TheVerge

Do you even like art? | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images There’s this alarming trend in the Suno subreddit. People aren’t just prompting AI songs; they’re sitting around listening almost exclusively to their own slop. And in some cases, they proudly proclaim that they don’t listen to music on traditional streaming platforms … Read more

The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, an international forum that focuses on lethal autonomous systems, is hosted twice a year at the United Nations in Geneva. When Branka Marijan attended in November 2017, she thought the five-day sessions – which dealt largely in hypotheticals, speculating on a world where warfare was fought with killer robots … Read more

Would you listen to magazine articles on Spotify? The streaming platform certainly hopes so, as it’s launching a new format for narrated long-form articles, alongside its usual array of music, podcasts, and audiobooks. Starting today, more than 650 articles from publications including Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Vogue, Variety, Billboard, Vibe, GQ, Wired, Vanity Fair, and … Read more

This, but no cable. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge Code in recent Starlink firmware suggests that SpaceX might soon release a version of its smallest internet dish with an integrated battery. A battery-powered Starlink Mini would offer untethered portability for vanlifers, emergency responders, and anyone who wants fast, low-latency internet from almost … Read more

Sennheiser is sticking with the redesign it introduced with the Momentum 4 Wireless. | Image: Sennheiser Nearly four years after the last version of Sennheiser’s Momentum headphones debuted with a redesign that traded a retro aesthetic for a more contemporary and comfortable design, the company has announced its Momentum 5 Wireless headphones. They look very … Read more

The Ferrari Luce will start at €550,000 in Italy, but US pricing hasn’t been announced. | Image: Ferrari After months of teasers, Ferrari is offering the first full view of its Luce electric vehicle. The Luce is notable not just for being Ferrari’s first EV, but for being designed in collaboration with Jony Ive and … Read more

An exceptionally weird controversy has come back to haunt Cox Media and a pair of marketing firms, which claimed they were secretly listening to users via phones and smart devices – despite little evidence they actually could. On Thursday the Federal Trade Commission announced that Cox, MindSift, and 1010 Digital Works would pay a total … Read more

Pope Leo XIV attends the presentation of his first Encyclical Letter “Magnifica humanitas” on May 25, 2026 in Vatican City, Vatican. | Getty Images Pope Leo XIV warned of the risks of AI and unconstrained technological power in his first major papal document released on Monday. Magnifica Humanitas is the pope’s manifesto on “safeguarding the … Read more

Hiking is one of life’s great joys. Turning off the screens and stepping out into nature for an extended period of time, perhaps even several days, is rejuvenating. Unfortunately, as someone with two young kids and a bad back, I’m not really able to go backpacking anymore. So I often find myself trying to live … Read more

If you’re looking for a laptop that’ll still perform well several years from now, Apple’s latest MacBook Air is hard to beat. Now, in particular, is a good time to pick one up, as you can currently buy the 13-inch MacBook Air at Amazon in the run-up to Memorial Day with an M5 chip, 16GB … Read more

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on AI mischief, follow Robert Hart. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Hacking the first generation of AI chatbots was a laughably simple affair. … Read more

Waymo is the undisputed leader in the robotaxi space, operating a fleet of over 3,000 driverless cars in at least 10 cities across the US. A number of companies, including Tesla, Zoox, Avride, and Motional, are racing to catch up with the Alphabet-owned firm. But what if being No. 2 was actually better? Nuro, the … Read more

Look at those cute little guys. | Image: Record Club There isn’t really a solid equivalent to Goodreads or Letterboxd for music lovers, but Record Club is aiming to change that. Yes, we have Rate Your Music, but its interface is crowded, and it feels more geared towards longer-form reviews than cataloging your listening habits … Read more

Roger Linn lets his accomplishments do the talking. | Image: Roger Linn Roger Linn is a legend in the world of musical instruments. He’s been at the cutting edge of music technology for decades. He created the LM-1, the first drum machine to use samples, and its successor, the LinnDrum, is one of the most … Read more

Massive OLED TVs and Sonos speakers might be stealing the Memorial Day spotlight, but there are also plenty of great deals that won’t set you back nearly as much. In fact, some of the best discounts we’re seeing are on gadgets that retail for $50 or less, from portable chargers and 4K streaming devices to … Read more

Finding a cafe that fits you can be a revelatory experience. For me at least, there are few places outside of my house that I can truly feel comfortable in. I’m lucky enough to have two options in walking distance: a coffee shop that’s bright, airy, and full of art, and another that doubles as … Read more

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 129, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, come on you Gunners, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve mostly been sick, which has meant nearly a full rewatch of Parks … Read more

Just a stuffed deer having the time of his life. | Image: Gemini / The Verge Last year I deepfaked my kid’s stuffed animal to make it look like his plush deer was on vacation. It was an experiment to see if I could re-create the events depicted in a Gemini ad Google was running, … Read more

Google’s AI Overviews are running into an interesting problem right now. Earlier on Friday, if you searched for the term “disregard,” the AI Overview section would include a response like what you’d see from a more traditional AI chatbot instead of the typical AI summary, as spotted on X. As you can see in the … Read more

Twelve South’s AirFly Pro 2 let you connect wireless headphones to in-flight entertainment systems as well as the Nintendo Switch. | Image: Twelve South With Memorial day weekend kicking off the travel season, we’re seeing a lot of deals pop up on travel gadgets, from portable power banks to noise-canceling headphones. One of the best … Read more

Meta’s new Forum app for iPhones takes Facebook Groups and moves them to a dedicated app with a dedicated AI chatbot to go with it, like an AI revamp of the ill-fated Groups app Facebook shut down in 2017. Rather than going to ChatGPT or tacking “Reddit” onto the end of a Google search, Forum … Read more

There is a harsh truth about Elon Musk’s “truth-seeking” AI chatbot Grok: It’s not very good, and not many people are using it. That’s the takeaway of a new Reuters report, which found that Grok barely appears in federal records of how the US government used AI last year. It’s not the only sign xAI’s … Read more

Memorial Day is nearly here, meaning the seasonal sales are in full swing. If your weekend plans involve pool parties or barbecues, now is a great time to pick up a portable speaker or set of solar lights, as many of our favorite models are currently on sale. You can also find deals on everything … Read more

They say that Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer. I have my doubts given the less-than-balmy weather in many parts of the US this weekend, though that doesn’t mean it’s not an appropriate time to pick up some summer essentials — including a portable speaker / smart lamp like Govee’s Table Lamp 2 … Read more

Google officially filed its appeal of the federal ruling deeming it an illegal search monopolist, arguing the decision “crashed” through legal guardrails. “Google just prevailed in the marketplace fair and square,” it writes in its legal filing. Google had already said it would appeal the ruling, which includes both the August 2024 decision about its … Read more

Best Buy’s Memorial Day sale includes a good deal on a massive OLED TV. The 77-inch LG B5 is down to $1,499.99 (originally $2,999.99), and the purchase includes a $200 Best Buy gift card. I’m a 55-inch TV kind of person, but if you’ve got the budget — and the wall space — this is … Read more

Where’s the Trump phone? We’re going to keep talking about it every week. We’ve reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone’s whereabouts. It’s now been more than a week since Trump Mobile announced that phones would “start shipping this week.” Last week Trump Mobile announced that the T1 Phone was ready to … Read more

Since 2012, the British literary magazine Granta has published the regional winners of the annual Commonwealth Short Story Prize. This year, however, there was something off about one of the selections for the prestigious award: It appears to have been written by AI. Jamir Nazir’s “The Serpent in the Grove” has many of the hallmarks … Read more

Prompt something better than Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul,” I dare you. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images AI covers and remixes of songs are already a blight on the internet. Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are awash in flat reggae versions of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” dinky country renditions … Read more