TheVerge

Google’s AI search results are about to get even more ads. On May 21st, the company announced that it’s going to start testing ads in AI Mode, the new AI-powered search feature that just rolled out to everyone in the US. AI Mode is the new tab in Google Search that opens an AI chatbot-like … Read more

A 19-year-old college student will plead guilty to carrying out a massive hack against PowerSchool, a popular student information system used by schools around the country. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice said Matthew Lane of Massachusetts agreed to plead guilty to four counts, including cyber extortion, unauthorized access to protected computers, and aggravated identity … Read more

Sony is shutting down the “current version” of the PlayStation Stars loyalty and rewards program that it launched in 2022, according to a blog post.  The program let users obtain “digital collectibles,” which Sony described at the time as “digital representations of things that PlayStation fans enjoy, including figurines of beloved and iconic characters from … Read more

Microsoft’s Ninja Theory studio is bringing Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II to the PS5 “this summer.” Set in a dark ninth-century Iceland, Hellblade II originally debuted on Xbox Series S / X and PC last year, and it’s now making its way to Sony’s console just over a year later. Hellblade II is the latest Xbox … Read more

If you got a kick out of Baby Driver, there’s a very good chance you’re going to be into Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming black comedy / thriller, Caught Stealing. Adapted from Charlie Huston’s 2005 novel of the same name, Caught Stealing tells the wild take of Hank Thompson (Austin Butler), a former high school baseball prodigy … Read more

Nintendo’s latest entry in its “ask the developer” interview series has some fun new details about the Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World. Among the many things discussed is an explanation for why the game isn’t called Mario Kart 9, despite being a sequel to the best-selling Mario Kart 8 — and it has … Read more

Metaphor ReFantazio — a game that combines innovative turn-based combat with a story timely for our current political moment — is coming to Xbox Game Pass later this month. In fact, the Game Pass line up for the rest of May is actually pretty sweet. Metaphor, Atlus’ best RPG since Persona 5, arrives on Game … Read more

If you ask me, there’s always space in my games catalog for a fun third-person shooter that I can play with my buds online. Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 delivers some of the best blood-gushing, bug-crushing action, filling a Gears of War void that I didn’t know needed filling. You can jump into the fray … Read more

Windows in Android’s desktop mode can stretch and move across your screen. Google is working with Samsung to bring a desktop mode to Android. During Google I/O’s developer keynote, engineering manager Florina Muntenescu said the company is “building on the foundation” of Samsung’s DeX platform “to bring enhanced windowing capabilities in Android 16,” as spotted … Read more

“The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur.” One of the more surprising moments in volume four of Love, Death, and Robots is an appearance from YouTube star MrBeast. He shows up in the episode “The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur,” playing a sort of twisted game master presiding over a death race on one of the moons of … Read more

Google’s new Material 3 Expressive design language includes a welcome surprise for Pixel owners: the mandatory At a Glance home screen widget has shrunk, leaving space for an extra row of apps. The new look is included in the latest version of the Android 16 beta. Upon installation, Pixel owners are greeted with a pop-up … Read more

TikTok users will now be able to save tracks they discover straight to their SoundCloud app. On Wednesday, the two companies announced they’re partnering to expand an existing TikTok feature that was previously available to users of music streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify. The “add to music app” button appears when a TikTok … Read more

Following the debut of the Oura Ring 4 last October, which featured improved accuracy for blood oxygen tracking and heart rate readings, the company has announced it’s introducing additional algorithm improvements that will deliver more comprehensive and accurate movement tracking. First announced last month, the updates are now “rolling out to members globally” and include … Read more

All three route-planning feature updates will be available by July. Strava is making it easier to plan workouts and keep activity leaderboard rankings fair. The updates rolling out over the coming weeks focus on helping users optimize their workout routes to compete against other users and their own personal bests, building on some of the … Read more

Google’s AI models have a secret ingredient that’s giving the company a leg up on competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic. That ingredient is your data, and it’s only just scratched the surface in terms of how it can use your information to “personalize” Gemini’s responses. Google first started letting users opt in to its “Gemini … Read more

Colorado-based Sierra Space is getting ready to launch its reusable space plane, Dream Chaser. | Image: Sierra Space In The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton wrote about killer alien space crystals that are (spoiler alert) ultimately stymied by Earth’s breadth of pH values. In reality, crystals grown in space could be key to a new generation … Read more

AMD has announced its latest Zen 5-based Ryzen Threadripper 9000 Series of CPUs at Computex today. The 9000 Series and 9000 WX-Series are built for the demanding workstation market, and the top Threadripper Pro 9995WX will ship with 96 cores and 192 threads. This flagship Threadripper chip is designed for professionals who are working on … Read more

Google CEO Sundar Pichai at Google I/O 2025. Google I/O was, as predicted, an AI show. But now that the keynote is over, we can see that the company’s vision is to use AI to eventually do a lot of Googling for you. A lot of that vision rests on AI Mode in Google Search, … Read more

The Windows 11 handoff feature. Microsoft is working on a new “Cross Device Resume” feature for Windows 11 that works similarly to Apple’s Handoff feature in macOS. The feature was spotted in a Microsoft Build 2025 session, before Windows Central noticed Microsoft editing out the demo that showed a mobile Spotify session resuming on a … Read more

A year ago Xbox president Sarah Bond revealed that Microsoft was planning to launch a new Xbox mobile gaming store in July 2024. That never happened. I’ve been wondering what the hold up has been over the past year, and it seems we might have an answer: Apple. Microsoft filed an amicus brief late on … Read more

Slimmed down and shiny. | Image: Miniot The original Wheel vertical turntable was a bust, the Wheel 2 redemption, and now the small mom and pop team at Miniot is back for a victory lap with the Wheel 3. It can play your record collection upright on its stand, laid flat on a table, or … Read more

Amazon is issuing refunds to customers who’d returned products but never received their money back, in some cases from as long ago as 2018.  “Following a recent internal review, we identified a very small subset of returns that were unresolved because we could not verify that the correct item had been sent back to us,” … Read more

Protesters outside Microsoft’s Build conference Microsoft’s head of security for AI, Neta Haiby, accidentally revealed confidential messages about Walmart’s use of Microsoft’s AI tools during a Build talk that was disrupted by protesters.  The Build livestream was muted and the camera pointed down, but the session resumed moments later after the protesters were escorted out. … Read more

At yesterday’s I/O conference, Google announced plans to start putting its AI chatbot, Gemini, in a variety of different places, including cars. Today, Volvo said it was shoving its way to the front of the line to be the first to receive the new tech. Volvo said it was expanding its preexisting partnership with Google … Read more

AMD is officially announcing its Radeon RX 9060 XT GPU at Computex today. Like the number implies, this graphics card will challenge Nvidia’s recently released RTX 5060, with AMD offering models with 8GB or 16GB of VRAM. AMD is following Nvidia’s controversial choice to ship a modern GPU with just 8GB of VRAM in the … Read more

Fortnite is once again available on the iOS App Store in the US, according to Epic Games. You can get it from the App Store here. Epic says it has returned to the Epic Games Store and AltStore as well. Apple kicked Fortnite off the App Store nearly five years ago after Epic Games added … Read more

Proof that there’s a display. Here in sunny Mountain View, California, I am sequestered in a teeny tiny box. Outside, there’s a long line of tech journalists, and we are all here for one thing: to try out Project Moohan and Google’s Android XR smart glasses prototypes. (The Project Mariner booth is maybe 10 feet … Read more

Google has announced it’s rolling out the colorful new Android 16 interface for beta testers as reported by 9to5Google. The QPR1 beta includes the company’s Material 3 Expressive design language revealed officially last week and includes new visuals for the launcher, notifications, lock screen, and a very Apple-inspired quick settings page. QPRs, or quarterly platform … Read more

Editions is the name of a new game publishing label launched by Lost in Cult, the same company known for making gorgeous books about video games, like Outer Wilds: Design Works. The new label’s aim is to preserve indie games, including some that haven’t been released on physical media before, and to celebrate their artistic … Read more

The Trump administration is working to limit access to covid booster shots by creating more regulatory hoops for companies developing vaccines for “healthy persons.” The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it’s only prioritizing covid vaccine approvals for adults older than 65 and others over the age of 6 months who have at least one … Read more