March of the frogs

By the time I arrived, the waterfront park in downtown Portland, Oregon was already awash with people as far as the eye could see. The No Kings protest in June had turned out around 10,000 people across the city; this one saw several times that number just downtown, with thousands more choosing to join localized […]

Organizers say over 7 million showed up to No Kings protests

Saturday marked the biggest day of protest since the start of Donald Trumps’ second term. Organizers of the No Kings protests estimated that over seven million people took to the streets to declare their opposition to the president, his policies, and his tactics. Indivisible, the group behind the protests, claims that there were over 2,700 […]

This weekend is your last chance to get a month of Disney Plus starting at $9.99

From Apple TV Plus to Peacock, a number of streaming services have recently increased their pricing — and Disney Plus is no exception. Starting on Tuesday, October 21st, the standalone plan with ads will jump from $9.99 to $11.99 a month, while the ad-free Premium tier will increase by $3 to $18.99 a month. The […]

The Sony Watchman was must-see TV

To understand the Sony Watchman, you have to go back. Way back. Back to when "TV" wasn't just a way to refer to any piece of content between 20 and 89 minutes, available on every screen everywhere for a few bucks a month. In 1982, when Sony first started selling its new device, "TV" was […]

Opera’s Neon shows just how confusing AI browsers still are

The trick to understanding Opera's Neon browser is recognizing that it's not just a browser with an AI bot added to it, but a browser with three AI bots all living side by side. This is both a strength and a weakness, because while you don't have to leave to do all the AI things […]

Time to catch ‘em all again

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 102, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, happy spooky season, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading about personal chefs and TikTok's algorithm and deep sea divers, tearing […]

The AI sexting era has arrived

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on AI and the industry's power dynamics and societal implications, follow Hayden Field. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Since ChatGPT became a household […]

TiVo won the court battles, but lost the TV war

In the 2000s, TiVo reached heights few companies ever achieve. Like Google and Xerox, its name became a verb. People had to "TiVo" the new episode of Battlestar Galactica or game 4 of the Red Sox vs. Cardinals, not "record" it. While it didn't invent the DVR, TiVo popularized it and many of the features […]

Motorola’s Razr Ultra and the Marshall Emberton II top this week’s best deals

If you’ve been thinking about buying a foldable phone that truly stands out, few models can rival the 2025 Motorola Razr Ultra, which is currently on sale at Amazon and Best Buy with 16GB of RAM and 512GB starting at $999.99 ($300 off), its lowest price to date. If you can’t tell from the image […]

8BitDo’s new collection celebrates the NES’s 40th anniversary

Forty years ago today, the Nintendo Entertainment System launched in North America, and to help celebrate the anniversary, 8BitDo has announced a new NES40 collection. It features updated versions of three of 8BitDo’s existing products, including its Ultimate 2 wireless controller, Retro 87 Keyboard N Edition, and Retro Cube Speaker. The updates made to the […]