TheVerge

My introduction to Sudan Archives was the song “Nont for Sale” from her first EP Sink in 2018. I’ve been a die-hard fan ever since. With each album, she finds new ways to sculpt the sound of her violin, contorting it in defiance of expectations. Athena found her in conversation with it, leaving its timbre … Read more

Grok’s track record is spotty at best. But even by the very low standards of xAI, its failure in the aftermath of the tragic mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia is shocking. The AI chatbot has repeatedly misidentified 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, the man who heroically disarmed one of the shooters, and claimed the … Read more

Abynth 6’s very pretty, but questionably useful preset explorer. Absynth is something of a cult classic in the soft synth world. It was originally released in 2000, and quickly found an audience among the growing cadre of people making music on computers. But its last major update, Absynth 5, was released in 2009, and Native … Read more

By 2010, the iPhone era was in full swing. Smartphones were still a new and unfinished idea – the iPhone had only just gotten copy and paste! – but it was clear that these big slabs of glass were going to change the way we did pretty much everything. Apple was also already on an … Read more

Here’s a thought: what if the next-generation Siri is awesome? Not just awesome for setting timers and dictating text messages (though that would be nice), but so awesome and fun to talk to that people actually start falling in love with their iPhones. We may not be prepared for what happens next. On this episode … Read more

An Xbox Ally in front of an Xbox Ally X. I still wouldn’t buy an Xbox Ally, and I still don’t think the tweaked version of Windows that shipped with it is ready for primetime. The Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) needs work. But two months after I panned the cheaper $600 white Xbox Ally … Read more

Real ones will know that Mount Rainier looks too big in this image, but the re-creation of a Washington State ferry in this AI image is uncanny. This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on smartphones and digital imagery – real or otherwise – … Read more

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 109, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope you’re staying warm, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about Google Maps and shopaganda and life as a pop … Read more

It’s a small sample size, likely driven by Black Friday discounts and temporary virality, but the Nex Playground has gone from little-known console curiosity to best-seller. It’s now on track to quadruple its sales from last year. According to research firm Circana, the Playground was the second best-selling console in the US for the week … Read more

Music making is always better with hardware. Native Instruments and Ableton have had incredible success with their custom MIDI controllers that integrate with their DAWs (digital audio workstations), Maschine and Live, respectively. Native Instruments’ Maschine (yes, it’s the name of the hardware and the software) and Ableton’s Push are pretty much the gold standard for … Read more

The Posha robot chef can autonomously cook a meal from scratch. As I’m sitting in my office writing this review, delicious, cheesy, garlicky scents are wafting up the stairs. I can hear whizzing and whirring, and the occasional clunk, as a robot chef in my kitchen is making macaroni and cheese. Its app tells me … Read more

The Nex Playground is a compact, cube-shaped console that’s currently on sale for $50 off. | Image: The Verge The Nex Playground is apparently one of the hottest consoles this holiday season thanks to its kid-friendly games and fun, motion-controlled gameplay. And now through December 14th, the cube-shaped console is on sale for its Black … Read more

A keyboard perfect for barside writing. As a writer, I take the tools of my trade relatively seriously. I’m not crazy enough to drop $3,600 on a keyboard, but I also find typing on a MacBook for extended periods of time deeply unsatisfying — and distracting. So this spring, I started looking into distraction-free writing … Read more

Sektori is an old-school twin-stick shooter. Created by a former developer at Returnal studio Housemarque, it puts you in the role of a little ship that blasts through swarms of enemies, and you have to weave through them to get upgrades to help you survive. Often, my runs end after less than a couple minutes, … Read more

A group of more than 150 parents sent a letter on Friday to New York governor Kathy Hochul, urging her to sign the Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act without changes. The RAISE Act is a buzzy bill that would require developers of large AI models – like Meta, OpenAI, Deepseek, and Google – … Read more

The long take, the unbroken tracking shot, “the oner” – whatever you want to call it, filmmakers agree that it’s one of the most difficult technical achievements in cinema. It’s a feat of creativity, but also great coordination and choreography when a single, tiny mistake can ruin a shot. Some famous examples: the casino scene … Read more

Google’s Pixel Buds 2A come in several colors, but purple is the way to go. Let’s face it, it’s easy to fixate on the big gifts that crowd around the Christmas tree. However, we’d argue that the true treasures are the small, useful, and thoughtful gifts tucked within stockings. That’s why, for this guide, we’ve … Read more

Today, Apple officially released iOS 26.2 for iPhone 11 and newer devices, which includes new Lock Screen customizations for you to adjust the opacity level, as well as the ability to use AirDrop with people who aren’t in your contacts by sharing a one-time code with them instead. There are also new updates going out … Read more

Eat at your own risk. | Image: Ikea After announcing new Matter-compatible smart home devices and stylish wireless speakers over the past few months, Ikea continues to expand its consumer electronics offerings with three new wireless chargers. They’re limited to 15W Qi2.0 charging rates but are well priced and feature designs that look more like … Read more

Hollywood director Carl Erik Rinsch was convicted of scamming $11 million from Netflix to spend on luxury items, including five Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari, as reported earlier by Deadline. A New York jury found Rinsch guilty of several charges on Thursday, including fraud and money laundering. Rinsch, who’s known for directing 47 Ronin, was charged … Read more

Google Translate’s latest update brings live speech translations, originally available only on the Pixel Buds, to any headphones you want, with support for over 70 languages. It’s rolling out today in beta and just requires a compatible Android phone with the Translate app (unlike Apple’s similar feature, which requires AirPods). It’s one of a few … Read more

Hisense’s S7N CanvasTV is nearly $600 off. Samsung’s Frame TV is one of the coolest-looking TVs you can buy, doubling as wall art when you’re not watching —  but it’s pricey. If you like the idea of a TV that displays art when not in use but is far more affordable, Hisense’s S7N CanvasTV delivers … Read more

When Bryan Fuller set out to make his first feature film, his goal was to make the kind of family-friendly scares that he loved as a kid. Think Gremlins or Ghostbusters. The creator of Hannibal and Pushing Daisies ended up crafting a story called Dust Bunny, about a young girl named Aurora who hires a … Read more

HBO Max is launching curated channels, a new feature that will allow you to quickly jump into a continuous feed of a popular series or tune into a specific genre. When you select a channel on HBO Max, the streaming service will start you at the beginning of whatever’s playing, while giving you the ability … Read more

TCL has been a solid competitor in the midrange TV market for years, going head-to-head with Hisense. Not only are TVs from both manufacturers competitive on features, they even use similar nomenclature to categorize their TV lines – the TCL QM8 and Hisense U8, QM7 and U7, and QM6 and U6. But with TCL’s new … Read more

Amazon is continuing to celebrate The Game Awards, which took place on December 11th, with a big sale on titles that were nominated in their respective categories. The deals include a discount that brings the PC version of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which ended up taking home nine awards (including game of the year), back … Read more

Every week at The Verge, we’re tracking what’s happening with Trump Mobile’s promised and yet undelivered Android phone. Why? Because we cover phones. We also cover vaporware, which the T1 Phone 8002 (gold version) very well may be. The smartphone has now been delayed for months. Trump Mobile no longer claims that it will be … Read more

AI sure does use a lot of words to say very little. This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest phones, smartwatches, apps, and other gizmos that swear they’re going to change your life. Optimizer arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 10AM … Read more

You may not even know it, but you’ve almost certainly encountered songs made mostly or even entirely with AI. If you’ve scrolled on TikTok the last few weeks, you’ve probably heard “I Run” a few times, but there are countless others making their way around social and music platforms. AI tools in general, and Suno … Read more