8
Verge Score
With better performance and a better screen, this is a Mini to be reckoned with. But it’s not perfect, and it sure isn’t cheap.
Bipartisan outrage has been growing for months — but Republicans’ many advantages could still help them win.
As tech billionaires pour record millions into Maine’s high-stakes Senate race, rural voters push back against the resource strain, rising utility costs, and phantom jobs of the AI data center boom.
Some are even mad enough to vote for Democrats.
Proposition 45 makes it easier for developers to speed through environmental reviews.
The two biggest games of the year launch in November, offering some reprieve from a terrible year.
It’s also time to name the next Elder Scrolls game, and Xbox’s architect of Forza Motorsport is leaving.
You might be receiving political texts even if you’ve never made a political donation.
0The X500 Pro Max is great, but it’s a step back from my favorite phone camera.
They’re based on six-year-old technology, but the XM4C still deliver respectable performance, and I love using them.
It’s Amazon’s most ambitious smart display to date, but has it priced itself out of the game?
The simple $180 tracker is a sleek return to Fitbit’s roots, albeit with a little extra AI flair.
The new Mini is faster, quieter, and gorgeous in green, but its upgraded Mac speaker feature didn’t work for me.
John Ternus says Apple is seeing ‘unprecedented’ memory pricing.
Ignore the pile of previous favorite notebooks; this is the one that’s gonna change it all for me.
On The Vergecast: MacBooks, Duos, Instagram’s AI problem, and Brendan Carr’s war on the weather.
The KickerNovember 4
The pro-data center Republican Byron Donalds has won the race for governor, according to the AP. He beat Democrat David Jolly with just over 50 percent of the vote — a far tighter margin than predecessor Ron DeSantis in 2022.
AMD thinks over 80 percent of its revenue will eventually come from its data center business alone.
Nintendo’s N64 classic is getting a big overhaul for the Switch 2.
Nexus Mods says that authors of newly uploaded mods will have to declare whether AI was ‘used in their work.’
I’m getting some real mixed messages here, boys!
Some Canva workers may have different roles, be asked to relocate, or be laid off.
Early access testing for the Sonos AI voice assistant is right around the corner.
Valve admits that it’s now taking ‘up to 12 business days’ to review games.
A North Korean hacking unit reportedly started its break-in with a search engine ad that served up a malware download.
It’s Election Day in the United States, and data centers have become a core issue in some of the country’s most important midterm races. The Verge’s Adi Robertson explains why people are uniting against data centers, why they’ve become a proxy for all kinds of other fights, and how this year’s results might change the AI industry going forward.
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Ubisoft and “at least two other gaming companies” have made bids for Arkane, which Xbox is working to divest as part of its “reset,” Bloomberg reports. Xbox has “also weighed selling the studio to its management.”
The watchOS 27.3 beta adds Live Rewind and Siri Recap to the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4.
After receiving clearance from the FDA in July, Samsung announced that its more advanced sleep apnea detection feature is now rolling out to its smart ring. The upgraded feature uses an “enhanced algorithm” to analyze vitals during sleep, and was previously only available on the Galaxy Watch 9.
In the era of easy AI fakery, edited paparazzi photos are a reminder that not everything is what it seems.
Ahead of the game’s release on Wednesday, 404 Media reports the influx of vibe-coded AI slop add-ons pushed one developer to make their Github repositories private after finding AI ripoffs of their code. The CEO of the popular Warcraft Logs site also said it’s struggling to keep up with surging requests to use its API.
You can also grab deals on Fellow’s Aiden coffee maker, an ESR charger, and Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition.
The first developer beta launched today, and it adds some Siri AI updates, vertical tabs in Safari, an updated StandBy mode for slab iPhones that works similarly to the iPhone Duo, Reachability for the iPhone Duo, an updated Health app, and more. Check out 9to5Mac for a comprehensive list.
Leaker Digital Chat Station claims the iPhone 18 won’t be spared from Apple’s RAM price hikes.
Siri AI will soon be able to carry out tasks across a wider range of apps.
The $400 CT-FS1 features Casio’s Feel Sync technology that helps inexperienced musicians hit only the right notes.
Donald Trump and congressional Republicans spent years waging a culture war against EVs. Now, record gas prices and a foreign war are leaving voters stuck footing the bill at the pump.
The tool, introduced in the US earlier this year, lets creators swap out songs in videos with audio copyright claims with unique, instrumental, YouTube-generated, royalty-free tracks. It’s now coming to more countries and is available for “creators in most countries outside of the European Economic Area,” YouTube says.
[YouTube Community]
Audio Intelligence lets Siri ‘rewind’ and summarize audio from your Watch’s mic.
ChatGPT processes one-fifth the volume of search queries as Google, per OpenAI.
Searching for an ‘espresso station’ on Reddit could surface ads for espresso machines, beans, or mugs.
Following the G-Shock version that debuted nearly a year ago with an adjustable strap, Casio’s latest iteration of its functional ring watch is based on its A168 digital watch that originally launched in 1995. The new CRW-002 will be available with a silver finish for $135, or gold for $155, and will be available sometime this month.
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One developer has been waiting for weeks on approval for a game it planned to release today.
Google’s latest smart speaker offers surprisingly good sound for its size, Gemini-powered voice controls, and more.
Netflix’s first ‘AI Discover’ feature suggests content based around different themes.
The Dynamic Folio Case also protects the Duo’s outer screen while it’s banging around with other things in your pocket.
The series will return to Netflix with six new episodes following a more than three-year-long wait. Blue Eye Samurai’s second season picks up where things left off, with Mizu’s vengeful search for her father bringing her to London.
If you buy something from a link, The Verge may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
Microsoft’s miniature Xbox controller can connect directly to Xbox Cloud Gaming over Wi-Fi.
Students in schools that reject Google’s AI will see notices that Search isn’t available.
A new Windows 11 update is improving memory usage and performance.
The Nano controller is designed for young people, anyone with smaller hands, and gaming on the go.
For the Ocarina of Time remake, Nintendo developers said in a new interview that they wanted to “preserve the experience of spamming the Roll Attack to forward roll your way across Hyrule Field.” I have very fond memories of rolling around the world in the original.
In the remake, you can still spam Roll Attack, but you can also dash.
Federal election monitors are a standard procedure, but this year the Trump administration has expanded it to the “largest monitoring effort in history.” States have prepared to make sure they don’t interfere, as the administration has taken several steps this year to assert more oversight of state-run elections.
It took automotive engineer Matt Brown seven years to finally finish building this super-sized Razor scooter featuring an 8-foot long deck and a pair of beefy tires powered by electric motors inside each one. The scooter is completely rideable thanks to an extra set of handlebars at human height, but turning it around is a long process.
Data centers, AI safety, and billionaire taxes are at stake.
AI was mentioned 45 times on the quarterly earnings call.
