New York’s landmark AI safety bill was defanged — and universities were part of the push against it

A group of tech companies and academic institutions spent tens of thousands of dollars in the past month - likely between $17,000 and $25,000 - on an ad campaign against New York's landmark AI safety bill, which may have reached more than two million people, according to Meta's Ad Library. The landmark bill is called […]

Dozens of Flock AI camera feeds were just out there

The livestreams connected to more than 60 of Flock's AI-powered surveillance cameras were left available to view on the web, allowing someone to see live feeds of each location without needing a username or password, according to findings from tech YouTuber Benn Jordan and 404 Media. Flock is a technology company that works with thousands […]

Belkin’s camera grip power bank is a few upgrades away from being a must-have

Belkin's Stage PowerGrip has shown me that I should be asking more from a wireless magnetic power bank than just boosting battery life while it hangs off the back of my phone. Its clever design adds layers of extra functionality, and the inclusion of a retractable two-way charging cable expands the number of devices you […]

One last holiday hurrah for the $50 off deal on the Switch 2

In case you’ve waited until the very last minute to buy Christmas gifts, and there’s a Switch 2 on your shopping list, you’ve really lucked out here. Not only is Nintendo’s powerful handheld readily available online and in stores, it’s still $50 off for the best console bundle you can buy. The set that includes […]

How Last Samurai Standing adds kinetic action to the Battle Royale formula

Last Samurai Standing begins with a familiar premise. Desperate samurai dispossessed by the restoration of the emperor enter into a deadly game for a life-changing cash prize - all for the entertainment of anonymous elites. Unlike its inspirations Battle Royale and Squid Game, however, Last Samurai Standing's violence is chaotic, fast-paced, and kinetic, though it […]

The Vergecast RAM Holiday Spec-tacular

Happy Holidays! As we like to do on The Vergecast, we take this time of year to see our families, relax and recharge, and go extremely deep into a specific technology that matters right now. This year, we picked the tiny chip in all your devices that is suddenly a precious and expensive commodity: RAM. […]

How AI broke the smart home in 2025

This morning, I asked my Alexa-enabled Bosch coffee machine to make me a coffee. Instead of running my routine, it told me it couldn't do that. Ever since I upgraded to Alexa Plus, Amazon's generative-AI-powered voice assistant, it has failed to reliably run my coffee routine, coming up with a different excuse almost every time […]

The year the government broke

The first crack showed right before Inauguration Day. The year before, Congress had overwhelmingly passed a bill banning TikTok unless it broke ties with its Chinese parent company. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld it, and it was clear what needed to happen next: either the president could give TikTok another 90 days to complete a […]

Apple fined $116 million over app privacy prompts

Apple has been fined more than €98 million (about $116 million) by Italy's antitrust regulator over the "excessively burdensome" privacy rules it imposes on third-party apps. The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) says that Apple abused its dominant app store market position by burdening developers with "disproportionate" terms around data collection that exceed privacy law requirements, […]

Dometic makes a better portable water faucet

As a reluctant doomsday prepper and eager vanlifer, Dometic's battery-powered Go Faucet has, for the last few years, played a central role in my bougie bug-out kit and my camping rig's water system. So it took me all of two minutes with Dometic's new Recon 360 Faucet to realize it's an upgrade in every single […]