Author: News Room
If you’ve ever worried about porch pirates stealing packages while you’re away, a video doorbell can offer some peace of mind, letting you keep tabs on deliveries no matter where you are. Google offers some of the best around, and right now, its battery-powered, second-gen Nest Doorbell is available for $129.99 ($50 off) from Amazon and Best Buy, beating its recent Amazon low. If you’d rather go wired, the third-gen Nest Doorbell is also on sale for $139.99 ($40 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store, matching the lowest price we’ve seen.If you want something renter-friendly, it may…
Polymarket bets started popping up in Google News alongside legitimate news articles. But now those results aren’t showing, and Google says they were never supposed to. Spokesperson Ned Adriance told The Verge that “Google News is designed to show sources that create content about current issues, events, and important topics, and we have policies for sites to be eligible to appear. This site briefly appeared in Google News in error, and it is no longer surfacing in News.”The links led directly to betting markets tied to specific news events. For instance, before the results were removed, Futurism searched “will ships…
Nintendo seemingly designed its latest console to be a mystery for third-party accessory makers. With the Switch 2, the company changed the wireless protocol for connecting controllers to the new system, as well as how it outputs video over USB-C, making it clear at launch that every third-party manufacturer needed to start over from scratch.Figuring out how to speak the Switch 2’s language — and ensuring reliability even after system updates — is an ongoing challenge. But now there are two reliable USB-C dock alternatives I can recommend, if you need one. Jsaux was one of the first to land…
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 123, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, which Artemis photo did you make your wallpaper, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)This week, I’ve been reading about Sam Altman and Satoshi Nakamoto and chess drama and Iranian shitposters, buying the stuff I need to mod an old iPod, making videos with the clever new DualShot Recorder, watching Crime 101 now that it’s streaming, finally getting my Stream Deck Mini to control all my office lights, revisiting the incredible…
Earlier this year, a relatively unknown startup from Finland made a startling announcement: It had finally solved solid-state batteries.Not only that, but Donut Lab, a spinoff of Verge Motorcycles, said that its solid-state battery — long considered the “Holy Grail of batteries” for their high-density, durable, fast-charging abilities — would go into production later this year.Battery experts were understandably skeptical. After all, solid-state batteries are one of those technologies, along with artificial general intelligence and the hyperloop, that seem perpetually two years away. And while most legitimate efforts in this field — whether academic or commercial — have some level…
It’s been nine months since Trump Mobile announced itself, seven months since the company updated any of its social media profiles, and two months since anyone replied to my emails. Based on that, you might think that everyone involved had given up on the whole idea, but this week we saw curious signs of life: a new trademark application.What’s strangest about the application is that it was filed not for anything new, but for “The 47 Plan”: Trump Mobile’s sole cell plan, which launched alongside the company itself in June last year. Like previous Trump Mobile trademarks, this was filed…
San Francisco police have arrested a 20-year-old man suspected of throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s Russian Hill house early Friday morning, The San Francisco Standard reports. The incident was caught on surveillance cameras shortly before 7AM ET. Later that morning, someone matching the suspect’s description was seen making threats outside OpenAI’s Mission Bay offices, where he was arrested around 9AM ET.OpenAI spokesperson Jamie Radice confirmed the incident in a statement to The Verge, saying, “Thankfully, no one was hurt. We deeply appreciate how quickly SFPD responded and the support from the city in helping keep our…
Donald Trump has spun the recent rescue of a downed airman whose fighter jet was destroyed behind Iranian borders as a resounding success. But the story is very different in one of the many viral, AI-generated Lego videos that have been produced by Iranian content creation group Explosive Media in the weeks since the US and Israel began dropping bombs on the country. In Explosive Media’s music video take on how things played out, the US military is a joke for losing multiple planes and helicopters, and spending “$100 million just to save one guy.”The video’s shots of Lego jets…
Amazon Luna announced a big change on Friday that will prevent players from purchasing third-party games and subscriptions. The cloud gaming service will remove previously purchased games on June 10th, 2026, though they’ll still be available to play on other platforms through the EA, GOG, or Ubisoft accounts players used when purchasing the title.In line with these changes, Amazon Luna will no longer support EA, Ubisoft, or GOG’s third-party stores. It’s also discontinuing subscriptions to Ubisoft Plus and Jackbox Games, and says it will cancel active subscriptions purchased through Luna at the end of the billing cycle. Amazon Luna is…
Microsoft is finally allowing Windows 11 testers to get access to experimental features without having to download a third-party app like ViVeTool. The changes are part of making the Windows Insider Program (WIP) less confusing, with Dev and Canary testing rings simplified into a new Experimental Channel alongside a refresh of the existing Beta Channel.Microsoft has been using a technology called Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR) for years now, to gradually roll out new features to all Windows 11 users. While this is an industry standard, it’s often frustrating to try and get access to experimental Windows 11 features and realize…
The popular macOS app Little Snitch brought its network-monitoring tools over to Linux this week. In a blog post announcing the launch, one of the developers at Objective Development shared some early results from using the app on Linux: “On Ubuntu, I found 9 system processes making internet connections over the course of one week. On macOS, we counted more than 100.”While the Linux version of Little Snitch provides the same basic functionality for viewing and disabling unwanted connections, it’s not exactly the same. Objective Development says it’s “not a security tool,” unlike the macOS version.According to Objective Development, Linux…
A warrantless wiretapping authority that has facilitated surveillance for decades is up for renewal in Congress. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), last reauthorized in 2024, is set to expire on April 20th. A bipartisan coalition of progressive Democrats and members of the hard-right Freedom Caucus say it’s long overdue for reform. But they’re up against powerful figures in both parties who want to deliver a “clean” reauthorization, even as critics warn the rule is allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to spy on anyone — even Americans.Section 702, first enacted in 2008, formally allows for the surveillance…