Author: News Room

Introduction Motorola is no stranger to foldables. The Razr is arguably the best of the clamshell class, schooling even Samsung on how to best use a flip phone’s outer display – yet the firm has never felt the need to turn its hand to a book-style device. Until now, that is. The $1900/£1800 Motorola Razr Fold is very much a first attempt: it’s not trying to be the thinnest, most powerful, or best equipped on the camera front. But as all-rounders go, there’s an awful lot to like. That’s doubly true for US phone fans, who until now have only…

China’s Zhipu AI (Z.ai) released its open-weight GLM-5.2, and some researchers have claimed that it matches Mythos in certain bug-finding and cybersecurity scenarios. While GLM lags behind models from Anthropic and OpenAI in other, more general tasks, it seems that China has dramatically reduced the gap in the capabilities between its models and those of the US.This level of advancement is particularly concerning to the US government, which has worked to restrict China’s access to powerful models like Anthropic’s Mythos and Fable, as well as the hardware necessary to train and run them. The Trump administration views Mythos and other…

Despite trade restrictions, China has reclaimed the title of the world’s fastest supercomputer for the first time since 2018. LineShine has pushed El Capitan out of number one on the TOP500 ranking. That’s despite strict limits on what high-powered computing components can be sold to China by US firms, which dominate the list, with America holding three of the top five spots. LineShine doesn’t even use any GPUs, which are typically the backbone of modern supercomputers.While reaching the peak of the Top500 carries obvious bragging rights, it also serves as a message from the Chinese government to the US. The…

The founding story of Nest is pretty much a perfect tech myth. A legendary product maker (in this case, Tony Fadell) helps create one of the most successful products ever (the iPhone) and then rides off into the sunset to enjoy the rest of his life, only to have an experience that drags him back for one last job. For Fadell, that job was to try and reinvent the thermostat. And maybe change the way our homes work forever.On this episode of Version History, we tell the story of the early days of Nest. The Verge’s David Pierce, Nilay Patel,…

I’ve seen lots of so-called “smart” bike locks over the years, but none so far could justify the added cost. A newcomer that got its start securing ATMs for banks is trying to change that. There’s nothing wholly unique about the TMD Chain Lock, but the combination of materials, performance, and insurance-friendly ART-2 certification makes it worth considering.TMD’s first bicycle lock combines a Bluetooth proximity sensor and motion alarm with a slender core of hardened steel chain wrapped in a soft and lightweight sleeve of high performance Dyneema and Kevlar fibers. That makes this lock tough, yet flexible enough to…

Introduction I was blown away by the Mercedes-Benz CLA when I drove it at the tail-end of last year. It drove like a dream, was super-efficient and the base level 250+ Sport trim wasn’t short on kit. Now that I’ve spent some time behind the wheel of the Shooting Brake version, though, it’s absolutely the estate that gets my vote. Yes, CLA 250+ AMG Line Premium Plus Shooting Brake is a ridiculously long name, but it clues you in as to the abundance of extra features and functions to expect in the cabin – as well as a more generous…

Teenage Engineering has already issued multiple substantial updates for its surprisingly capable $329 EP-133 KO II sampler. Its latest is one of the biggest yet. OS 2.5 adds audio over USB, selectable sample rates for lo-fi fun, sample reverse, an arpeggiator, equal-length autochopping, and it extends the maximum length of a sample from 20 seconds to 40 seconds by capturing mono, instead of stereo, audio.Sample reverse is such a simple feature that it’s shocking it wasn’t implemented earlier. An arpeggiator doesn’t always make a ton of sense on a sampler, but the KO II sounds so incredible repitching samples (like…

Apple is looking to alleviate some of the pressure on its supply chain by seeking an exception from the Trump administration to buy RAM chips from CXMT, a company blacklisted by the Pentagon over ties to the People’s Liberation Army, according to the Financial Times. The skyrocketing prices of RAM and storage have driven Apple to raise prices on almost all of its products this week, so it makes sense that it would seek alternative sources.Legally, Apple isn’t barred from buying chips from CXMT, but doing business with a company tied to the Chinese military would carry serious reputational risks.…

Four years ago, overlooking a canal in Amsterdam, the smart home industry collectively launched Matter, the one interoperability standard to rule them all. Heralded as the solution to the industry’s struggles, Matter was built on open standards and existing technologies and is the result of years of collaboration between traditional rivals, including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung.Matter promised an end to walled gardens and ecosystem lock-in. It promised to make a smart home device, like a lock, lightbulb, or sensor, easy to buy and set up. It promised you could choose any brand, use any platform, no expertise required —…

Tim Cook recently said price increases were “unavoidable” and described the company’s pricing as “unsustainable.” The 16-inch MacBook Pro saw its price go up by $300. The 11-inch iPad Air went from $599 to $749. Even the HomePod Mini got a $30 bump to $129. Cook squarely placed the blame at the feet of the AI industry, which is not surprising. RAMageddon has already come for your desktop PCs and gaming consoles. The Xbox has seen its price climb nearly 25 percent depending on the model, and Nothing even canceled an entire phone launch. Apple is just the most recent…

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 134, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope you’re okay in all this heat, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)This week, I’ve been reading about Polymarket lies and Jalen Brunson and the Arts and Crafts Movement, watching Not Suitable for Work and way too much of the World Cup, trying to catch up on The Bear before the final season starts, playing a bunch of Hank Green’s 4×3 game, trying my absolute hardest not to preorder this…

Meta’s latest smart glasses, announced this week, are cheaper and ditch Ray-Ban branding and the Wayfarer design. Otherwise, they do exactly what you’d expect Meta smart glasses to do. Which is why much of the conversation around them – and smart glasses as a whole – inevitably ended up as a row about privacy. That focus isn’t wrong. But in some ways it’s a shame, because smart glasses have the potential to change people’s lives for the better, in truly meaningful ways. For example, when paired with machine learning and AI, they can be powerful accessibility aids to the partially…