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Meta is planning to pump billions more into AI investments this year, despite noting that millions of users have seemingly started to abandon its platforms. In an earning call on Wednesday , Meta reported that figures for "Family daily active people" - the term Meta has coined for all collective users of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger - declined by 20 million this quarter compared to the previous three months. Meta attributes this fall to "internet disruptions in Iran, as well as a restriction on access to WhatsApp in Russia ." It's up to you whether you take Meta on its word, given that by bundling the user stats together across … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/nGc16jW

The Osmo Pocket 4 is no reinvention; it looks just like the Pocket 3. First they came for the drones, and now the vlogging cameras. DJI's Osmo Pocket 4 is the first of its compact steadicams not to launch in the US, following a string of DJI drones also missing the US market. The good news for American buyers is that the Pocket 4 is mostly an evolutionary upgrade, and there's little it does that the Pocket 3 doesn't (it looks like the rumored dual-lens Pro version will be more of a reinvention). The good news for everyone else is that those evolutions run throughout the Pocket 4, from the camera sensor to the controls. That makes this an unmistakable improvement over the previous generation. DJI Osmo Pocket … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/OvI9rEa

A developer has created a method to get Linux running on some versions of Sony's PlayStation 5 console. Andy Nguyen previously showed off a ported version of Ubuntu running PC games on a PS5 last month, and he's now published the installation steps on GitHub this week. This is a soft mod, so it won't persist between power downs or restarts, but the Linux installation will let you play PC games once it's up and running. So far we've seen GTA V running with enhanced ray tracing at 60fps in Ubuntu on a PS5, as well as Spider-Man running at 1440p resolution and 60fps. Nguyen is relying on a patched vulnerability to transform a PS5 into a Linux … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/QfmzOrA

A Baidu Apollo Go robotaxi in Wuhan, China. | Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images China has suspended new licenses for autonomous vehicles, Bloomberg reports , citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The move comes after dozens of robotaxis operated by Chinese tech giant Baidu ground to a halt in traffic last month in Wuhan, creating chaos. The restrictions will prevent companies from adding new driverless cars to their fleets, expanding into new cities, or starting new test projects. It is unclear when officials will start issuing new licenses again. Bloomberg said the Wuhan incident alarmed authorities in Beijing, prompting regulators to urge local governments to review the sector to prevent similar episodes. … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/GHBI52a

GitHub employees fixed a critical remote code execution vulnerability in less than six hours last month. Wiz Research used AI models to uncover a vulnerability in GitHub's internal git infrastructure that could have allowed attackers to access millions of public and private code repositories. "Our security team immediately began validating the bug bounty report. Within 40 minutes, we had reproduced the vulnerability internally and confirmed the severity," explains Alexis Wales , GitHub chief information security officer. "This was a critical issue that required immediate action." GitHub's engineering team developed a fix and deployed it jus … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/xg4oEz8

The trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI is officially upon us. And it is going to be a mess . As the two sides fight over the early days of AI, who deserves credit and cash for what, and more, we're likely to spend the next few weeks hearing a lot of important people's secrets made extremely public . Which may be exactly what Musk is going for. Verge subscribers, don't forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Vergecast wherever you get your podcasts. Head here . Not a subscriber? You can sign up here . On this episode of The Vergecast , The Verge 's Liz Lopatto joins the show to explain the origins of this case, how it got to trial, and why … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/l4CERV3

Ridiculous? Yes. Awesome? Also yes. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo was my pick for the best laptop of CES : It had two high-end screens, great specs, and the promise of being a one-of-a-kind multitasking and gaming monster. Now that this over-the-top laptop is here, I can tell you it's as fantastic as I had hoped for. It's also as expensive as I feared. Our review configuration costs $5,500. Woof. This laptop has a lot going on: two full-size 16-inch OLEDs, a top-of-the-line Nvidia RTX 5090 Laptop GPU, a near-top-of-the-line 16-core Intel Panther Lake chip, plenty of ports (including an SD card slot), and a great keyboard and trackpad you can remove and use via Bluetooth. These ar … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/k2TJHAO

Last August, some of the best cybersecurity teams in the business gathered in Las Vegas to demonstrate the strength of their AI bug-finding systems at DARPA's Artificial Intelligence Cyber Challenge (AIxCC). The tools had scanned 54 million lines of actual software code that DARPA had injected with artificial flaws. The teams were capable enough to identify most of the artificial bugs, but their automated tools went beyond that - they found more than a dozen bugs that DARPA hadn't inserted at all. Even before the security earthquake that Anthropic delivered this month with Claude Mythos - the new AI model that seems to find vulnerabilities … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/ORj0Mea

The supposed “Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide” dummy unit can be seen in the middle. | Image by Sonny Dickson The wide foldable phone that Samsung is reportedly developing is expected to arrive later this year, and now we may have some idea of what it will look like. Leaker and journalist Sonny Dickson has shared images online of what he says are dummy units of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy foldables, including the "Z Fold 8 Wide" - showing a passport-like design that's primed to take on Huawei's Pura X Max and Apple's long-rumored foldable iPhone . The leaked dummy unit suggests that Samsung's wide foldable will feature a dual-camera setup on the rear, down from three cameras on Samsung's other Z Fold phones. All three of the dummy units feature promin … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/TBFGrh4

The auto design world is full of advanced 3D visualization tools and VR sculpting platforms, but your average new car still enters the world as a sketch. Those sketches traditionally see endless iteration and refinement from all angles before being turned into 3D models by hand, some dying in the digital world, others sculpted into clay to better visualize lines and profiles. That's just the beginning of a design and development process that often takes a half-decade or more. That means many new cars hitting dealerships this summer were first sketched in 2020 or 2021, initiatives kicked off when alternative fuel incentives were widesprea … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/4HCdKQo

Who’s asking for this? | Image: Turtle Beach Turtle Beach's latest collection of PC peripherals are so focused around touchscreen displays that the company even slapped one on a gaming mouse. The $160 wireless Command Series MC7 features a 2.25-inch touch display bar on the left side of the mouse, which seems to be located in just the right position for users to worry about accidentally hitting it with their thumbs. The display bar is designed to function like a built-in Stream Deck , allowing users to assign customizable commands for macros, apps, and OBS controls. It also brings to mind the infamous MacBook Pro Touch Bar , which was easy to accidentally hit while typing until the feat … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/eWyPHYw

Before Coachella, Tomora wasn't on my radar at all. It's actually only by chance that I stumbled upon them - I opened the wrong stream because my TV was lagging like a MFer. I paused for a few moments, entranced by the two ethereal Nordic women banging on giant drums to a techno beat. I made a mental note to check them out the following weekend, because Drain was the priority (especially since the Sonora stage wasn't streaming on weekend two). It was only later that I would find out that Tomora is a collaboration between Norwegian singer-songwriter Aurora and Tom Rowlands, one-half of the Chemical Brothers. Suffice it to say, they were incr … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/yHLJdPf

Skylight’s color-coded smart calendar supports two-way syncing with Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, and Apple’s iCloud calendar, among others. | Image: Skylight When you’re juggling more than just your own calendar, staying organized can be overwhelming. Fortunately, the Skylight Calendar 2 can help simplify things by syncing multiple calendars in a single spot, and now through May 7th, it’s available directly from Skylight for $259.99 ($40 off), its best price to date. Skylight Calendar 2 Where to Buy: $299.99 $259.99 at Skylight Skylight’s 15-inch smart calendar improves upon the original with a brighter screen, faster performance, and a slimmer design with swappable magnetic frames. Otherwise, though, it offers the same core experience, making it easy for the whole family to see events at a glance, whether you mount it on a wall or place it on a kitchen counter using the included adjustable stand. It automatically syncs with Google, Apple, Yahoo, Outlook, and Cozi ...

Some relevant reading. In January I finally made good on my threat/promise to install Linux on my desktop . I wanted to see how far I could get using a Linux PC as my main computer without doing a bunch of research beforehand or troubleshooting afterwards. Since then I have booted into Windows exactly twice: once to scan a multipage document that wasn't scanning right in Linux, and once to print a photo for my kids' school on extremely short notice. There's a reason it's taken me three months to write the next installment in my Linux diary: nothing has gone horribly wrong. It didn't take long for my Linux install to stop feeling new and exciting and start feeling … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/CE0Hvq8

This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on Hollywood trends and streaming culture, follow Charles Pulliam-Moore . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sundays at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started Under David Zaslav's leadership, WBD got very into the practice of shelving its own nearly completed projects in order to cash in on subsequent tax write-offs . To help deal with its looming debt and operating costs , the studio killed Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah's live-action Batgirl feature and the Scoob! Holiday Haunt movie from Michael Kurinsky … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/S96pn4a

For a while there, it seemed like Double Fine might be struggling under the Microsoft corporate umbrella. The game studio led by Tim Schafer is beloved for offbeat titles like Brütal Legend and Broken Age , but after being acquired by Microsoft in 2019 , its only new release for years was a long-awaited sequel to Psychonauts . Of late, though, Double Fine is on something of a roll. Last year the studio released the wonderfully strange Keeper , a game about a sentient lighthouse. This week, it launched Kiln , a multiplayer brawler with adorable spirits and a whole lot of pottery. It's yet another oddball delight that could only come out of Double … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/g2e6nxG

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 125, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, send me cereal recommendations, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I've been reading about NASA seamstresses and friction and Muskism and scooters , highlighting the heck out of Jeff VanderMeer's terrific new short story , listening to the Dissect podcast's new season about Daft Punk, giving Firefox another run as my go-to browser, having my mind blown by amazing music video directors , and nodding along to John Oliver on prediction markets . I've also been dealing wit … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/cTMrqey

Apple and Samsung dominate the US phone market, and they've done so for years. Together with Google, they've shaped our sense of what a smartphone is and what it can do, pushing the boundaries of mobile photography, software, and processing power. But over the last few years, they've sat back, content to iterate rather than innovate - and in the interim, China's tech giants have plowed ahead. Now a gulf is growing between the phones on sale in the US and those available in the rest of the world. US phone buyers are missing out. Some of the blame for that gap lies with Apple. Where it goes, the market follows, and in recent years it's gone s … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/jM0GY5w

Instagram is testing a new dedicated app that's focused around Snapchat-like photo sharing features. The app, called "Instants," was launched in Italy and Spain yesterday, Business Insider reports , and allows users to send each other disappearing photos that are available for 24 hours and can be viewed only once during that window. The app is currently available on both iOS and Android . Meta hasn't announced if a desktop version will follow, or whether Instants will be launched in other regions, including the US. It resembles the "Shots" instant photo sharing feature that is already baked into Instagram messages (and was later rebranded to … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/Bo654JV

The three finalists for the World Press Photo of the year. | Image: World Press Photo We love to muse over how " real " photography is defined here at The Verge now that generative AI is so prolific, and the World Press Photo competition might have the answer. The prestigious award celebrates the best of photojournalism, where capturing reality is paramount. The winning entry for 2026 - " Separated by ICE ," captured by photojournalist Carol Guzy - was announced yesterday. The harrowing photograph shows children clinging to their father after an immigration hearing. The photo had to abide by specific rules around the use of AI tools to be eligible for the competition, with the independent, nonprofit organization behind the awar … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/UgjntZH

Earlier this month, millions of OpenClaw users woke up to a sweeping mandate: The viral AI agent tool, which this year took the worldwide tech industry by storm, had been severely restricted by Anthropic. Anthropic, like other leading AI labs, was under immense pressure to lessen the strain on its systems and start turning a profit. So if the users wanted its Claude AI to power their popular agents, they'd have to start paying handsomely for the privilege. "Our subscriptions weren't built for the usage patterns of these third-party tools," wrote Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code, on X . "We want to be intentional in managing our growth to … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/sdwVUZK

Eight bulbs are powered by a rechargeable battery built into a 6W solar panel. | Image: Govee Govee announced its first solar-powered lights today. They include a 6W panel with an integrated 4,800mAh battery that can be recharged with a single full day of sunlight (though if the weather's looking a little overcast, you can still charge it over USB-C). The Govee Outdoor Solar String Lights are available now through the company's online store and Amazon for $99.99 and feature eight color-changing bulbs on a 34-foot cable. On a full charge the bulbs will run for up to 13 hours, Govee claims, but that's with their brightness limited to just 10 lumens. The bulbs have a maximum brightness of up to 50 lumens, but you can expect the battery … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/xl7uOyK

Microsoft is rolling out a new Agent Mode inside Office apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint this week. Previously described by Microsoft as "vibe working," the Agent Mode is a more powerful version of the Copilot experience in Office that Microsoft has been trying to sell to businesses. "When we first shipped Copilot, foundation models were not powerful enough to use Copilot to command the applications," admits Sumit Chauhan , corporate vice president of Microsoft's Office Product Group. "This meant Copilot was a passive partner in documents: it could answer questions but missed the mark when it was asked to take action on the canvas direc … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/WpnbPaf

The first rule of Titanium Court is that you can't explain Titanium Court . Not because we're living under the omerta of an 8-bit Fight Club , but because it's one truth I can stand by. For the past week, I've been facing the consequences of getting isekai'd into a digital pastiche of the entire history of dramatic allegory and contemporary humor, leading a whimsical quasi-sentient court of wildly unmedicated faeries to their doom. They try, in their roundabout faerie way, to be helpful, because I don't know what I'm doing. "I'm looking forward to you explaining the game to me," said my editor Andrew Webster - words he silently swallowed after … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/70jtHbh

In 2019, a 36-year-old Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), newly elected to Congress, was photographed for the inaugural Time 100 Next List, wearing a dashing eye patch and looking upwards with hope. A Harvard-educated Navy SEAL who'd lost his legs while fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, Crenshaw was in rarefied company, listed among the magazine's candidates for tomorrow's leaders: musicians like Billie Eilish and Bad Bunny; athletes like Coco Gauff and Alysa Liu; business leaders like Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong; fellow political stars like Pete Buttigieg. Crenshaw was, Time declared, "what the Republican Party might look like after Donald Tru … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/YM0AnTR

Many startups spend years trying to become a household name. Others just spend $10 million on a Super Bowl ad . That's Dreame's bet. The little-known Chinese robot vacuum company has grand ambitions to become a global consumer electronics giant and chose to run a pricey 30-second spot as its opening move. If it works, the ad may be remembered as the beginning of the rise of the next global tech powerhouse. If it doesn't? Well, let's just say Quibi ran a Super Bowl ad, too. Dreame's CEO wants to be the Chinese Elon Musk Dreame - pronounced dreamy - used its half-minute of exposure to promise a dizzying product evolution: from robot vacuums a … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/dwCuFEW

Booster 19, or ''B19'', is seen atop pad 2 at SpaceX's South Texas facility in Cameron County, Texas, ahead of an igniter test on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | NurPhoto via Getty Images The great SpaceX IPO is looming, allowing outside investors - including regular Joe Schmoes, or retail investors - to buy a stake in one of the buzziest and most controversial companies on the planet for the first time. Depending on who you ask, it's either the best investment opportunity you'll see this decade or a fool's errand to rip off credulous Musk fanboys. With valuations of the company going to sky-high levels, over $1 trillion according to some estimates , there's certainly a furor around the potential for rich returns. But is there really any money to be made in space? Let's be clear: There are plenty of companies making money … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/GyETiQ6

John Ternus is going to be Apple's next CEO. And while outgoing CEO Tim Cook was lauded for his approach to logistics, Ternus' history is that of a product person. Ternus, Apple's SVP of hardware engineering before being officially tapped to take over the top job, has been increasingly in the public eye to help Apple announce its latest products. Ternus helped introduce the iPhone Air last September, its flashiest new iPhone of the 2025 lineup. He's also been the face of announcing new Macs for years, including Apple's first Macs with Apple Silicon in 2020 that profoundly transformed Apple's computer lineup, continuing through the 15-inch M … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/cnOLlYx

Yelp is giving its chatbot assistant a major upgrade, turning the platform into something closer to a digital concierge with a suite of new features designed for "getting things done." The move, one of several AI-focused updates in recent months, is part of a broader industry push to make AI more relevant and practically useful to consumers while turning huge troves of user-generated data into a competitive edge. In a press release, Yelp says the Yelp Assistant chatbot will be at "the center of the app experience," where it can answer questions, make recommendations, and even handle bookings in a single conversation. The bot will be availa … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/9muE6Lr

The Connection Keeper is an offline voice recorder vaguely reminiscent of the metal lid on Prego jars. | Image: Prego As if there weren't already enough devices listening in on everything being said in your home, Prego, the pasta and pizza sauce brand, is releasing a device designed to record everything said around the dinner table for posterity. The Connection Keeper, which looks like an oversized pasta jar lid, was created in collaboration with StoryCorps , the nonprofit organization focused on preserving the stories of Americans in a collection housed at the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center . There's no AI, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth, but you can optionally upload recordings to StoryCorps' website to make them easier to share with family. Prego says … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/cFnYLuM

As an avid vanlifer, I have to carefully curate everything I carry in order to eke out every square inch of storage I can to support life off the grid for weeks at a time. That's why I jumped at the chance to review DJI's latest power station. The DJI Power 1000 Mini is almost half the size of the original DJI Power 1000 released two years ago with the same 1kWh battery capacity. And from my calculations, it's also the smallest 1kWh power station from the major brands that money can currently buy. DJI's little power station also has a few tricks up its sleeve, including a built-in retractable USB-C cable, a light that can be controlled rem … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/UjzKdt2

Gully Foyle is my name… | Image: Brick Tower Press This might feel like a somewhat obvious recommendation to some, but it flew under my radar until now. Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination (originally published as Tiger! Tiger! in the UK) is a 1956 sci-fi novel that some have cited as a precursor to cyberpunk . It's a work I admit I have some conflicted feelings about, but one I think is well worth reading if you consider yourself a fan of sci-fi. It's also well worth seeking out a physical copy, something I wish I had known before I started reading it in the objectively inferior e-book form that can't capture the ergodic elements of the climax. It's hard to explain the plot of The Star … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/8zBb5gO

This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more stories on Big Tech versus politics in Washington, DC, follow Tina Nguyen and read Regulator . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started A long time ago, in 2004, the Federal Communications Commission laid down a rule designed to prevent a monopoly: No one company could broadcast to more than 39 percent of all the TV households in the United States. But then Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025. Brendan Carr became FCC chairman and immediately kicked off a deregu … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/AgXK7rW

From  fancy OLED TVs  to  robot vacuums with arms , we tend to cover a lot of cool stuff here at  The Verge  that, unfortunately, often costs as much as a month’s rent (or more). But with the ongoing tariff situation in the US and a global memory shortage pushing up the cost of, well, everything, we’re well aware that not everyone can spend that kind of money right now. So, as we did last year , we asked The Verge staff to share some of their favorite gadgets under $50. These are the gizmos that don’t fall apart after a few weeks, as cheap stuff often does, and quietly improve our lives. Some are practical purchases, like portable power banks and backup bulbs , while the rest are useful in other ways. After all, who doesn’t want a dirt-cheap Bluetooth speaker , a feature-packed pair of earbuds , or a fitness tracker that punches well above its weight? If you’re curious, you can check out our favorites below. GameSir Pocket Taco mobile controller Gam...