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. I've been thinking ahead to Apple's […]

Can AI help "smooth over" discussion on abortion, racism, immigration, or Israel-Palestine? Columbia University sure hopes so. The Verge has learned that the university recently began testing Sway, an AI debate program currently in beta. Developed by two researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Sway matches up students with opposing views to chat one-on-one about hot-button […]

I wrote that no one should buy MSI and Intel's original handheld gaming PC. I literally called it an embarrassment, and the company blacklisted me after that. MSI stopped pitching me news, and stopped answering my emails, even after the company began to write off its dud of a handheld. So you can imagine my […]

Bose has announced a second-generation version of its QuietComfort Ultra wireless headphones it first introduced nearly two years ago. The name is the same, but the new Ultra finally adds support for listening to lossless audio over a USB-C cable, while still carrying forward the 2.5-millimeter analog headphone jack for those who don’t always want […]

This year's IFA seems to be all about putting one piece of tech inside another piece of tech. Motion sensing inside of light bulbs. Projectors inside of party speakers. And my personal favorite: a robot that's built to ferry another robot. This week on The Vergecast, we're talking about our favorite tech (so far!) from […]

OpenAI is on track to start mass production of its own in-house artificial intelligence chips for the first time next year, according to a report from the Financial Times.  Unnamed sources tell the outlet that OpenAI designed the chip with US semiconductor giant Broadcom, which announced a $10 billion chip order from an unnamed customer […]

Reolink has announced the TrackFlex Floodlight WiFi at IFA 2025, the security tech provider’s new hardwired dual-lens floodlight camera for monitoring any concerns outside your home. Video is recorded at 4K resolution with a choice of wide or telephoto views. The pan-tilt controls provide 360-degree coverage and 270-degree out-of-field motion detection, with the latter enabling […]

Apple’s launch event for the iPhone 17 lineup is just around the corner, and case makers are already showing off the products they can be paired with on the IFA 2025 showfloor. I walked around two rooms dedicated to the latest mobile phone accessories and they were dominated by cases apparently designed for Apple’s upcoming […]

Withings announced at IFA 2025 today that it’s revamping the operating system of its ScanWatch 2 smartwatch. Called HealthSense 4, the update adds new algorithms for 35 health metrics as well as predictive AI-powered alerts when a user’s health changes. The ScanWatch 2 also gains two new colors and improved battery life of 35 days […]

Google is its own worst enemy: the company appears to have leaked three upcoming Nest smart home products in its own app. Wired versions of the Nest Cam Indoor (3rd gen), Nest Cam Outdoor (2nd gen), and Nest Doorbell (3rd gen) have all appeared as setup options in Google Home ahead of their expected launch […]