Gadgets

Muse has a voice mode now

Meta now lets you have voice conversations with your Muse AI agent in real time, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today. The feature has been rolled out to me, an…

EA is bringing 25 classic PC games to Steam

Electronic Arts is launching 25 classic games on Steam, including "Anniversary Editions" of the motorcycle racer Road Rash and six Wing Commander titles. These…

Honor's battery plans look stunning—tests might've started with 15,000mAh capacity

Honor's alleged battery tests sound like they want a mini power bank inside a phone. A future phone could sport a 15,000mAh cell.

Claude AI can plug directly into your bank account

Anthropic has a new pitch for managing your personal finances: let Claude do it instead, with a new Personal Finance feature that connects it to your bank and…

Paid $200 for Logic Pro? Apple Says You Won't Get This New Feature

According to Apple's full release notes for version 13.0 of Logic Pro for Mac, released today , the new AI-powered Intelligent Assistant feature requires an Ap…

‘Total repudiation’: The blue wave is about to hit AI

On Tuesday night, Democrats made history as they took control of the House and the Senate, and a blue wave swept through traditionally red and swing states - w…

Instagram's Edits Video Editor is Now Available on Mac

Instagram today expanded its Edits video editing app to the Mac . Edits for Mac is intended for larger projects that benefit from a big screen and the control…

Ember’s smallest self-heating mug is on sale for just $33

We’ve been fans of Ember’s temperature-controlled mugs for years, though given the price tag, we admit that they’re somewhat of a luxury purchase. Thankfully,…

Nintendo says it’s not planning another Switch 2 price hike

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said during the company's latest earnings call that it's "not considering additional changes" to the Switch 2's price, Reu…

The FAA is finally ditching floppy disks

It's the year 2026 and the Federal Aviation Administration is still running critical pieces of American airspace on 3.5-inch magnetic floppy disks. But those t…

Prevent Siri and Search From Accessing Specific iPhone Apps

In iOS 27.2, Apple has a new settings menu that lets you choose which apps Siri, Search, and suggestions can access, all from one list. Here's what's changed a…

Grimes is going to star in an AI movie that’s coming to theaters

The AI-generated sci-fi film Gods Don't Give Gifts has added a bit of star power: Pop star Grimes is going to appear in the movie. Billed as "the first AI film…

Xbox overhauls its PC, web, and cloud apps with a faster design

Microsoft is unveiling a new Xbox PC app that launches "up to 60 percent faster" than before, with an overhauled design to match new updates to Xbox Cloud Gami…

OpenAI says its new cybersecurity model is better at not hacking other companies

OpenAI is launching GPT-6 Cyber, the latest version of its cybersecurity AI model, which it says is better at finding vulnerabilities and less likely to go rog…

Where is Windows 12?

While I wasn't expecting Microsoft to announce Windows 12 during its RTX Spark launch event last month, more than a few people were hoping to see something tru…

Sony’s retro headphones brought me back to my childhood in the best way

Many of my childhood summer afternoons were spent riding around my hometown on my Huffy bike or, in later years, taking the bus into Harvard Square to walk aro…

Camp Snap made a smaller kid-friendly version of its retro digital camcorder

After introducing new color options for its screen-free CS-8 video camera last month, Camp Snap announced a miniature version today that's less than half the s…

The hidden supply chain costs of the AI boom

Today, I’m talking with Willy Shih, an economist, a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, and the author of the upcoming book, Where Doe…

WhatsApp will let you invite friends to events who aren’t on the app

WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature that allows you to invite friends and family members to events in the app - even if they don't have the messenger install…

You can post AI music straight to SoundCloud from ElevenLabs

After partnering with Moises earlier this year, SoundCloud is now adding integration with another AI music platform, ElevenLabs. Now, rather than having to exp…

You can edit your videos with AI on Instagram’s new desktop Edits app

Instagram's standalone video editing app is now available on macOS, where you can plug in your AI agent of choice to assemble your videos. Instagram's Matthew…

Apple Creator Studio App Updates Rolling Out, Starting With Logic Pro

Apple today began rolling out the Creator Studio app updates that it announced last month . For example, both the Creator Studio version and standalone version…

Tech is about to get hammered in Congress

Tech CEO hearings. Tougher AI and data center guardrails. Investigations of Elon Musk's DOGE cuts. The gates are open for Democrats once they regain control of…

The X-70 is NASA’s next experimental X-plane

Yesterday NASA announced the latest addition to its X-series of experimental aircraft that have included the Bell X-1 that first broke the sound barrier nearly…

The touchscreen MacBook Pro is a winner

I keep forgetting the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display has a touchscreen. I've been testing this new laptop, one of the most impressive Apple has ever creat…

The new iMac is a good desktop computer that needs a redesign

I'm a simple guy. I usually work from my MacBook Neo wherever I end up sitting in my house. And while I have monitors, mice, and keyboards to plug it into, I o…

The M6 MacBook Pro is probably the last of its kind

On November 6th, Apple will release an all-new MacBook Pro. It's thinner and lighter and has a beautiful OLED touchscreen. It is very likely what every new Mac…

Spotify is coming to United Airlines seatbacks — with help from Starlink

United has built a custom, native Spotify app for seatback displays, allowing passengers to log directly in to their personal accounts and stream their own lib…

Motorola is going ultra premium with its $1,600 ‘Signature’ phone

Motorola is trying something it hasn't attempted in the modern smartphone era: to make an all-out flagship slab-style phone. Previous high-end Edge devices nev…

Siri AI Waitlist Now Limited to Times of 'High Demand,' Says Apple

Apple has largely stopped making users join a waitlist to access its Siri AI assistant. According to an updated Apple support document , Siri AI "will begin to…

MacBook Neo Shipments Expected to Double in 2027

Apple wants suppliers to make 16 million MacBook Neo laptops in 2027, or double the amount expected for this year, according to supply chain sources (via DigiT…

Discord is ditching Electron and its new app uses less RAM

Discord is finally giving up on Electron, the cross-platform framework that lets developers build desktop apps using web technologies. Electron web apps are no…

Playstation and Spider-Man performance see Sony profits surge

Sony is enjoying a sharp profit spike in its latest quarterly financials, largely driven by its PlayStation business and the blockbuster success of Spider-Man:…

Amazon is getting back into restaurant delivery with Uber Eats team-up

Amazon and Uber are teaming up to make Uber Eats the official restaurant delivery partner for Prime subscribers in the US. The news comes as Uber faces a drast…

Big Tech’s big AI buildout will not end until someone stops it

After four of the biggest competitors in the AI race held quarterly earnings calls late last month, two things are clear: Big Tech is not done spending record…

Samsung's new Galaxy S27 Pro could come with one disappointing compromise

Samsung's Galaxy S27 Pro could miss out on one of the Ultra's biggest upgrades

Apple Launching Five New Products Tomorrow

Apple is releasing five new products this Friday, November 6, following pre-orders that opened last week , including its first touchscreen MacBook Pro models.…

Nintendo’s designers strove for ‘elegance’ when remaking Ocarina of Time

The Ocarina of Time remake on the Switch 2 smashes together the past and present. The game retains much of the original N64 experience while updating it with m…

X says its updated web app is way faster

X is introducing a new version of its web app that it says is much faster than before, and it's now rolling out the updated app "one country at a time" for sig…

Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 256 With Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview , the experimental browser that was first introduced in March 2016. Apple designed ‌Safari…

Apps Can Now Try to Stop You From Canceling Subscriptions

Apple today added a new subscription retention feature for developers, allowing them to show retention messages when a subscriber goes to cancel. Apple says re…

Qualcomm is betting big on data centers as smartphone sales sink

With smartphone sales tanking by around 20 percent compared to 2025, Qualcomm is looking to data centers to help boost its bottom line. During its Q4 2026 earn…

How 'Resident Evil' Director Zach Cregger Uses His iPhone to Make Movies

Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak today shared an Apple TV video that offers a look at how "Resident Evil" director Zach Cregger uses an iPhone during filmmak…

17 better ways Elon Musk could have wasted $446 million

One of the basic problems of spending too much time on social media is that you are cooking your brain by reading posts from a pack of attention-seeking lunati…

How I learned to love an obnoxious phone grip

Much like a great recipe, it started with a stick of butter. This wasn't real butter; it was a friend's new phone grip, complemented by a phone case with bold…

Bose’s QuietComfort Headphones are more than half off

It’s not often that some of the best noise-canceling headphones you can buy are over half off. But right now, the first-gen Bose QuietComfort Headphones are on…

Gemini for Home now plugs into AT&T’s smart security system

AT&T's smart home security system now integrates with Gemini for Home. The company says its Connected Life system is the "first" home security product to integ…

Apple is Putting Employees on an AI Budget

Apple is curtailing employee AI use to cut costs, reports Bloomberg . In October, Apple limited some engineers to $200 per day for AI spending, down from $300.…

Motorola could be bringing back a familiar Android phone after five years

Motorola is reportedly reviving a phone series from years ago.

Apple Releases Xcode 27.3 Beta With Three New Features

Apple on Tuesday released the first Xcode 27.3 beta with three new features: GitHub Copilot support within the built-in coding assistant, the ability for devel…

Apple Will Check Public iCloud Links for Harmful Content Starting in iOS 27.3

Apple says it will start checking public iCloud links for harmful content in iOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, macOS 27.3, and visionOS 27.3. Images in iCloud Photos and…

Google is redesigning Messages again, and heavy texters might hate it

Google Messages is making pinned chats bigger, and that's not necessarily better.

Google’s Pixel 11 phones are up to 27 percent off

You can save a heck of lot of money on Google’s Pixel 11 phones through November 8th, whether you want the best-for-the-least Pixel 11, or the slightly pricier…

Xbox previews two new ways to control cloud games

I revealed yesterday that the new Xbox Nano controller supports a Wi-Fi connection directly to Xbox Cloud Gaming, and now Microsoft is making it official today…

Nothing teases a screen-free AI device ahead of launch next month

Nothing CEO Carl Pei said in a post on X that the company's launching its first AI device in December. That's just a little over a year after Pei announced pla…

Apple will check shared iCloud links for ‘harmful content’

Apple will start checking iCloud items that are accessible to anyone who has the link for "harmful content" starting with iOS 27.3 and other 27.3 updates, the…

My therapist thinks I should chuck the Amazon Bee Frontier out a window

This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they'…

ChatGPT will now make you animated GIFs

ChatGPT can now create GIFs using a prompt or a photo uploaded to the AI chatbot. The update, which is rolling out alongside OpenAI's new Images 2.6 model, all…

macOS 27.3 Brings Live Activities to Macs Without Dynamic Island

The new MacBook Pro models with touch-enabled OLED displays feature the Dynamic Island instead of a notch, and it includes support for Live Activities. Fortuna…

Ready for One UI 9.5? Rumors say Samsung's next beta could start soon

Back at it again—rumors suggest Samsung has started tests for One UI 9.5 on the Galaxy S26 series, as early builds surface.

God of War Laufey delayed until May

God of War Laufey's release date is being delayed to May 20th, 2027, developer Santa Monica Studio announced today. It was set to launch on PlayStation 5 on Fe…

Nintendo is losing a Switch cartridge supplier

Nintendo is about to lose a major memory supplier for its Switch cartridges. The supplier, Macronix, announced during a recent quarterly earnings call that it…

Anker’s new window-mounted camera monitors the outside of your home from within it

Anker announced a new indoor security camera that's designed to watch your yard, driveway, or front porch through a window, instead of monitoring what's inside…

macOS 27.3 Includes an Important Security Fix

The first macOS 27.3 developer beta includes an important security fix that prevents command-line tools from accepting eMudhra's compromised web certificates .…

Rian Johnson explains why he had to build his own iPhone camera app

Rian Johnson is an analog photography devotee. The director of Knives Out and The Last Jedi can often be spotted on set with a Leica M6 at his side, documentin…

Data centers lost the midterms

Data center developers are poised to face a more restrictive building environment after voters across the country voted in candidates who favor moratoriums and…

Uber only fulfilled 4 rides from AI agents last quarter

AI agents won't be stealing Uber's lunch any time soon. Only four rides were arranged by third-party AI agents during the third quarter of 2026, Uber executive…

Uber only fulfilled 4 rides from AI agents last quarter

AI agents won't be stealing Uber's lunch any time soon. Only four rides were arranged by third-party AI agents during the third quarter of 2026, Uber executive…

My favorite 25W wireless power bank is down to $35

If you’re someone who owns an iPhone, you might have considered getting a MagSafe power bank that can quickly recharge it. I tested a handful of options that c…

Not even $200 million could help Elon Musk buy Texas

James Talarico, the Democratic Texas senator-elect, not only managed to flip the state in yesterday's midterms but prevailed in the most expensive Senate elect…

Bluetooth is getting a big boost to data transfer speeds

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) that oversees the wireless standard has formally adopted Bluetooth High Data Throughput (HDT) as an optional feature…

The fight for tech accountability starts now

When Donald Trump began his second term as president, Silicon Valley gratefully embraced moral nihilism. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and more collectively donat…

Sam Altman addresses RAM comments: people should ‘put as much as they want in their computers’

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spent election night defending his position on PC RAM purchases. He changed his name on X to "Ram Altman" in response to another user's c…

macOS 27.3 Makes Markdown Files Easier to Read

macOS 27.3 adds native Markdown rendering to Quick Look, allowing users to preview .md files with their formatting applied. In the first beta of macOS 27.3, Qu…

Apple iPhone Duo review: the greatest iPhone ever made

After two weeks with the iPhone Duo, it's made every other iPhone and folding phone feel like a downgrade to me.

Does opting out of TV tracking work?

The fact our TVs are gathering our information isn't new, but what and how they're tracking - and if we can stop it - is hard to figure out. Researchers at Nor…

Apple's Insider Trading Policy Now Covers Prediction Markets

Apple has added an explicit ban on using confidential information to bet on prediction markets to its insider trading policy, according to a filing with the U.…

iPhone 18e Rumored to Focus on Chip Upgrade With Few Major Changes

Apple's upcoming iPhone 18e will primarily focus on a chip upgrade, with few major new features expected, according to the leaker known as " Fixed Focus Digita…

Google hasn’t figured out how to make AI pay like its search engine

Search queries are growing at their fastest rate in five years, Google parent Alphabet said in its earnings report last week. However, Google's Search revenue…

Not surprising: Galaxy Z Fold 9, 9 Ultra might not upgrade a single camera

If you're expecting camera upgrades for Samsung's 2027 foldables, think again. Rumors say the Galaxy Z9 series could look largely the same.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time never gets old

Breath of the Wild changed everything. Two decades after The Legend of Zelda made the transformational shift to 3D, Breath of the Wild reinvigorated the franch…

Google will let schools turn off AI, but they'll have to give up Search too

Want to block AI in your school? Google says you'll lose Search too

AMD rides data center riches to ‘largest and most profitable’ quarter in history

AMD CEO Lisa Su said in the company's quarterly earnings call on Tuesday that Q3 2026 was "was the largest and most profitable in our history." AMD reported a…

All the news about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake

Ahead of the release of Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto VI, Nintendo is launching its own fall juggernaut: a Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina o…

Everything New in the iOS 27.3 Beta

Apple today started testing iOS 27.3, the biggest update to iOS 27 since it launched in September. iOS 27.3 includes some features Apple showed off earlier thi…

The biggest modding site in PC gaming is taking a stance on AI

The PC gaming mods repository Nexus Mods is making disclosures about AI mandatory for uploads of new mods, meaning that mod authors will have to declare "wheth…

HyperOS 4 update schedule: Every Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO phone getting Android 17

Xiaomi confirms HyperOS 4 rollout for 80+ devices, including older Redmi and POCO phones.

Apple Music's New Selfie Sing Feature Lets You Record Karaoke Videos

Please stop asking me when the AI bubble will pop

People, including on this staff, keep asking me with varying degrees of excitement or trepidation when the AI bubble will burst. I'll tell you what I tell them…

Canva is announcing changes and layoffs affecting 22 percent of its staff

Canva is making significant changes affecting 1,271 people, which is 22 percent of its staff, co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins announced today. "For some peo…

Sonos adds new Presets and prepares for the 27voice AI beta

Sonos is rolling out a big app update that includes new Presets and early access to its AI voice assistant. You can create a preset to play music at a specific…

iPhone Jailbreak Gets Past Lockdown Mode and Survives an Update

A week later, the hacker group Calif showcased another jailbreak success, bypassing locked iPhones and maintaining the jailbreak status even after iOS updates.

Binance says hackers used fake job interviews and an internal AI tool to pull off the $6.3 billion heist

The largest crypto theft to date was pulled off by combining some well-known hacking techniques over the course of a few months, according to Binance. A postmo…

Here’s what it’s like to use Audio Intelligence on the Apple Watch

It's impossible to paint a full picture of what Audio Intelligence on the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 will be right now. The watchOS 27.3 developer beta…

Those Jeff Bezos hair transplant photos are very fake

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and actor Jason Statham have a distinctive feature in common: They're both famously bald, and that definitely hasn't changed in the l…

iPadOS 27.3 Expands Siri Mode to Camera App

iOS 27 added a Siri tab to the Camera app on the iPhone 15 Pro and newer for convenient access to Visual Intelligence. Starting with iPadOS 27.3, which is in b…

iPhone 18 rumors suggest a bigger battery, higher price next year

After Apple raised iPhone prices earlier this year, a new rumor claims it plans to launch the base iPhone 18 with a higher price, too. A Weibo post from leaker…

Apple starts giving Siri AI access to third-party apps

Apple will now let Siri AI perform actions across third-party apps. As part of the iOS 27.3 update rolling out on Tuesday, Apple announced developers can now i…

You can’t hit a wrong note when playing along with songs on Casio’s new keyboard

Casio announced a new addition to its Casiotone line of portable electronic keyboards with a feature that could help aspiring musicians master skills like rhyt…

This Election Day, remember which party ran against EVs and tethered us all to the gas pump

It's the midterms! Here's a fun fact for you as you head to the polls: Gas prices today are the highest ever recorded for a US Election Day. The national avera…

Apple Fitness+ Gets Gym Strength Plans in iOS 27.3

With iOS 27.3, Apple is adding a new Gym Strength workout to Apple Fitness+. It's a custom fitness option that generates a four-week plan based on a user's goa…

iOS 27.3 Adding New StandBy Mode Features to iPhone 11 and Newer

iOS 27.3 will expand new StandBy features first introduced on the iPhone Duo to all iPhone models compatible with the update, according to Apple. StandBy mode…

iOS 27.3 Beta Brings Apple Intelligence to China

Select Apple Intelligence features are now available in China , with Apple testing the functionality in the iOS 27.3 beta. Developers in China can turn on &zwn…

Siri AI Gets More Capable in iOS 27.3

Apple is expanding what Siri AI can do in and across apps in iOS 27.3, which is available to developers as of today. ‌Siri‌ can complete more complex…

Samsung upgraded its Sleep Apnea detection—Galaxy Ring, Watch 9 are receiving it now

Get your Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch 9. Samsung's upgraded Sleep Apnea is offering deeper insights into breathing disruptions, and it's rolling out now.

iOS 27.3 Adds Vertical Tabs and Adaptive Dark Mode to Safari

With iOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, and macOS Golden Gate 27.3, Apple is making major updates to Safari. The browser is getting a Vertical Tabs layout, which can be us…

Apple’s latest watchOS beta includes its new always-on Audio Intelligence features

Starting today, Siri can tune into the Apple Watch's mic with Audio Intelligence features that are available in the new watchOS 27.3 developer beta rolling out…

OpenAI says ChatGPT is catching up to Google in search

In many circles, "Ask Chat" has replaced "Google it," and that's reflected in a new announcement from OpenAI: the volume of search queries run through ChatGPT…

iOS 27.3 Beta Brings Back Apple's Redesigned Health App

iOS 27.3 reintroduces the redesigned Health app previewed in September. Apple tested the new Health app in the iOS 27.2 beta, but it was removed before the upd…

Reddit is adding more ads

Reddit is testing ads on another area of its platform: search. With this update, ads will appear within your search results "based on a range of factors, inclu…

Indie games are missing launch dates because Steam is backed up

Many indie game developers have recently posted on social media about unexpectedly long approval wait times for their game submissions on Steam, with some of t…

Google’s Gemini-powered Home Speaker is already on sale for 20 percent off

If you’re looking for a good smart speaker, the Google Home Speaker is down to around $79 ($20 off) in all four colors at Best Buy, Walmart, and Target. That’s…

Apple Releases First macOS Golden Gate 27.3 Beta

Apple today started testing the next macOS Golden Gate update, and developers can now download the first beta of ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ 27.3. The beta c…

Apple Seeds First iOS 27.3 Beta

Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 27.3 and iPadOS 27.3 updates to developers, with the betas coming a week after iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2 were…

Netflix will show you themed recommendations through a new ‘AI Discover’ tab

Netflix's TV app is getting a new "AI Discover" tab where the company will show experimental, AI-powered features to help you find new shows and movies to watc…

Moft’s new origami case adds a kickstand and grip to the iPhone Duo

Originally released in early 2025 as an accessory for the iPad, Moft has redesigned its Dynamic Folio as a case for the iPhone Duo that does more than just pro…