Tech

The Kane Parsons’ film Backrooms is expected to earn up to $90 million in its opening weekend after pulling down $38 million on Friday alone. That’s not only above expectations, but absolutely obliterates A24’s previous opening weekend record of $25.5 million for Alex Garland’s Civil War. It’s also a better opening day than The Mandalorian … Read more

Cecil Baldwin is a busy man with some dope boots. | Image: Cecil Baldwin Cecil Baldwin’s résumé includes appearances on Gravity Falls, narrating the documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street, and performing as part of the New York Neo-Futurists theater company. But he is best known as the host of the podcast Welcome … Read more

Microsoft is facing criticism for its handling of zero-day exploits. Someone going by the name Nightmare Eclipse has been publicly feuding with the company, posting proof-of-concept exploit code. Some of their posts suggest that they’re a disgruntled former employee. But what caught cyber security researcher Kevin Beaumont’s eye was how Microsoft has responded. Microsoft suggests … Read more

Art TVs aren’t exactly known for being affordable, which is why Woot’s latest sale is notable. Now through June 26th, the retailer is discounting Samsung’s 2025 Frame TV and Hisense’s 2025 CanvasTV. The 65-inch CanvasTV is down to $779.99 ($520 off) — its best price of the year — while Samsung’s like-minded Frame TV is … Read more

You may have heard that Valve’s new Steam Controller can ring like a telephone or do the Wilhelm scream. But did you know it can sing songs, too? Let me show you. Here’s the new Steam Controller performing the “Ground Theme” from Super Mario Bros. 2: Here is “Still Alive” from Portal – fitting for … Read more

I live in a part of Los Angeles where I feel safer bringing pepper spray on walks. The problem is, I don’t always remember to bring it with me, and it’s not legal to carry it everywhere I go. Pebblebee’s $59.99 Halo Bluetooth tracker surprised me by being a suitable replacement because it doubles as … Read more

The Arduboy FX-C squeezes a lot of entertainment into a thin, credit card-sized handheld. As handheld consoles continue to grow and push the limits of what you can actually hold in your hands, the Arduboy FX-C comes in a refreshingly pocketable package.  It manages to squeeze the best features of past models and some welcome … Read more

A good time with old maps. | Image: Past Maps Craig Campbell walked away from the river of investor money flowing into AI to create, of all things, a website. Sure, Campbell probably could have started an AI company. He’s a former engineer at Meta and an experienced tech founder who in 2022 sold his … Read more

TikTok sellers that appear to be AI generated, in tears. | The Verge Aliyah, a light-skinned Black woman dressed in country-western gear, is struggling to sell metal buckles she handmade on TikTok. In a video for the social media platform from March, she cries to the camera and pleads for views: “Even as a black … Read more

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 130, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, don’t forget to hydrate, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about Victor Wembanyama and mahjong and Merlin Mann’s pearls of … Read more

Slots & Daggers, a low-key, fantasy-themed slot machine roguelike, was one of my favorite games last year. That may sound like a complicated description, but the game mixes ideas from deckbuilding roguelikes with slot machines to create an engrossing loop, and there’s steady meta-progression that helps you push further with just about every run. Perhaps … Read more