Apple adds another buy now pay later service to Pay

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Apple Pay will now include Klarna as an option at checkout. The addition of the buy now pay later (BNPL) service comes just months after Apple shut down Pay Later, its own BNPL service launched in 2023. Klarna lets users purchase products with four interest-free installments. Even … Read more

Google is replacing the exec in charge of Search and ads

Illustration: The Verge Google is making a big change to company leadership. In a memo to staff posted on Thursday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that Prabhakar Raghavan, the senior vice president in charge of search, ads, and other important segments, will now take on the role of chief technologist. “Prabhakar has decided it’s time … Read more

Where to preorder Amazon’s first color Kindle and purchase other new models

Amazon’s 2024 lineup includes a new note-taking Kindle Scribe, a faster Kindle Paperwhite, an upgraded entry-level model, and the apt-titled Colorsoft. Earlier this week, Amazon refreshed its entire Kindle lineup while adding a new color model to the mix. The updated entry-level Kindle ($109.99) and Kindle Paperwhite ($159.99) are available now, while the Kindle Colorsoft … Read more

Philips’ Hue app now lets you edit lighting effects

The latest update to the Philips Hue app adds the ability to customize the intensity and color of lighting effects. | Image: Signify Philips is introducing four new lighting effects through its Hue app including an underwater option simulating the glimmer of light beneath the waves. The added effects are part of a new app … Read more

Instagram adds new guardrails to protect teens against sextortion

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram is launching several new features designed to protect teens from sextortion scams, which occur when scammers threaten to share intimate images of victims unless they receive a payment or more photos. One guardrail that’s rolling out soon will prevent people from screenshotting or screen recording disappearing images … Read more

2004 was the first year of the future

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge In early 2004, the world was shaking it like a Polaroid picture, flocking to theaters to see what was going to happen with all those hobbits, and wondering if that Tom Brady guy was something special. Meanwhile, a few folks around the world were inventing the web as we … Read more

Was this the sickest iPod?

I never owned an iPod Mini. Even as a college freshman back at the time of its introduction, I was already more of a full-size iPod kind of nerd. Mine was the third-gen model with the backlit buttons, which I maintain was the best version ever released. I wanted the most storage possible for the … Read more

Melodrama!

In 2004, I was an undiagnosed neurodivergent teenager who had given up on trying to fit in. It felt like everyone was trying to mold me into their version of perfect by chastising me when I did something “wrong.” It was confusing, exhausting, and demoralizing. I managed to make a few friends in high school … Read more

Remember Blockbuster?

It was a chilly winter morning in 2004. The scene was Stanley, Idaho — a city with a population of 101 and a current temperature of negative 17. My boyfriend, who had lured me here from London, England, handed me a bright red envelope and asked if I could drop it in the mailbox on … Read more

Oh, WoW

World of Warcraft, or WoW, is like the Red Hot Chili Peppers of the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre: not only is it still going strong but it’s also somehow even bigger than you thought. World of Warcraft’s current numbers aren’t public, but one recent educated guess came in at 7 million paying subscribers, which, … Read more

DJI says US customs is blocking its drone imports

DJI tells The Verge that it currently cannot freely import all of its drones into the United States — and that its latest consumer drone, the Air 3S, won’t currently be sold at retail as a result. “A customs-related issue is hindering DJI’s ability to import select drones into the United States.” That’s not because … Read more

Meta is laying off employees at WhatsApp, Instagram, and more

Illustration by The Verge | Photo by Tom Williams via Getty Images Meta has begun laying off employees across various departments, including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs, according to people familiar with the matter. Rather than a mass, companywide layoff, these smaller cuts seem to coincide with reorganizations of specific teams. Some Meta employees have … Read more

Instagram’s ‘social library’ could keep track of that funny video someone sent you

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram appears to be working on a new “Social Library” section in the app where you can easily access things shared in chat threads, your collections, and posts you’ve liked, according to an image shared by developer and leaker Alessandro Paluzzi. Judging from the looks of the screenshot from … Read more

JD Vance thinks monarchists have some good ideas

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images JD Vance is, by his own admission, “plugged into a lot of weird right-wing subcultures.” His much-mocked comments about childless cat ladies and unassimilated Italian immigrants were made on a “masculinist” podcast. He doesn’t eat seed oils, a dietary restriction du jour on the extremely online right. … Read more