You can point your phone camera at Sam to pass age checks. Enforcement of the UK’s new online safety rules started on Friday, forcing a variety of platforms to roll out mandatory age verification tools for Brits. We already know that the age-gating checks are easy to bypass with a VPN, but what we didn’t … Read more
The Fujifilm X-E5 has a familiar but gorgeous new look. The X-E5 is Fujifilm’s tiny powerhouse. It’s part of a line of cameras that has often been described as similar to the X100, except with an interchangeable lens. But the X-E line has evolved this year and is taking on a new shape. It used … Read more
Back-to-school season is closer than you might realize, especially for college students, many of whom are set to return to campus in a matter of a few short weeks. And while school can be a challenging time on many fronts, regardless of the grade, there are tools that can help you better prepare for life … Read more
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 91, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, how is summer more than a month over already, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’m pondering the leaked Pixel 10 lineup, marveling … Read more
We’re in the heart of summer fun, but it’s already time for back-to-school planning, especially if that involves buying a new laptop. The dizzying number of different laptops and configurations can feel overwhelming, especially if you want something that doesn’t cost too much but will still last a long time. My general guidelines are to … Read more
When it comes to defending Donald Trump from the worst accusations, the MAGA influencer-industrial complex, whether out of loyalty or self-preservation, often defaults to whataboutism, arguing that the Democrats are just as guilty as Trump, or (ideally) worse. This principle has held true with the current Jeffrey Epstein saga, and as their audience’s anger against … Read more
Point-and-click adventure games often tell silly, lighthearted stories. For me, the mishaps of the pirate Guybrush Threepwood in the Monkey Island series come to mind. The nature of the genre – wandering around, talking to people, and trying to solve puzzles – lends itself well to humor, as every interaction with a person or object … Read more
The OnePlus Nord 5 does exactly what the company’s Nord phones have always done: deliver strong specs at a relatively low price. It’s one of the more powerful phones at this price point and should easily outstrip Samsung and Google’s more expensive alternatives. This is a function-over-form phone, one where the key selling points are … Read more
When new employees start at Weta Workshop, they’re herded into a meeting room with a long, unassuming conference table. On the walls, behind panes of glass and in between statues, swords, and masks, are five Oscars. Four of them were awarded to the studio for its efforts on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings … Read more
Yesterday, I mentioned how GPD is teasing the most potent handheld yet made — a GPD Win 5 that will house the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip, with AMD’s most powerful integrated graphics yet, inside a PlayStation Vita-shaped machine. If you’ve been wondering how that huge chip could even fit, handheld expert Cary “The Phawx” … Read more
This week, I take a look at the surprisingly strong state of Google, Meta gets a new chief AI researcher, and more. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out this week’s Decoder episode about deepfakes and where they are headed. Also, do you use an AI coding tool like Cursor or GitHub Copilot? … Read more
Streaming has become a tangled web of subscriptions, and now Comcast says it can help by putting all your services into one hub. Comcast is launching a new hub on its set-top boxes, called the StreamStore, where you can buy and manage subscriptions for more than 450 streaming apps and channels. The StreamStore lives within … Read more
As promised, Apple has finally revealed Pluribus, a new show from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan that’s coming to Apple TV Plus. In addition to a very brief teaser involving some gross donut behavior, the streamer also confirmed that the show will premiere on November 7th. The show has been in the works for a … Read more
Activists around the world are calling attention to harassment they’ve faced on Meta’s platforms. More than 90 percent of land and environmental defenders surveyed by Global Witness, a nonprofit organization that also tracks the murders of environmental advocates, reported experiencing some kind of online abuse or harassment connected to their work. Facebook was the most-cited … Read more
The Nintendo Switch 2 is easier to find than ever. Perhaps we’ve been thinking the same thing, you and I. That there won’t be a long-standing drought of Nintendo Switch 2 availability after all. The console has been easy to buy online from several retailers this week, including Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. Amazon, which … Read more
James Gunn knows that most people are familiar with Superman’s origin story, which is why DC Studios’ new feature about the Man of Steel opens at a point when he has already become a world famous superhero. Instead of rehashing the tragic beats of Krypton’s destruction, the movie is punctuated with moments that show you … Read more
US national debt currently exceeds $36 trillion, but if you want to toss a few extra dollars of your own money to try and help bring that down, you can now do so from a Venmo account, as spotted by NPR’s Jack Corbett. You can see the Venmo payment option on the Treasury Department’s “Gifts … Read more
The Core 2 Duo is now the Pebble 2 Duo. | Screenshot: Youtube Good news for Pebble fans. Not only are the Pebble watches coming back, they’ll also officially be called Pebble watches. “Great news — we’ve been able to recover the trademark for Pebble! Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this to work out so easily,” … Read more
Netflix seems to have finally settled on something resembling a strategy for its gaming efforts, and one of the key pillars is games tied to its shows and movies. That’s how we got the likes of Squid Game: Unleashed and Black Mirror‘s Thronglets. Now, as Happy Gilmore 2 hits the streaming service, it’s accompanied by … Read more
Lyft is partnering with Benteler Mobility to launch a self-driving shuttle service. In late 2026, Lyft plans to deploy the company’s all-electric Holon Urban shuttles in airports and cities around the US, allowing users to book trips from its ride-sharing app. Holon, a subsidiary of Benteler, says its rectangular bus has enough room to fit … Read more
The Bluetti AC2P is perfect for camping trips and unexpected power outages. | Image: The Verge We’re in the middle of prime camping season, when the days are longer and the temperatures are warmer. While it’s the perfect time to unplug, you don’t have to go completely off the grid, as Bluetti’s AC2P Portable Power … Read more
Back in 2024, we described how the then-new iOS 18 enabled you to tint your homescreen icons, allowing you to tweak the look of your iPhone’s display. Now, with Apple’s introduction of its Liquid Glass design for iOS 26, you can make your icons completely clear (assuming you’re a fan of the new invisible look). … Read more
Elden Ring Nightreign is finally getting a two-player mode. FromSoftware announced on Friday that it’s adding “Duo Expeditions” in a patch coming on July 30th, allowing you to take on enemies across Limveld with one other friend. Since Elden Ring Nightreign’s launch in May, the title has only let you play by yourself or in … Read more
Battery not included. I get a lot of odd pitches in my inbox, but “9V battery-flavored corn chips” still stopped me in my tracks. My mind was ringing with questions (What? Who? Why!?!), but most importantly: What are they going to taste like? This limited edition flavor comes from Rewind, a new brand launching in … Read more
US President Donald Trump displays an executive order, which is about AI, in Washington, DC, on July 23rd. | Photo: AFP via Getty Images President Donald Trump’s plan to promote America’s AI dominance involves discouraging “woke AI,” slashing state and federal regulations, and laying the groundwork to rapidly expand AI development and adoption. Trump’s proposal, released … Read more
This deal is on the platinum white model only. | Image: The Verge The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 has long been a Verge-favorite gaming laptop, and we consider it to be the very best one that you can buy. This year, the lineup became even more powerful and spec-packed while still retaining the low-profile and … Read more
The new Copilot virtual character. Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft’s AI CEO, has a vision of Copilot that involves it being so highly personalized that “it will age.” Microsoft has been increasingly pushing Copilot to be a personalized AI assistant, with a big redesign last year that included a conversational voice mode. Now, Suleyman’s Microsoft AI team … Read more
Wristy business. I’m just getting acquainted with Gemini on the Pixel Watch I’m wearing when it tells me that there’s a kind of pastry called “nun’s farts.” This relationship is off to a good start. “Nun’s farts” was a totally appropriate response, by the way. I’d asked it for a list of pastries with silly … Read more
Apple has had two months to refine Liquid Glass since introducing the design language at WWDC. It’s dialed the effect back, then amped it back up. It’s addressed some of the biggest complaints – the Control Center, for one – and left us to live with some of the others. So after all the tweaks, … Read more
Turns out, Cheez-Its have antioxidants. If I were to believe the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, I don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. Normally, smartwatches don’t make judgments about your nutritional intake. But this year, Samsung introduced a new experimental feature called Antioxidant Index. Using blue, yellow, and infrared LEDs, the watch’s sensor can pick up … Read more