The first wooden satellite launched into space

Artistic representation of Lignosat wooden satellite. | Art: KyotoU/Gakuji Tobiyama In a first for the world, scientists launched a satellite made from wood into space. As it orbits the planet from some 250 miles away, researchers will study whether wood is sturdy enough for space. Called LignoSat, after the Latin word for wood, the satellite … Read more

Hacker suspected in massive Ticketmaster, AT&T breaches arrested in Canada

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Authorities in Canada have arrested a man suspected of stealing information from around 165 companies using Snowflake’s cloud storage services, according to reports from Bloomberg and 404 Media. The Canadian Department of Justice confirmed to 404 Media that it arrested Alexander “Connor” Moucka on October 30th following … Read more

Here’s when the Black Friday sales start at Amazon, Walmart, and other retailers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Black Friday officially kicks off on November 29th, but if you plan to make that the only day you buy gifts this holiday season, you’re missing out. Several prominent retailers, including Best Buy and Target, have already started rolling out their holiday discounts online and in-store. Both retailers … Read more

Judge declines to block Musk’s $1 million voter giveaways

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon Musk’s America PAC can move forward with its $1 million giveaways to voters after a Philadelphia judge declined an emergency petition from District Attorney Larry Krasner to block them. During a hearing earlier on Monday, a representative for the political action committee said prize winners … Read more

Here’s FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr sucking up to Donald Trump by threatening to take NBC off the air

Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr loves the idea of government speech regulations, and he especially loves the idea that he will be the one to impose them in a future Trump administration. That’s the short version. Here’s the slightly longer, dumber version: Kamala Harris made a cameo appearance on … Read more

Apple will let you upgrade to ChatGPT Plus right from Settings in iOS 18.2

Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge Apple’s second iOS 18.2 developer beta includes a new feature for update’s integration with ChatGPT: users will be able to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus from the Settings menu, 9to5Mac reports. ChatGPT Plus is OpenAI’s paid version of ChatGPT, offering features like more messages with its GPT-4o model, for $19.99 … Read more

Meta AI is ready for war

Image: Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta will now allow US government agencies and contractors to use its open-source Llama AI model for “national security applications.” In an announcement on Monday, the company said it’s working with Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Oracle, and others to make Llama available to the government. Under Meta’s “acceptable … Read more

X is allowing people you’ve blocked to see your posts

Illustration: The Verge This weekend, X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, announced it’s “starting to launch” a controversial change to how blocking works on its platform. Company owner Elon Musk first revealed the change in September, which will allow people you’ve blocked to continue to see your posts, and, as noted by TechCrunch, your … Read more

The New York Times Tech Guild is on strike

Photo: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images The New York Times Tech Guild went on strike at 12:01AM ET today, reports The Washington Post. The guild represents over 600 software engineers, product managers, data analysts, and designers for the media company. Its strike leaves the company bereft of crucial technical expertise just one day … Read more

Oops, Apple approved another illegal streaming app

The French-language app shows new movies like Terrifier 3 and Venom: The Last Dance. | Image: Thomas Ricker / The Verge Another illegal streaming app has made its way to the App Store — but it only surfaces pirated films for people in certain regions outside the US, including France, Canada, and the Netherlands. As … Read more

Perplexity debuts an AI-powered election information hub

The Verge AI search company Perplexity is putting to the test whether it’s a good idea to use AI to serve crucial voting information with a new Election Information Hub it announced on Friday. The hub offers things like AI-generated answers to voting questions and summaries of candidates, and on November 5th, Election Day, the … Read more

Can Nintendo’s Alarmo run Doom? You bet it can

This, but blasting demons. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge What do John Deere tractors, Ikea smart bulbs, Lego bricks, and the MacBook Pro Touch Bar have in common? They can all run Doom, and naturally, so can Nintendo’s adorable Alarmo alarm clock. It was only a matter of time before someone pulled … Read more

Your favorite musician’s favorite TikTok show

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge Guess the artist, win five bucks. Whether you’re a random person on the streets of New York, an A-list celebrity, or the sitting Vice President of the United States, that’s the pitch behind one of the most fun music shows on social media. You show up, you get some … Read more