Starbucks could eventually show you a personalized digital menu when you pull up to the drive-thru. During an earnings call on Thursday, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said the company is going to explore “experiences that recognize participating customers as they arrive, present personalized digital menus, and make payment more effortless,” as spotted earlier by More … Read more
The iPhone has more screens! The MacBook has a touchscreen! The HomeView does CarPlay apps! For the first time in a long time, Apple is in a period of unabashed gadget experimentation, and while the final results aren’t always perfect, it’s fun to watch the most successful product maker try some new things again. Even … Read more
Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe (left) watches Rivian R2s being built after an event at the Rivian assembly plant on May 19th, 2026, in Normal, Illinois. | Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images During an hourlong earnings call last night, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe spent less time talking about the production ramp of the … Read more
Walmart’s inexpensive Vizio produces a nice, bright image, though its black levels aren’t that deep. | Photo: John Higgins / The Verge Modern smart TVs let you skip the streaming device, which is convenient, but they also come with their own issues, including privacy concerns and frequent updates. The Vizio Mini LED Quantum TV lets … Read more
As the weather cools, it may be worth investing in a smart thermostat to help lower your energy bills. Right now, Google’s fourth-gen Nest Learning Thermostat is on sale in all three colors for $219.99 ($60 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and The Home Depot, matching its best price of the year and just $10 … Read more
Pope Leo XIV says AI systems should be “disarmed,” adding that humans “have the responsibility to guide, change and, when necessary, reject its applications.” In Friday’s Papal Address, Pope Leo encourages United Nations member states to “take concrete steps toward banning lethal autonomous weapons” during their meeting in Geneva next month. The address reflects many … Read more
Companies like Hoto and Fanttik have elevated the design and functionality of tools like electric screwdrivers, but Arrowmax wants to make them smarter by adding a camera and AI that work together to eliminate the trial and error of finding the exact type and size of bit you need. It’s convenient, but also helpful, as … Read more
Waymo announced today that when it launches a robotaxi service in Tokyo in 2027, it will use Toyota bZ4X electric vehicles that are assembled in Japan. The news builds on the strategic partnership between Waymo and Toyota which was first announced in April 2025. The robotaxis will be built entirely under one roof at Toyota’s … Read more
Investing in any stock is kind of like gambling in the sense that you’re betting your money on a company’s future performance. But how do you bet on a technology that could, in the worst-case scenario, “pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity,” or best case, “bring forth an age of miracles”? To some extent, … Read more
After months of bombarding mathematicians with a relentless stream of AI-generated results, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he sympathizes with researchers struggling to make sense of it all. But he has no intention of stopping – and hints there could be much more to come from the company’s stockpile of discoveries. “I think, on net, … Read more
Three years ago, I wrote an obituary for the smart display. The category – smart speakers with touchscreens attached – was stuck with a few underpowered gadgets from Google and Amazon that tried to do too much and did too little well. Back then, I also laid out what they needed to do to improve. … Read more
If not notebook, why notebook shaped? Apple’s $2,000 folding phone is a surprisingly good stand-in for a $20 notebook. Believe me; nothing gets me going quite like a new notebook. This one will be different, I think. This time, I really will take it everywhere. Inspiration can strike at any moment, and you have to … Read more
Binance says it will cover all loses resulting from the hack. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Turbosquid Binance has disclosed that $6.3 billion worth of crypto funds have been stolen from the platform, in what’s believed to be the biggest cryptocurrency hack on record. In a series of updates posted to X, the … Read more
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, was midway through defending her record during the final debate of the midterms when an audience member cut her short. “I’m terrified,” a man shouted. “AI data centers are destroying our climate. They are poisoning our water.” Collins brushed off the outburst, tying the man to her Democratic challenger, … Read more
The Wikimedia Foundation is staking out a middle ground in a group of landmark AI copyright cases, pushing courts to legally protect large language models (LLMs) training on copyrighted work – but not chatbots regurgitating that work to users. An overly black-and-white ruling, it says, could either deprive Wikipedians of useful AI-based tools or endanger … Read more
Curry Barker, the director behind the hit horror film Obsession, just published a new horror short on YouTube. The short, titled “Mama Bear,” is nearly five minutes long. The video is pretty unnerving, and fair warning that it gets a little graphic, but it’s a fun one to watch if you’re looking for something scary … Read more
During Intel’s latest earnings call, CEO Lip-Bu Tan said that demand for its budget-focused Wildcat Lake chips “is outstripping supply.” According to CFO David Zinsner, the chips are now sold out. Zinsner said Intel has “seen significant growth in Wildcat Lake. It’s coming exactly at the right time because it’s cost-optimized and we’re seeing a … Read more
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said in an earnings call today that Google’s AI-powered search modes do not help with traffic to the platform, echoing problems facing other websites and publishers. As part of its Q3 2026 earnings, Reddit revealed that search traffic in October has “dropped by more than 1 million referrals on average per … Read more
Patrick Stewart, best known for his roles in Star Trek and X-Men, has died at age 86. A message posted to Stewart’s Instagram account says the actor died in his Los Angeles home on Wednesday “following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia.” Born in 1940 in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England, … Read more
Reddit is announcing a huge shift: It’s going to start requiring users to log in. Right now, you can browse Reddit without having an account, and the site is generally a great resource for crowdsourced information on a whole range of topics. I know I’m not the only person who appends “reddit” to a lot … Read more
Rivian reported its third quarter earnings of 2026, providing us a closer look at the company’s financial health as it ramps up production of its all-important R2 electric vehicle – which is now, for the first time, outselling all of Rivian’s other EVs. Rivian said it brought in $2.155 billion in revenue, a 38 percent … Read more
General Motors has agreed to pay $220 million to settle claims that it illegally sold driver and location information to data brokers, as reported earlier by Reuters. The agreement, which resolves a complaint from a coalition of 36 US attorneys general, requires GM to limit the driving data it collects and obtain “express consent” from … Read more
Now you can generate, preview, and edit PDFs, Google Docs, Google Sheets, slide decks, Markdown files, TXT files, and code directly within Google Gemini. The new file editing capabilities are available starting today for all Gemini users, and while PDF previews/editing works on both the web and mobile, all other file formats are only in … Read more
With its playful design, versatility, and relatively affordable price, the Ikea Varmblixt quickly became one of my colleague Jennifer Pattison Tuohy’s new favorite smart light products when she tested it in April. Now, the donut-shaped lamp is on sale for $79.99 ($20 off) through November 11th at Ikea. Ikea Varmblixt lamp Where to Buy: $99.99 … Read more
The new MacBook Pro brings with it a bunch of firsts for Apple laptops, the two flashiest being an OLED display and touchscreen functionality. But as an image-accuracy enthusiast, trained calibrator, and resident display expert, what excites me most about the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is the technology it uses to display an … Read more
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour. | Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images Utah has filed criminal charges against Kalshi and its executives, accusing the prediction market of breaking anti-gambling laws, as reported by The Salt Lake Tribune and the Associated Press. The state has filed 14 charges against Kalshi, as well as CEO Tarek Mansour and COO … Read more
The US power sector could release 42 percent more planet-heating carbon dioxide pollution by 2030 than it did in 2025 as it builds out more fossil fuel infrastructure to meet data center electricity demand, according to a new analysis by the Sierra Club. That would essentially wipe out 15 years of greenhouse gas reductions. CO2 … Read more
When it was revealed earlier this month that Withings would require new users to subscribe to a Withings Plus subscription to sync heath data from the company’s devices to third-party apps, Tom Anthony, who was already fed up with the Withings mobile app which they describe as a “bloated mess,” became motivated to “free” their … Read more
The Joshua Kushner-led Thrive Holdings is acquiring ADT in an all-cash deal valued at $7.6 billion. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027 and will take ADT private, as reported earlier by Bloomberg. Joshua Kushner is the brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Thrive Holdings was founded last … Read more
To anyone listening closely to what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been saying over the past couple of years, this week felt like the clearest sign yet that AI is about to fundamentally change the size of Microsoft’s workforce. Microsoft is now offering voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 employees across the US, UK, Canada, and … Read more