Former official also points to processes driving up the cost of IT investment
The UK government does not have a clear picture of what it is spending on digital technology, and its approach to buying associated services and products drives up the cost of investment, MPs have heard.…
Organizational, technological resilience combined defeat the disease that is cybercrime
When IT disasters strike, it can become a matter of life and death for healthcare organizations – and criminals know it.…
Last year, my best friend bought me an HP Sprocket portable photo printer. This, she said, would take my journaling game to the next level. After a short demo and dozens of journaling TikToks, I was stoked. And then I unboxed the damn thing. Another freaking Micro USB port. And right after I’d confidently gotten […]
Victims expect to spend considerable time and money over privacy incident, lawyers argue
Specialist class action lawyers have launched proceedings against Oracle in Texas over two alleged data breaches.…
Kept quiet for 30 years before becoming an 'unrivalled advocate' for the site
Obit Betty Webb MBE, one of the team who worked at the code-breaking Bletchley Park facility during the Second World War, has died at the age of 101.…
Valve has issued a corrective update to the Steam client for its Steam Deck gaming handhelds, after an earlier version left some devices stuck in boot loops and broke performance settings. The initial update reached the Steam Deck’s stable channel despite warnings from beta testers about the problems. The problems were caused by a Steam […]
Roblox is introducing new parental controls that give parents more tools to control the people their children talk to and the experiences they can access, according to a blog post from chief safety officer Matt Kaufman. The updates build on changes introduced last year, which included a special type of account parents and caregivers can […]
£5M in savings? Should've gone to third-party support
International optometry company Specsavers has paused the global standardization of its Oracle ERP system and moved to third-party support, saving £5 million ($6.5 million) that can be reallocated to the business.…
Boosted human-computer interface promises better communication for patients who lost ability to speak
Some smart cookies have implemented a brain-computer interface that can synthesize speech from thought in near real-time.…
Cupertino already squashed 'em in more recent releases - which this week get a fresh round of fixes
Apple has delivered a big batch of OS updates, some of which belatedly patch older versions of its operating systems to address exploited-in-the-wild flaws the iGiant earlier fixed in more recent releases.…
With help from UK operatives, because it’s getting tougher to run the scam in the USA
North Korea’s scamming, thieving, and AI-abusing fake IT workers are increasingly targeting European employers.…
Motorola announced the first phone in its midrange Edge 60 series, which ships with a novel twist: a faux-canvas finish. The Edge 60 Fusion looks the part otherwise, with its molded camera module and surprisingly slim body, but the basic specs match the low price tag — just £299.99 (around $390) in the UK. The […]
But his emails! Sharing them with Google!
Senior members of the US National Security Council, including the White House national security adviser Michael Waltz, have been accused of using their personal Gmail accounts to exchange sensitive information.…
Thunderbirds are Pro: Open-source email client to get message hosting, appointment scheduling, more
Thunderbird, Firefox maker Mozilla's open-source email client, is aiming to reinvent itself as a more comprehensive communications platform.…
In September, Apple launched its latest smartwatch, introducing the Apple Watch Series 10 alongside a black rendition of the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Each wearable has its own pros and cons, as does the second-gen Apple Watch SE, but the recent introduction of the new wearables also means there are now more Apple Watch models […]
AI accelerators to see the light, literally
Lightmatter this week unveiled a pair of silicon photonic interconnects designed to satiate the growing demand for chip-to-chip bandwidth associated with ever-denser AI deployments.…
Visible, the budget wireless brand owned by Verizon, is offering a new premium plan that looks like a heck of a deal compared to its parent company’s offerings. The new Visible Plus Pro plan (I didn’t say the name was good) costs $45 per month. For that price you get unlimited 5G Ultrawideband (UW) data, […]
Last week, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz inadvertently invited a journalist to a Signal chat discussing a planned military strike. Today, a new Washington Post report says that he has also discussed “sensitive military positions and powerful weapons systems relating to an ongoing conflict,” using his personal Gmail account. Waltz, along with other members of […]
Meta is reportedly preparing a higher-end version of its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with a built-in screen to launch as early as by the end of the year, Bloomberg reports. The new glasses, codenamed Hypernova, can run apps and display photos, all controlled using hand gestures and capacitive touch on the sides of the frame. […]
Some Google Pixel users have found that their At a Glance widget has been showing outdated weather forecasts, as reported by Android Police. But the company says in a statement to The Verge that it’s addressing the issue. According to one user on Reddit who has been dealing with the problem, “the current temperature is […]
Chipzilla chief asked customers to be 'brutally honest' ... which will lead to what changes, we wonder
Vision Not even Intel's top brass know what's on newly minted CEO Lip-Bu Tan's chopping block.…
Amazon’s first big sale event of 2025, the Big Spring Sale, is officially in the bag. Many of the best deals have since disappeared, but, fortunately, a few of our favorites are still hanging around. We’ve rounded up the cream of the crop below, which includes deals on everything from headphones and robot vacuums to […]
Roblox is launching a new type of ad that, if watched, will give players things like in-game currency and power-ups, according to an announcement from the company. The full-screen video ads, called “Rewarded Video ads,” can be up to 30 seconds long. The ads will be available to buy programmatically “via Google’s advertising solutions and […]
T-Mobile has officially closed its joint venture deal with the fiber provider Lumos, after taking down its webpage dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the process, as reported by Fierce Network. The now-blank page outlined T-Mobile’s “culture of fairness, respect, and inclusion” and was online until at least March 26th, the Internet Archive […]
Haven’t you heard? Phones are boring now. And that’s just fine! Most people buying a new phone just want something familiar that works better than the device they’re replacing. If that’s your MO, then you’re sure to find something reliable in my recommendations below. But even if you’re looking for something a little more extra, […]
Drastic “reductions in force” are upending agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Thousands of people who work at the CDC were notified by email today that they were subject to the Trump administration’s efforts to […]
What was once a humble research lab has transformed into one of the biggest consumer technology companies of all time. OpenAI, founded in 2015 to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) — AI systems with human-level intelligence — has transformed dramatically since launching ChatGPT, which was once considered to be “the fastest-growing consumer application in history.” […]
Starting with this year’s football season, the NFL will use Sony’s Hawk-Eye cameras to measure the line to gain — a process the chain crew has done manually for decades. The 8K cameras will use virtual measurement technology to quickly and accurately determine whether the ball traveled 10 yards for a first down. The Hawk-Eye […]
The Xbox Series X and Series S are excellent machines directly out of the box, but there’s always room for improvement. Add-on accessories like the Elite Series 2 Controller and the Xbox Wireless Headset can help you get the most out of your new gaming console, while others, like Seagate and Western Digital’s expansion cards, […]
Nobody’s tested the tapes this decade, thinks to back up the Recycle Bin, or takes care when using rm
On Call Special How can you avoid a disaster recovery disaster?…
Though John Wick definitely seemed dead by the end of his last high stakes adventure, that no longer appears to be the case. During its presentation at this year’s CinemaCon, Lionsgate announced that it has greenlit production on yet another John Wick feature that will see Keanu Reeves return to reprise his role as the […]
Hyundai has revealed a gaming-inspired “Insteroid” concept EV in Seoul that takes its tiny all-electric Inster and gives it an over-the-top street racing makeover. The automaker’s cutesy compact SUV was handed off to Hyundai’s European design team with the goal of merging “gaming influences with extensive customization,” according to a press release. The Insteroid gives […]
The old naming convention didn't just 'screw up' the NVLink nomenclature - it left money on the table
Comment At its GPU Technology Conference last month, Nvidia broke with convention by shifting its definition of what counts as a GPU.…
AI startup Runway says its latest AI video model can generate consistent scenes and people across multiple shots, according to an announcement. AI-generated videos can struggle with maintaining consistent storytelling, but Runway claims on X that the new model, Gen-4, should allow users more “continuity and control” while telling stories. Currently rolling out to paid […]
More than 1,900 scientists and engineers have signed a letter saying they “see real danger in this moment” as the Trump administration slashes federal support for scientific research. “Wise investments by the US government have built up the nation’s research enterprise, making it the envy of the world,” says the open letter published on Monday. […]
Members of ZeniMax Workers United, a union of over 300 quality assurance workers in Texas and Maryland, have voted to authorize a strike. The vote, which passed with over 94 percent in favor of authorization, does not mean workers have gone on strike like SAG-AFTRA members have in the ongoing video game voice actors strike. […]
Yesterday, we wrote that a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) process would help private jet owners keep their registration details private upon request, and speculated that it would make things difficult for celebrity jet trackers. Jack Sweeney, known for his accounts tracking the flights of celebrities like Elon Musk and Taylor Swift, says he doesn’t […]
New Glenn landing scuppered by engine problems
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is closing its investigations into both the SpaceX Starship Flight 7 explosion and Blue Origin New Glenn-1 landing failure.…
A year and a half ago, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) worked with state attorneys general to shut down Prehired, a shady tech sales bootcamp program that a court said deceptively saddled students with millions of dollars in loans. Now, as the federal watchdog is being dismantled by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency […]
You probably shouldn’t expect major changes to Google’s next Pixel foldable. Renders shared with Android Headlines by reliable leaker Onleaks show a Pixel 10 Pro Fold that looks very similar to its predecessor, potentially indicating that it could largely be just a spec bump. As shown in the renders, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold appears […]
We live in a golden age of controllers. The gamepads on the market now are of higher quality, more versatile, and more customizable than anything from even one console generation ago. If you play games on an Xbox Series X or Series S (or a Windows PC), you have the unenviable task of choosing between […]
Copilot told us that half a century is 25 years. It feels much longer
Microsoft will officially hit the half-century mark on Friday as the Windows giant turns 50 years old. What do you consider the highs and lows of the company's journey to dominance?…
If you want to create a cinematic experience at home, then chances are that your TV’s built-in speakers just won’t cut it. Instead, it may be worth investing in a top-notch soundbar like the Sonos Arc, especially now that the Arc has dropped to an all-time low price of $599 ($300 off) at Amazon, Best […]
'There needs to be a better economic as well as copyright framework', Thomson Reuters CPO tells us
Interview Thomson Reuters, based in Canada, recently scored a partial summary judgment against Ross Intelligence, after a US court ruled the AI outfit's use of the newswire giant's copyrighted Westlaw content didn't qualify as fair use.…
Smartphones are great. They’re also… a lot. The idea of a more balanced device, one that gives you all of the most important and useful features of a smartphone but keeps you out of the infinite-doomscrolling loops, has been an enticing one for a long time. Nailing that balance, though, turns out to be almost […]
Dbrand wants you to feel less guilty about having your face buried in a screen all day and not getting outside to ‘touch grass.’ The company’s latest collection of skins lets you wrap your gadgets in bright green artificial turf so you can touch grass whenever you want and no matter where you are. The […]
Substack plans to protect foreign writers “residing lawfully” in the US who may be targeted by the government for what they write. The company is partnering with the nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) to provide legal support to impacted writers — whether they publish on Substack or not — citing recent attacks […]
Commerce chief threatens to pull grants so firms double down on US spending
More doubt is being cast over the US CHIPS Act program with the Trump administration threatening to halt payments unless companies in line to receive funding commit to substantially expand their own investments.…
Though Sony’s initial plans to release Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse in 2024 didn’t quite work out, the film finally has a new premiere date that seems like it will stick. Last night at this year’s CinemaCon expo, Sony announced that it now intends for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse to hit theaters a little over two […]
It’s finally time for the biggest video game event of the last few years. In January, Nintendo officially unveiled the successor to the Switch, helpfully called the Switch 2. The short video showed off some of the console’s features, like magnetized Joy-Cons, and provided a brief glimpse at a new Mario Kart game. But it […]
Welcome to the worst day on the internet! As Chaim Gartenberg pointed out years ago, brands and a holiday dedicated to hoaxes are rarely a winning combo. If you’re a company with any kind of social media presence in 2025, you really, truly only have four options on April Fools’ Day: So far, we’ve seen […]
On Sunday, a few thousand people in Green Bay, Wisconsin, gathered to hear Elon Musk speak — and give away two giant cardboard checks for $1 million. Attendance at the event was limited to people who had added their names to a petition against “activist judges,†created by Musk’s America PAC. He has promised money […]
The UK government must be thrilled
Google will soon offer end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) email for all users, even those who do not use Google Workspace, and says it'll do so without imposing any undue stress on IT admins.…
How’s that 5G rollout going in your area? Even in 2025, there’s no guarantee you’re going to be able to get reliable cell service everywhere you go, especially if you happen to live somewhere that’s especially crowded or remote — or if you work in your company’s basement. That’s where Wi-Fi calling comes in, which […]
Google is updating Gmail to allow enterprise users to send encrypted messages to any inbox in just a few clicks. Google says it’s developed a new encryption model that, unlike the current encryption feature on Gmail, doesn’t require senders or recipients to use custom software or exchange encryption certificates. The feature is rolling out in […]
Fulcrum is region's latest challenge to the hyperscalers
An alliance of cloud service providers in Europe is investing €1 million into the Fulcrum Project, an open source cloud federation tech that gives an alternative to local customers anxious about using US hypercalers.…
So much of our online and technological lives rely on standards, the sets of rules designed to make sure our favorite gadgets and services work together. At their best, they make everything work seamlessly, and we never need to worry about what’s happening behind the scenes. But at their worst, they leave us perplexed about […]
Tech secretary reveals landmark legislation's full details for first time
The UK's technology secretary revealed the full breadth of the government's Cyber Security and Resilience (CSR) Bill for the first time this morning, pledging £100,000 ($129,000) daily fines for failing to act against specific threats under consideration.…
Every time I see “mAh” on a consumer product, I cringe. Megahertz are starting to bruise, too. That’s because the most critical components of portable gadgets — batteries and processors — should really be measured in watts: it’s the one common spec that gives you a real idea of what your device can do. With watts, […]
Buying a giant battery for the next blackout or off-grid adventure can be daunting, especially when hundreds or even thousands of dollars are on the line. Get it wrong and you’ve either spent too much money for something you’ll never use or discover that you didn’t buy enough capacity to keep your most important devices […]
What counts as failure in New Space?
Comment Yet another rocket exploded over the weekend and – you guessed it – its CEO called the test flight "a great success." This raises the question: what even counts as failure anymore in the world of so-called "New Space" – the VC-fueled and risk-friendly private rocket sector?…
Modern 64-bit-only chips are leaving the original Arm operating system behind
A new funding effort from RISC OS Open seeks to modernize the operating system for future Arm hardware.…
Mark Zuckerberg — having spent months cozying up to President Donald Trump — will now be looking to reap the benefits as European tech regulators bear down on Meta. The EU is expected to impose fines against the social media giant any day now, having preliminarily ruled in July 2024 that Facebook and Instagram’s “pay […]
Lenders told of £175 million project top-up for 2025, four years after buyout
The UK's third-largest supermarket has seen the expected costs of its tech divorce from former US owner Walmart rise to nearly £1 billion ($1.3 billion) after news broke that the project is now expected to run into calendar Q3 of year four, overshooting its original three-year timeline.…
Not exactly Snowden levels of skill
A student at Britain's top eavesdropping government agency has pleaded guilty to taking sensitive information home on the first day of his trial.…
ChatGPT’s latest image generator — which has gone viral for its ability to generate uncanny recreations of Studio Ghibli art — is now available for everyone, after OpenAI initially delayed the rollout beyond its paid tiers following heavy demand. CEO Sam Altman announced on X that the image generation update has “now rolled out to […]
Optimistic much?
Arm expects to see its architecture account for half of the datacenter CPU market by the end of this year, up from 15 percent in 2024, all thanks to the AI boom.…
The developers of Palworld and PUBG: Battlegrounds have announced details of dating simulators set in the universes of their respective games. The Palworld dating sim, technically called Pal♡world! ~More Than Just Pals~, was actually announced ahead of April Fools’ Day last year. But yesterday, developer Pocketpair released a second trailer for the game and published […]
Blame the 23andMe implosion, rise in far-right govt
OpenSNP, a fourteen-year-old open source repository for genetic records, will shut down and delete all its data at the end of April.…
Ampler made one of the first modern e-bikes I ever tested, and now it’s selling the first commercial electric bikes — the Nova and Nova Pro — I’m aware of that can be charged over a USB-C port integrated right into the frame. Hell, that same jack will even charge your gadgets in a pinch, but not […]
How about making sure Windows crashes less, and stops hassling us to use Edge? That would improve productivity, too
Microsoft has quietly revealed it’s redesigning the Blue Screen of Death, the notification that Windows presents after it crashes so badly a reboot is the only way out.…
OK, AMD it is, then. Or Nvidia, Arm, Qualcomm, RISC-V, MOS 6502 ...
Intel's newly appointed CEO Lip-Bu Tan has used his first major speech to admit the x86 goliath needs to shape up, and sketched out plans to turn things around.…
Producing this stuff is bad enough, but d'ya really have to leave all of it on the web for anyone to find?
Jeremiah Fowler, an Indiana Jones of insecure systems, says he found a trove of sexually explicit AI-generated images exposed to the public internet – all of which disappeared after he tipped off the team seemingly behind the highly questionable pictures.…
Resurge an apt name for malware targeting hardware maker that has security bug after security bug
Owners of Ivanti’s Connect Secure, Policy Secure, and ZTA Gateway products have a new strain of malware to fend off, according to the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, aka CISA.…
OpenAI has raised $40 billion in a new investment round led by SoftBank, vaulting the company to a $300 billion valuation. It’s the largest funding round for a private tech company in history, according to CNBC. OpenAI is set to receive $10 billion up front (SoftBank will invest $7.5 billion along with $2.5 billion “from […]
Indiana Uni rm -rf online profiles while agents haul boxes of evidence
A tenured computer security professor at Indiana University and his university-employed wife have not been seen publicly since federal agents raided their homes late last week.…
The commercial space industry is booming, and it’s only expected to keep growing as more billionaire-led companies send rockets into the sky. Elon Musk’s SpaceX continues to dominate the space industry with dozens of launches each year, but it could soon have some serious competition with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launching its rival New Glenn […]
From the Kindle Colorsoft and Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 to the top-of-the-line Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, Amazon’s Big Spring Sale has brought steep discounts on some of our favorite gadgets. There’s just one problem: a large chunk of them will set you back at least several hundred dollars, if not more. That can be a tough […]
The release of Apple’s iOS 18.4 on Monday includes good news for robot vacuum owners. The update includes support for controlling robot vacuums and adding them to automations and scenes in the Apple Home app via the Matter protocol. With the official rollout of iOS 18.4, companies like Roborock, iRobot, and Ecovacs are introducing firmware […]
1990s incident response in 2025
Two Oracle data security breaches have been reported in the past week, and the database goliath not only remains reluctant to acknowledge the disasters publicly – it may be scrubbing the web of evidence, too.…
Wafer-scale AI chip startup apparently smoothed over American concerns around UAE's G42 planned stake
AI chip startup Cerebras Systems says it has cleared a key hurdle ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO), claiming it resolved concerns about its sources of funding with the US Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS).…
Microsoft is making its AI features widely available on Copilot Plus PCs equipped with Intel and AMD chips. One of the most notable of these features will be Live Captions, which translates audio to English subtitles from dozens of different languages in real time. Microsoft first started testing Live Captions on Intel and AMD devices […]
Smart plugs are great, but unfortunately, they can’t automate everything. Thankfully, there is a cheap cube-like contraption called the SwitchBot Bot that can add a touch of modern functionality to your garage door, light switch, and other traditional devices. It would normally run you $29.99, but right now you can buy it directly from SwitchBot […]
Amazon’s Big Spring Sale is happening now through the end of today, March 31st, with several dozen good-to-great deals available that don’t require an Amazon Prime membership. Our main roundup has you covered with more than 100 deals on Verge-favorite gear with quite a high price ceiling. But, for this post, we wanted to provide […]
Apple has released iOS 18.4, and one of the biggest features is priority notifications, which use Apple Intelligence to highlight “important notifications that may require your immediate attention,” according to Apple’s patch notes. The priority notifications will appear at the top of your notification stack on your Home Screen, as shown in the below picture […]
Following months of testing, Plex has started to roll out its redesigned mobile app to Android and iOS devices, and it will arrive to everyone within the next week. The new app comes with an updated navigation system that should make it easier to access different parts of the app and find content to watch, […]
Explanation leaves a 'lot of questions unanswered,' says infosec researcher
A digital burglar is claiming to have nabbed a trove of "highly sensitive" data from Check Point - something the American-Israeli security biz claims is a huge exaggeration.…
Warner Bros. Discovery introduced new branding for its Max streaming service yesterday, alongside announcing availability in Australia. Although still simply called Max, the service has traded its bright blue appearance for a monochromatic black-and-white color palette that’s more reminiscent of the iconic HBO logo. The new look has already been introduced on the streaming service’s […]
Amazon has launched a new AI model, Nova Act, which is designed to perform tasks — like online shopping — in your browser. For now it’s only available to developers in a “research preview,” but Amazon is also expanding access to its other Nova AI models through a web portal, making them easier to find […]
Amazon has officially launched its AI-powered Alexa Plus – but it’s only available to a “small number” of customers to start, Amazon spokesperson Kristy Schmidt confirmed to The Verge. As shown on its early access page, Alexa Plus also doesn’t come with all the features Amazon showcased during its recent devices event, like the ability […]
Whenever Verge staffers are asked to describe their smart tech, office tools, kitchen gadgets, or whatever else, they talk about things they recently bought, things they picked up 10 years ago, or things they’ve had sitting around their house for decades. We’ve gathered a few of the items that our staffers have enthused about in the past […]
A few months ago, I was stuffing my face with Christmas cookies and catching up on the season 3 reunion episode of Netflix’s The Ultimatum. It was a typical tawdry hour of reality TV. Clout-hungry influencer wannabes dressed to the nines, nursing their bruised egos and rehashing the minutiae of why their relationships crashed out […]
Silicon Valley's latest energy fixation won't stop the coming power panic
Analysis Atomic energy is becoming the preferred solution to address the projected bump in megawatts needed to charge AI in the future, but it simply won't come soon enough in many cases.…
Today, I’m talking with Matt Bromberg, who is the CEO of Unity, one of the leading video game development platforms. He’s been in the job for less than a year, and in many ways, he is the perfect Decoder guest. Unity is one of those companies that we love here on Decoder because we interact […]
Nova Custom, based in The Netherlands, makes laptops focused on privacy, customisation, and freedom. Nova Custom laptops ship with either Linux, Windows, or no operating system, and they’re uniquely certified for Qubes OS (the V54 model will be certified soon), the ultra-secure and private operating system.
Deadline reports that Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to sell Coyote vs. Acme’s global distribution rights to Ketchup Entertainment, the same production studio that bought The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie last fall. Ketchup reportedly spent around $50 million on the sale, and plans to release the feature some time in […]
It’s World Backup Day, which to the makers of storage devices means driving home the urgency of protecting the files you hold dear. So obviously, there are deals on all sorts of storage today, including SSDs and microSD cards. B&H Photo is making a big thing out of its deals, and with this being the […]
Only the strong will survive, but analyst says cull will not be as rapid as during dotcom era
Gartner says the market for large language model (LLM) providers is on the cusp of an extinction phase as it grapples with the capital-intensive costs of building products in a competitive market.…
France’s competition watchdog (Autorité de la concurrence) ordered Apple to pay €150 million (~$162.4 million) after finding that its App Tracking Transparency system allows the company to abuse its dominance in the mobile app market. In its decision, the authority says the initiative — which Apple pitches as a way to give users more control […]
Microsoft giveth with one hand but taketh away with the other
Windows Insiders will soon get their hands on Microsoft's attempt to ward off another CrowdStrike incident, and the company is also closing a loophole for users who don't want a Microsoft account.…
