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.
I’m blown away by this piece from The New York Times about executive compensation. We all know Elon is strapped to his own compensation rocket, but my eyes popped seeing Figma CEO Dylan Field’s comp in second place. Especially considering the stock is down more than 80% since going public. We’re truly just paying people based on vibes.
[New York Times]
Per a regulatory filing, Google will pay SpaceX $920 million per month from October 2026 through June 2029, as reported by TechCrunch.
In a statement to TechCrunch, Google says that it’s a “short-term” agreement to help meet “surging customer demand for our agent platform, Gemini Enterprise, which has been even higher than we expected.”
Anthropic’s deal with SpaceX was announced in May.
As spotted by The Mobile Report for new customers on T-Mobile’s “Rely” 5G home internet plan:
Hidden in the FAQ on the Home Internet plans page, T-Mobile details that the Rely plan will now have a maximum download speed of 354 mbps. All the other plans (and the prior version of Rely) lists no maximum speed, and instead offers a “typical” speed listing of 170 – 498 mbps.
Colorado’s governor signed the SB26-051 age verification bill into law with its exemption for open-source, while Linux usage on Steam is down a little over one percent from April’s peak.
Microsoft launched Coreutils for Windows. Phoronix reports that Linux 7.2 will be able to boot on M3 Macs and will include support for HDMI 2.1 FRL on AMD GPUs. Plus, 2026’s best game (so far) has native Linux support!
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Using the wrong screws when attaching the camera to its solar panel could accidentally puncture the battery’s metal casing, according to the USCPSC. To date there have been 13 reports of batteries overheating while six exploded and caught fire. Wyze is offering full refunds, replacements, or gift cards to its online store.
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Bjooks has published several coffee-table books exploring musical instrument design, the history of Roland, the world of guitar pedals, and more. Its latest covers the evolution of drum machines from 1959’s Wurlitzer Side Man to modern oddities from Erica Synths. There’s only two days left to back it on Kickstarter, though.
Hoffman, who joined Microsoft’s board in 2017, won’t stand for reelection at the company’s next shareholder meeting, as reported earlier by Bloomberg.
In an episode of his Possible podcast with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Hoffman says he wants to focus on Manas, the AI drug development startup he co-founded last year.
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If you grew up enjoying Stephen Biesty’s cross-sections like me, you’ll appreciate this brilliant project from Google engineer Bryan Macomber. The website breaks down mechanical objects, like the G2 retractable pen (my favorite), the PEZ dispenser, and the Zippo lighter. I can’t wait to see what comes next. (h/t to Kottke for spotting it.)
[Mechanical Pencil]
Polymarket’s chief marketing officer Matthew Modabber used his personal PayPal account to send at least $350,000 to content creators who hyped the prediction market platform, Politico reports. Shirley and others who were paid promoted Polymarket on X with no paid content disclosures. Influencer content is a huge part of prediction markets’ media strategy — often hiding in plain sight.
There are over 330 Leo satellites already in orbit, but the 36 planned for the next Arianespace mission is still smaller than the 48 satellites Amazon was planning to launch on a Blue Origin rocket that exploded during testing last week. This batch of satellites will launch from a spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on June 17th.
After removing some features from the AI image-maker in February, Google has shut down the app completely and directs users to Gemini instead, as reported by 9to5Google. Pixel Studio launched in 2024 alongside the Pixel 9.
Telemundo’s live feed on Peacock will apparently be the first commercial deployment of the efficient Dolby AC-4 codec by a streaming platform, promising immersive stadium sound that shouldn’t overload the network. Peacock will also be streaming the World Cup in 4K and 1080p HDR, according to Dolby spokesperson Andrea Villarreal.
Update and correction: Peacock will stream the games in 4K and 1080p HDR, but won’t offer personalized audio controls as previously stated.
Internal documents, which were disclosed as part of a wave of child safety lawsuits filed by school districts across the US, showed:
Snapchat sent phone alerts to adolescents during school hours, urging them to share what was going on in their classrooms.
Meta paid “teen ambassadors” to promote Instagram and hand out swag to their friends at school.
TikTok gave the National PTA millions of dollars, in part to throw school events about online safety and provide favorable comments to journalists.
The company’s new agentic developer tools are giving the discontinued smart displays a second life as a smart home controller, family message board, art display, or anything you can dream up. The move comes shortly after Microsoft announced Project Solara. Meta says the tools are hardware-agnostic and work with many existing devices. Still, anything that breathes new life into a defunct gadget is a good thing.
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Skylight’s kid-centric Buddy is an adorable — if pricey — way to keep young ones on task.
The company hasn’t confirmed when its dual camera Luna Ultra will see a global release, but it recently teased a new head-tracking accessory. The POV Head Tracker is worn like an open-style earbud and translates your head movements to the Luna Ultra so it’s always capturing what you’re looking at.
And I only broke it a little.
The new Coupe version of the Cayenne is a little more compact, but a lot more powerful.
Peloton has acquired Skōp, a Pilates-focused startup that builds real-time form-tracking technology. That suggests there might be new Peloton hardware on the horizon, as the company tries to recover from its post-covid slump. In a statement, Peloton CEO Peter Stern said:
“Form is everything in Pilates, so we are taking a purposeful approach to ensure we develop the most effective, safest, and fun experiences possible—ones people will keep doing for life.”
I wasn’t able to enable it in Google’s Chrome Canary developer sandbox, but Windows Report got it working using a Ctrl+Shift+Space keyboard shortcut on Windows. It opens as a standalone window centered on the screen, with AI Mode at the heart of the experience.
Brave Origin comes with the same privacy-focused features as the free version, but it will allow you to fully switch off certain features — not just hide them — including Leo AI, Brave rewards, the browser’s built-in wallet, and more. The standard version of Brave “will remain free and fully supported.”
So says Meta spokesperson Che’von Lewis. Senior was previously Meta’s Product Lead for its Studio and New Vertical portfolios. You can read more about Supernatural’s forthcoming era here, and catch up on the buff ladies who worked so hard to save it here.
OpenAI is building upon its “dreaming” feature that allows ChatGPT to sort through your conversations and save information in the background. With the update, OpenAI says ChatGPT is better at updating memories and “remembering” your preferences across conversations.
ChatGPT Plus and Pro users can access the update now, while free users will get it in the coming weeks.
Microsoft’s commitment to AI is not news. Copilot has been everywhere for... a while now. But at this week’s Build developer conference, the company made clear that it wants — and needs — to be a bigger player in the space. The Verge’s Tom Warren joins David to talk about the new Scout AI assistant, the Solara operating system concept, and whether Microsoft can hang with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Also: how’s the new era of Xbox going?
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While it’s unclear what Bluesky wants to turn into, the company is “very inspired by companies like Reddit,” COO Rose Wang tells CNBC.
Wang also says that Bluesky needs to “get to parity on video features” — and earlier today, the platform announced that video uploads can now be as big as 300MB.
Say hello to the waterproof magnesium alloy keyboard with magnetic TMR switches paired with a touchscreen numpad with built-in SSD, kickstand, and Stream Deck-like shortcut functionality. Wired/wireless, 8,000Hz polling, rapid trigger, 5-layer gasket, swap out magnetic for mechanical switches if you like. No price or release date yet.
The $3.99-per-month subscription adds features like letting you keep a story up for 48 hours and the ability to customize your bio’s font. You can see the whole list of features on Instagram’s website.
In an 8-1 ruling, the justices found that the Federal Communications Commission’s in-house process to levy fines doesn’t violate companies’ right to a jury trial. The case involved AT&T and Verizon’s challenges to fines they faced during the Biden administration over allegations they illegally shared customers’ location without consent.
