TheVerge

The sweeping layoffs announced by Microsoft this week have been especially hard on its gaming studios, but one Xbox executive has a solution to “help reduce the emotional and cognitive load that comes with job loss”: seek advice from AI chatbots. In a now-deleted LinkedIn post captured by Aftermath, Xbox Game Studios’ Matt Turnbull said … Read more

The Ploopy Knob controller can double as a desktop fidget toy. | Image: Ploopy Ploopy has announced another desktop accessory called the Ploopy Knob that can function like a control dial for adjusting volume, scrolling documents, or scrubbing through media on a computer. The Canadian company isn’t exactly a household name like Logitech, but Ploopy’s … Read more

Once upon a time in America, there was a tyrant. And Congress rejected him totally. The tyrant, of course, was King George III, the target of the Declaration of Independence. We take it for granted now, but the Declaration was an enormous political innovation – in it, the country that became the United States of … Read more

I walked into Blackdot’s tattoo studio in Austin’s east side on a sweltering May afternoon. After shaking my sweat-soaked hand, founder and CEO Joel Pennington led me up into an office building and opened the door to a small, three-room space. Critics have unflatteringly compared the studio to a sterile hospital room – a comparison … Read more

The new Fairphone 6 is smaller and more modular than older models in the series, but it’s just as repairable. The phone picked up a perfect score in iFixit’s teardown test, despite no longer offering tool-free battery replacements. It helps that the only tool you do need — throughout the phone — is a T5 … Read more

Tiny, but still holds the biggest phones. Bicycle phone mounts have been a regular part of my life in bike-obsessed Amsterdam ever since 2008, when I got my first phone with built-in GPS and turn-by-turn navigation. I’ve used dozens of mounts since, until they were either lost, broken, or stolen, or something better emerged. I … Read more

The old “Under $20,000” banner has been replaced with “Mid Twenties.” | Image: Slate Auto Slate Auto’s American-made electric pickup — the one with no paint, no stereo, and no touchscreen — is no longer priced “under $20,000.” The increase is a result of Trump’s “Big, beautiful bill,” which will end the federal EV tax credits on September 30th … Read more

The most frequently curated content on the White House Wire, the Trump administration’s attempt to aggregate pro-Trump “real news” from across the right-wing media, doesn’t come from Truth Social, Breitbart, or even Fox News. It comes from YouTube – notably, from the White House’s own channel. The White House Wire was launched at the end … Read more

You want your games to play the smoothest they possibly can – but sometimes, screen technology gets in the way. That’s why some of the latest TVs and handhelds feature variable refresh rate (VRR) screens that can compensate when your graphics can’t deliver a consistent 60 or 120 frames per second. The Nintendo Switch 2 … Read more

A Freedom of Information Act request has produced letters that the US Department of Justice sent to Google, Apple, Amazon, and several other companies in order to assuage their concerns about breaking a law that banned US web services from working with TikTok. The documents — obtained by Zhaocheng Anthony Tan, a Google shareholder who sued … Read more

One name is popping up a lot across tech startup social media right now, and you might’ve heard it: Soham Parekh. On X, people are joking that Parekh is single-handedly holding up all modern digital infrastructure, while others are posting memes about him working in front of a dozen different monitors or filling in for … Read more

The Republican-controlled US Congress has passed a budget bill that includes cuts to social programs like Medicaid and more funding for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), alongside provisions that discourage wind and solar energy production. Passed after a marathon debate in both houses, it will allow President Donald Trump to realize policy goals he’s so … Read more

E Ink’s new ePaper touchpad could draw less power than LCD or OLED alternatives. | Image: E Ink E Ink has developed a new touchpad for laptops featuring the same electronic paper technology found in e-readers. It’s not the first company to look at the ever-growing size of laptop touchpads and see the potential of … Read more

The deal includes the Paramount Plus Premium plan, which combines Paramount Plus and Showtime content. If you’re looking for an affordable way to kick off your July 4th weekend, Paramount Plus has a deal worth checking out. Just in time for the July 17th premiere of the third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, … Read more

Whether you’ve still got the original band that came with your Apple Watch, or if you’re hungry for more band color options, Woot has a bevy of bands available at up to 70 percent off their normal prices. The Solo Loop band is the most affordable option, costing just $14.99 at Woot in a range … Read more

“Right now, the people who create recorded music do it for free, but any money that changes hands goes into the pockets of Daniel Ek.” | Image: Cath Virginia / Sophie Daws On Monday, the long-running indie rock band Deerhoof made an announcement: it was pulling its music from Spotify. The impetus was Spotify founder … Read more

Pretty much everything you liked and disliked about the Whoop 4.0 is true of the Whoop 5.0 and MG. The tragedy of a niche product is if it sees any success, two things will happen. First, rivals big and small will copy its ideas. Then, to combat that existential threat and appease investors, there’ll be … Read more

Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers 2 will make the jump to the Xbox Series X and S consoles on August 26th, costing $39.99. This is the first PlayStation-published title to launch on Xbox. The title will ship with cross play between all platforms. The cooperative PvE third-person shooter was an unexpected hit when it first launched … Read more

Lego’s latest homage to retro gaming is a tiny arcade machine that opens to reveal a miniature gaming room. | Image: Lego At 468-pieces it’s no where near as elaborate as Lego’s buildable Pac-Man machine, but this 6-inch tall Arcade Machine set will only set you back $39.99 when it launches on August 1st, 2025. … Read more

This image is a display concept that Samsung showed off in March, but the leaked trifold design is pretty similar. Samsung may have inadvertently given us a first look at its upcoming “multifold” device in the latest One UI 8 build update. Some animations spotted by Android Authority show what the trifold Samsung flagship might … Read more

In a 92-minute interview with Tucker Carlson on Monday, RFK Jr. drilled down on his vision for the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Artificial intelligence – arguably, a uselessly vague umbrella term – came up multiple times. (As did conspiracy theories and disinformation on vaccines and autism, the medical establishment, and covid-19 … Read more

It’s that time again: for a third year running, the summer is looking pretty great for streaming some science fiction. There’s just something about cool fictional futures that’s a good fit for hot summer days spent indoors, and it seems the various streaming services agree. It’s been a pretty good year so far for the … Read more

Both custom and pre-made Gems will now be available to use via the side panel in Workspace apps. Google is giving Workspace users a way to access “Gems” — customizable versions of its Gemini AI assistant that specialize in specific tasks — without opening the Gemini app. Gems are now available directly in the side … Read more

Racist videos that appear to be created with Google’s AI video generation tool Veo 3 have raked in millions of views across TikTok, according to findings from the nonprofit media watchdog Media Matters. The AI-generated videos uncovered by the organization are filled with racist tropes, many of which target Black people. Media Matters determined that … Read more

Microsoft’s layoff of roughly 9,000 employees is continuing to have downstream effects at the company’s subsidiaries. Aftermath reports that as many as 100 developers at Blizzard have been impacted, and as a result the studio is winding down development on its mobile tower defense game Warcraft Rumble. In an announcement, Blizzard wrote that while the … Read more

A mandatory update for Google’s mid-range Pixel 6A phones is coming next week that is meant to reduce the risk of the battery overheating on some devices. According to a support page post, Google is issuing the mandatory Android 16 update starting July 8 to all Pixel 6A devices. However, only users with “Impacted Devices” … Read more

On July 2nd, Microsoft announced sweeping layoffs affecting as many as 9,000 employees, and they had a big impact on the company’s Xbox studios. Microsoft cancelled Perfect Dark from The Initiative and closed the studio. Rare’s Everwild, announced in 2019, was cancelled, too. And Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios will lose more than 70 … Read more

Microsoft says that Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming CEO and the head of Xbox, isn’t retiring “anytime soon.” The company has responded to rumors of Spencer’s retirement, which have spread online today following Microsoft’s major layoffs. “Phil is not retiring anytime soon,” says Kari Perez, head of Xbox communications, in a statement to The Verge. The … Read more