Author: News Room
Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro Max has become the most traded-in smartphone just four months after it launched. With a stat like that, you’d probably assume something’s gone horribly wrong – battery drama, overheating complaints, or perhaps a camera backlash. The reality? None of the above. In fact, there’s nothing wrong with the iPhone 17 Pro Max at all which, incidentally, is why it stands proud on our best smartphones list. All is revealed in new figures reported by MacRumors, based on trade-in data from SellCell, which suggests the surge is actually being driven by one simple factor – the iPhone…
You’ve got to hand it to Vivo: the China- and India-centric phone maker is able to churn out mid-range mobiles with impressive regularity. Just six months on from the V60, we now have its V70 successor. But beneath a new-look exterior, has the underlying hardware changed enough in such a short space of time to justify its existence? I got my hands on one ahead of the official unveiling to find out. A full review is pending until I’ve spent a little more time with my sample, but at first glance it seems like a case of diminishing returns –…
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg entered a downtown Los Angeles courthouse in largely the same way as all the attorneys, reporters, and advocates who’d come to watch his landmark trial testimony, but with one notable difference: he was flanked by an entourage that appeared to be wearing Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses. To get to the courtroom, he walked past a crowd of parents whose children died after struggling with issues they attribute to the design of social media platforms including those that Meta makes. He would spend the next eight hours often answering questions in his signature matter-of-fact (or less charitably,…
Phison is one of the leading makers of controller chips for SSDs and other flash memory devices — and CEO Pua Khein-Seng has now become a leading voice for just how bad the RAM shortage might get.Companies may need to cut back their product lines in the second half of 2026, and some companies will even die if they can’t get the components they need, he agreed, in a televised interview with Ningguan Chen of Taiwanese broadcaster Next TV.While the interview’s entirely in Chinese, friends of The Verge stepped forward to confirm parts of a machine-translated summary that’s been making…
Meta is planning to launch a smartwatch with health tracking and AI features later this year, along with an updated version of its Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses, The Information reports. The smartwatch would arrive ahead of a pair of mixed reality glasses, code-named Phoenix, that Meta has reportedly delayed until 2027 amidst efforts to streamline the company’s AR and MR roadmap.Meta previously scrapped plans for an earlier smartwatch in 2022 due to technical challenges and cost-cutting measures. If the new watch, code-named Malibu 2, comes to fruition, it would intensify competition with Apple, which is rumored to be working…
Dyson has announced an alternate version of its skinny PencilVac that’s designed to clean spills and stains on hard floors instead of sucking up dirt and debris. Like the PencilVac, which Dyson called “world’s slimmest vacuum cleaner” when it was announced nine months ago, the new PencilWash squeezes a battery, motor, and other electronics into its 1.5-inch-diameter handle. But it trades a dust bin for a water reservoir located in its larger cleaning head featuring a single floor-scrubbing roller.At 4.9 pounds without water or a low foaming cleaning solution in its tank, the PencilWash is slightly heavier than the four-pound…
A set of bellwether cases alleging that social media platforms harmed teens’ safety and mental health is going to trial this year, putting executives like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the stand to answer questions about what they’ve done or not done to protect kids.Unlike many earlier legal challenges against social media companies, these cases managed to overcome the companies’ attempts to get them dismissed based on objections citing Section 230, a law that protects online platforms from being held liable for their users’ speech. They accuse companies like Meta, Snap, TikTok, and Google-owned YouTube of designing their platforms in…
A leaked internal email obtained by 404 Media shows that Ring has bigger plans for its AI-powered neighborhood search capability than just looking for lost dogs. The outlet reports the email, sent last October by founder Jamie Siminoff to all Ring employees, says that with Search Party, “You can now see a future where we are able to zero out crime in neighborhoods.”The ad, which details how AI can be used to search through footage from Ring’s network of cameras, sparked concerns that it could be used as a broader surveillance tool.In response to earlier questions from The Verge, Ring…
Amazon’s new Fire TV software redesign is making its way to users in the United States. The new streaming interface, revealed during CES 2026, is a free update that promises to boost the overall speed and make it easier to find what you want to watch. The update revealed in January was built to help users cut down on that dreaded scrolling time when picking a show or movie. Often, by the time something’s agreed upon, the motivation’s gone and it’s time for bed. Amazon reckons this time is about 12 minutes on average and it’s actually getting longer due…
On Wednesday, Audible launched a new “immersion reading” feature that could help readers concentrate on their audiobooks by allowing them to read along with the ebook version. While listening to an audiobook in the Audible app, users can tap the “Read & Listen” button above their book’s cover art to see the text version of what they’re listening to. As the audio plays, the text is highlighted in sync.The option to read and listen at the same time could help improve reading comprehension for readers who struggle to stay focused on their books. It could also be useful for people…
Microsoft is working on a bunch of new features for Windows 11, including a new network speed test that you can access from your taskbar. The tool is bundled in an update rolling out to Windows 11 Insiders in the Release Preview Channel, allowing you to right-click the network icon in the system tray to access a speed test option that opens in your default browser.From there, you can check how fast your connection is over Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or cellular data. Microsoft first started testing this feature last year, and it could offer a convenient alternative to checking your connection…
Amazon-owned Audible has responded to Spotify’s new Page Match feature with a new ‘Read and Listen’ experience that promises to unite the two ways of consuming books. The update announced on February 18 is designed to assist audiobook lovers by offering synchronised and highlighted text within the Audible app. The idea is to create a “seamless multi-format experience” between ebooks and audiobooks. Spotify’s new feature is designed for users with the physical book to pick-up where they left off on the audiobook (and vice versa), while Audible already offered a means of switching between Kindle ebooks and the Audible audiobooks…