~theverge | Bookmarks (625)

With yet another failed Starship test this week, in which the ambitious heavy rocket exploded once again, you might reasonably suspect that luck has finally run out for SpaceX. But this degree of failure during a development process isn't actually unusual, according to Wendy Whitman Cobb, a space policy expert with the School of Advanced […]

Sony might have just recently introduced a new low price on the PlayStation 5 Pro with its latest Days of Play sale, but that’s not the only deal worth your attention. Sony is also offering a range of accessories at a discount, including the high-end DualSense Edge. Regularly $199.99, the customizable controller is available from […]

With the Switch 2 launch days away, analysts and consumers are watching to see how well Nintendo can follow-up the best selling home console in its history. Judging from the pain of trying to secure a Switch 2 pre-order, it seems like Nintendo has nothing to worry about - at least at launch. Down the […]

Alright, we get it. Y'all are excited about Slate. We thought the little Slate Truck was cool, but based on the number of clicks and comments on our Slate Auto articles so far, you'd like to know more. Many of you wrote in with questions and more than a few people raised some doubts. So, […]

A lot of games have been released for the Playdate since it launched in 2022, as a quick browse of itch.io or the Catalog shop will attest. But still, there's something unique about the handheld's seasonal format, which just kicked off its second iteration. When it first launched, the Playdate came with 24 games from […]

Twitch is announcing a bunch of updates at TwitchCon Europe, including the ability to host a vertical livestream and an open beta test that lets creators stream at a higher quality. The rollout of vertical streams should make livestreams easier to watch in portrait mode on your phone. Down the line, streamers won't be forced […]

Thanks to the legal discovery process, Google's antitrust trial with the Department of Justice has provided a fascinating glimpse into the future of ChatGPT. An internal OpenAI strategy document titled "ChatGPT: H1 2025 Strategy" describes the company's aspiration to build an "AI super assistant that deeply understands you and is your interface to the internet." […]

A group of young people — as young as 7 and as old as 25 — are suing the Trump administration to stop its assault on renewable energy and climate action.  Executive orders President Donald Trump signed to promote fossil fuels amount to an “unconstitutional” overreach of power, they allege in a complaint filed Thursday at […]

Grindr has always excelled at helping its users find folks looking to spend some quality time together, but the hookup app is looking to speed up the “looking?” process even more with its latest feature. Today, Grindr announced that Right Now, its social media-like live feed feature, is rolling out to all of the platform’s […]

Elon Musk appeared alongside President Trump for a press conference in the Oval Office Friday, perhaps for the last time, with a noticeable black eye that he says he got from his young son. "I said, 'Go ahead, punch me in the face.' And he did," he said. Musk is emerging from his five-month stint […]

Tile trackers are getting more deeply integrated with the Life360 app. In a blog post published this week, Life360 announced that you’ll now be able to set up and manage the handy Bluetooth location trackers without using the Tile app at all.  Life360, a family safety and location app, purchased Tile’s Bluetooth device-tracking business for […]

Like Amazon and Apple, Netflix is also looking to cash in on the story of how Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison managed to steal billions from the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Variety reports that Anthony Boyle (Tetris, Manhunt) and Julia Garner (Ozark, The Fantastic Four: First Steps) have been cast in Netflix’s upcoming drama series, The […]

Amazon has a new ZeroOne team focused on “breakthrough” devices, and it’s led by Xbox cofounder and former Microsoft executive J Allard, CNBC reports. Based on a job listing for the team, one of those products is a smart home device. J Allard was one of the main faces of the original Xbox and Xbox […]

In dribs and drabs, we’re starting to get a better idea of what Tesla’s robotaxi service will look like when it launches in Austin, Texas, in just a few weeks. But it’s not nearly enough given what’s at stake. The company is considering June 12th as a possible date to launch its robotaxi service in […]

AI could soon surpass Bitcoin mining in energy consumption, according to a new analysis that concludes artificial intelligence could use close to half of all the electricity consumed by data centers globally by the end of 2025. The estimates come from Alex de Vries-Gao, a PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Institute for Environmental Studies […]

YouTube is bringing Lens to Shorts. The feature, which will roll out in beta in the coming weeks, will let you search for more information about the animals, plants, and items you spot within a video. If you’re watching a Short with a landmark in the background, for example, YouTube says you can use Lens […]

Instagram now supports photos that have a 3:4 aspect ratio, meaning that when you upload a photo with that ratio, “it’ll now appear just exactly as you shot it,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri says in a Threads post. He also notes that “almost every phone camera defaults to” that format. An image from Instagram’s broadcast […]

The legal battle between two Amazon influencers with unsettlingly similar styles and vibes is nearing resolution. On Wednesday the two influencers asked a judge to dismiss the copyright case, more than a year after it was initially filed and six months after I wrote about it in The Verge.  The lawsuit was simultaneously disconcerting and […]

If you’re looking to upgrade your work-from-home setup, the Insta360 Link and Link 2 are gimbal-equipped 4K webcams packed with features to improve how you present in video calls. Now through June 8th, both are down to all-time low prices, with the original Link selling for $149.99 (typically priced at $179.99) at Amazon, B&H Photo, […]

Apple plans to announce an app focused on video games for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV at its Worldwide Developer Conference next week, according to Bloomberg. The app will let you launch games you’ve installed on your devices and serve as a hub for things like achievements and leaderboards. Apple is expected to […]

We don’t typically report on monthly sales data for one car company in one market, but this one seems particularly notable given all that’s going on in the world. In another sign that Elon Musk’s company is in a real tough spot, Tesla is getting absolutely demolished in Europe. The company’s sales in the EU, […]

Razer’s powerhouse Blade 18 portable gaming desktop replacement is launching today with a surprise price hike from its originally advertised $3,199.99 tag. The company has quietly raised the cost of the base spec, which features an RTX 5070 Ti graphics card, to $3,499.99 — a $300 jump from its CES reveal earlier this year. The […]

eBay is slashing the jobs of 220 workers at TCGplayer’s card authentication center in Syracuse, New York, as reported earlier by local news outlet LocalSyr. eBay will move the online trading card marketplace’s operations to a warehouse in Kentucky — a decision TCGplayer’s union claims is eBay’s attempt to “evade its bargaining obligations.”  eBay acquired […]

In New York court on May 20th, lawyers for nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety argued that Meta, Amazon, Discord, Snap, 4chan, and other social media companies all bear responsibility for radicalizing a mass shooter. The companies defended themselves against claims that their respective design features - including recommendation algorithms - promoted racist content to a […]