Rocket Lab is buying Iridium’s satellite network for $8 billion to take on SpaceX

Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle lifting off from its launch complex in New Zealand. | Image: RocketLab Rocket Lab, the space company best known for its small satellite launcher Electron, has announced plans to acquire Iridium Communications for $8 billion. The deal will combine Rocket Lab’s launch services and spacecraft manufacturing with Iridium’s satellite-based communications … Read more

How to end a TV show

Ending any story is hard, but that’s especially true of mystery-packed TV shows. Series like Lost initially hook viewers with constantly building secrets and questions, to the point that they can often seem incomprehensible. But the promise is that it will all pay off in the end – a feat that few shows ultimately manage. … Read more

Comcast is splitting in two

Comcast has announced plans to separate itself into two publicly traded companies, spinning off its NBCUniversal and Sky broadcasting arms. The shake up aims to protect the media conglomerate’s profitable broadband and wireless brand, which will retain the “Comcast” company name, as its media and entertainment business – now collectively named “NBCUniversal” – faces increasing … Read more

China claims the world’s fastest supercomputer

The LineShine supercomputer at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen. | Photo: Liang Xu/Xinhua via Getty Images Despite trade restrictions, China has reclaimed the title of the world’s fastest supercomputer for the first time since 2018. LineShine has pushed El Capitan out of number one on the TOP500 ranking. That’s despite strict limits on what … Read more

Nest’s quest to fix your thermostat

The founding story of Nest is pretty much a perfect tech myth. A legendary product maker (in this case, Tony Fadell) helps create one of the most successful products ever (the iPhone) and then rides off into the sunset to enjoy the rest of his life, only to have an experience that drags him back … Read more

Ad-free streaming is a luxury now

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more news about the streaming industry, follow Emma Roth. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Streaming was once a reprieve from cable. Not only could … Read more

Teenage Engineering adds lo-fi mode, USB audio, and more to its KO II sampler

Teenage Engineering has already issued multiple substantial updates for its surprisingly capable $329 EP-133 KO II sampler. Its latest is one of the biggest yet. OS 2.5 adds audio over USB, selectable sample rates for lo-fi fun, sample reverse, an arpeggiator, equal-length autochopping, and it extends the maximum length of a sample from 20 seconds … Read more

Indie developers got tired of waiting for a new Star Fox, so they’re making their own

Nostalgia remains a powerful force. So much so that, in exploring the echoes of a late-’90s childhood spent skimming the water of Corneria and sneering “cocky little freaks!” in time with a monkey encased in a Gundam suit, I’m simultaneously describing playing Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars if you’re nasty) in 1997 and streaming it … Read more

Inside the room where the smart home industry is still betting on Matter

Four years ago, overlooking a canal in Amsterdam, the smart home industry collectively launched Matter, the one interoperability standard to rule them all. Heralded as the solution to the industry’s struggles, Matter was built on open standards and existing technologies and is the result of years of collaboration between traditional rivals, including Apple, Google, Amazon, … Read more

This might be the new best smart speaker

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 134, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope you’re okay in all this heat, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about Polymarket lies and Jalen Brunson and … Read more

Anthropic’s Mythos 5 is back

After a rollercoaster negotiation process with the Trump administration that dragged on for two weeks, Anthropic’s Mythos 5 is finally back in action – at least, somewhat, for a select group of organizations, according to a letter from the government to Anthropic that was viewed by The Verge. Fable 5, however – the public-facing Mythos-class … Read more

My favorite Govee smart lamps are at their lowest prices ever for Prime Day

We’ve already rounded up the best Philips Hue deals of Prime Day, but if you’re looking for something a little more budget-friendly, Govee’s latest sale is worth checking out. The company has heavily discounted several of its color-changing smart lamps, including the Table Lamp 2 ($53.99, down from $79.99), Floor Lamp Basic ($59.99, regularly $99.99), the … Read more

The beautiful shame

While European tourists marvel at ranch dressing, Buc-ee’s, and other wonders of Middle America, would-be World Cup attendees from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East have experienced a different American pastime: exclusion. President Donald Trump’s nakedly racist immigration policies have prevented scores of people from traveling to the United States for the event – even, … Read more