Technology
60 headlines · sourced and linked
Polaroid’s tiny instant camera is $72 and includes a free pack of film
Smartphone cameras are convenient, but they lack the charm of analog instant cameras. If you’re trying to relive the nostalgia of waiting for an instant photo to develop, Amazon is selling the second-generation Polaroid Go instant camera with a 16-photo film pack for $71.99 (usually $109.99). That’s the lowest price we
Matt Groening lets slip that Simpsons: Hit & Run might be making a comeback
At D23, when asked about the potential for a sequel to the cult classic The Simpsons: Hit & Run game, Matt Groening replied, "I think the original game is coming back in some form," before current showrunner Matt Selman added, "or not." The tone in both of their voices and the body language suggests that […]
VisionQuest trailer kicks off Disney's D23 fan event
Also: Ahsoka S2 teaser, Doomsday trailer, news about MCU's X-Men and Star Wars: Starfighter
Have a laugh at AI’s expense by roleplaying as a chatbot
Your AI Slop Bores Me is brilliant in its simplicity. There are two tabs: human and LARP as an AI. On one side you enter a request. On the other, you submit an answer. But the important thing is that there's a human on both sides of the equation. Prompts can request a response as […]
Don’t overlook Elektron’s budget electronic music instruments
When I'm asked what to buy if you want to get into making electronic music, I often recommend Elektron's budget-minded Model:Samples and Model:Cycles grooveboxes. They don't grab headlines the way Teenage Engineering's gear or the Telepathic Instruments Orchid do, and even compared to the company's higher-end and more
Ukraine strikes major Russian rocket factory with cruise missiles
"Flamingo missiles were used. A good achievement."
Switched on Pop’s Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding love fresh vegetables and guitar pedals
As if you needed more reason to love Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" beyond its pop perfection, it is also, according to lore, the genesis for Switched on Pop, one of the best music podcasts out there. Cohosts Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding obsessively dissect pop songs, from the theory behind their musical choices
Star Wars: Ahsoka season 2 and Starfighter get teased at D23
Season two of Star Wars: Ahsoka is still months away, but Lucasfilm still took the opportunity to tease it a bit at D23. The company dropped the first trailer for the new season ahead of its January 20th, 2027 debut. The clip shows a darker, witchcraft-filled take on the Star Wars universe, with Grand Admiral […]
Disney D23 2026: Everything announced for Star Wars, Marvel, and more
The annual Disney fan event showed off the cast of Marvel’s X-Men movie, plus a new trailer for Avengers: Doomsday, and our first look at the VisionQuest TV show for Disney Plus. For Star Wars fans, there was a teaser trailer for season two of Ahsoka, plus a special look at Star Wars: Starfighter with […]
I finally found a magnetic phone grip I never want to remove
I told myself I wouldn't buy an OhSnap accessory for my phone. Every one I'd tested was nice, but felt overpriced and slightly flawed. After I weighed in on the $40 Snap Grip 5 last year, I wound up sticking with my $25 Syncwire instead. But OhSnap's $50 Snap Grip Stand finally got me. To […]
Marvel reveals the new X-Men cast, including Inde Navarrette and Adam Driver
With Spider-Man: Brand New Day behind us, and its reveal of Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Marvel is finally ready to officially welcome the X-Men into the MCU. At the D23 event in Anaheim yesterday, the company revealed the cast for its upcoming, untitled X-Men film, which is scheduled to hit theaters on May 5th […]
Xteink’s tiny e-readers are getting access to free books through Libby
One of the big tradeoffs with Xteink's pocket-friendly e-readers is a lack of easy access to ebooks. On a Kindle or Kobo you can download tens of thousands of titles through each device's respective online bookstores, but with Xteink's devices you have to source DRM-free ebooks on your own. That's about to change, as t
The surprise must-see movie of the summer
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 140, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, don't forget to hydrate, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading about Will Ferrell and Fabrizio Romano and Heather Cox Richardso
We’re reaching peak camera with the Sony A7R VI
It wasn't long ago that shooting with a super high-resolution camera meant making serious sacrifices for the sake of all those megapixels. Enter the A7R VI. Sony's latest flagship high-res camera is a 66.8-megapixel spec monster. In addition to its modest bump in resolution from the last-gen A7R V, it uses a new sensor
So much solar: Digging into the list of every US power plant that went online this year
Utility-scale solar leads by a mile, followed by batteries. Fossil fuels, not so much.
When housing is unaffordable, this artist’s device makes pedaling harder
Justin Blinder had just been laid off when he first came up with the idea for Ground Truth. It was 2020, two weeks before covid lockdown went into effect, and the Brooklyn-based artist and technologist had no idea what the future would hold. He started working for the food delivery apps, and as he was […]
Samsung has new Galaxy headphones in the works
Strings of code in Samsung's Galaxy Wearable app hint at an upcoming pair of over-ear headphones that could compete with the AirPods Max, SamMobile reports. Samsung's reportedly referring to the headphones as the "Galaxy H1," and SamMobile says they could launch sometime in 2027. That would make these the company's fir
A RAMageddon guide to back-to-school laptop shopping
If you’re a student looking for an affordable laptop, I have bad news and I have good news. The bad news is that computer prices are out of whack due to the ongoing RAM and storage crunch, making some a little pricier than they used to be and others wildly more expensive. The good news? […]
Vulnerability giving attackers full control of Macs is under active exploitation
Screen-sharing bug lets remote hackers log in without a password.
First test flight of largest all-electric aircraft used just $5 of electricity
Airline-backed venture aims to develop a hybrid-electric commercial aircraft.
Lamborghini’s flagship Revuelto levels up with SV trim
A lot of automakers talk about wanting to minimize or eliminate driver distractions so as to make the experience of driving more rewarding and safer overall. Lamborghini has a different strategy; it wants the driver to become one with their vehicle. This helps explain the storied super car maker's tagline for the new R
The X-Files creator Chris Carter wanted to make a more horrific movie
The version of The X-Files: I Want to Believe that premiered in 2008 was not exactly the movie co-writer / director Chris Carter intended to make. Carter wanted to bring agents Mulder and Scully back to the big screen with a grisly story about faith and the supernatural. But executives at 20th Century Fox felt […]
Google’s best new camera feature is only for the Pixel 11 series
Arguably the coolest new photo feature for the Pixel 11 lineup is Google's new Camera Looks, which process image data differently at the sensor level to produce photos that don't have that "smartphone" look. The result is new styles like "Digi," which mimics the style of photos taken by older digital cameras. But to us
Suspecting court of using AI, man injected prompts in filings to try to win case
Judge warns pro se litigants are using chatbots wrong and getting desperate.
State judge orders Kalshi to stop offering sports bets and other wagers
Kalshi ordered to stop offering bets in Washington, must implement geofencing.
PBS station fears losing 50TB of data after being ghosted by cloud storage provider
"We don't have access to the data on the hardware/servers," Iron Mountain told Ars.
Mark Zuckerberg has an Instagzam
Instagram's wordmark is iconic. Well, was iconic. Apparently Instagram thought it looked old, so the company rolled out a new one this week. It doesn't look like the old Instagram wordmark. It doesn't even look like it spells Instagram anymore. And we cannot figure out why Instagram decided to do this. On this episode
You can now turn off Google Gemini’s visible watermarks
Google will now allow you to remove visible watermarks from the images, videos, and music made with AI tools. With the update, you can toggle off a new "Media watermark" setting in Gemini and Google's AI video generator, Flow. When toggled off, Google will remove the "sparkle" watermark that appears in the bottom-right
Policy experts: Europe stuck between "rock and a hard place" on launch
It turns out that the economics of rocket reuse are pretty, pretty good.
Ars Live recap: How can we stop publishers from killing their own games?
The Stop Killing Games movement faces an uphill battle.
Judge gives Google one week to fix "anticompetitive" app store download in Google Play
Third-party app stores are about to become more visible in Google Play.
R-rated director's cut of X-Files film restores Chris Carter's original horror vision
Chris Carter chats with Ars about the film he originally wanted to make—and why it's more relevant than ever.
Taylor Farms' connections to Trump admin spurs probe into Cyclospora response
Senator Warren questions whether Taylor Farms' influence swayed Trump admin.
2025 GOTY Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is down to $33
For RPG fans who dig Persona-style turn-based action and who are pursuing games with original stories and fantastic tunes, look no further than Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. This praise might come off sounding weird, but I really like that Sandfall Interactive’s breakout hit isn’t overly long compared to RPGs it was ins
OpenAI and Anthropic in price war as Chinese AI rivals gain ground
US groups release cheaper models after new challenges to their trillion-dollar ambitions.
CMF hit the balance between cheap and good clip earbuds
Clip earbuds are an exercise in compromise. It's an inherent aspect of their design - and physics. They can be more comfortable for people that don't like something jammed in their ear, but sound response suffers. Ambient awareness is great because you can easily hear the sound around you, which means to hear your own
Rocket Report: Rocket Lab shows off its flexibility; Blue Origin's two-pad plan
"We’ve never seen launch capacity so constrained."
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra review: The ultra foldable with an ultra price
Samsung didn't have to change much this year because its hardware is just that good.
The MSI Claw EX is the most important handheld since Steam Deck — I still wouldn’t buy one
As The Verge's resident handheld reviewer, I have nearly every portable gaming PC on a shelf in my house. The MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus is now the first one I reach for. Thanks to a next-gen Intel chip and improved MSI design, the Claw EX is the most powerful handheld that truly feels […]
Hoto’s new cordless soldering iron heats up in three seconds
Hoto is introducing its first soldering iron through its modular Snapbloq collection that lets you assemble your own custom toolbox by stacking magnetic cases and tools together. The new I-A06 Cordless Soldering Iron can heat to just over 200 degrees Celsius in about three seconds and offers an adjustable temperature r
Apple trained its own AI model for China with help from Alibaba
Apple has reportedly trained a custom AI model for the China market alongside domestic tech giant Alibaba, a rare cross-border partnership that cuts across growing tensions between Beijing and Washington. The China-focused large language model was developed in partnership with Alibaba and trained with the company's sup
Help build a monument to that ‘sad little bitch’ Elon Musk
Cards Against Humanity is gearing up to build "something that will annoy Elon Musk," and it's crowdfunding the project with its usual flavor of vulgarity. The company behind the card game announced plans to build "a grand monument" to Musk on the parcel of land it owns near Starbase, Texas, with the aim to "make […]
Organic-looking brake assemblies debut on new Czinger 21C Spyder
Czinger used topological design and additive manufacturing to make the brakes.
Trump declares 100 percent tariffs on many drones and all aircraft parts
The United States has already banned future foreign drones from entering the United States unless their companies kiss the ring - as well as routers, robots, and Roombas. Now, President Donald Trump is targeting existing drone imports and parts, too. He's going to try to make them cost a lot more. In a presidential act
Apple and Epic argue over how much Apple should get from purchases made outside the App Store
In a new filing in its long-running legal dispute with Epic Games, Apple has proposed a structure that would allow it to collect fees on digital purchases made via external links that don't use the company's in-app purchase system. Epic has already responded, saying that Apple's request is "far outside of the bounds" o
US wait times for cancer surgeries are getting longer and longer
Study finds wait times for cancer surgeries hit 10-year high.
‘That is not acceptable’: Judge orders Google to make rival app store installs easier
One month after Epic Games and Google seemingly stopped fighting over the future of Android app distribution, they were back in a San Francisco courtroom today - where Judge James Donato just ordered Google to make it easier to install rival app stores on Android. It's been nearly three years since a jury unanimously d
The fight over Flock and other ALPRs
There are over 120,000 of Flock’s automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras installed all over the US. Flock’s cameras, and others like them, use AI to identify and track vehicles based on their license plate number, make, model, color, and other info, networked together to track vehicles and people’s movements thr
Microsoft’s Clippy-like Mico character is no longer the face of Copilot
Microsoft Copilot will no longer show its emotive yellow blob Mico when you use the chatbot's voice mode. In a support page, Microsoft says it's going to move Mico to its Learn Live platform, where the avatar will have "more to react to," as reported earlier by GeekWire. Mico launched in Copilot's voice mode last […]
Netflix is closing two game studios
Netflix plans to shut down two of its gaming studios as it makes a bigger shift toward party games and titles streamed to TVs. One of the studios being shut down is Night School Studio, creators of the Oxenfree series. Netflix bought Night School in 2021, and it just released a horror experience called Unhinged […]
This school-friendly laptop from HP is $300 off
With memory prices still high and showing no signs of dropping, we’re always happy to find a good deal on a budget-friendly system with an adequate amount of RAM. Best Buy has the HP OmniBook X Flip discounted by $300, bringing the cost down to $699.99. This model is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra […]
Private security firms will soon be allowed to hack overseas cybercriminals
Trump memo is first time gov't has authorized private sector to perform cyber attacks.
OpenAI is losing its second executive this week
Another OpenAI executive is departing. Denise Dresser, who joined OpenAI as its chief revenue officer in December after serving as CEO of Slack, will be leaving in the "coming weeks" to "pursue other opportunities," she said in a team note posted to LinkedIn. Dali Rajic, president and COO of Wiz, will be taking over th
Virgin Galactic wants your help naming its new Delta class spaceship
Will it be the VSS... Horizon , Explorer , Ascend or Apeiron ?
The Trump admin will start letting private firms launch international cyberattacks
The Trump administration is launching a new program that will allow private firms to perform cyberattacks against foreign criminals, as reported earlier by Bloomberg. The private firms would operate "under the control and oversight" of the federal government, giving them permission to surveil and disrupt criminal netwo
Ukrainian drones wipe out entire US tank brigade in live war game
Ukrainian drone pilots teach the US military and NATO hard battlefield lessons.
I finally found a robot lawnmower I’d trust with my yard
Robot lawnmowers are finally good enough to take a lot of work out of maintaining a yard, but they’re still not set-it-and-forget-it machines. If you don’t want these autonomous cutting machines to tear up your lawn or go roaming in your neighbors’ yard, you’re still going to need to keep an eye on them. But […]
Flock “can’t tech its way out” of the stalker cop problem, experts say
Flock to lock out cops who stalk exes, but agencies can still hide abuse.
You can now just point at a mess and this robot vacuum will suck it up
Matic, my current favorite robot vacuum, just got a big upgrade. The company has launched Matic Cues, which brings voice and gesture control to the robot. Now, you can talk directly to your vacuum to tell it what you want it to do, or just point at a mess to have it spot-clean. The feature […]
Pet owners say smart pet feeder outage led to furry ones going unfed
"I've lost trust ..."