TheVerge

SAG-AFTRA, the organization that represents voice, motion, and screen performers, has filed an unfair labor complaint against Epic Games. The complaint stems from the company’s recent introduction of an AI programmed to sound like James Earl Jones’ Darth Vader that can respond to a player’s actions and questions. SAG-AFTRA wrote in a statement that it … Read more

President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law, enacting a bill that will criminalize the distribution of nonconsensual intimate images (NCII) — including AI deepfakes — and require social media platforms to promptly remove them when notified. The bill sailed through both chambers of Congress with several tech companies, parent and youth … Read more

There’s a lot to look at, watch, and listen to on the web. Fully utilizing the bookmarks feature in Google Chrome can be a real help in staying on top of everything. Chrome is the browser I use most often, and I’ve got a huge number of bookmarked sites inside it: long reads I want … Read more

Google’s NotebookLM app for Android is out now, as reported by 9to5Google, and is expected to launch for iOS and iPadOS on May 20th, according to the app’s App Store listing. The app appears to offer similar functionality to the desktop version of NotebookLM, including the ability to upload sources of information that the app … Read more

Huawei just launched a super sleek folding laptop that might be as thin as your phone. The MateBook Fold, which consists of a single OLED display, is just 7.3mm (~0.3 inches) thick when unfolded and 14.9mm (~0.6 inches) when closed, as spotted earlier by Android Headlines. To compare, Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold measures 8.6mm (0.34 … Read more

Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer, but it’s also one of the best times of the year to snag a seriously good deal on a top-tier TV. Right now, for instance, you can buy LG’s C4 OLED at Amazon, Best Buy, and LG’s online storefront in the 42-inch configuration starting at an all-time … Read more

Microsoft is unveiling its own command line text editor on Windows today. Edit on Windows will be accessible by using “edit” in a command prompt, allowing developers to edit files within the command line. It’s part of a number of improvements to Windows developer tools at Microsoft’s Build conference today to improve the Windows experience … Read more

A Microsoft employee disrupted the company’s Build developer conference in Seattle, Washington, this morning, protesting against the company’s cloud and AI contracts with the Israeli government. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had only been on stage for a matter of minutes before protesters started interrupting his speech, with one shouting “free Palestine!” Nadella continued his keynote, … Read more

Bluesky is making it easier to know when an NBA game is happening with a new test that adds a red border to the NBA’s profile picture, along with a “live” callout below it. When you click the profile picture, you’ll be taken out of Bluesky and to whatever live event the organization is promoting, … Read more

There are four different models of budget-minded Asus TUFs equipped with the RTX 5060, and configuration options beyond that. Asus is updating three of its gaming laptop lines with configurations featuring the new GeForce RTX 5060 GPU, offering features like Multi Frame Generation for higher framerates at slightly lower prices. Nvidia’s mid-range graphics are coming … Read more

Web developers will be able to start leveraging on-device AI in Microsoft’s Edge browser soon, using new APIs that can give their web apps access to Microsoft’s Phi-4-mini model, the company announced at its Build conference today. And Microsoft says the API will be cross-platform, so it sounds like these APIs will work with the … Read more

I reported in my Notepad newsletter earlier this month that Microsoft was getting ready to host Elon Musk’s Grok AI models, and now it’s official. At Microsoft’s Build developer conference today, the company confirmed it’s expanding its Azure AI Foundry models list to include Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini from xAI. “These models will have … Read more

Microsoft is making its Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) open-source today, opening up the code for community members to contribute to. After launching WSL for Windows 10 nearly nine years ago, it has been a multiyear effort at Microsoft to open-source the feature that enables a Linux environment within Windows. “It has been a consistent … Read more

Microsoft launched its Copilot Plus PC and Windows AI efforts last year, and now it’s going a step further today with native Model Context Protocol (MCP) in Windows and the launch of the Windows AI Foundry. The groundwork is necessary for a future envisioned by Microsoft whereby automated AI agents assist their human companions. Introduced … Read more

GitHub is launching an AI coding agent that can do things like fix bugs, add features, and improve documentation — all on a developer’s behalf. The agent is embedded directly into GitHub Copilot, and it will start working once a user assigns it a task, according to an announcement at Microsoft Build. To complete its … Read more

Microsoft’s four-day Build conference kicks off on Monday, May 19th, with a livestream starting at 9AM PT / 12PM ET. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will be on stage to present all the latest Windows, Office, and AI news, followed by developer sessions that will be free for anyone to register and watch online. Build is … Read more

Today, I’m talking with Kevin Scott, the chief technology officer of Microsoft and one of the company’s AI leaders. This is Kevin’s third time on Decoder, and he’s one of my favorite guests. He thinks a lot about the relationship between technology, art, and culture, and he’s unusually willing to dive into the weeds of … Read more

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is acquiring “substantially all of” 23andMe’s assets. 23andMe will keep offering customers its DNA testing services after being bought out of bankruptcy. New York-based biotech company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced an agreement on Monday to purchase the 23andMe startup for $256 million, alongside its Total Health and Research Services business and biobank of customer … Read more

The portable and capable Sonos Move 2 wireless speaker just hit its lowest price yet at Amazon and Best Buy, costing $336 (was $449) for each of its three available colors. It’s still pricey, but now it’s a better deal. Its built-in battery can last up to 24 hours of continuous playback, and, like the … Read more

Sunny days are on their way to Netflix. The streamer just announced that the next season of Sesame Street will be available on Netflix “later this year.” Season 56 of the show won’t be fully exclusive to Netflix, as the company says that it “has exclusive worldwide premiere rights and episodes will be available day-and-date … Read more

Google’s annual I/O developer conference is almost here, and all eyes will be on the company’s opening keynote. But for the first time in years, we know there’s little reason to hope for major Android OS announcements, since Google already did that last week. Instead, we’re expecting I/O’s keynote to be (almost) all about AI, … Read more

Microsoft’s annual developer conference kicks off today in Seattle, Washington, during the same week Google hosts its own I/O developer event in Mountain View, California. Build will be focused on Microsoft’s latest platform changes for developers, including new AI announcements that are bound to go head-to-head with Google’s own news. Microsoft is streaming Build online … Read more

Apple Intelligence has been a wreck since its first features rolled out last year, and a big new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman details why — and how Apple is trying to piece things back together. And much of its effort hinges on rebuilding Siri from the ground up. Gurman has reported in the past … Read more

China’s Long March 2D rocket. China has launched the first 12 satellites of a planned 2,800-strong orbital supercomputer satellite network, reports Space News. The satellites, created by the company ADA Space, Zhijiang Laboratory, and Neijang High-Tech Zone, will be able to process the data they collect themselves, rather than relying on terrestrial stations to do … Read more

In which the phones website goes outside. | Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images For most of my life, I’ve relied on a paper map when I go outdoors. Then, in March, I joined my friend Rusty on the Appalachian Trail for two weeks. He told me to download FarOut. FarOut was my introduction … Read more

There have been a lot of big games this year that have felt all-consuming, like Monster Hunter Wilds or Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Maze Mice offers something different: a small, pick-up-and-play experience that takes a bunch of ideas from some classics and adds a clever twist. The game, from Luck Be a Landlord developer TrampolineTales, … Read more

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 83, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, please don’t spoil Andor for me, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about Mission: Impossible and Sam Altman’s kitchen and … Read more

Yesterday, Reuters ran a story with the headline “Weeks after Amazon’s Alexa+ AI launch, a mystery: where are the users?,” in which it detailed its difficulty locating first-hand accounts of the AI-upgraded assistants’ use online. The Verge asked Amazon about the story, and the company has responded to say that the idea that Alexa Plus … Read more

A former DoorDash delivery driver pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to a wire fraud conspiracy that scammed DoorDash out of over $2.5 million, the US Attorney’s Office in California’s Northern District announced on Tuesday. He and others made it happen over a period of months using fake customer accounts, deliveries that never happened, driver … Read more

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Epic is asking District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to order Apple to review — and approve if compliant with Apple’s guidelines — Epic’s submission of Fortnite to the US App Store in a new court filing. The company argues in the document that Apple is once … Read more