Author: News Room

On Tuesday, during Apple’s weeklong product launch event, a listing for the “MacBook Neo (Model A3404)” appeared on a regulatory compliance page on Apple’s website under its lineup of 2026 MacBooks. First spotted by MacRumors, the listing appears to be an accident and has since been removed, but may have been a leaked reference to a rumored entry-level MacBook. Unfortunately, it didn’t include any additional details beyond the device’s name and model number.The lower price and an “entirely new design” could help the new MacBook appeal to students and casual users, competing with Chromebooks and low-cost Windows laptops. A more…

Year after year, we mostly know what to expect from our smartphone upgrades. Galaxy, iPhone, Pixel, or whatever else, everything seems to get slightly better (and occasionally more expensive) without many surprises in store. That’s not to say there are no new ideas left in smartphones, though. You just have to know where to look. 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 Allison Johnson reports back from Mobile World Congress, which is positively…

When it launched the 17 and 17 Ultra in Europe on Saturday, Xiaomi bucked an industry trend: it didn’t really talk about AI all that much. And it really didn’t talk about AI when it showed off the two phones’ cameras, including a special edition 17 Ultra co-created with Leica. According to Angus Ng, the company’s director of communications and public relations, that’s no mistake.“We’re still currently focusing on what is the limitation of hardware,” Ng told me at MWC 2026, when I asked why its photography approach seemed so different to Google and Samsung’s recent Pixel 10A and Galaxy…

Google Home chief Anish Kattukaran announced several updates to the smart home platform that fix a long list of annoyances and idiosyncrasies. There’s also one noteworthy new addition: the introduction of “Live Search” for your cameras.So, instead of Gemini only knowing about things that have already happened, it now understands what it sees in your live camera feeds. That means you can ask things like, “Hey Google, is there a car in the driveway?” Live Search requires a subscription to the Advanced plan of Google Home Premium which costs $20/month or $200/year.Gemini for Home is now also using updated models.…

Sharing content to Mastodon is getting easier with the addition of a universal “Share to Mastodon” button for the decentralized social media platform. Announced on Monday, the widget allows users to share content on any Mastodon server by connecting your Mastodon account and redirecting you to the server that account is on. The blog post announcing the feature also explains that the tool “works entirely in your browser: there is no tracking data, and it does not store any information on the server.”Previously, a “share” widget wasn’t available on Mastodon mainly due to the technical challenges that come with the…

Just days after showing off the Galaxy S26, Samsung is finally rolling out the ability for users to unlock their home with a tap of their phone or by simply approaching their door. The new feature, called Digital Home Key, will live inside Samsung Wallet and is powered by the Aliro smart home standard.Samsung first teased its Digital Home Key feature in 2024 and said the feature would be available in 2025. That didn’t pan out, as the CSA’s Aliro standard — which will let users unlock smart locks with any phone — only arrived in February of this year.…

Anthropic is making it easier to switch to its Claude AI from other chatbots with an update that brings Claude’s memory feature to users on the free plan, along with a new prompt and dedicated tool for importing data from other chatbots. These upgrades could allow users who have been using rivals like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini to quickly copy the data their preferred AI has collected on them and bring it over to Anthropic’s chatbot. That way, they don’t have to “start over” teaching Claude the context and history their previous chatbot already knows.The option to import and…

Apple has asked Google to look into “setting up servers” for a new version of Siri that’s Gemini-powered and meets Apple’s privacy requirements, The Information reports. Apple had already announced in January that Google’s Gemini AI models would help power the upgraded version of Siri it delayed last year, but The Information’s report indicates Apple might lean even more on Google so it can catch up in AI.The original partnership announcement said that “the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology,” and that the models would “help power future Apple Intelligence…

It’s a good day for Apple fans on a budget. Not only did the company introduce a new budget phone, its entry-level AirPods 4 are also on sale. Right now, you can snag a pair of Apple’s AirPods 4 starting at just $89 ($30 off) at Walmart. The model with active noise-cancellation are also down to their second best price to date, going for $119 ($60 off) at Amazon and Walmart.The AirPods 4 are the best and most comfortable entry-level earbuds from Apple yet. They deliver fuller bass along with clearer, more detailed sound than previous models, and even now…

Unlike its predecessor, the iPhone 17E supports MagSafe. | Image: Apple The iPhone 17 lineup now has a “budget” option. Announced this week, the iPhone 17E will hit stores on Wednesday, March 11th, starting at $599, with preorders opening on March 4th. The 6.1-inch phone joins the rest of Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup, which includes the iPhone 17 ($799), the more powerful iPhone 17 Pro ($1,099), and the iPhone 17 Pro Max ($1,199), as well as the ultra-thin iPhone Air ($999). Unlike last year’s iPhone 16E, the 17E features MagSafe and Qi2 wireless charging, along with the faster A19 chip…

Alongside the next round of preorders Analogue also announced a new product that can be used to care for aging game carts the company’s products all use. The Analogue Cartridge Cleaners come in a 12-pack for $14.99 and are designed to “remove oxidation using a proprietarily designed dry, precision-fit cleaning pad without fluids or chemicals.” They’re one-time use only, but are potentially a more effective alternative to blowing into the bottom of your old NES carts. Read the full article here

In late February, Puck reported on a strange case: An influencer with more than a million followers was inadvertently promoting products on Instagram. On some of Julia Berolzheimer’s posts, a “Shop the look” button hovered in the corner. When followers clicked it, they were fed similar items to what Berolzheimer was wearing.Her job is to promote clothing, accessories, and other products to her followers, so having links to specific items isn’t strange. What was odd was that she hadn’t placed the links there herself — Instagram added them without her consent. The product links led followers not to the actual…