Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from July, 2026

Samsung Unpacked 2026: all the news from the July foldable launch

Samsung is set to reveal a new slate of foldables at this summer’s Galaxy Unpacked, which kicks off at 9AM ET / 6AM PT from London. In addition to a Galaxy Z Fold 8 that adopts a wider form factor , Samsung is expected to reveal an upgraded Z Fold 8 Ultra with a larger battery, and a refreshed Z Flip 8. We might see some new wearables, too, as rumors point to launches for the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 and Watch 9. You can follow along with all the news from Samsung’s July Galaxy Unpacked below. I’m at Galaxy Unpacked ready for Samsung’s new foldable. Samsung Galaxy Unpacked July 2026: How to watch Samsung can’t afford to play it safe with Apple’s first foldable looming from The Verge https://ift.tt/uD7w6NT

The 2026 Honda Prelude is a marvel of hybrid technology

When it comes to enthusiast-geared Honda hardware, the Civic Si, Civic Type R, and Acura NSX often come to mind first for their revvy VTEC (Honda's form of variable valve timing) engines and playful chassis dynamics. The Prelude, on the other hand, less so. Instead, the Prelude is a technological study - still aimed at driving fun, but by way of integrating clever forms of engineering into a sleek grand touring coupe body. The second-generation Prelude's fuel injection was derived from F1. Then the third gen got four-wheel steering way back in the late '80s. The fourth gen? It was the first everyday Honda to inherit the NSX's VTEC on both t … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/HBk2clC

Utility companies are promising to spare us from AI’s energy bill

The pledge was introduced in March, and has done little to quell concerns so far. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images In the face of backlash to concerns the AI boom will increase consumer electricity bills, the largest utility companies and data center developers in the US are now promising to do something about it. The Wall Street Journal reports that nearly 200 organizations have signed President Donald Trump's "rate payer protection pledge" that's meant to safeguard average citizens from footing the AI bill. Trump is expected to announce the new signatories on Thursday, which include NextEra Energy, Duke Energy, Equinix, and Digital Realty, according to a list obtained by The WSJ . An unnamed White House official told the publication that those who hav … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/SMdmAw1

Halliday’s latest smart glasses feature a much-improved display

I was not a fan of the original Halliday glasses. The Gen 2 are better. | Image: Halliday I first slipped on Halliday's original smart glasses at CES 2025. I was not a fan. The glasses had a tiny, movable display window embedded into the frame that was incredibly finicky to see, and my 30-minute demo left me with achy eyeballs. It was an interesting concept with terrible execution, especially compared to the several other smart glasses on the show floor . So I was skeptical when a few weeks ago, Halliday reached out to say its second attempt at smart glasses was much better. Well, having tried the Halliday Gen 2, I'm happy to report these are better glasses. That secret display window is gone, replaced by more traditional but dis … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/pD3bCad

America needs to stop getting shocked by Chinese AI

SHANGHAI, CHINA - JULY 20 2026: People visit the booth of Kimi, an LLM developed by the Chinese startup Moonshot, during the World AI Conference in Shanghai, China, Monday, July 20, 2026. | Image: LONG WEI/ Feature China/Future Publishing via Getty Images Last week, two Chinese AI companies unveiled models they say can credibly compete with the best systems from OpenAI and Anthropic. The response was swift and predictable. Markets wobbled , commentators declared Silicon Valley shooketh, and policymakers reached for the familiar language of arms races and wake-up calls. In one headline, The Associated Press said a Chinese model had taken the "US tech industry by surprise." Bloomberg described it as a "surprise breakthrough" that is " roiling markets " and sending global tech stocks tumbling over concerns it could force US firms to rethink their gargantuan spending on data centers, chips, and ot … Read the full story at ...

Who’s afraid of the big, bad GPU?

How does AI make you feel? Are you excited to “vibe-code” your smart home ? Or anxious about all the added pollution and billions of gallons of water used by data centers? Dig a little deeper and you’ll start to question the actual value of the GPUs that underpin all the leaps and promises of generative AI.   Right now, GPUs, hundreds of thousands of them, are being crammed into data centers around the world to power the AI boom. These chips are also found in everything from smartphones to cars to gaming PCs. Nvidia — once a niche chipmaker that has become the world’s most valuable company — still brags about releasing what it calls “the world’s first GPU” and a “gaming breakthrough” in 1999, although some trace the origins of the GPU back to at least the ’70s with graphics hardware used in arcade games.  “There are massive hardware developments that start because of games,” says Catherine Flick, a professor of ethics and games techn...

Avengers: Doomsday’s first trailer puts everyone on high alert

After months of teasing us with reminders about how large Avengers: Doomsday 's cast is going to be , Marvel has finally released a proper trailer for the film. Though Robert. Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom definitely appears to be causing a lot of the chaos in Doomsday 's first trailer, the movie seems like it's going to feature more than a few moments where different teams of heroes fight one another. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) seems to be the only person who understands that the X-Men , the Fantastic Fou r, and the (New) Avengers need to be more focused on dealing with their new Latverian enemy . And while Thor might not be able to rally the troops on h … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/rhiX1LA

AliExpress fined almost $630 million over illegal product sales

The fine is more than double the penalty that Temu was slapped with for similar DSA violations. | Illustration: The Verge AliExpress has been hit with a €550 million (about $629 million) fine for violating Europe's Digital Services Act (DSA) rules by failing to prevent illegal, unsafe, or counterfeit products from being sold on the e-commerce platform. The European Commission ruled that AliExpress didn't take effective measures to reduce the dissemination of illegal products, noting the company "allocated insufficient staff" to verify products, and failed to remove unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics for "multiple weeks" after they were detected. "The spread of counterfeit clothing, unsafe toys, dangerous cosmetics and other illegal and harmful products is not … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/2uaOIx5

China delivers a one-two punch to America’s AI dominance 

China's leading AI companies are ramping up the pressure on Silicon Valley, as Moonshot and Alibaba unveiled models they claim can go toe-to-toe with the best from OpenAI and Anthropic at a fraction of the cost. The rapid-fire releases suggest America's lead at the AI frontier is increasingly tight, just as the technology is becoming central to national security, economic power, and geopolitical influence. The opening salvo came from Beijing-based Moonshot AI, one of China's leading AI model developers, which unveiled Kimi K3 on Friday. Moonshot claims its own testing ranks it consistently above nearly every US system, trailing only OpenAI … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/yzNRIVp

US Marshals arrest the Tate brothers in Miami

Andrew and Tristan Tate talk to the media on March 23, 2025 in Romania. | Image: Andrei Pungovschi/Getty Images The manosphere influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate were arrested Saturday in Miami by US Marshals in relation to new rape and sex trafficking charges in England. According to the Associated Press , British authorities are seeking the brothers' extradition. The new charges facing Andrew Tate include seven counts of rape, three of sex trafficking, three counts of assault, and "19 charges relating to sexual images of children and extreme 'pornography,'" according to the New York Times . Tristan Tate faces two new charges of rape, one of sexual assault, and three of sex trafficking. This is in addition to the 21 charges already announced in 2025 … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/cLuFrDz

The Clapper was a bad smart home gadget — and a viral sensation

Clap on. Clap off. Well, more like, Clap, pause for half a beat but no longer because otherwise it'll stop hearing you, clap again because you waited too long, clap louder and faster, that didn't work, clap two more times, and suddenly: on. The Clapper didn't always work - and even when it did, it might fry your gadgets in the process - but it managed to become a big hit anyway. On this episode of Version History, we tell the story of The Clapper, from its beginnings as The Great American Turn-On to its debut alongside one of the great advertising campaigns of all time. The Verge 's David Pierce and Victoria Song are joined by Allison Marsh , … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/plJCvYE

The future of physical games is not looking great

Grand Theft Auto VI release won’t offer a disc. | Image: Rockstar Games This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on video games and physical media, follow Jay Peters. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started As a kid, I relished trips to Best Buy, GameStop, and the nearby mall so that I could browse video games. I loved sifting through games and chatting with my friends at the store about upcoming releases. On the lucky days I actually got a new game from the store, I treasured reading through every page of the manual on the drive home. Over the years, I built up a collecti … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/hZ4ursY

The grueling, 630-mile road race where the only fuel is sunlight

The 2018 Solar Car Challenge was the last time participants took their designs out on the open road. | Image: Lehman Marks / Solar Car Challenge On July 19th, dozens of teams of high school students will begin a five-day, 630-mile road race from Fort Worth to Fort Stockton in Texas. But this is not your typical contest. The students design and build the cars themselves, using off-the-shelf parts and 3D printed materials. The winner is the team that accumulates the most driven miles. And the only fuel they can use to power their Frankenstein-looking vehicles comes from that mass of incandescent gas that hangs in our sky: the Sun. This year is the 30th anniversary of the annual Solar Car Challenge , a contest that brings together high school students from around the country with the on … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/1Wy5Ome

Surprise! Facial recognition smart locks are actually good

Facial recognition smart locks are here; now you can unlock your door the same way you unlock your phone. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Hands-free unlocking is the future of smart locks. The best smart home tech removes friction, and having your door unlock for you as you walk up is as frictionless as it gets - no passcodes to remember, no need to have a free hand to wave, press, or poke at the lock. One way to achieve this nirvana is through facial recognition. You already unlock your phone with your face; why not your home? Hands-free unlocking using geofencing has been around for a while, but it can be slow and unreliable, and requires an app running in the background on your phone. Newer innovations - facial recognition and unlocking using an ultrawideband (UWB) radio - … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/81EBvb3

The apps, gadgets, and tools every reader needs

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 136, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, hope your neighborhood isn't as smoky as mine, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I've been recording the next season of Version History (this season's finale is out on Sunday!), reading about data center heists and Backyard Baseball and the creator of Calvin and Hobbes , canceling my October plans to see Digger 30 or 40 times, taking on the new Knockout Tour routes in Mario Kart World , learning more than I ever intended about Staten Island thanks to Revisionist His … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/OnZvxHX

Trump is selling high-speed access to his market-moving Truth Social posts

Trump Media, the company behind Truth Social, is selling Wall Street faster access to the "most market-moving" posts on the US President's social media platform. On Thursday, Trump Media announced plans to launch "Truth API," a licensed real time data feed for businesses that provides "the fastest access to Truth Social's most influential accounts." It goes live on August 1st. Similar APIs are common across other social media networks, but those aren't as fraught with conflicts of interest. While Trump Media hasn't disclosed how much the API service will cost, it stands to benefit the Trump family, with them being the largest shareholder in … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/S230DUI

The war on ‘woke science’ comes for space research

The Trump administration is waging a culture war on science , and the latest salvo is in the form of a dry, bureaucratic proposal from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that could threaten the future of US science as we know it . The proposal would give political appointees unprecedented control over grant funding, the method through which scientists receive federal money to perform groundbreaking space research such as the search for evidence of organic compounds on Mars or the discovery of some of the earliest galaxies in the universe . A typical proposed rule from the OMB garners less than 100 public comments. This rule has nette … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/WGDKXit

God Of War TV series is recasting Kratos

Hurst (seen left as Kratos) had reportedly already completed four episodes of filming for the series. | Image: Amazon Amazon's upcoming God Of War show has hit a major snag - it's now on the hunt for a new Kratos, after an on-set injury put its current lead actor out of commission. Sons of Anarchy star Ryan Hurst was originally cast for the role in January, with Deadline reporting that four episodes of the God Of War production had been fully completed before he tore a bicep performing a stunt. Production on the show has now been paused, and is eyeing to resume in mid-October. Unfortunately that isn't enough time for Hurst to fully recover from surgery. The completed episodes will now be reshot with a new actor, causing further delays to the show following … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/AUmPins

Claude can now use your 1Password credentials for you

1Password has launched a new browser integration for Claude that allows the Anthropic chatbot to access stored security credentials like usernames and passwords. The 1Password for Claude feature means that users can authorize Claude to complete multi-step tasks like booking travel and managing online accounts on their behalf without having to manually input their login credentials, but without actually exposing your security information to Anthropic's AI models, according to 1Password. That's made possible by a new "zero-exposure security framework" developed by 1Password, which works by injecting the required credentials for each task thro … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/K2aOmPb

Google ordered to open Android and Search to rivals in Europe

Google must give rival AI assistants and search engines greater access to key parts of Android and Google Search after the European Union ordered the company to comply with the bloc's digital antitrust rules. The two decisions , handed down Thursday, could weaken Google's control over two of the tech industry's most important platforms and have far-reaching consequences for the company, shape the future of its AI tool Gemini, and open up new opportunities for rivals to gain ground. Google has until January 2027 to begin sharing search data and July 2027 to implement changes to Android. The rulings stem from technical regulatory proceedings … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/sabq3jJ

COMPUTER COPS: Inside the big business of selling AI to the police

I stood before a hulking glass and brick structure in the heart of Fort Worth, Texas. Thousands gathered inside to see what had been billed as "the future of policing in the digital age." As press, I was prohibited from entering, but from a number of nearby locations, I met with attendees who told me what was being sold within. And I learned that AI is threatening to seize the very heart of policing in America. The promise of AI at this year's International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Technology Conference focused on automating routine parts of the job, which also happen to be critical steps in the legal process. It's a similar … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/r9AgXwJ

Home Depot’s viral 12-foot skeleton now talks

Skelly returns for 2026 with some new capabilities. | Image: Home Depot The Home Depot is once again upgrading its 12-foot-tall skeleton to help keep the viral piece of Halloween decor popular as spooky season creeps closer. Skelly is borrowing some of the tech introduced in the smaller 6.5-foot Ultra Skelly last year, including letting you speak through the skeleton's moving mouth using a mobile app. The new version of Skelly will be available online starting tomorrow for $379 and in Home Depot's stores later this summer, along with a new collection of Halloween characters. Skelly was last upgraded two years ago with eight different animations for its animated LCD eyes, but the new version bumps that to 20 dif … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/cnqRaMK

The PS6 sure sounds like a handheld

The PlayStation Portal — not a new PS6. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge The video game industry is in turmoil. Microsoft and Sony are starting to pivot to their next consoles, but it's not looking great: Prices are soaring , Sony is killing the video game disc , and Microsoft is jettisoning studios ahead of the transition. What could entice people to pay? On the Xbox front, we genuinely can't say . But on June 5th, Sony dropped an unusual number of hints about the future of PlayStation in an investor "business meeting" Q&A . This Q&A arrived a month before Sony announced the end of PlayStation discs. But when I reread it with the death of discs in mind… it hits differently. Let's walk through it, shall we? Pa … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/ZQfF3Ku

EverQuest’s biggest fans are leading its revival

Lord Nagafen stares down a Froglok. | Image: Daybreak Game Company Live-service games and the companies that run them are in big trouble . Games and their developers are getting shut down and gutted , and publishers' huge promises are dubious . Meanwhile, EverQuest , one of the original live-service games, is thundering back more than 25 years later. EverQuest Legends is currently in preorder beta with an upcoming release date of July 28th. The original EverQuest was a foundational MMORPG from right around the time we started to define what a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game was. Legends is a reimagining of that MMORPG as it existed in 1999, when it was first released, before decades of expansions … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/VM3mAb6

Google’s Demis Hassabis says it’s time for a global AI watchdog — led by the US

Demis Hassabis, during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. | Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images Demis Hassabis thinks the world needs an AI watchdog with the power to hit the brakes if frontier models become too dangerous. Writing in a blog post , the Google DeepMind CEO and cofounder said the US should lead the initiative, arguing that the country is the best place to set global standards "given its economic and technical standing." The organization, which could resemble existing regulators like the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, would be made up of leading independent experts and representatives from open-source communities and would have the authority to evaluate frontier models before they are released and coordinate an … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/v38NFHV

Let’s build a children’s public internet

An increasing number of people seem to agree the internet is terrible for children - allegedly addictive, destructive to self-esteem, possibly a portal to predators. Over the past year, several countries have started requiring stringent age verification or outright bans for minors. At the end of June in the US, the House of Representatives passed the Kids Internet ​and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, the latest in a string of attempted online child safety regulations. A couple of days later, a Pew Research Center survey found over half of US respondents favored a ban on social media for anyone under 16. There's a growing sense that the digital wo … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/NDVBIdg

The 6 wildest claims in Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI

When Apple employees interviewed for jobs at OpenAI, the AI startup's hardware head allegedly asked them to show up with something unusual: components they were working on and unreleased product samples. That's according to a blockbuster lawsuit filed by Apple, which accuses OpenAI of stealing confidential documents , spying on hardware prototypes, and tricking one of its trusted partners into performing a proprietary product design technique. The lawsuit primarily revolves around the alleged actions of three people: Tang Tan, a 24-year Apple veteran who recently served as the vice president of the Apple Watch. In 2024, Tan left to work on … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/6Xa9zTc

The Asus ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet with 64GB RAM is down to $2,100

Almost all gaming laptops have gone up in price over the past year. Curiously, the surprisingly fast Asus ROG Flow Z13 gaming laptop/tablet combo has not. It’s actually gotten quite a bit cheaper recently. Best Buy has the lowest price on the configuration that includes the AMD Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 “Strix Halo” chipset, a whopping 64GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Originally $2,999.99, it’s down to $2,099.99. Amazon  has a version with half the RAM selling for $100 less, but the 64GB model is, obviously, a far better deal. Asus ROG Flow Z13 (2025) Asus’ latest gaming tablet opts for integrated graphics over a discrete GPU. That sounds like a downgrade, but its AMD Strix Halo APU gives it solid battery life and graphics performance on par with RTX 4060 laptops. Read our review . Where to Buy: $2299.99 $1999.99 at Amazon (AMD Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 + 32GB) $2999.99 $2099.99 at Best Buy (AMD Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 + 64GB) The Flow Z13 isn’t for those wh...

This free Mac app reveals the truth about your mystery USB-C cables

WhatCable. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Nearly three years ago, I showed you an awesome $8 cable tester that quickly tells you if your USB-C cable is likely fast, slow, powerful, or weak. Sadly, that gadget got discontinued, and I've never found anything as intuitive or inexpensive since. But if you've got a Mac with Apple Silicon chips, you can simply download an even more impressive tester for free. It's called WhatCable , and it works by reading the data your Mac already collects about attached USB devices, data that Apple doesn't normally pass along to you. Just click a little widget that lives in the menu bar atop your Mac, and you can see every USB-C cable and device attach … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/XYHmKMi

How Philips Hue got the smart home right

A photo of a lightbulb glowing purple. | Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The state of the smart home can be frustrating, because it is just so obvious how things ought to work. You should be able to control everything from everywhere. Your spaces should adapt to what you're doing and how you're feeling. Making your home smart shouldn't require renovating, and the smarts should be mostly invisible. All of this is, of course, incredibly hard to pull off - but the goal is pretty clear. Until now, maybe no product has come closer to nailing the smart home than Philips Hue. And on this episode of Version History , we dig into all the things Hue got right. The Verge 's David Pierce and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy are joined … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/rCZvXfs