The Verge

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Once upon a time, Black Friday - the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional apex of sales events - meant lining up in front of your favorite store along with thousands of other would-be customers, waiting for the stampede to begin. How old-fashioned! These days, many of us take the easy way out by shopping those sales from our couches. And Amazon, as might be expected, saves its best deals for members of its Prime program.This year, Amazon's Black Friday sale takes place on Friday, November 29th. Cyber Monday, when the deals concentrate on tech devices, will be Monday, December 2nd. If you're interested in the goodies being offered but haven't signed up for Amazon Prime, don't worry - Amazon makes it very easy.If you're attracted... Continue reading...

The Wyze Scale Ultra includes a 4.3-inch color screen that shares more health data. | Image: Wyze The addition of a 4.3-inch color TFT screen makes the new Wyze Scale Ultra one of the brand's most expensive smart scales to date, but at $43.99, it's still considerably cheaper than offerings from companies like Withings. It's available from Wyze directly or from Amazon in white or black.The Wyze Scale Ultra says it can track 13 different health metrics, including your heart rate, your metabolic age (a comparison of how your body burns calories at rest to others your age), and measurements of fat, muscle, and water.Previous versions of Wyze's smart scales featured simple segmented LED displays to display basic information like weight, BMI, and muscle mass, leaving more detailed breakdowns of your health metrics for an accompanying... Continue reading...

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images I regret to inform you that former President Donald Trump has once again filed what is almost inarguably a SLAPP complaint, this time against CBS for editing its own interview of Vice President Kamala Harris.Trump's lawsuit, first reported by Fox News yesterday, escalates a weeks-long crusade against CBS for its 60 Minutes interview with Harris. Trump argues CBS - which published multiple cuts of the interview - deceptively edited Harris' answer to make her appear more coherent. This is the kind of editing decision it's reasonable to argue about, and that people in fact constantly argue about with Trump's own words. It is less reasonable to:

Illustration: The Verge Google is adding a Google Home extension to the Gemini app, allowing you to control your smart home while chatting with the AI assistant. The update, which is available to Android users as part of Google Home's Public Preview program, will let you use natural language prompts, like Set the dining room for a romantic date night" to adjust lighting, or Help me clean up the kitchen" to turn on the vacuum.Previously, the Gemini app would open Google Assistant if you tried to control your smart home. With the new Google Home extension, you can perform actions across smart lighting, climate control, window coverings, TVs, speakers, and more from within the Gemini app. The extension in Gemini doesn't support all smart devices,... Continue reading...

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge You just left your house. As you peel out of the driveway and tear down the street in the coolest way possible, your garage door... well, what does it do? The answer's probably nothing, and that feels like the wrong answer. The smart home was supposed to have fixed this by now.On this episode of The Vergecast, we didn't necessarily set out to talk about smart garage doors for as long as we did, but The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern joined the show with a lot of thoughts about Apple Intelligence, notification summaries, and how we all - and in particular, how Apple's software leader Craig Federighi - manage their own houses. Given the reporting that Apple is gearing up for a big hardware push into the smart home, what does the... Continue reading...

Hardware is hard. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Apple's journey to making its own wireless chips has been a long one, but the end might be in sight. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo posted on X that Apple's switch to its own in-house Wi-Fi / Bluetooth chips will start with the iPhone 17 in the second half of next year.Kuo also agrees with 9to5Mac's report that the iPhone SE 4, expected in spring of 2025, will be the first device to use Apple's own homemade 5G modem. He says that the SE will continue using a third-party Wi-Fi chip made by Broadcom, and that the iPhone 17 will be the first device to use both an Apple-made modem and Wi-Fi chip.Modems are hard, apparently. Apple has been trying to get away from using Qualcomm's RF modems since at least 2019, when it bought Intel's modem division.... Continue reading...

The Quick Insert button is on the Galaxy Chromebook Plus and is coming to future 2025 Chromebooks. | Image: Google Starting today, Google's ChromeOS 130 update with Quick Insert, Focus Mode, Welcome Recap, and other features is rolling out. Chromebook Plus models with NPU also get exclusive special features in 130, such as the new recorder app with AI, enhanced mic, camera effects, and Gemini AI tools like help me read" summaries.There's a long list of changes in 130, but here are some highlights. Quick Insert is a way to add emoji, GIFs, or links to recently visited sites and access AI features from a menu. On most devices, that means using the launcher or Google button plus f on your keyboard. The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus is the first Chromebook to replace the launcher key with a new button that activates Quick Insert with a single press,... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge The music streaming app Tidal is laying off more workers. In a statement to Fortune, an unnamed Tidal spokesperson confirmed the elimination of some roles across our business and design teams."On Wednesday, Fortune published a leaked memo from Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Tidal parent company Block Block Head, who said that the company is going to part ways with a number of folks" on the team. We're reducing the size of our design team and foundational roles supporting TIDAL, and we will consider reducing engineering over the next few weeks as we have more clarity around leadership going forward," Dorsey wrote, according to Fortune.Though Dorsey's message didn't specify how many employees would be laid off, sources told Fortune that it... Continue reading...

Image: Netflix Netflix released a new teaser for Squid Game's second season on Thursday. Gi-hun, again played by Lee Jung-jae, is participating in the games again, but based on the trailer, it appears that he will try to convince he other contestants to rebel against the competition - and that, at times, he may not be successful.Three years after winning Squid Game, Player 456 gave up going to the states and comes back with a new resolution in his mind," according to description of the show from the trailer. Gi-hun once again dives into the mysterious survival game, starting another life-or-death game with new participants gathered to win the prize of 45.6 billion won."(I'm curious if the setup means the season will end similarly to the second... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Claude, the AI chatbot made by Anthropic, now has a desktop app. You can download the Mac and Windows versions of the app from Anthropic's website for free.Last week, Anthropic released its computer use" feature in public beta, which allows the Claude 3.5 Sonnet model to control a computer by looking at a screen, moving the cursor, clicking buttons, and entering text. This capability isn't available within the app, however.

Image: Microsoft Microsoft is once again delaying the roll out of its controversial Recall feature for Copilot Plus PCs. The software giant had planned to start testing Recall, which creates screenshots of mostly everything you see or do on a Copilot Plus PC, with Windows Insiders in October. Now, Microsoft says it needs more time to get the feature ready.We are committed to delivering a secure and trusted experience with Recall. To ensure we deliver on these important updates, we're taking additional time to refine the experience before previewing it with Windows Insiders," says Brandon LeBlanc, senior product manager of Windows, in a statement to The Verge." Originally planned for October, Recall will now be available for preview with Windows... Continue reading...

The Mudita Kompakt E Ink phone is expected to sell for under $500. | Image: Mudita Mudita is not the first company to build a phone with an E Ink screen, but its Kompakt isn't only about bringing the benefits of e-paper to smartphones. The company describes the Kompakt as a minimalist E Ink phone" that's designed to reduce distractions with a limited collection of bundled apps.The Kompakt is being made available to consumers through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. The earliest backers can pre-order one for around $325 with shipping expected as early as April 2025. Full retail pricing is expected to be closer to $476, making the Kompakt cheaper than other E Ink phones from companies like Hisense.Unlike the Boox Palma, which is a pocket-friendly 6.13-inch e-reader offering additional functionality through a full... Continue reading...

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge Ford is idling the factory where it makes its F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks until next year, the company said today. It's another unwelcome hiccup in Ford's path to becoming a global EV producer.The plan is to shut things down after the last shift on Friday, November 15th, at which point the plant will be closed for seven weeks, including holidays in which no work would have occurred anyway. The reasons are a bit vague, with Ford spokesperson Emma Berg citing a need to adjust production for an optimal mix of sales growth and profitability."That last word - profitability - is surely driving most of this decision. While Tesla just had a better-than-expected earnings quarter, Ford is still struggling to squeeze profit out of... Continue reading...

Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge When the Playdate first launched, one of the hooks was that the little yellow handheld came with a season" of 24 games from notable developers like Keita Takahashi and Zach Gage. And now Panic has confirmed that a second season is coming at some point in 2025.As for what will be included, we don't have a lot to go on right now. Panic says that details on price, the exact number of games, and the developers behind the games of season 2 will come in 2025." But during a livestream today, the company said it would probably feature about a dozen games" and will also include a really cool surprise."Last year Panic launched a Playdate store called Catalog where developers could release games outside of the season structure, and during... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge For the last decade or so, Google has released major Android updates in the fall after an extended developer and beta preview process, but for 2025, at least, that's changing. Now, Google is planning its next major release for Q2 instead of Q3, confirming a recent report from Android Authority about Android 16, which will carry the dessert-themed codename Baklava."The announcement says this will better align with the schedule of device launches across our ecosystem, so more devices can get the major release of Android sooner." Other changes Google is talking about today include improvements to the Play Store, where users can share preferences for better recommendations on new apps the way they already could for games, and in... Continue reading...

Illustration by Aaron Fernandez for The Verge Despite Amazon and other retailers having filled the summer and fall months with more sales than ever before, Black Friday and Cyber Monday remain the biggest shopping days of the year. Thankfully, like in previous years, we'll be working to highlight the best prices on phones, TVs, headphones, gaming gear, and other tech throughout the deal-packed week, whether you plan to shop in person or online.You can always count on us to publish the best deals that you need to know about, no matter the season; however, if you want to be among the first people to discover price drops on the products you're interested in, you'll want to get a head start on your Black Friday game plan. Your checklist should include scoping out early sales at your... Continue reading...

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apex Legends is one of the only battle royale games that lets you play on a Steam Deck gaming handheld - Fortnite, Valorant, PUBG and more never supported it in the first place, citing concerns about anti-cheat. But today, Electronic Arts and Respawn are taking the game away for that very same reason.In our efforts to combat cheating in Apex, we've identified Linux OS as being a path for a variety of impactful exploits and cheats. As a result, we've decided to block Linux OS access to the game," writes EA, in a blog post explaining the decision.Apex Legends did have anti-cheat software that did run on the Steam Deck - specifically, the game uses Epic Games' Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC), which has been compatible with the Linux gaming... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge ChatGPT is officially an AI-powered web search engine. The company is enabling real-time information in conversations for paid subscribers today (along with SearchGPT waitlist users), with free, enterprise, and education users gaining access in the coming weeks.Rather than launching as a separate product, web search will be integrated into ChatGPT's existing interface. The feature determines when to tap into web results based on queries, though users can also manually trigger web searches. ChatGPT's web search integration finally closes a key competitive gap with rivals like Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, which have long offered real-time internet access in their AI conversations.This launch comes as AI-powered search heats up... Continue reading...

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Microsoft is finally revealing that it will charge consumers $30 for a year of extra security updates to Windows 10. Support for Windows 10 will end on October 14th, 2025, but consumers will be able to purchase a single year of Extended Security Updates (ESU) for $30 for the first time ever.While businesses will be charged $61 for a single year of ESU, they also have the option to pay $122 for a second year and then $244 for a third year of updates. Microsoft will only offer consumers a single year if they're willing to pay the $30 fee. Enrolled PCs will continue to receive Critical and Important security updates for Windows 10; however, new features, bug fixes, and technical support will no longer be available from Microsoft," e... Continue reading...

Ring's latest Battery Doorbell has a wider field-of-view to see packages and people head-to-toe. | Ring It's a little too late to spook trick-or-treaters with ghastly remote greetings, but there are plenty of other reasons to consider installing a video doorbell. For starters, it's incredibly affordable and easy to do so when you have devices like the new Ring Battery Doorbell sharply discounted. It's down to $59.99 ($40 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target right now, matching its all-time low.We haven't tested the 2024 Ring Battery Doorbell yet, but it borrows a couple of nice features from the Battery Doorbell Plus, which is also on sale for a record low $99.99 ($50 off) at Amazon and our top pick for battery-powered doorbells. The not-so-plus model still features a 1080p camera, but now with a 1:1 aspect ratio and a 150-degree... Continue reading...

The OnePlus 13 will go on sale in China starting on November 1st, with a global release expected later. | Image: OnePlus OnePlus has officially announced its next flagship smartphone, the new OnePlus 13. Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor with an upgraded vapor cooling system, the OnePlus 13 will be available in China starting on November 1st in configurations ranging from 4,499 (around $632) for 12GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, up to 5,999 (around $843) for 24GB RAM and a full terabyte.The biggest upgrades on the OnePlus 13 is a new 6,000mAh battery, which OnePlus says offers up to 11 hours of video playback, according to Notebookcheck. While it offers more capacity than the 5,400mAh battery used in the previous OnePlus 12, the OnePlus 13's battery uses silicon carbon technology which offers more power density than traditional lithium... Continue reading...

This adapter has a Ford logo, so it will probably work well. | Image: Ford Ford is making its own branded specialty adapter to enable Tesla Supercharger access for its EV customers. The automaker will offer its new adapter alongside the current Tesla-produced one for customers still awaiting a complementary adapter and will start shipping it today.The adapters are being manufactured by EV equipment supply company Lectron, which has already made its own Vortex" NACS to CCS adapters. Lectron had to recall its adapters previously due to a design flaw where it could unlatch while charging.Lectron's CEO Christopher Maiwald said in a State of Charge interview that the problem had been fixed. In an email to The Verge, PR representative for Ford Eddie Fernandez wrote that the new adapters are not connected to the... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge / Getty Images Don't worry - Elon Musk is somehow also involved. Continue reading...

The Verge Google Maps is getting new navigation features that should make inner-city driving a little easier. When enhanced navigation rolls out in November, the blue line on Google Maps will provide a visual of which lane you need to drive in to make your next turn, while the map itself might display crosswalks, signs, and lane restrictions.This feature is coming to 30 US metros and will show up on Android and iOS. It should hopefully make driving through unfamiliar areas a bit less stressful, as it will add to some of the other helpful navigation features Maps has, such as lane guidance and the ability to see your routes in 3D. Image: Google Starting this week, Google Maps is also rolling out an update to its destination... Continue reading...

Image: Waze Waze is testing a handy-sounding update that will let you report traffic incidents while speaking naturally. With the new feature, you can tap the app's reporting button and then say what you see, such as, Looks like there's a traffic jam up ahead."The Google-owned driving app will then use the Gemini AI model to understand" what you've said and create a report. If you make a vague report, like There's something on the road," Waze might ask follow-up questions, like Can you describe what you see?" Depending on your reply, the app will then use that information to categorize your report. Image: Waze You can currently only report incidents on Waze by tapping through options within the app, which isn't always... Continue reading...

Image: Google Google Maps is getting a big update that's supposed to help you find new places to visit with AI. Starting this week, you'll be able to explore more locations with Immersive View and search for specific spots based on a descriptive query like things to do with friends at night."Google will then use its Gemini AI model to come up with inspirational collections" matching that description. For late-night options, Google Maps might pull up locations categorized as speakeasies" or places with live music." Meanwhile, regular search results remain below these collections. GIF: Google Google Maps will let you type in a question or choose from ones it generated with AI. But that's not the extent of the AI features... Continue reading...

Image: AMD After bizarrely teasing a 9000-series X3D announcement last week, AMD is making it official today that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D will be available on November 7th. Priced at $479, the 9800X3D is a direct successor to the best gaming CPU on the market right now, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. There's a lot to be excited about with this next-generation X3D chip, too.AMD is increasing the base clock speed up to 4.7GHz on the 9800X3D, with a max boost of 5.2GHz. Combined with an increase to a 120-watt TDP, this may well help improve productivity workloads - something the X3D chips have always fallen behind their non-X3D counterparts on. Image: AMD AMD claims its 9800X3D is on average 8 percent faster than the 7800X3D. The 9800X3D... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Peloton's got a new head honcho. The company announced that Ford executive Peter Stern will take over as CEO and President starting January 1st. Stern previously worked at Apple and Time Warner Cable.As a cofounder and driving force behind Apple Fitness Plus, Peter led his growth to millions of members, and is responsible for successfully scaling over a dozen other subscription services ranging from Ford BlueCruise to Apple iCloud to Time Warner Cable Home Security," said Karen Boone, Peloton's interim CEO, on today's Q1 2025 earnings call. Importantly, Peter has also been a passionate member of the Peloton community since 2016."In a Q&A with investors, Boone also emphasized that Stern was known for execution" and that the ability... Continue reading...

Miniot's Klapklok wall clock uses paper-like flaps to flip pixels to show the time. The sound and motion is soothing to experience. | Image: Miniot If you've ever experienced the sight and sound of a split-flap display then you'll immediately understand the nostalgic appeal of Miniot's pixelated wall clock. Klapklok uses mechanical flaps to convey information, just like the departure boards commonly found in transportation terminals before the arrival of LEDs.As its name suggests, Klapklok primarily functions as a low resolution clock, showing the hour and minute hands using 69 (nice) paper-like" flaps that act like black and white pixels. But Klapklok also features a Bluetooth app to create pixel drawings if that's your thing. GIF: Miniot A closer look at the lightweight flaps. As a clock, a selection of the flaps are redrawn every 2.5 minutes with a... Continue reading...

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Nothing is more frustrating than buying a new pair of headphones, an OLED TV, or a laptop just to find out that you could have gotten it for a lot cheaper somewhere else. That's why, in order to keep customers happy and prevent them from going elsewhere, many retailers offer price-matching policies in which they promise to match a lower price found elsewhere. That kind of information comes in handy no matter the time of year, but it's especially helpful during shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.What follows are the price-matching policies for a variety of major retailers. There are a few things to make note of here. First, all price-matching policies have a number of rules attached to them. We've summarized some of the... Continue reading...

We wouldn't recommend the latest Air for most people at full price, but the current discount makes it more appealing. | Photo: David Pierce / The Verge The new iPad Mini has arrived, bringing with it a faster A17 Pro chip, 8GB of RAM, support for the Apple Pencil Pro, and a taste of Apple Intelligence. However, unless you're dead set on the tablet's 8.3-inch form factor, the latest iPad Air is a better buy - especially since the 11-inch configuration is on sale at Amazon and Target with Wi-Fi and 128GB of storage starting at $498 ($101 off), an all-time low.If you're having trouble choosing between Apple's entry-level iPad and an M4-powered iPad Pro, the 2024 iPad Air represents the middle ground. It's a good-step option from the base iPad with USB-C charging, support for both the Apple Pencil (USB-C) and newer Apple Pencil Pro, and a laminated Liquid Retina display. The latter isn't... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Are we about to see what's up Google's sleeve after its mysterious AR / VR deals with companies like Qualcomm and Samsung? Or might it finally bring its Google Play Store to Meta's Quest like Meta once asked? Either way, Google seems to be prepping its Play Store for headsets, according to details discovered in app store code by Android Authority.Screenshots published by the outlet show a small graphic representing a headset in the Play Store's Install on more devices menu," while a bit of text appearing on an app listing elsewhere references an XR headset" too: Screenshot: Android Authority That glyph either represents a headset or a Flintstones-style hunk of meat. Screenshot: Android... Continue reading...

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images The World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees is in full swing, and millions of people in the US and abroad are tuning in nightly watch the showdown. Some fans are also being forced to watch graphic and hateful political ads - and though some ads are preceded by a broadcaster's warning, there's not much anyone can do about it.An anti-abortion ad that ran last night during the World Series shows graphic imagery of fetuses alongside a message that Abortion is murder. Don't vote for Kamala." The ad was paid for Randall Terry, a longtime anti-abortion activist who founded Operation Rescue, a group that stands outside of healthcare clinics and harasses patients. Terry is also a no-shot presidential candidate... Continue reading...

Image: The Verge Microsoft's Q1 2025 earnings are in, and the results show that Microsoft's software gaming revenues are way up even as Xbox hardware revenue is declining.The company says that its Xbox content and services revenue grew 61 percent year over year from the previous quarter - a figure driven by 53 points of net impact from the Activision acquisition," according to the company's press release. But hardware revenues again declined, down 29 percent this quarter, which may be influenced by Microsoft's continued strategy to make its games available more widely than just Xbox consoles.During the quarter, Microsoft introduced its new Xbox Game Pass Standard" tier and a price hike for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Q1 also saw the arrival of Call of... Continue reading...

Agatha All Along. | Image: Disney As Disney Plus has grown, finding things to watch has become increasingly challenging. So the streaming service is rolling out a top 10 list featured on the home screen in hopes of improving discoverability.It's not the most novel addition; really, it looks just like similar lists you'd find in competitive services like Netflix and Apple TV Plus. But it's become a necessary feature as the lineup on Disney Plus has expanded quite a bit over the years, with original shows and movies, along with the integration of Hulu.According to Disney, the ranking takes several factors into account, including total views at the episode and movie level within a day and the growing popularity of new titles released during that time frame." The company... Continue reading...