Author: News Room

Dear team,Xbox has always been different.We started with a simple idea. Games should bring people together through shared experiences. That led to the first Xbox in 2001, Xbox Live in 2002, and new ways to connect, from friends lists and achievements to parties and play across devices. Today, Xbox reaches over 500 million players around the world, with some of the most important franchises in entertainment.From the beginning, Xbox was built by people willing to try things that others wouldn’t. We placed a consumer bet inside an enterprise company because we believed gaming would define the living room, and we…

The 2026 edition of Motorola’s stylus phone is plenty appealing.My review unit is a charming lilac color, has a pleasantly textured back panel, and includes a MicroSD slot and what might be the last surviving headphone jack on a mainstream phone sold in North America. The namesake stylus is no longer just a fancy plastic stick, it’s active and comes with some neat tricks.$500The GoodActive stylusHeadphone jack! MicroSD card support!IP68/69 ratedBig screen for the people who love big screensThe BadImproved but still present bloatware situationProcessor is a touch laggyPhoto processing isn’t greatFeels about $100 too expensiveEven the bloatware problem has…

There’s still no folding iPhone release date. In fact, the iPhone Ultra, as it’s rumoured to be called, doesn’t even officially exist, according to Apple. But the rumour mill suggests otherwise, and it’ll likely grace our list of the best foldable phones in the relatively near future. As for what it could look like? Well, we have a better idea now, thanks to YouTuber Vadim Yuryev (via MacRumors), who shows off an iPhone Ultra mock-up that reveals a book-style folding device that, when opened, lands much closer to iPad mini territory than a traditional iPhone. The inner display is said…

Ikea shared a sneak preview of three pieces from a new experimental collection, set to be fully revealed at an annual company event on May 13th. One of the pieces is an inflatable chair that looks like a far cry from the cheap and lumpy inflatable furniture popularized in the ‘90s.This isn’t the first time Ikea’s designers have experimented with inflatable furniture. The Ikea Museum website has an entire page dedicated to what it calls an “idea that fell flat.” In 2000 the furniture maker introduced its inflatable Rolig easy chair and Innerlig sofa but they were expensive and suffered…

The best smartphones are probably running at least one of Meta’s apps. Now, the company is trying to get ahead of growing concerns around teens and Meta AI by giving parents a clearer window into what’s actually being asked behind the scenes. In a newly announced update, Meta will let parents see the topics their teens have discussed with its AI assistant over the past seven days – for teens using supervised accounts. The feature is available now in regions including the UK, US and several others, and sits inside a new Insights tab within parental supervision tools on Facebook,…

It feels like not a week has gone by this year without a senior Microsoft executive leaving the company. Some departures have triggered sweeping shakeups of Microsoft’s biggest businesses, while others have seen fresh faces replace veteran employees. Executive departures at Microsoft are nothing new, but the pace feels notable this early in the year.The timing points to a Microsoft that is struggling to retain talent in a market where competition is high and the stock price is low. Investors have been hammering Microsoft’s stock price in recent weeks, and at one point last month it had dropped by more…

Replacing a part inside a MacBook is often about as easy as trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube while riding a unicycle, but the Framework Laptop 13 Pro is pretty much the exact opposite. Practically every part of the Framework Laptop 13 Pro is designed to be easily upgraded or replaced, but with an aluminium chassis that measures just 15.85mm thick, a haptic trackpad, and fighting weight of just under 1.5kg it still has plenty in common with Apple’s alternative. With a choice of Intel Core Ultra 5, X7 or X9 chips (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series is also an…

Microsoft is changing up its annual rewards and performance programs today, and offering long-serving employees in the US the ability to voluntarily retire. It’s the first time in Microsoft’s more than 50-year history that the company has offered such a voluntary retirement program.“Many of these employees have spent years, and in some cases, decades, shaping Microsoft into what it is today,” says Microsoft’s HR chief Amy Coleman in a memo seen by The Verge. “For those who may be considering their next chapter, we’re offering a one‑time Voluntary Retirement Program.” Microsoft says it applies to only a “small percentage of…

Today on Decoder, I want to lay out an idea that’s been banging around my head for weeks now as we’ve been reporting on AI and having conversations here on this show. I’ve been calling it software brain, and it’s a particular way of seeing the world that fits everything into algorithms, databases and loops — software.Software brain is powerful stuff. It’s a way of thinking that basically created our modern world. Marc Andreessen, the literal embodiment of software brain, called it in 2011 when he wrote the piece “Why software is eating the world” as an op-ed in The…

If you’re looking for an e-bike so powerful that you could probably ‘do an E.T.’ if you hit a big enough bump, the new Amflow PX could be your ticket to ride. With an Avinox M2S electric motor that has 1500 watts of peak power and 150Nm of torque if you deploy the Boost mode, plus a carbon frame that weighs around 20kg (depending on which of the four sizes you plump for), the Amflow PX combines muscle and maneuverability. Tone it down a bit – there are five different assistance modes depending on how much help you want from…

Apple is about to become a very different company. This September, Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down and will be replaced by John Ternus, the current head of hardware. But the shift is bigger than just a CEO transition — it’s the most significant move yet into a world where Apple’s executive team isn’t handpicked by Steve Jobs.With the departure of Cook, who became CEO in 2011, the list of leaders who were in Jobs’ inner circle is dwindling. There’s still Apple’s senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, who joined in 1989, and has said that Jobs was…

Govee announced its first solar-powered lights today. They include a 6W panel with an integrated 4,800mAh battery that can be recharged with a single full day of sunlight (though if the weather’s looking a little overcast, you can still charge it over USB-C). The Govee Outdoor Solar String Lights are available now through the company’s online store and Amazon for $99.99 and feature eight color-changing bulbs on a 34-foot cable.On a full charge the bulbs will run for up to 13 hours, Govee claims, but that’s with their brightness limited to just 10 lumens. The bulbs have a maximum brightness…