The latest tech news about the world’s best (and sometimes worst) hardware, apps, and much more. From top companies like Google and Apple to tiny startups vying for your attention, Verge Tech has the latest in what matters in technology daily.
During the VivaTech 2026 conference in Paris, Samsung announced a new feature for its mobile devices created through a collaboration with the pet health management platform, Lifet. You’ll be able to snap a photo of your dog or cat which will be analyzed by AI to alert you to conditions like periodontal disease and obesity.
The new “Collections” feature is included in Mastodon’s 4.6 update, which will also allow you to hide the “Media” or “Featured” tabs on your profile and let people subscribe to your posts via email, even if they don’t have a Mastodon account.
[Mastodon Blog]
A new dashboard will show a creator’s most popular AI characters, along with metrics including interactions, likes, and discoveries. Character.AI is also launching a feature that will notify followers when a creator launches a new chatbot.
One of Lego’s most iconic themes is back as a functional tabletop pinball machine launching on July 4th for $229.99. The Arcade Pinball Machine doesn’t keep score, but it’s got working flippers, a spring-loaded ball launcher, and an asteroid you can hit that will move an astronaut minifigure closer and closer to rescuing a space baby figure.
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Disney and Pixar’s latest feature gets at the heart of how we let tech hurt us.
We’ve had unboxings, hands-ons, and teardowns, but Bloomberg is the first publication to give the T1 Phone a detailed review. It might be kinder than you expect — Verge alumnus Chris Welch admits the specs aren’t bad — but still reaches the obvious conclusion: “It’s easy to find a better phone than this.”
A major case surrounding lookalike products (“dupes”) came to a close this week, in which Deckers, the maker of UGG boots, sued direct-to-consumer brand Quince, alleging it had knocked off its shearling ankle boot. A jury found that Quince’s version was indeed substantially similar to the design patent for the UGG boots — but also that the patent itself was invalid in the first place.
As I wrote last year, brands are increasingly using design patents to go after dupes. The Deckers decision stress-tests that tactic.
Thread Group and the Broadband Forum are teaming up to help IoT devices and home internet work better together. The Broadband Forum — the organization that develops the standards ISPs use to manage gateways and routers — is adding support for connecting to Thread networks, giving ISPs visibility into both networks.
The group behind Matter has released the next version of its Product Security Certification Program, a cybersecurity standard designed to provide a single security label for consumer IoT devices.
The update extends certification beyond devices to include apps, gateways, and remote processes, allowing companies to certify entire ecosystems. It also adds independent validation through physical test labs and is now integrated into the Matter spec, with companies seeking Matter certification encouraged to complete the security certification as well.
Testing Govee’s over-the-top RGB lineup convinced me there might actually be room in my garden for a horse-race light show this summer.
As we discussed, Epic and Google will be back in court July 16th to answer six specific questions from the court — as it decides whether to force Google to carry rival stores inside its own app store, or let it adopt “Registered App Stores” in the US instead. What do you think of the embedded arguments?
That’s according to Silicon Motion (SMI) vice president Nelson Duann, who told Tom’s Hardware the memory shortage is pushing PC makers to buy third-party SSDs, while saying suppliers expect it will get worse in 2027:
The controllers we sell to module makers are now largely ending up in SSDs that are shipped to PC OEMs. The reason is that OEMs cannot obtain enough NAND directly from memory manufacturers, so they are increasingly sourcing SSDs from module makers instead.
Rivian has had layoffs in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and now, within a week of launching the long-awaited R2 SUV, layoffs in 2026. The Wall Street Journal reports the cuts made Tuesday affected less than two percent of its employees, which the company confirmed, saying it “restructured a handful of teams,” as it attempts to turn a profit for the first time.
In a post on Reddit, Sonos CEO Tom Conrad says the company is rolling out a beta this week that will introduce tabbed navigation, a volume interface “that is easier to grab and fine tune,” and more control over player organization. It’s part of Conrad’s efforts to clean up the app more than two years after a messy redesign.
[Reddit r/Sonos]
Pixel foldables get the new feature first, which is being added to Android 17 alongside native controller remapping, but only rolls out “in the coming months.” We’ve seen control options like this in other foldables before, but it’s welcome to see Google bake it into the OS.
The Settings menu got reorganized in Firefox 152 so everything’s easier to find and manage, and it’s bringing Tab Groups to mobile, starting with Android.
Mozilla’s new roadmap lays out more changes on the way, like its AI Smart Window, Quick Answers, and the “Project Nova” redesign announced last month.
