Latest Technology News
The latest technology news, product launches, and industry trends, aggregated and updated in real time. Also read our analysis: The AI Boom's Real Battleground Isn't Chatbots — It's Chip Fabs and Power Grids.
Today's technology news reflects deepening tensions around AI adoption and transparency, even as the industry continues its rapid expansion. Major players—from Google promoting AI's creative potential to Midjourney demanding studios disclose their AI usage, and Alibaba restricting employee access to competing AI tools—are navigating competing interests between innovation, accountability, and competitive advantage. Meanwhile, broader tech narratives reveal ongoing consumer frustrations with rising hardware costs and design compromises, suggesting the industry's focus on AI advancement may be outpacing attention to foundational product satisfaction.
New Google commercial imagines a Declaration of Independence written with help from AI
Two hundred and fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a new commercial asks: What if the Founding Fathers had access to Google Workspace?
NASA launched an emergency mission to stop the Swift Observatory from crashing to Earth
Engineers from Katalyst Space Technologies testing Link. | Image: NASA/Scott Wiessinger The Swift Observatory was launched in 2004, but recent solar storms have pushed its orbit lower, and it's in danger of burning up in Earth's atmosphere as soon as this year. To try and stave
Midjourney wants Hollywood studios to reveal the details of their AI usage
As part of an ongoing legal dispute with three Hollywood studios, Midjourney is seeking to compel those studios to reveal how they use AI themselves.
Review: Supergirl is not the disaster its low box office suggests
It’s a pretty good movie, but it needed to be a great movie to thrive in an oversaturated superhero market.
Alibaba reportedly bans employees from using Claude Code
Alibaba has reportedly classified Claude Code as high-risk software.

White House deletes thousands of web pages about energy conservation as heatwave slams US
The US Department of Energy reportedly deleted about 6,000 pages related to energy conservation as a historic heatwave tears across the country. The deletion was suspiciously timed, following Republican outrage over Mayor Zohran Mamdani asking New Yorkers to help reduce strain o

Matic’s robot vacuum is getting a $250 price hike in September
The Matic is our favorite robot vacuum by a pretty comfortable margin. If you’ve been thinking about buying one, you may want to plan on doing it sooner than later. The company will raise its price by $250 on September 9th, going from $1,245 to $1,495. Matic told The Verge that t

What is Mistral AI? Everything to know about the OpenAI competitor
Mistral AI, which offers some open source AI models, has raised significant funding since its creation in 2023, with the ambition to “put frontier AI in the hands of everyone.”

Flatbush Zombies’ Erick the Architect misses his BlackBerry keyboard
That is the face of a man who enjoys what he does. | Image: Reato Morris Erick the Architect is a founding member of, and the primary producer for, the legendary Flatbush Zombies. He's toured the world, performed on Kimmel and Fallon, played Coachella, and collaborated with eve

Hey number pad lovers, this is a keyboard we can finally agree on
I’m right-hand dominant but a lefty at heart. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge I know a vocal group of people who swear by the number pad on their keyboard. And yet, for years I haven't cared about using one - until I put my hands on the Epomaker RT98. It's a mechan

The square-ish phone that I wanted to love
A great concept that falls flat. The Ikko MindOne Pro is delightfully small. I keep calling it a square phone, which isn't quite right; the screen is square, but the phone itself is slightly rectangular. The camera flips up so you can use it for selfies - you can even open it p

The fanfiction community is at war with AI — and itself
Fanfiction communities are trying to hunt down writers who haven’t written works with their own hands. | Image: Álvaro Bernis / The Verge Over the past week, a new fanworks movement has kicked off, with the aim to root out authors using generative AI. But the detection methods

When the ability to smell goes away
Disturbances in this critical sense are often linked to problems with brain health.

A martian rock has lots of carbon on it, and it's not clear why
Biology could explain the find, but there are other potential explanations.

Qi fan fan
The Kuxiu D5 keeps Qi-compatible phones cool while also charging a watch and earbuds. Despite my initial skepticism, I'm now sold on wireless Qi chargers that add integrated fans to keep your phone cool while charging. I figured they'd be too loud, or too weak, or too gimmicky,

The only AI glossary you’ll need this year
The rise of AI has brought an avalanche of new terms and slang. Here is a glossary with definitions of some of the most important words and phrases you might encounter.

The browser wars aren’t about search anymore — here are the best alternatives to Chrome and Safari
We’ve compiled an overview of some of the top alternative browsers available today aiming to challenge Chrome and Safari.

The Dune keypad device can be your meeting controller and more
The gadget has three buttons, and it changes context based on what app you are looking at. For instance, in meeting apps and sites, it could be toggle mic, toggle video, and bring window to the front.

Amazon updated 2023’s Fire HD 10 tablet with 4GB of RAM
The Fire HD 8 that launched in 2024 was the last new addition to Amazon's budget-minded tablet lineup, but the company has quietly updated the Fire HD 10 that debuted the year before. In 2023 it was offered with multiple storage configurations that each came with 3GB of RAM, but

Chevy built an all-American EV truck — why is nobody buying it?
The Chevy Silverado EV is a solid first draft of an EV pickup truck. Here's what could make it better.

While you’re watching the World Cup, the feds may be watching you
It's a big year for America. It's the semiquincentennial, otherwise known as America250, and the United States is cohosting the World Cup. But spectators at these events - and the millions of people who live in the cities hosting them - may not realize that they, too, are being w

This slim camera has a transparent LCD screen for a viewfinder
Despite the fact that smartphones have become impressively capable shooters, standalone point-and-shoot cameras are enjoying a renaissance. The tiny Kodak Charmera is still wildly popular, while influencers are scrambling to find aging Canon cameras on eBay. Godox, a company best

I finally got my Trump phone
Unlike most phones, the T1 still ships with a charger. Trump Mobile seemingly isn’t too worried about e-waste. Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. One year on, our phones have finally arrived. 12 months, 16 days, 21 hours, and 54 minutes af

Hydration isn’t complicated: Just drink water
Powerade is appropriate for World Cup athletes, but unless you’re also sweating buckets, water is usually enough. | Photo: Megan Briggs / Getty Images This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest giz

Anthropic wants to develop its own drugs
At the event "The Briefing: AI for Science" earlier this week, Anthropic announced Claude Science, a new "AI workbench for scientists" that pulls fragmented tools and datasets into one environment, and generates figures and visuals. Anthropic, already dominating the industry with

Rocket Report: Indian startup nears first launch; SpaceX's millenary milestone
NASA awarded Rocket Lab deals for three dedicated launches using the company's Electron rocket.

Jon Prosser responds to Apple lawsuit by blaming the other guy
YouTuber Jon Prosser has finally filed a formal response to Apple's lawsuit made against him and another defendant over allegedly stealing iOS secrets. In his response, Prosser denied that he "planned or participated in any conspiracy or coordinated scheme" for the "purpose of in

Inside the Luddite festival harnessing Gen Z’s rage against Big Tech
New York City’s Summer of Ludd festival is teaching people how to live offline.

Despite the darkness, I still see signs of hope in America
It's difficult to pinpoint the moment in my life where America started to lose the plot.

Visiting the stars (and planets, and telescopes) in VR
Walkthrough experience includes visits to stars, exoplanets, and observatories.

Wing Commander IV and the FMV future that never quite was
C:\ArsGames takes a look at the time Chris Roberts more or less made a whole movie.

Politician who investigated spyware abuses had his phone hacked with Pegasus spyware
A government customer of NSO Group used the company's Pegasus spyware to hack into the phone of a European politician, who at the time was serving on an EU committee tasked with investigating the spyware industry.

Last chance to apply — Startup Battlefield Australia applications close July 6
If you're going to apply for Startup Battlefield Australia, now is the time. Applications close July 6, and once the deadline passes, the opportunity is gone.

Mark Zuckerberg tells staff that AI agents haven’t progressed as quickly as he’d hoped
At an internal meeting, the Meta CEO reportedly said that AI development efforts were not moving as quickly as anticipated.

Private space pilots are flying orbital missions for the US Space Force
True Anomaly and Rocket Lab are performing Top Gun-style satellite fly-bys for the U.S. military.

Thiel Capital’s Jack Selby nabs stakes in hot startups like Etched through Arizona connections
Selby's VC firm, Copper Sky Capital, is currently raising a $300 million second fund, according to a regulatory filing.

IQM, Europe’s first public quantum company, admits the future of the tech is uncertain
IQM, a full-stack quantum company out of Finland, went public on the Nasdaq today at a valuation of about $1.9 billion.

Jersey Mike’s IPO illustrates how bad the AI hype has become
Just for kicks, I took a look at Jersey Mike's IPO documents. Surely a sandwich shop would have no need to mention AI. But lo and behold.

Newly discovered PamStealer isn't your typical macOS malware
The discovery underscores the increased effort being poured into Mac infostealers.

A warning sign about AI’s real cost, courtesy of Google and Amazon
AI has made it a lot harder for tech companies like Amazon and Google to deliver on their net-zero pledges.

Meta quietly launches vibe-coded gaming app Pocket
Meta has quietly launched Pocket, an experimental AI app that lets users generate and share interactive mini games using text prompts.

Travel app Hopper to pay $35M in FTC settlement over ‘unfairly’ charging hidden fees
Hopper will pay $35 million to settle FTC allegations that it used deceptive “dark patterns” to hide fees and mislead travelers about the costs and benefits of services.

Anthropic is discussing a new custom chip with Samsung
The news comes about a week after OpenAI announced its own custom AI chip in a partnership with Broadcom.

FAA proposal: Supersonic airliners can fly over US cities if they’re quiet
New US rules would legalize quiet supersonic flights without the sonic boom.

Ars Live recap: When are the big rockets NASA desperately needs going to be ready?
I have not seen anyone put out a date for a new rocket, and actually hit it.

Plex debuts 5-year membership pass for $250
Plex is pushing customers to newer features and more frequent payments.

Africa CDC confirms Marburg case in Uganda as Ebola outbreak rages
Early reports indicate there may be another case, but spread is thought to be localized.

Artificial cell manages a few rounds of cell division
It only works for a few divisions thanks to a lot of added materials.

Google loses long-running appeal of record EU fine, will have to cough up $4.7 billion
The EU went after Google for the practice of bundling its search engine and browser with Android.

Trump gets OpenAI to offer US 5% stake, far lower than Sanders’ target
Insiders say Sam Altman is in active talks with the Trump administration.