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The official unveiling of the Switch 2 was an incredibly confident moment for Nintendo. It was brief and lacking almost entirely in details. There was no price, no release date, and no confirmed games outside of a Mario Kart tease . The 2 in the name implied a bigger and better Switch, but when it came to the how — the chips that will power the device, the screen that will make Zelda and Mario look great — Nintendo deemed it wasn’t important enough to share right away. And it’s right: unlike the rest of the industry, Nintendo has carved out a path where specs no longer matter. It wasn’t always this way. Previous Nintendo consoles were sold, as their contemporaries were, on horsepower. The Super Nintendo was a more-powerful NES, while the N64’s processor was deemed so important that the system was named after it. But things started to change around the time of the GameCube. Nintendo had experienced a steady decline in console sales over subsequent generations; while the...

The Z Flip 7 FE’s cover screen looks identical to the Flip 5 and Flip 6’s. The big difference between Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 7 and the cheaper Z Flip 7 FE will be their cover screens, going by new renders released by the leaker OnLeaks. Earlier this month he produced designs that show a new, larger cover screen on the flagship Flip 7 , but our first look at the more affordable “Fan Edition” instead includes Samsung’s older display design. The Z Flip 7 FE seems to use the same cover screen design as the Z Flip 5 and 6 , with a thick bezel and a stepped bottom edge that cuts around the camera lenses. By contrast, our latest look at the Z Flip 7 shows an edge-to-edge display that wraps around the cameras, similar to the screens on Motorola’s Razr Plus models . According to OnLeaks — who created the renders in conjunction with SammyGuru based on leaked details — the display will be the same 3.4-inch size as on the Z Flip 6. At 165.1 x 71.7 x 7.4mm when unfolded, the ph...

The see-through Beats Studio Buds Plus are an even better buy at $99.95. From the Apple Watch Series 10 and  Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 to the top-of-the-line Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra , Amazon’s Big Spring Sale has brought steep discounts on some of our favorite gadgets. There’s just one problem: a large chunk of them will set you back at least several hundred dollars, if not more. That can be a tough sell in a day and age when eggs are twice as expensive and tariffs loom large . We’re well aware of the current financial climate here at The Verge , so we’re highlighting some of our favorite budget-friendly picks alongside the best deals overall . These are gadgets and gizmos that are cheap-ish in price but not in quality. In fact, many of the items featured below, all of which can be had for $100 or less, are some of the best available. What’s more, many of them don’t require you to sign up for Amazon Prime, meaning everybody can join in on the savings. Headphone and earbud...

Billy Tolley swings a Microsoft Kinect around an abandoned room in sudden, jittery movements. “Whoa!†he says. “Dude, it was so creepy.†On the display, we see an anomaly of arrows, spheres, and red lines that disappears almost as soon as it arrives. For Tolley and Zak Bagans, two members of the Ghost Adventures YouTube channel, this is enough to suggest they should leave the building. Because for this team and other similar enthusiasts, that seemingly innocuous blotter of white arrows means something more terrifying: a glimpse at specters and phantoms invisible to the human eye.  Fifteen years after its release, just about the only people still buying the Microsoft Kinect are ghost hunters like Tolley and Bagans. Though the body-tracking camera, which was discontinued in 2017 , started as a gaming peripheral, it also enjoyed a spirited afterlife outside of video games . But in 2025, its most notable application is helping paranormal investigators, like the Ghost Adventur...

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 77, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, don’t forget to make your Venmo private, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I’ve been reading about RISC and Ben Affleck and Google’s new search boss , installing a SodaStream because my can situation is getting out of control, binge-watching How I Met Your Mother along with the new rewatch pod , watching Dead Talents Society after my colleagues raved about it, reliving a decade of great music through one Benny Blanco interview , enjoying a huge uptick in new friends on Signal , and doing a lot of retro racing in New Star GP . I also have for you a terrific new Apple TV Plus show, a deep dive into fax machines, the internet’s favorite new AI plaything, and much more. Kind of a light week this week, honestly, but still lots to dig into. Let’s do it. (As always, the best part of Installer ...

Samaung’s new Bespoke AI Jet Ultra cordless stick vacuum has an AI cleaning mode that senses floor types and automatically adjusts suction power and brush speed. In our notification-heavy world, there is still one activity where you might just miss that buzz on your phone or ping on your smartwatch – while you’re vacuuming. Thankfully, Samsung has a solution.  Its newest cordless stick vac, the new Bespoke AI Jet Ultra ($1,099), now has an LCD display control panel that, along with standard features such as power level and battery life, can notify you when you have an incoming phone call or text message. The vacuum, which works with an auto-empty charging station, also features 400AW suction and 100-minute battery life. Even better, if you’re doing the wash and left your phone in the other room, Samsung’s added touchscreens to its washers and dryers , including the new Bespoke AI Laundry Vented Combo washer / dryer ($3,099). This lets you answer a call directly on the built-...

Whenever  Verge  staffers are asked to describe their smart tech, office tools, kitchen gadgets, or whatever else, they talk about things they recently bought, things they picked up 10 years ago, or things they’ve had sitting around their house for decades. We’ve gathered a few of the items that our staffers have enthused about in the past that they use for charging, repairing, listening, cooking, gardening, and parenting, and that are now discounted as part of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale. Just in case you’d like to check them out. Kitchen help After realizing we’re not a family who likes to get their hands dirty while cooking (we leave that part to mixers and blenders), an automatic soap dispenser has become one of the most used devices in our kitchen. We opted for a  cheap $25 option from Amazon  that lets you adjust how much foaming soap is dispensed and lasts for a couple of months between charges, but companies like Simplehuman sell pricier  $80 versions...

I realized quite late in Assassin’s Creed Shadows that being this version of a shinobi is hard — but it was precisely the precision the game demanded that made it all the more rewarding. With Shadows , the Assassin’s Creed franchise has achieved both its most impressive stealth and assassination mechanics. At its best, Shadows evokes games like Arkane’s Dishonored series , mixing emergent action with an artful blend of skills and scenarios. While not nearly at the level of sophistication as those games, I nevertheless had moments that left me breathless from what I could achieve. These put me more in the space of immersive simulated assassination games than the most recent, chest-thumping Assassin’s Creed games. Here’s an example. In Ubisoft’s open-world third-person action game, I was faced with a group of about 10 men in a dark cave, all of whom turned out to be targets I’d been hunting for ages. They were all part of one group, who I’d been carefully taking d...

The Blade 16 is as sharp looking as ever. The Razer Blade 16 is designed to be the gaming-focused alternative to the MacBook Pro , and I’m always here for that. I love a gaming laptop that still looks and feels like a somewhat normal laptop, and the new Blade returns to a thinner and lighter chassis design after the last-gen got a bit chunky. The top-end configuration also adopts the new flagship Nvidia RTX 5090 laptop GPU and an even heftier price of $4,499.99 ($200 more than the 4090 model). I’ve spent some time with the new Razer Blade 16, but my first review unit had noticeable hardware issues and was replaced by Nvidia, which provided the Blades for RTX 5090 testing. I’ve only had the replacement unit for a few days, and while it doesn’t exhibit any of the same performance issues or buzzy speakers, it’s had a couple of random bluescreens of its own. I’m in troubleshooting talks with Razer, but while that’s ongoing, I’m still testing this laptop and sizing up...

When you can create art just by asking for it, what might you create? If you’re anything like the internet these last few days, you’d create some lovely things — stylized family portraits, a thousand different looks for the Distracted Boyfriend meme — and some truly, deeply, unfathomably horrifying ones. But most of all, it turns out, you’d turn everything, everything into a Studio Ghibli creation . On this episode of The Vergecast , we talk a lot about the Ghibli-ification of everything this week. The Verge’s Kylie Robison joins the show to explain OpenAI’s new image generator inside ChatGPT, which is vastly more powerful and accurate than anything the company has released before. It immediately made clear both how interesting and fun these AI tools can be, and how hugely problematic they are both legally and morally. The lawsuits seem to practically write themselves, but it’s still not at all clear where any of this is headed. Before we get to that, though...

Google is adding gaming support to Android Auto, with titles including Candy Crush Soda Saga and Angry Birds 2 playable from compatible cars’ touchscreens. The new feature is included in the beta version of Android 14.1, which is rolling out to testers now. Only four games are currently supported, with Candy Crush and Angry Birds joined by Farm Heroes Saga and Beach Buggy Racing . To play them on the car’s display you need to have the games installed on your phone first, and for obvious reasons they’re only available while the car is parked. 9to5Google tested it out , and found that when you shift out of park, “the game closes immediately and is grayed out within the app drawer and app switcher.” This addition also marks the first time that fullscreen apps have been available in Android Auto, though it’s not clear if the option will be extended to other types of app. Gaming and fullscreen support brings Android Auto closer in line to the software experience on cars with Googl...

If we genderswapped James Bond, Q would definitely use these. A few months ago, I was stuffing my face with Christmas cookies and catching up on the season 3 reunion episode of Netflix’s The Ultimatum . It was a typical tawdry hour of reality TV. Clout-hungry influencer wannabes dressed to the nines, nursing their bruised egos and rehashing the minutiae of why their relationships crashed out in front of a global audience. Kind of ho-hum, actually. And then, cast member Zaina Sesay roused me from my cookie-induced stupor by upgrading her beef to the 21st century.  “I have text message proof,†she said, smirking while beckoning over C-list celebrity host Nick Lachey with an outstretched thumb. “I have a chip on my nail.†Cut to the camera zooming in on said microchip. After Lachey scanned it with his phone, a folder neatly titled “receipts†magically appeared. I switched out the cookies for popcorn. And with that, the studio audience, the whole of TikTok, and this rev...

Vivaldi and Proton have teamed up to make it easier for Vivaldi browser users to privately explore the web without downloading a virtual private network (VPN). Starting today, the free version of Proton VPN is now integrated directly into Vivaldi’s browser , and can be accessed by logging into a Vivaldi account. The feature is currently only available on the desktop version of the Vivaldi browser. The free version of Proton VPN allows users to connect to servers in five randomly selected countries and provides “medium VPN speed.” Vivaldi browser users can also upgrade to a paid version of Proton VPN starting from $10 per month, which provides faster VPN speeds, the ability to choose which servers to connect to across more than 110 countries, and other additional features. It isn’t unique for web browsers to have VPN features baked in — Microsoft bolstered its Edge browser with the Edge Secure Network VPN , for example. Proton VPN can also be readily embedded into other web browsers...

Uber’s shuttle to JFK runs every 30 minutes. Uber is expanding its airport shuttle service to include one of the busiest hubs in the world, New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. For a limited time, customers can grab a ride from specific stops in Manhattan or Brooklyn to JFK for just $10. After April 30th, the fare increases to $25, including taxes. Airport runs are a crucial part of Uber’s business, and customers have expressed frustration at the rising cost of booking a car to the airport. JFK, in particular, is one of the most expensive airports for travelers, with Uber and Lyft trips costing $80 or more, depending on the pickup location. By bundling riders together in a shuttle, Uber hopes to introduce a more affordable option to budget-conscious customers. For JFK trips, customers can use the Uber app to book up to four seats in a shuttle. Rides can be booked up to seven days ahead of time or simply on the day you need it. Riders will get their pricing upfr...

When Princess Mononoke first debuted back in 1997, it marked a major turning point for Studio Ghibli. The studio had already dabbled in computer-generated imagery and digital compositing with films like Isao Takahata’s Pom Poko and Yoshifumi KondÅ’s Whisper of the Heart . But Mononoke was the first instance of Ghibli really embracing CGI as a tool to enhance one of its hand-drawn animated projects — something that writer / director Hayao Miyazaki had staunchly opposed in the past . The original prints of Mononoke that screened in theaters were already a gorgeous showcase of how seamlessly Ghibli could incorporate cutting edge technology into its traditional production workflow. But the studio plans for its upcoming Mononoke 4K restoration to be an even more visually-stunning example of how newer innovations can revitalize classic art. When I recently sat down with Ghibli’s vice president Atsushi Okui, who previously served as the studio’s director of photography for an...

All full-size electric bikes are now banned on most of London’s public transport. | Image: Mike Kemp / In Pictures via Getty Images Transport for London (TfL) has announced that all non-folding e-bikes will be banned from the majority of London’s public transport network. The ban has been driven by the fire risk from regular bikes converted into e-bikes using DIY kits , but extends to purpose-built e-bikes too in the name of easier enforcement. The new ban comes into effect on March 31st, and applies to the London Underground, Overground, Elizabeth Line, and DLR. The only e-bikes that will be permitted on those services are folding e-bikes, which TfL says are less likely to have been converted into e-bikes using mod kits. That exemption will be a boon for Brompton and Gocycle , two London-based companies that focus on foldable models. TfL says that “cycles that have been adapted using electronic conversion kits pose a greater fire risk than purpose-built e-bikes,” but that “it c...

If you’re looking for some solid evidence that Microsoft’s strategy to bring Xbox games to PS5 is seeing some early success, look no further than Sony’s own PlayStation Store today. The top preordered games in the US PlayStation Store are Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Forza Horizon 5 , with the $99.99 premium versions of both games proving the most popular. Resetera posters have noticed it’s the same story in the Canadian PlayStation Store and across a variety of European stores, including France , Germany , Italy , Spain , and the UK . Microsoft-owned Bethesda announced earlier this week that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will debut on PS5 on April 17th, with the premium version providing two days of early access starting April 15th. Forza Horizon 5  is also coming to Sony’s rival console on April 29th. Microsoft may have timed these two games perfectly for the PS5, amid a slow point for Sony’s own game studios, but the software maker has seen success with ...

Otter, the AI-powered automated transcription service, is launching a trio of artificial intelligence agents that aim to provide quick assistance and boost productivity during calls and meetings. The most notable is the aptly named Otter Meeting Agent, a voice-activated meeting assistant that’s capable of using company data to answer questions and complete tasks. Otter says its new Meeting Agent is a “transformative evolution” of the existing AI meeting chatbot it already offers . As such, the video Otter released demonstrating some of the Meeting Agent features shows off some text-based capabilities that the older AI assistant already provided, such as “attending” online meetings, transcribing conversations , and summarizing information . The Meeting Agent, however, can now  answer questions based on information in the company’s meeting database, and users can ask it to schedule future meetings and draft emails using “natural voice interaction.” Otter says the AI Meeting Agent...

Nvidia’s G-Assist was originally an  April Fools’ prank in 2017 before becoming a real tech demo last year and a functioning AI assistant for RTX GPU owners today. Project G-Assist is now available inside the Nvidia app, and will help to optimize game and system settings, measure frame rates, and even change the lighting on connected devices. G-Assist works as an AI assistant through voice or text prompts, so you can ask questions like “How does DLSS Frame Generation work?” and the assistant will give you a ChatGPT-like output. Where it gets a lot more interesting is the ability to ask G-Assist to optimize games for the best performance or image quality, or have it control the lighting of supported devices from Logitech, Corsair, MSI, and Nanoleaf. You can even ask G-Assist to analyze and optimize your entire PC, so it will detect if a game has a frame rate limiter, whether performance of your GPU is limited, and what you can do to improve overall performance. It can e...

Pop shell, have tent. | Image: iKamper Rivian and camping gear company iKamper have launched a new tent designed for the R1T electric truck that’s based on iKamper’s Skycamp 3.0 Mini pop-out tent. The $4,595 Skycamp Mini add-on stows away in a hardshell case that fits over Rivian’s bed rack and pops out to the side of the truck with a ladder to help you climb inside.  Since the shell isn’t directly on the roof like the official Yakima one designed for the R1S , the Skycamp Mini isn’t as much of a burden on the R1T’s aerodynamics, which could be important for range on your next trip. The tent also doesn’t eat into the truck bed space like Tesla’s rear-extending official CyberTent for the Cybertruck. So you have more space to store things like Rivian’s fold-and-stow cooktop system that adds two induction burners you can use right on the tailgate. As reported by RivianTrackr , the new Rivian x iKamper Skycamp Mini has a yellow color scheme matching the automaker an...

Today, I’m talking with Kakul Srivastava, CEO of music creation platform Splice. I don’t think I need to really introduce Splice, actually — I just need to play this clip: If you exist on planet Earth, you know that as the guitar loop from Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” which is an inescapable pop music phenomenon. You can check out the sample in full right here in the “Espresso” chorus . That loop is part of a sample pack on Splice — in fact, most of Espresso is part of a sample pack on Splice, which is one of the biggest marketplaces for loops and samples around. You can just sign up, pay the money, download the loops, and try to make pop hits all day long. This is a part of making music now, and it has been ever since Rihanna’s monster hit “Umbrella” was built around a GarageBand loop called “Vintage Funk 03” in 2007 . Listen to Decoder , a show hosted by The Verge ’s Nilay Patel about big ideas — and other problems. Subscribe  here ! Now, if you’re a Decoder ...