Elon Musk dies to tutorial boss in Path of Exile 2 livestream
Elon Musk, seemingly keen to repair some of his gamer cred after he admitted to account boosting, streamed himself playing Path of Exile 2 during a flight as a part of an “airborne continuity test” of his Starlink internet service. But during the stream, he was bombarded by messages from viewers bullying him for his […]
The modifiers
Technology doesn’t need to die. So much of our consumer habits frame old gadgets, instruments, and concepts as disposable. So The Verge wanted to talk to small businesses, creators, and fans across the world who have a different view. In this week-long series, we explore unexpected repurposing — and the remix of the old with […]
Is there a ‘right’ way to use AI in art?
The arguments against AI in art are obvious. Most visual artists hate Midjourney, Stability AI, and similar image generators, decrying the scraping of training data without compensation and the onslaught of generic “slop.” But is it possible to deliberately misuse generative AI for creative work?  Oakland, California-based painter Brett Amory uses image generators as tools constantly. Instead of passively […]
Tariff-ied Framework pulls laptops, Keyboardio warns of keystroke sticker shock

Small IT hardware firms feel the heat from Trump making prices great

World War Fee  Modular laptop maker Framework is pausing sales of models it would make a loss on, while a small US keyboard biz is facing hundreds of dollars slapped on its products that American consumers will have to pay.…

CalDigit’s new Thunderbolt 5 docks bring plenty of ports
CalDigit is well-known for its Thunderbolt docks that don’t skimp on ports. After debuting a compact but well-equipped Thunderbolt 5 dock at CES 2025, the company is finally upgrading its larger docks with Thunderbolt 5 and boosting the number of ports offered. While the cheaper Thunderbolt Station 5 (TS5) maxes out at 15 ports, the […]
How an unused nuclear power plant became home to a world-class acoustics lab
It’s kind of impossible to grasp the enormity of a cooling tower until it’s suddenly right next to you. Never used for their intended purpose, the cooling towers of Washington Nuclear Projects 3 and 5 (WNP-3 and WNP-5) loom over treetops as I drive up to Satsop Business Park, about an hour and a half […]
Microsoft celebrates 50 years by adding familiar AI features

Windows maker marks milestone with Copilot additions that resemble tools from OpenAI and Google

Microsoft used its 50th birthday to announce a slew of new Copilot features, many of which will be eerily familiar to anyone who's used rival AI platforms.…

The best Android phones
The Android ecosystem is all about choice. While iPhone owners have a smaller pool of new devices to pick from when it’s time to upgrade, there’s a wider range of choices on Android. Some Android phones even fold in half! Imagine. On the flip side, all that choice can make for some hard decisions. Here’s […]
Microsoft’s new Windows 11 Start menu is bigger and fixes a major pain point
Microsoft is working on a new Windows 11 Start menu design that’s bigger and more customizable than what exists today. Windows watcher phantomofearth discovered the new design in recent builds of Windows 11, where the updated Start menu has a larger layout and finally lets you disable the recommended feed of files and apps. The […]
Motorola’s stylish stylus phone comes in blue or blue
Motorola is refreshing its budget-oriented stylus phone with the 2025 edition of the Moto G Stylus in two bold colors: blue, and for a change of pace, blue. They both come with a “leather-inspired” back panel finish and a stacked spec sheet when you consider its $399 price — though it might come with a […]
Switch 2: the good news and bad news
In most ways, Nintendo’s Switch 2 is exactly what we wanted: a Switch, only better. Nintendo has an occasional tendency to follow its best and most successful consoles with some of its weirdest ideas – Wii U, anyone? — but this time seems to have stayed the course in the best way. Still, this is Nintendo, […]
Scattered Spider stops the Rickrolls, starts the RAT race

Despite arrests, eight-legged menace targeted more victims this year

Despite several arrests last year, Scattered Spider's social engineering attacks are continuing into 2025 as the cybercrime collective targets high-profile organizations and adds another phishing kit to its arsenal along with a new version of Spectre RAT malware.…

Teen restrictions expand on Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger
Meta is broadening Instagram restrictions that prevent minors from being exposed to inappropriate contact and content, bringing those protections to Facebook and Messenger and adding new limits for teenage Instagram users.  After introducing “Teen Accounts” to Instagram in September — which automatically make younger users’ accounts private and restrict them from accessing certain features — […]
UALink debuts its first AI interconnect spec – usable in just 18 short months

No-Nvidia networking club is banking on you running different GPUs on one network

The Ultra Accelerator Link Consortium has delivered its first GPU interconnect specification: UALink 200G 1.0.…

Procter & Gamble study finds AI could help make Pringles tastier, spice up Old Spice, sharpen Gillette

Go on, then, knock yourself out, pal

Procter & Gamble says organizations should rethink how they're run to take better advantage of innovation enabled by generative AI.…

Boffins turn Moon dirt into glass for solar panels, eye future lunar base power

Lugging a solar furnace to melt it could slash the need to launch bulky power gear from Earth

You've perhaps heard of using Moon dirt for building roads and other structures for future lunar explorers. But a group of German scientists reckon they've found another use for the grey stuff: Turn it into glass and use it to assemble solar power cells right there on the Moon.…

IBM's z17 mainframe – now with 7.5x more AI performance

Who wouldn't want predictive business insights in a week like this? (We jest, it can't solve for Trump tariffs)

IBM's latest mainframe builds on the platform's traditional attributes of security and reliability for mission-critical workloads, adding AI to support large language models (LLMs), assistants, and agents.…

Brit universities told to keep up the world-class research with less cash

Government boasts of £14B in R&D spending, but grant body takes £300M hit

Despite ambitions to position itself as a science and tech superpower, the UK has cut the budget for the government body responsible for university research funding.…

UK data watchdog seeks fresh blood as more complaints lie unanswered for up to a year

Multiple red-rated performance metrics blamed on inability to answer rising numbers of data protection worries

The UK's data protection watchdog is recruiting more warm bodies to tackle its red-rated backlog of unresolved complaints.…

Eight charged with corruption, money laundering, in case linked to Huawei lobbying

Chinese tech giant has fired two staff, but Europe's anti-fraud org isn't probing

European authorities last week charged eight people with offenses including corruption and money laundering linked to the European Parliament – and perhaps also to Huawei.…

Samsung trumps USA's tariffs by making displays in Mexico, and elsewhere if needed

May also have fixed AI memory biz if better-than-expected revenue guidance is anything to go by

World War Fee  Samsung Electronics doesn’t fear the impact of the USA’s new tariffs regime on its displays business because it makes many of them in Mexico, according to Yong Seok-woo, president and head the company’s visual display business,…

Meta got caught gaming AI benchmarks
Over the weekend, Meta dropped two new Llama 4 models: a smaller model named Scout, and Maverick, a mid-size model that the company claims can beat GPT-4o and Gemini 2.0 Flash “across a broad range of widely reported benchmarks.” Maverick quickly secured the number-two spot on LMArena, the AI benchmark site where humans compare outputs […]
As CISA braces for more cuts, threat intel sharing takes a hit

Will 'gutting' the civilian defense agency make American cybersecurity great again?

Analysis  Slashing staff at the US govt's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, aka CISA, and scrapping vital programs, isn’t exactly boosting national security, say infosec and national security officials watching America’s digital defenses unravel in real time.…

Oracle says its cloud was in fact compromised

Reliability, honesty, accuracy. And then there's this lot

Oracle has briefed some customers about a successful intrusion into its public cloud, as well as the theft of their data, after previously denying it had been compromised.…

The best budget robot vacuums
Today’s robot vacuums are becoming a bit like cars: with all the features, upgrades, and fancy trimmings available these days, it’s easy to forget that they can just be simple machines that get us from point A to point B. Yes, some bots blow hot air on their bums (mop pads), deftly navigate dog poop, […]
Framework stops selling some of its cheapest laptops due to Trump tariffs
Framework says it’s “temporarily pausing” US sales on some of its laptops due to the Trump administration’s tariffs that went into effect on April 5th, according to a post on X. The affected models are “a few base Framework Laptop 13 systems (Ultra 5 125H and Ryzen 5 7640U),” the company says, and it has […]
Microsoft’s AI masterplan: Let OpenAI burn cash, then build on their successes

Redmond’s not alone: AWS, Alibaba, DeepSeek also rely on others blazing the trail

Analysis  Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman has extolled the virtues of playing second fiddle in the generative-AI race.…

The best noise-canceling headphones to buy right now
Whether you’re wearing them for the morning commute, while traveling, or if you’re simply trying to find some peace and quiet while working at home, noise-canceling headphones are a more essential piece of kit nowadays than ever before. And you’ve got a slew of great options to pick from; it’s hard to make a bad […]
Gemini Live’s screensharing feature is rolling out to Pixel 9 and Galaxy S25 devices
Google’s Gemini Live camera and screenshare functions, which let the conversational AI chatbot answer questions about the stuff you’re looking at in real-time, are rolling out now on Pixel 9 series phones and Samsung Galaxy S25 devices. The free update is also coming soon to other Android devices, but you’ll need to be a paid […]
Shopify CEO says no new hires without proof AI can’t do the job
Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke sent a memo to employees saying that before they ask for more headcount or resources, teams must show why they “cannot get what they want done using AI,” as reported by CNBC. “What would this area look like if autonomous AI agents were already part of the team? This question can […]
Some Shein and Temu ‘haul video’ creators are stocking up
TikTok creator @pwinpudding specializes in ‘haul videos,’ specifically all things pink, pastel, and cute. Her videos show a collection of packages received from sites like the Chinese retailer AliExpress, as well as Amazon and the Japanese retailer Daiso and the accessories, clothes, plushies, and other items she took out of them. In her most recent […]
It’s not looking good for Tesla’s Cybertruck range extender
Tesla’s battery range extender accessory for Cybertruck, which promised to give the electric pickup the capability to drive about 445 miles on a single charge, was removed from the online configurator over the weekend, Electrek reports.  The Cybertruck Range Extender was announced at the vehicle’s delivery event as a $16,000 add-on that appears to take […]
You can build these marble runs and connect them to your smart home over Wi-Fi
Marble run toys typically rely on just gravity to send a marble careening through a complex maze of obstacles, but the creator of Marblelous thinks they can be improved through technology. These new marble run building sets feature powered Wi-Fi-connected components that can keep balls rolling continuously and a marble-detecting sensor that can incorporate your […]
Trump tariffs to make prices great – a gain

As costs for US shoppers set to rise, markets slump, orange is new red, we speak to economic experts

World War Fee  President Donald Trump last week announced a sweeping new round of tariffs, setting the stage for price hikes across consumer tech, pro gear, and almost anything else that crosses a border.…

Microsoft fires employee protestor who called AI boss a ‘war profiteer’
Microsoft has fired one of the employees who disrupted the company’s 50th-anniversary event. In an email seen by The Verge, Microsoft told Ibtihal Aboussad that their employment has been terminated due to “acts of misconduct.” Aboussad was one of two protesters that interrupted Microsoft’s 50th anniversary event on Friday by calling Microsoft’s AI CEO, Mustafa […]
Waymo: ‘no plans’ to use in-car camera data for targeted ads
Waymo has “no plans” to use footage from cameras inside its robotaxis to train AI models for targeted ads, spokesperson Julia Ilina said in an email to The Verge. Ilina was responding to an unreleased page from Waymo’s privacy policy that appears to offer customers the ability to opt-out from having their “personal information,” including […]
You can borrow and resell Nintendo’s Switch 2 game-key cards
Following the reveal of Nintendo’s new game-key cards during its Nintendo Switch 2 event last week, we’re finally getting more details about why they exist and how they can be used. Although they don’t contain a physical copy of a game, Nintendo’s Tetsuya Sasaki explained to GameSpot that game-key cards aren’t permanently tied to a […]
That massive GitHub supply chain attack? It all started with a stolen SpotBugs token

But this mystery isn't over yet, Unit 42 opines

That massive GitHub supply chain attack that spilled secrets from countless projects? It traces back to a stolen token from a SpotBugs workflow - exposed way back in November, months earlier than previously suspected.…

The insanity of being a software engineer
Software gets more complicated. All of this complexity is there for a reason. But what happened to specializing? When a house is being built, tons of people are involved: architects, civil engineers, plumbers, electricians, bricklayers, interior designers, roofers, surveyors, pavers, you name it.
Whoopsie daisy Bitcoin!
Sure, the stock market is melting down after the US declared a global trade war. But have you considered that crypto is also melting down? Starting around April 6, the Bitcoin price fell off a cliff — and is sitting at $78,800 as of this writing, after touching a low of about $74,000. That’s quite […]
Google TV remotes are getting a ‘Free TV’ button
Google TV streaming devices will be required to have a “Free TV” or “Live TV” button on their remotes that opens up the Live tab where you can watch free, ad-supported TV channels via Google TV FreePlay, a company spokesperson confirmed to Android Authority.  “Google TV gives users access to a wide range of free […]
Apple’s Darwin OS and XNU kernel deep dive
Apple’s Darwin operating system is the Unix-like core underpinning macOS, iOS, and all of Apple’s modern OS platforms. At its heart lies the XNU kernel – an acronym humorously standing for “X is Not Unix.” XNU is a unique hybrid kernel that combines a Mach microkernel core with components of BSD Unix.
Trump doubles down, vows to make Chinese imports even more expensive for Americans

World War Fee: President to up tariffs on Middle Kingdom goods to 104% from 54%

President Donald Trump has threatened to increase tariffs on Chinese goods by a further 50 percent this week, meaning imports from the Middle Kingdom into America would have a 104 percent levy. And buyers are expected to pick up the extra cost.…

Alleged Scattered Spider SIM-swapper must pay back $13.2M to 59 victims

Crummy OPSEC leads to potentially decades in prison

Noah Michael Urban, 20, of alleged Scattered Spider infamy, has pleaded guilty to various charges and potentially faces decades in prison.…

Here are the best streaming service deals available right now
So far, 2025 has been a great year for watching new, must-see TV shows and movies on subscription services. But if you, like many of us, have more concurrent subscriptions than you care to admit, you’ll agree that keeping up with the latest each month is expensive. They may not cost as much as most […]
Major publishers call on the US government to ‘Stop AI Theft’
Hundreds of publishers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and The Verge parent company Vox Media, are running an ad campaign this week urging the government to protect content from AI. The campaign, called Support Responsible AI, is run by the News/Media Alliance trade association and consists of several ads that […]
Trump tariffs thwart TikTok takeover as China digs in heels

Video app's future once again caught between trade war and political whiplash

A deal to sell off TikTok's US operations to White House-approved owners appears to have hit a tariff-shaped roadblock, with the Chinese government signalling it won't allow the move.…

One of the best 4K QD-OLED gaming monitors is cheaper than ever
Alienware’s 27-inch 4K QD-OLED, the AW2725Q, hit shelves about a month ago. It was the first of several faster, better models to launch after being announced at CES 2025, with a 240Hz refresh rate, VRR, and a high 166 pixels per inch display. In short, it rules, so I’m tickled to find it already selling […]
The White House’s group chat screwup is even more ridiculous than we thought
Last month, Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a Signal group chat about a military strike in Yemen planned for later that day. Now, sources inside the White House have apparently told The Guardian that an internal investigation revealed the roundabout way that happened: Siri was being helpful.  When national security adviser Mike Waltz […]
The see-through Beats Studio Buds Plus are on sale for less than $100
Apple’s AirPods Pro are some of the best wireless earbuds money can buy, but only if you’re embedded in Apple’s ecosystem. If you want a cheaper pair of earbuds that play well with both iOS and Android devices, the Beats Studio Buds Plus are a great alternative. They usually run $169.95, but right now you […]
Nintendo’s Switch 2 upgrade packs for Zelda will cost $9.99
Nintendo’s hoping to relieve some of the sticker shock it gave fans with its game pricing with the news that the Switch 2 upgrades for both Legend of Zelda games will only cost $10 if you already own them. The games are priced for the Nintendo Switch 2 at $69.99 for Breath of the Wild […]
SpaceX scores $5.9B lion's share of Space Force launch contracts

ULA wins $5.4B and Blue Origin $2.4B

The US will spend $5.9 billion on Elon Musk's SpaceX in the name of national security. United Launch Alliance (ULA) follows with $5.4 billion, and Blue Origin is set to receive $2.4 billion.…

GM’s UK design team imagines an electrified Corvette
General Motors is revealing a futuristic new electric-powered Corvette concept imagined by a new UK-based design team in Birmingham, England. The team developed a hypercar design inspired by the aviation industry, with a highly sculptured, aerodynamic design; powered gullwing doors; and an augmented windshield display for the driver. This Corvette concept comes from a “creative […]
Google’s AI Mode can now see and search with images
Google is adding multimodal capabilities to its search-centric AI Mode chatbot that enable it to “see” and answer questions about images, as it expands access to AI Mode to “millions more” users. The update combines a custom version of Gemini AI with the company’s Lens image recognition tech, allowing AI Mode Search users to take […]
The Last of Us season 2 is a brutal, bloody expansion of the game
The first season of HBO’s The Last of Us wasn’t just one of the most impressive video game adaptations to date, it was also one of the most faithful. The show did a remarkable job of replicating the characters, locations, and moments of the game, to the point that it felt like it was just […]
Death Stranding movie nabs director of Pig and A Quiet Place: Day One
The Death Stranding movie, an adaptation of Hideo Kojima’s supernatural UPS delivery guy walking simulator, has its director. A24 has announced that Michael Sarnoski will both direct and write the project. Sarnoski’s previous work includes directing the surprisingly stunning Nicolas Cage drama Pig and monster movie thriller A Quiet Place: Day One. Death Stranding, released […]
22 years later, modders are keeping SimCity 4 alive
Search for “SimCity 4” on YouTube, and you’ll see players constructing multilevel highway interchanges and intricate railroad networks, or maybe even a swooping flyby of a sprawling metropolis. None of these features came with the original game, which was released just after the turn of the millennium. They’ve been developed slowly and painstakingly over the […]
Please sir, may we have some Moore? Doesn't look that way

We're on a roadmap to nowhere. Come on inside

Opinion  Nvidia has just shown off its vision of the near future in the shape of its Blackwell Ultra. Aptly for a company that helps gamers explore dystopian science-fiction hellscapes, Nvidia's actual future involves vast, heat-soaked stacks of silicon, guzzling energy by the half-gigawatt.…

Getting the firmware of a VTech/LeapFrog LeapStart/Magibook
This is a very small blog post about my first reverse engineering project, in which I don’t really reverse engineer anything yet, but I am just getting started! A family member asked me to add additional book data to the LeapStart he bought for his son, this is the starting point here.
Nintendo confirmed the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons don’t use Hall effect joysticks
After several days of not providing a direct answer about the technology used in the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons, Nintendo has finally confirmed that the new console’s controllers do not employ anti-drift Hall effect joysticks. When asked about the technology inside the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons that “feels so different to the original Switch’s analog stick” during […]
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’s new trailer is one big leap of faith
After multiple delays, Chris McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is finally making its way into theaters this summer, and Ethan Hunt is giving his all in the movie’s new trailer. Though it’s filled with footage from previous movies, the new trailer teases a bit of how Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is about to […]
UK bans fake reviews and ‘sneaky’ fees for online products
The United Kingdom has banned “outrageous fake reviews and sneaky hidden fees” to make life easier for online shoppers. New measures under the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumer Act 2024 came into force on Sunday that require online platforms to transparently include all mandatory fees within a product’s advertised price, including booking or admin charges. […]
WhatsApp tests letting you block people from exporting your chats
WhatsApp is testing a new “advanced chat privacy” option that lets you control whether others you’re chatting with can easily export your chats or automatically save media you send them, reports WABetaInfo. The feature appeared in a recent app beta on iOS, and WABetaInfo spotted the toggle in an Android beta on Friday as well. […]
Chrome to patch decades-old flaw that let sites peek at your history

After 23 years, the privacy plumber has finally arrived to clean up this mess

A 23-year-old side-channel attack for spying on people's web browsing histories will get shut down in the forthcoming Chrome 136, released last Thursday to the Chrome beta channel.…

UiPath’s Daniel Dines on why he needed to become CEO again
Today, I’m talking with Daniel Dines, the cofounder and, once again, the CEO of UiPath, a software company that specializes in something called robotic process automation (RPA). We’ve been featuring a lot of what I like to call full-circle Decoder guests on the show lately, and Daniel is a perfect example. He was first on […]
The rise of ‘Frankenstein’ laptops in New Delhi’s repair markets
In a dimly lit, cluttered workshop in Delhi’s Nehru Place, the air hums with the sound of whirring drills and the crackle of soldering irons. Sushil Prasad, a 35-year-old technician, wipes the sweat off his brow as he carefully pieces together the guts of an old laptop. It is a daily ritual — resurrecting machines […]
Netflix is getting a Peppa Pig mobile game
Netflix is adding a Peppa Pig game to its roster of available titles for subscribers in June, the company announced on Monday. World of Peppa Pig will be available alongside new episodes of the popular children’s show in the US. “From spot the difference and interactive mini games to coloring books, dress up games and […]
Nintendo says tariffs aren’t the reason the Switch 2 costs $449.99
In addition to a new console and lineup of games, Nintendo also revealed some sticker shock at its Switch 2 event last week. The console will cost $449.99 — a big jump from the original Switch, which debuted at $299.99 in 2017. Some have speculated that the price hike was at least partly due to […]
Tribunal denies UK's attempt to keep details of Apple 'backdoor' case secret

Last month's secret hearing comes to light

Details of Apple's appeal against the UK's so-called "backdoor order" will now play out in public after the Home Office failed in its bid to keep them secret on national security grounds.…

Why some Switch 2 carts won’t have games on them
One of the stranger details that came out of last week’s big Nintendo Switch 2 event was the existence of game-key cards. They won’t be used for all releases, but essentially they’re Switch 2 cartridges that don’t actually contain a game, but instead feature a “key” that’s used for “downloading the full game to your […]
EU may target US tech giants in tariff response

By putting services in scope, €18 trillion trade bloc looks to focus tech sector minds

Speaking ahead of today's extraordinary meeting of the European Union's trade minister, a spokesperson for the French government was clear that the trading bloc's response to blanket tariffs on goods could include services, bringing US tech giants within its scope.…

Brit telcos ask suppliers to clean up emissions mess – politely, with no teeth

Digital Connectivity Forum lays out climate goals, but enforcement is strictly optional

A group of UK telecoms operators has signed a joint letter calling on their suppliers to do more on emissions targets to help combat climate change, but they face little pressure to comply.…

Legal clock ticking for Microsoft over alleged software license abuses

With weeks to meet terms of settlement agreement, engineers in Redmond still don't have a product to show CISPE

Microsoft has weeks to produce a multi-tenant hybrid cloud for service providers in Europe – a failure to do this or to even out alleged anti-competitive pricing for its software licenses could again put it in a legal dogfight with smaller rivals.…

UK stats body snoozes legacy tech overhaul as Treasury tightens purse strings

ONS acknowledges it might be a costly decision in the long run

The UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) is slowing migration away from legacy systems in response to budget limitations set by HM Treasury.…

Dev loudly complained about older colleague, who retired not long after

The graybeard wasn't doing a great job and morale improved once he left. How would you handle this?

Who, Me?  It's hard to confront the start of a working week, but each Monday morning, The Register tries to keep the weekend fun going for another few minutes by delivering a fresh edition of Who, Me? It's the column in which we take your tales of your most ticklish moments at work and share them for the amusement and/or education of your fellow readers.…

Mozilla takes pity on Firefox extension developers

Plan to standardize consent dialogs aims to lighten burden on devs, users, reviewers

Mozilla plans to make life easier for developers of Firefox browser Add-ons, aka extensions, by reducing the burden of presenting custom consent dialogs to those installing extensions.…

Meta debuts its first 'mixture of experts' models from the Llama 4 herd

Says they’re done right as they don’t lean so far left

Meta has debuted the first two models in its Llama 4 family, its first to use mixture of experts tech.…

No joke: Microsoft foolishly published inaccurate price list on April 1st

Fixed it the next day but a few lucky folk may have dodged a five percent Copilot price hike

Exclusive  Microsoft published inaccurate price lists for some of its products on, of all days, April the 1st.…

Asian tech players react to US tariffs with delays, doubts, deal-making

PLUS: Qualcomm acquires Vietnamese AI outfit; China claims US hacked winter games; India's browser challenge winner disputed; and more

Asia In Brief  Asian nations and tech companies are trying to come to terms with the USA’s new universal import tariffs and additional “reciprocal tariffs”.…

Signalgate solved? Report claims journalist’s phone number accidentally saved under name of Trump official

PLUS: Google re-patches Quick Share flaws; Critical Cisco flaw exploited; WordPress plugin trouble; and more

Infosec in Brief  How did journalist Jeffrey Goldberg’s phone number end up in a Signal group chat? According to The Guardian, US national security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally saved it into the contact file of a campaign staffer who later took a job at the US National Security Council official.…

DOGE plans now reportedly include an IRS ‘hackathon’
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is planning to hold a “hackathon” next week in order to create a “mega API” for accessing Internal Revenue Service data, reports Wired. The outlet says the API would be used to move the data into a cloud platform — potentially a third-party one — to serve as […]
The best smartwatches for Android
After a long stretch of slim pickings, the last couple of years have been huge for Android smartwatches. Now there are more good options than ever. But the market is fragmented. Wear OS 5 is here for Samsung’s Galaxy Watches, Google’s Pixel Watch 3, and soon, the OnePlus Watch 3 when it ships later this […]
More than 1,300 rallies worldwide protest Trump and Musk
People are gathering in cities all over the United States and globally to protest an “illegal, billionaire power grab” by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. They’re being put on by over 150 different organizations, including civil rights groups, labor unions, and LGBTQ+ advocates, and span more than 1,300 locations. Last weekend, “Tesla Takedown” protests […]
How to use your phone as a hotspot
If you’re taking your laptop away from the safe environs of your home or office desk and still want to stay online, you’ve got a couple of choices (assuming it doesn’t have cellular connectivity built in): hunt around for a Wi-Fi network you can connect to or run a Wi-Fi hotspot from your phone. Running […]
‘Millions’ may have protested Trump and Musk yesterday
Hundreds of thousands of people signed up to attend over 1,300 “Hands Off!” protests against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk yesterday. Today, estimates from groups involved in planning the protests suggest the protesters in the US and abroad may have actually numbered in the millions. Activist group MoveOn is “estimating millions of attendees” went […]
Wi-Fi is one of the great backward compatibility success stories
My home network is a small miracle of backward compatibility, slinging data across 60-plus devices that span five generations of Wi-Fi. Everything on it, from my iPhone 15 Pro all the way down to my Nintendo Wii, manages to connect to the internet, most of it wirelessly through my router, with shockingly few issues. That’s […]
Quantum mechanics might have the solution to joystick drift
The Nintendo Switch may be remembered as much for repopularizing portable gaming as it will for a hardware issue that affected millions of gamers: joystick drift. Drifting is the most common term for an issue where joysticks detect false inputs — even when no one is touching a controller — causing unwanted movements to happen […]
Your House is like a choose-your-own adventure mystery book
Your House is a visual novel that is the closest game I’ve played to reading an actual book. In Your House, you play as Debbie, a girl who receives a mysterious postcard on her birthday with an address and a key. The address leads to a mansion that’s filled with secrets and puzzles for you […]
‘Hands Off’: Protesters deliver a sweeping message to Trump and Musk at a DC rally
Surrounding the Washington Monument Saturday were thousands of signs with messages spanning innumerable topics. “Support Ukraine,” “Beware of DOGE,” “Protect Trans Lives,” were just a few of them. Others struck a note of exasperation: “Where do I start…” The nationwide Hands Off protests this weekend turned out millions of protesters across 1,300 different events, organizers […]
One streaming app to (almost) rule them all
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 78, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, sorry everything’s about to get so expensive, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about baseball bats and work-life balance and […]
Color is a mathematical nightmare
The best method that we have for defining color is by using math. Specifically, mind-boggling mathematical models called color spaces that use geometry to assign colors as a fixed point that we can reference, ensuring the blue that I see is the same blue you see. As a creative-leaning person who can barely split a […]
2025-04-06 Airfone

We've talked before about carphones, and certainly one of the only ways to make phones even more interesting is to put them in modes of transportation.

Meta AI gets two new models as Meta releases Llama 4
Meta has announced the release of Llama 4, its newest collection of AI models that now power Meta AI on the web and in WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram Direct. The two models, also available to download from Meta or Hugging Face now, are Llama 4 Scout, a small model capable of “fitting in a single […]
Microsoft has created an AI-generated version of Quake
Microsoft unveiled its Xbox AI era earlier this year with a new Muse AI model that can generate gameplay. While it looked like Muse was still an early Microsoft Research project, the Xbox maker is now allowing Copilot users to try out Muse through an AI-generated version of Quake II. The tech demo is part […]
Tron: Ares blends the real world with the digital in its first trailer
Disney just released the first trailer for Tron: Ares, the long-planned Tron: Legacy sequel. The minute-and-a-half trailer doesn’t say much about the story but shows plenty of the movie’s visuals, which look dark, moody, and filled with the series’ signature light trails. The trailer opens in the physical world at night, as Jared Leto’s Ares, […]
The 7 writing apps I used to start and finish my book
There’s a famous two-decade-old Paris Review interview with Haruki Murakami in which he, one of the world’s most celebrated novelists, details his daily routine. He wakes up at 4AM, works for five hours, goes for a run, reads, goes to bed, and then repeats it all over again. The rigor and repetition are the point. […]
Jaguar Land Rover pauses US shipments over Trump tariffs
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) says it’s delaying shipments to the US this month while it works out how it will deal with the wide-ranging tariffs President Donald Trump announced this week, according to The Guardian. “As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions, including […]
The best wireless earbuds to buy right now
It’s hard to buy a bad pair of wireless earbuds these days, and with constant discounts and deals wherever you look, now is as good of a time as any to splurge on the pair you’ve been eyeing. The market has come a long way since the early era of true wireless earbuds when we […]
‘Views’ are lies
Views are the most visible metric on the internet. You can see, in more or less real time, how many views something got on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and most other video platforms. X tracks views for every single thing you post, as does Threads. A view is the universal currency of success — more […]
Introducing Windows on arm. And by arm, we mean wrist

Pixel Watch 3 boots Microsoft's OS in latest feat of delightful pointlessness

Windows on Arm has been around since the Surface RT – but this is another kind of arm altogether.…

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