A big part of my job is spending several hours per week staring at charts of my data. 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 […]

It has been 13 long years since Aaron Foster last spoke to The Verge. Back then, Foster’s tiny, three-person studio Lunar Software was touting sci-fi horror game Routine with a striking vision: Foster hoped to suck players into the desolate eeriness of its moon base setting, which was equal parts immersive and grounded. Foster ended […]

On Friday, Meta announced that its AI chatbot will now respond with information from CNN, Fox News, USA Today, and People Inc.’s portfolio, as part of a new partnership with the companies. The deal comes as publishers continue to sue AI companies for stealing content. The New York Times filed a lawsuit against AI startup […]

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into Waymo following reports that the company’s robotaxis illegally drove past stopped school buses in Austin, Texas.  In a letter sent to Waymo on Wednesday, the federal regulator’s Office of Defects Investigation asked for detailed information on Waymo’s fifth-generation self-driving system and expressed concern that […]

Every week since Pluribus’ premiere, I’ve presented a handful of burning questions I have about what’s coming next. And most of the time I really want to know the answer. This is a show where mysteries are baked into the premise, with a slow-burn structure that can make it very satisfying when the answers start […]

Netflix has announced that it’s struck a deal to acquire Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion. The purchase will go through after Warner Bros.’ planned split from Discovery, now expected to take place in Q3 2026. It will see the streamer acquire the Warner studio, both HBO and HBO Max, and access to IP including Harry […]

Washington lawmakers had barely finished processing the news that Congress would not put a state AI law ban into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) when a new rumor began trickling out of the White House on Wednesday: President Donald Trump would, indeed, sign an executive order that would ostensibly assign the federal government the […]

The European Union has served Elon Musk’s X with a €120 million (about $140 million) penalty for violating the bloc’s digital service rulebook, in part for the “deceptive design” of its blue checkmark. Today’s announcement marks the first time that a company has been fined under the landmark Digital Services Act (DSA) law for curbing […]

The new hub centralizes account support options. Meta on Thursday announced it is launching a new, centralized support hub for Facebook and Instagram, acknowledging that getting help hasn’t always been as easy as it should be. The space will bring together all the support features users of both networks need to report account issues or […]

Microsoft is finally updating the design of the Run dialog prompt in Windows after more than 30 years. After committing to adding a dark mode to Run, Microsoft is now testing a refreshed design that makes it fit with the aesthetics in Windows 11. X user Phantomofearth discovered the modern Run dialog in the latest […]