Author: News Room

Google is pushing back on viral social media posts and articles like this one by Malwarebytes, claiming Google has changed its policy to use your Gmail messages and attachments to train AI models, and the only way to opt out is by disabling “smart features” like spell checking.But Google spokesperson Jenny Thomson tells The Verge that “these reports are misleading – we have not changed anyone’s settings, Gmail Smart Features have existed for many years, and we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model.”You may want to double-check your settings anyway, as one Verge staffer…

Google and the Justice Department had their last chance to make their case before Judge Leonie Brinkema Friday before she decides whether Google needs to be broken up to remedy its ad tech monopoly.Brinkema expects to issue her ruling next year, but understands that “time is of the essence,” as Reuters reported. While the DOJ wants the court to force Google to sell its AdX exchange, and leave open the option to force a sale of its publisher ad server, Google argued that only behavioral changes were necessary to remedy the issues the court found with its business. Brinkema previously…

Microsoft is bringing the Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE), which adds a console-like UI while navigating through your game library on a PC with a controller, to laptops, desktops, and tablets. FSE launched with the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, and it has so far only been available on PC handhelds.The expansion to laptops, desktops, and tablets is available as part of new Windows Insider Preview Builds on the Dev and Beta channels and for people in the Xbox Insider Program. To turn on FSE on your PC, “hover over the Task View icon on your taskbar and choose…

TeamGroup has announced a new portable SSD drive called the T-Create Expert P35S that could give you some peace of mind if you’re worried about your data falling into the wrong hands. Instead of using encryption to lock everything behind a password or biometric security, the P35S has a single button that initiates a self-destruct. There’s no visible smoke or explosions like in a Mission Impossible movie, but the company says its “patented one-click data destruction circuit” uses “chip destruction” mechanisms to “achieve a truly irreversible data wipe.”The company hasn’t announced pricing details or when the P35S will be available…

Editor’s note: Black Friday doesn’t officially take place until Friday, November 28th; however, if you want to shop ahead of time, we’ve rounded up the best early Black Friday deals you can already get.Buying the right laptop can be stressful. It’s likely one of the bigger tech purchases you’ll make, and there are a ludicrous number of models, sizes, form factors, and configurations to pick from. We review and test a wide swath of them here at The Verge, and we’re constantly considering what’s the best and who it’s best for.Our overall pick for most people has been, and continues…

Deals on Sony’s PlayStation 5 are much more common than those on its PlayStation Portal, the handheld that can remotely stream games from the console via Wi-Fi. But for Black Friday, the Portal just got its first major discount to around $178.99 ($21 off) at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy. Additionally, you can save up to $100 on every configuration of the PlayStation 5, including the more powerful PlayStation 5 Pro.The PlayStation Portal launched to relatively tepid reviews back in 2023, with The Verge’s Antonio G. Di Benedetto ultimately concluding the device is flawed, but fun if you have fast…

Apple’s new M5-powered iPad Pro is certainly impressive, but if you just need a reliable tablet for streaming, taking video calls, note-taking, and light work, you don’t need to spend north of $1,000. Apple’s latest entry-level iPad can handle everyday tasks with ease — and it’s currently matching its all-time low of $279 ($70 off) at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy ahead of Black Friday.Apple’s latest base-model iPad nails the essentials and delivers speedy performance thanks to Apple’s A16 chip, which provides enough power for streaming, reading, and even playing casual games like Dredge and Tiny Wings. It provides twice…

I recently published a review of the Asus Falcata, a 75-percent Hall effect gaming keyboard split in half for ergonomic benefits. My takeaway is that $420 is way too much money for an ergonomic keyboard that doesn’t do the ergonomic part as well as some cheaper models. Notably, the inside edges closest to your thumbs don’t tent as much as they should for a gadget that’s this pricey.I’m standing by my criticism while also telling you that the Falcata is a much better value thanks to a $140 off discount happening now. Through Cyber Monday (December 1st), you can grab…

For a long, long time, Windows looked like Windows. The version numbers and features changed, but the basic structure of the computer didn’t. With Windows 8, Microsoft tried to completely change things… and we know how that went over. So Windows, by and large, went back to being Windows. And people were mostly grateful for that.Now, though, the whole platform is once again up in the air. To hear Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella tell it, you may not even use your own computer for long! The future, Microsoft believes, is agents. And so it is putting agents in every nook…

Where’s the Trump Phone? We’re going to keep talking about it every week. While we wait, we tried to order a Trump Mobile SIM card so we can test the service on a different device. Here’s how that went.Signing up for Trump Mobile’s wireless service felt a little like engaging in espionage.Let’s say I don’t fully trust the Trump Organization to be great stewards of my credit card information, so I used a virtual number provided by my bank. Once I’d handed over the virtual money, I got this message: “Thank you for your order of a Physical SIM, we’ll…

Apple has partnered with artist and designer Bailey Hikawa on a new MagSafe iPhone grip “designed with accessibility in mind from the ground up.” The $69.95 Hikawa Phone Grip & Stand is available from the Apple Store now, but is listed as a limited edition.The stand comes in either Brat green or a speckled stone finish from Apple, though there are also blue and swirly blurple options available from Hikawa’s own store, and is made out of soft-touch silicone. It attaches to the iPhone magnetically, doubles as both a grip and a stand, either horizontally or vertically, and was designed…

It’s pretty rare when a cool new gadget feature gets announced that you can try right away on your own devices. But that’s exactly what happened yesterday when, out of the blue, Google announced it had engineered a way to bring AirDrop interoperability to Pixel 10 phones — all without Apple’s involvement.After the news dropped, an update started rolling out that enabled the feature, arriving first for the 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL, which I have on hand. And once I got past some initial snags, it became nothing but a joy just AirDropping shit left and right —…