Latest Technology

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...

Two years ago I attended a picturesque outdoor wedding in August where the hot and humid weather had guests occasionally ducking into their cars to enjoy a blast of AC. Dyson’s new $99.99 handheld fan would have provided some much-needed relief then, although I’m not sure I would have been comfortable powering it up during the service or reception. The HushJet Mini Cool is as slim and sleek as Dyson’s recent thin vacuum and hair dryer , but it’s not quiet enough to earn the name “Hush.” That’s unfortunate because the HushJet Mini Cool is yet another product Dyson has redesigned to look and perform better than what’s already on the market. All of its components — including the motor, 5,000mAh rechargeable battery, and spinning blades — are safely contained inside a cylindrical body 38mm in diameter that’s easy to slip into a pocket. Many handheld fans use flexible or folding blades that are left exposed and not ideal for kids, or they stuff the moving parts into a bulbous section on ...

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 124, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, send me your Coachella fits, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I've been reading about restaurant bread and GLP-1s and Lenny Rachitsky and Artemis II fashion , watching the new boy band doc because I will always watch a boy band doc, also watching every clip I can find from Justin Bieber's Coachella set, filling the Schitt's Creek -shaped hole in my heart with Big Mistakes , getting increasingly excited about The Mandalorian and Grogu , and watering my new lawn so it … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/Igd9u2y

People keep trying to make Peloton more than what it is, when the product itself is enough. This is Optimizer , a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they're going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here . The camera zooms in on two well-formed cheeks clad in white shorts. These buns of steel belong to one Hudson Williams, star of the steamy hockey romance Heated Rivalry . As the camera pans up, a bead of sweat drips down his chin toward his clavicle. Sweaty abs are shown. The music swells. Hollywood's mega-hunk of the moment is swaying his chiseled visage back and forth, semi-gyrating on… a Peloton treadmill. A $6,695 … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/o4Ga7uN

All empires eventually fall, and it seems the creative software industry has collectively decided that Adobe's time has come. The Creative Cloud provider's suite of design tools have been considered the industry standard for decades - despite unpopular decisions to fully embrace generative AI and abandon software licenses in favor of expensive, complicated subscriptions . Pricing in particular has given competitors an opening to attack. Some of the best alternatives aren't just undercutting Adobe's price - they're available for free . People love free. One example that was announced this week is Autograph , motion design software akin to Ado … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/SsoDO9w

This weekend's scheduled Blue Origin rocket launch is rather momentous. Success would signal an end to SpaceX's monopoly on reusable orbital launch vehicles, and set up a three-way race to make that "No Service" indicator on your phone disappear forever. On Sunday morning, Jeff Bezos' massive New Glenn rocket is scheduled to launch with the first-stage booster that launched and landed on the program's second mission last November. It's a critical test, because cost-effective booster reuse is what's made SpaceX's Falcon 9 so dominate. Amazon desperately needs a reusable rocket of its own to accelerate its Leo launches. Without one, it's onl … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/FtuGUmL

Intel is announcing a family of cheaper Panther Lake laptop processors called the Core Series 3 line. They're built on the same Intel 18A process as the higher-end Core Ultra Series 3 family of chips, but they have less of just about everything spec-wise. The Core Series 3 (non-Ultra) line encompasses six different chips, with the highest end being a six-core Intel Core 7 360 and the low-end model being a five-core Intel Core 3 304. Compared to their Ultra counterparts, the Core Series 3 across the board have fewer CPU cores, Xe graphics cores, and PCIe lanes. They're capable of less TOPS, a lower TDP wattage, and are limited to two Thunder … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/OJCkBZf

Govee has announced an upgraded version of its hanging Curtain Lights Pro that can instead be used nearly anywhere you have access to an outlet or large battery. At $449.99, Govee's new Lightwall is more than twice as expensive as the $199.99 Curtain Lights Pro, but comes with more LEDs in a denser array and a self-standing aluminum frame that can be assembled in 10 to 15 minutes without the need for any tools. When hung from its stand the Lightwall measures 7.9 feet wide and 5.3 feet tall and features 1,536 color-changing LEDs spaced about 1.96 inches apart in a 48 x 32 grid. It's water-resistant, and with the ability to refresh at up to 3 … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/EX1fY87

Spotify and the three major labels have won a $322 million default judgement against Anna's Archive, the open-source library and pirate activist group that planned to publicly release millions of music files scraped from Spotify's platform. The judgement comes after the unknown operator of Anna's Archive failed to respond to a lawsuit filed by Spotify, Universal Music Group (UMG), Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony Music, which was made publicly available in January. The lawsuit was launched in response to Anna's Archive announcing in December that it had ripped 86 million songs from Spotify and intended to create a "preservation archive" f … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/A6wK1xn

Apple quietly threatened to kick Elon Musk's AI app, Grok, from its App Store in January over its failure to curb the surge of nonconsensual sexual deepfakes flooding X, according to NBC News . It was a muted show of force from one of tech's most powerful gatekeepers, made behind closed doors even as the undressing crisis unfolded in full public view and criticism over Apple's cowardice mounted. In a letter obtained by NBC News , Apple told US senators it "contacted the teams behind both X and Grok after it received complaints and saw news coverage of the scandal" and demanded that the developers "create a plan to improve content moderation." … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/v0lCy6c

It's not a PC port or a remake , but Sony is returning to the Gothic world of Bloodborne . There aren't many details yet - Sony says that "plot details are still being kept under wraps" - but the game is being adapted into "an R-rated animated feature," with YouTuber Seán "Jacksepticeye" McLoughlin ( a known Bloodborne fan ) serving as a producer. No word on when the film might be premiering. First released in 2015 on the PS4 , Bloodborne is developed by FromSoftware, the same team behind the dark fantasy Souls series. Like those games, Bloodborne is known for its brutal difficulty, but it's also beloved for the fully realized city of Yharnam th … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/TmxD142

The lightweight Airbag deploys in just milliseconds after detecting a crash. | Image: Van Rysel What you're looking at is a new airbag system integrated directly into a "race-ready" skinsuit, not bolted on like other solutions. It was developed for road cyclists by Van Rysel, with the help of airbag technology specialist In&motion. It's currently being tested on pro riders ahead of a general consumer release sometime "within the next two years." Its development comes after the UCI, pro cycling's governing body, put out a call in February seeking gear that could help protect riders traveling faster than ever. The current version is in final validation ahead of potential race deployment. It has a total weight of about 700 grams (500 gr … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/FGZaM0J

Roblox is making a subtle but notable change. After swapping the word "game" for "experience" all over its website and mobile apps in 2021 while the Epic Games v. Apple trial was taking place, Roblox is getting more comfortable with using the term "games" once again. "Over time, we've learned that 'experiences' isn't an intuitive term for many parents, older players, and game developers," Roblox spokesperson Juliet Chaitin-Lefcourt tells The Verge . "'Games' is clearer and better reflects what Roblox is and where we're going." One of the Epic v. Apple trial's major points was trying to define what a game is . Roblox sits in a bit of a middle … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/eQJ8Gw3