

Nintendo's GameCube controller for the Switch 2 will cost $64.99, according to the controller's listing on the company's website. The controller releases on June 5th, the same day as the Switch 2, but Nintendo will be making it available to order ahead of that date. Initially, the controller will be available to buy from May [...]

The summer of video game releases is starting to heat up. Remedy Entertainment, the studio behind Alan Wake and Control, announced that its first multiplayer title FBC: Firebreak will launch on June 17th. It'll be available on PC (both Steam and the Epic Game Store), the PS5, and Xbox. It'll also be available on subscription [...]

Threads on the web has a new address. Now, you can access the Meta-owned network by heading to Threads.com instead of Threads.net. The move will likely make it easier for users to find the website, as traffic to an unrelated messaging app startup, Threads.com," spiked following the platform's launch. Meta finally acquired the Threads.com" domain [...]

Kia is the latest automaker to be granted Tesla Supercharger access, allowing owners of the company's EVs to connect to over 21,500 stalls across North America. Kia EVs were originally supposed to get access to Superchargers in January, but it was delayed until March, and now it has finally gone through. The news comes as [...]

Tired of your coffee going cold halfway through the cup? Ember's smart mugs are designed specifically to solve that problem, and right now the black Ember Tumbler is on sale for half off. Regularly $199.95, you can buy the travel-friendly smart mug for just $99.95 at Amazon and Walmart, which is $20 shy of its [...]

Meta has laid off an unspecified number of employees in its Reality Labs division, a company spokesperson confirmed. The cuts affected teams working in Oculus Studios, Meta's in-house games division for Quest headsets, as well as some employees involved in the company's hardware efforts, according to people familiar with the matter. Specific titles impacted by [...]

Netflix is rolling out a new subtitle option that shows just spoken dialogue. Before this change, Netflix offered Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH/CC), which show spoken dialogue along with speaker names and descriptions of sounds, such as [phone buzzing]" or [dramatic music swells]." The new option drops these audio cues. It [...]

Though Ryan Coogler's Sinners is crawling with vampires and steeped in supernatural mythology, the film's monsters are far from the most magical thing about it. Those aspects of Sinners' story are exciting, and they help illustrate many of its ideas about the US' legacy of racism. But in terms of showing you both the beauty [...]

After debuting a fun Piranha Plant-inspired alternative to Nintendo's own $50 Switch 2 camera, Hori is back with another camera accessory for the console that's less fun but more functional. Standing just shy of two inches tall and weighing 30 grams, the camera is small and light enough to be connected to the Switch 2's [...]

Netflix's Love, Death, and Robots anthology series has always featured pretty stacked casts, and it doesn't sound like the show's next season is going to be any exception. Along with a new trailer for the upcoming season, Netflix released a full listing of Love, Death, and Robots Vol. 4's episodes detailing their plots and highlighting [...]

Motorola is kicking off hot foldable summer in style - and a little early this year. This time around it's offering not two but three Razr models with the introduction of the premium Razr Ultra. It comes with some notable upgrades, and all three phones get some quality-of-life improvements like a sturdier hinge. But the [...]