Satellite data combined with machine learning gives meteorologists new tools to predict deadly floods sooner.
Mustafa Suleyman on the AI safety debate, why AI isn’t consciousness, and how the industry pushes toward alignment.
The industry is in a panic, but it’s been claiming to want legal guardrails for years — with few meaningful results.
Major AI companies want to ‘pace the frontier’ — but their proposed solutions need real teeth.
Dario Amodei kicked off a flood of statements about AI safety after publishing a long essay, with Sam Altman, President Trump, and others speaking out.
Going up against Christopher Nolan with AI slop was ill-advised.
Higgsfield is using Cully Hill Boys to show you how to prompt up your own movie.
Pippa is trying to entice artists with a revenue share system.
Startup Fairground wants to win people over with a never-ending stream of slop.
New camera-free frames might avoid the ‘pervert glasses’ nickname, The Information reports.
Abbott’s new 2-in-1 CGM will help diabetics monitor ketone levels. But can it avoid the wearable hype cycle?
Public-facing workers are being filmed, harassed, and creeped out by AI-powered smart glasses.
The amount of data about you that many cars collect — and sell to third parties — is staggering.
Cities across the US are ditching the controversial license plate-reading cameras, but some are now turning to new surveillance tools.
The company claims reports about its capturing and uploading audio are misleading.
The case of a traveler who allegedly entered a ‘duress password’ to wipe his phone raises a legal question with no easy answers.
The KickerSeptember 18
Clicks is offering another updated look at the much-awaited Communicator and a couple of pleasant surprises for those who have already pre-ordered the device: more RAM, a slightly bigger battery, and Android 17 included as standard. It’s expected to ship in December to customers, and this latest video gives a more detailed look at some of the software features Clicks has been working on.
The band’s Amelia Meath says they’re back “to continue to employ everyone that we employ,” after what’s been an “incredibly hard” year off Spotify, but implored fans to listen on other platforms instead. Their new album Ow ∞ came out last week, when the pair spoke to The Verge for our weekend questionnaire.
The annual Small World in Motion Competition has yielded another five bangers. The first place entry used a 100X magnification to capture the abnormal airway cilia inside a child with a genetic disorder affecting respiratory function. Sad, but beautiful. ABC News (Australia) has a roundup.
The Alphabet-owned company says it will launch a commercial robotaxi service in Singapore in 2028.
The agent initially launched earlier this month on iOS, Android, and the web, but now, you can use it on your Mac computer, as announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. With Muse on Mac, the agent can do things like organize files, fill out forms, and pull information from apps including Messages, Calendar, and Notes, Meta says.
The Steam Frame and Meta Quest headsets can natively beam your Windows monitors into a headset — but some still prefer Virtual Desktop, the app that pioneered the idea in 2016 before getting “sherlocked” by Meta. Developer Guy Godin says Valve didn’t send him a Frame, but he’ll try to port it anyhow.
Technically, I can already stream Virtual Desktop Classic, with working 3D video, but my monitors are stitched together and the controls feel awkward.
“Lepton is intended to help game developers bring their VR Android games to the Steam Frame,” Valve writes. “Lepton is not designed for general Android use, instead opting to keep the bare minimum functionality required to launch into games.”
Developers have already used it to port Meta Quest games to the Steam Frame. But could it do more?
[GitLab]
In court documents unredacted Thursday, lawyers for the NYT in its copyright infringement case against Microsoft and OpenAI cited Microsoft’s Director of Applied Science, Brent Hecht, saying that “millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions… almost no one intended for content they created to be used in this fashion, nor are they compensated for its use.”
The Orlando Sentinel, which is also part of the suit, reports a Microsoft filing “framed Hecht as someone on the payroll to play a contrarian.”
On the Noto Emoji site, you can search for emoji, download 2D and 3D files of the (open source) emoji in different formats, and even see the original proposals that helped things get turned into emoji in the first place. (In 2019, I wrote about that proposal process for my submissions of the waffle and yawning face emoji.)
I also recommend Google’s post about designing its Noto 3D emoji, it’s good stuff.
Anthropic’s proposals, laid out in a big website, are:
The extent to which AI is building the next version of itself, as opposed to being built by humans
Our ability to oversee and intervene in actions that AI agents take on Anthropic’s systems
The resources that power the development of more capable models
The company also includes a “snapshot” of the metrics inside the company.
That’s not a typo. The M5 Ultra Mac Studio Apple sent us for review is a doozie. It’s got a 36-core CPU and 80-core GPU, 256GB of RAM, and 4TB of storage, making it mind-bogglingly expensive.
Our regular benchmarks aren’t much of a challenge. So what would you like to see us throw at it?
It says the new version of CC can help families manage household tasks like sorting through emails, keeping track of everyone’s schedules, filling out permission slips, and creating shopping lists. Up to six users can manage and interact with the same CC agent and choose what to share with it.
He joined growing calls for more safety measures around AI at a gathering of AI leaders on Thursday, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google’s Demis Hassabis, OpenAI’s Sarah Friar, and Anthropic’s Tino Cuéllar.
The three CEOs have apparently have been encouraging him to be hands-off with his approach to AI and “successfully stalled” a plan for an industry-funded AI regulator pitched by Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, according to The Wall Street Journal. Trump also likes to call Huang while he’s onstage.
[The Wall Street Journal]
Don’t hold your breath, but the government may effectively reverse course on killing a Biden-admin program that helped people file their taxes for free without having to use infamous third parties like TurboTax. (Democrats have wanted to bring it back, which could make this a little awkward for Trump.)
The Washington Sun reports this could be part of a broader “America.gov” effort that may also let people renew passports and conduct business through an AI agent. It sounds good until you learn that a bunch of former DOGE folks are working on it. Yes, that includes “Big Balls.”
[The Washington Sun]
Senior reviewers Allison Johnson and Victoria Song trade host and guest duties in a Vergecasting ouroboros that’s never been attempted before and will probably never be attempted again. Allison talks about the iPhone 18 Pro’s new camera, Victoria talks about the Watch 12 and Ultra 4’s new sensors, and they both give their verdicts on who should upgrade.
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AI execs and politicians can’t agree on who needs to hit the brakes, or how.
Universal Pictures, which has the rights for Musk outside of North America, hasn’t put a release date on the film yet and sources told The Hollywood Reporter that they believed Universal would be dropping it. In a later report, though, THR said that its initial article led to meetings at Universal, and Universal’s head of comms said in a statement that that “The studio remains committed to releasing it in theaters internationally.”
My colleague Andrew Webster reviewed Musk this week.
Update: Added second THR report.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
Projects allow users to control a team of Claude Code agents that all coordinate with each other.
The video, posted by Inner City Press, was shown during the DOJ’s trial against Huawei, which kicked off last week and follows the 2018 arrest of Huawei’s CFO and an indictment in 2020.
You’ve heard of the Turing Test to see if a machine can pass as human, right? Maybe you’ve even heard Alan Turing’s warning that machines could “take control”? If you read his actual lecture notes, he cites the 1872 book Erewhon, which you can also read for free. It’s incredible to look back on both at our present moment:
Bloomberg interviewed Twitch CEO Dan Clancy:
“We spent a lot of time talking with Rockstar about their plans, and also helping them think about how they can engage our creators,” Clancy said in an interview. “You are going to see this big bump with GTA 6, but then an even bigger one next year when they launch multiplayer.”
In an investor call today, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick also said that PC is “becoming more and more important to our company over time,” according to GamesRadar. Perhaps we won’t have to wait too long for a PC version of GTA VI?
Update: Added new Zelnick comment.
Sure, the Xbox One’s disc strategy blew up in the company’s face, giving Sony the perfect ammo. But as Tom reveals, Microsoft decided to secretly start printing unique serial numbers on its discs way back then — a decision that’s paying off now!
Want to win the gadgets I call in for my Today I’m Toying With videos? I boxed up the latest three winners’ items yesterday, and we’re now on TITW Giveaway #12! If you’re in the US you can enter to win right here anytime before 9AM ET Wednesday, or via our email entry option.
The September 2025 agreement said that Amazon would pay up to $1.5 billion over “deceptive” Prime signup practices. But after a court approved a joint motion, more people now qualify for refunds, there is now a maximum payment cap of $200 (up from $51), and Amazon will distribute refunds automatically, according to a press release.
[Federal Trade Commission]
Caldera Music brings your Plex music libraries and Winamp-style visuals to Apple TVs and Google TVs. Feingold is also building connected light fixtures and other weird and interesting hardware.
The stream, Lofi House, stars Lofi Teacher, a mustachioed dude. “Once the final bell rings and school is out, he switches gears to pursue his passion behind the decks,” the Lofi Girl X account says. Love the lore.
The stream is live now, it’s great.
We also spotted deals on a travel charger, a Ring doorbell and camera bundle, and an inexpensive Vizio soundbar.
Sheeran’s tour is on the verge of collapse after he booted Macklemore for saying “Free Palestine” on stage. Other openers, Finneas and Aaron Rowe, along with his backing band, dropped in solidarity. Now a planned contest to open at the Mexico City stop has been flooded with pro-Palestinian clips, memes, and fart videos.
Late last night, we published my video about trying Snap’s Specs AR glasses at the company’s headquarters. The hardware, which costs $2,195, is interesting, but the experience of actually using them was rather finicky. Despite yesterday’s splashy launch event, the Specs also don’t yet have a firm release date beyond sometime this fall.
Check out my full article for more.
As New Scientist reports, researchers have named a new species of cat — the “tilcayo” — which lurks on the slopes of the Andes mountains in South America. It’s apparently the first new named species of cat in over a century. Regarding this news, Verge staff have been observed noting disappointment that it’s a wild species, because why can’t we all have one at home? Here, kitty kitty.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced on Tuesday that it was “unable to restore access to some customer data hosted in Persian Gulf data centers” following attacks by Iranian drone swarms in the spring that left facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain still “mostly offline,” according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
The long-running microblogging platform is adding a bunch of heavily requested features, including the ability to save posts for later and sort them into collections, like musings on physical media or quotes about creativity. Subscribers can also now use animated GIFs as their avatars.
[Tumblr]
Microsoft’s controversial Xbox One bets are paying off more than a decade later.
Following trials earlier this year, Japan’s Haneda, Narita, Kumamoto, and Naha airports are starting a full-scale implementation of machines that can compress clothing into much smaller cubes in about a minute so tourists have more room in their suitcases. The machines don’t use vacuum bags and don’t damage clothing, according to SoraNews24.
Frazier, who died in June at age 35 after a heart emergency, was the creative force behind the “LOL nothing matters” rotating gif, among other certified bangers. Business Insiders’ Katie Notopolous calls her “probably one of the most influential people in internet culture of the 2010s and how things look now.”
Mathematicians have speculated that the company was targeting the Hodge Conjecture next, but after the PR disaster that was Navier-Stokes and its recent failure to keep its models under control, OpenAI may hold off on any announcements. According to The Information:
It could take the company longer to announce the solution, though, because it’s trying to figure out how to collaborate with the math community to make the announcement without triggering another PR nightmare….
There’s a truly wild report today from Futurism about a trio of brothers who have built a content empire filled with fakery, including completely fabricated writers with huge credentials. Apparently they’re getting massive web traffic from this scheme. Maybe it’s a good thing Google is going to zero.
While announcing that he was planning to share more of his adventures on X, Steve Wozniak also revealed a new merchandise store. WozMerch.com carries everything from wireless power banks, to $700 carry-ons, to t-shirts featuring inspirational phrases and colorful images of the Apple co-founder himself.
