Why we’re going to keep talking about the Trump phone
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been asking — repeatedly — where the promised Trump phone is, whether it exists, and what happened to all the money people have already paid for deposits. And I’m going to keep doing that every week for the foreseeable future. Not everyone thinks I should. I’ve been told […]
The Running Man is a propulsive tribute to ’80s action movies
When The Running Man was first published in 1982 under Stephen King's Richard Bachman pseudonym, the United States was just beginning to feel the impacts of then-president Ronald Reagan's neoliberal economic policies. Under Reaganomics, massive tax breaks for the wealthy and deep cuts to social safety programs like food stamps and Medicaid drastically intensified income […]
Counting Renaissance butts in Rome with the Meta Ray-Ban Display
This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest phones, smartwatches, apps, and other gizmos that swear they're going to change your life. Optimizer arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 10AM ET. Opt in for Optimizer here. It's a truth universally acknowledged that […]
Google Call Recording launches on more Pixel phones
Google is now widely rolling out Call Recording to Pixel 6 and newer devices that don’t support the Gemini Nano-powered Call Notes feature found in the Pixel 9 and 10’s Phone app, as spotted by 9to5Google. Google first announced the expansion of the Call Recording feature in September. It should be available after you update […]
Meta must rein in scammers — or face consequences
Meta, the largest social media company in the world, knowingly makes billions from scam ads, recent reporting on the company says. According to internal documents revealed by Reuters, users of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp see 15 billion ads a day promoting scams, from fake Trump stimulus checks to deepfakes of Elon Musk hawking cryptocurrency. The […]
The Meta Quest 3S is $50 off and comes with a $50 gift card and a game
You don’t have to wait two more weeks to pick up a great gadget as a gift; early Black Friday deals are in full swing. Case in point: Best Buy is offering the 128GB Meta Quest 3S for $249 ($50 off) along with a $50 gift card and a copy of The Walking Dead: Saints […]
Valve made Microsoft’s dream console
Microsoft keeps describing this model for the future of a game console that sounds great for players: it's as easy as a console, it can play a huge library of PC titles, and it even supports third-party stores. That'd be a wonderful product if someone could build it, and it sure looks like Valve has […]
Valve is making microSD cards the next game cartridges
The Steam Deck changed the way I buy and play games. Just like how the Nintendo Switch blew me away with how it let me play the latest and greatest Nintendo games on the go and on a TV, the Steam Deck has drawn me in with how it offers a vast catalog of PC […]
WhatsApp is launching third-party chat integration in Europe
Meta is on the cusp of launching third-party integration with WhatsApp in Europe — something that’s required by the Digital Markets Act (DMA). It’s rolling out “over the coming months” with WhatsApp’s level of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) maintained. Meta says that BirdyChat and Haiket will be the first third-party services to implement messaging interoperability with WhatsApp. No, we haven’t […]
I rode in one of the UK’s first self-driving cars
I never really believed self-driving cars would make it to the UK, so you can imagine my surprise when I found myself clambering into one of Wayve's autonomous vehicles for a journey around north London a few weeks ago. In June, the company announced plans with Uber to begin trialing Level 4 fully autonomous robotaxis […]