Technology news

NASA researchers have successfully tested laser communications in space by streaming 4K video footage originating from an airplane in the sky to the International Space Station and back.
The feat demonstrates that the space agency could provide live coverage of a Moon landing during the Artemis missions and bodes well for the development of optical communications that could connect humans to Mars and beyond. NASA normally uses radio waves to send data and talk between the surface to space, but

Illustration: The Verge Bing’s new search experience puts AI-generated answers front and center while pushing traditional search results to the side. The new layout, which is rolling out for a small number of queries, fills your search results page with AI-generated summaries addressing various aspects of your question.
Microsoft has shared an early look at what this search experience will look like... and it’s a lot. For the query “What is a spaghetti western?” Bing disp

An image representing AMD’s new Ryzen 9000 desktop parts. | Image: AMD AMD was set to launch its new Zen 5 processors on July 31st, including the 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen 9 9950X, a chip it’s calling “the world’s most powerful desktop consumer processor.” Instead, it’s now announcing a one- to two-week delay “out of an abundance of caution.” The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X will now launch on August 8th, while the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge More than 500 developers at Blizzard Entertainment who work on World of Warcraft have voted to form a union. The World of Warcraft GameMakers Guild, formed with the assistance of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), is composed of employees across every department, including designers, engineers, artists, producers, and more. Together, they have formed the largest wall-to-wall union — or a union inclusive of multiple departments and discipline

Little phone, how I miss you. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge We’ve already heard rumblings about an iPhone Slim model taking the place of the iPhone Plus in 2025, making it the iPhone 17 Slim. Now, a new report from Apple supply chain expert Ming-Chi Kuo corroborates earlier claims, suggesting that the company’s incredible shapeshifting non-Pro iPhone is about to evolve yet again.
Kuo agrees it will come with a 6.6-inch screen and adds that it’ll have just one rear-facing

At this rate, there may not be any secrets left when Google takes the stage on Aug. 13 to show off its latest Pixel phones.The latest leak comes courtesy of the YouTube channel @pixophone, which posted a YouTube Short video purporting to show off the rumored Pixel 9 Pro XL next to last year's Pixel 8 Pro. In the video, neither device appears to be turned on, so all we see is the rumored bigger Pixel 9 Pro directly compared to the Pixel 8 Pro in terms of physical design.SEE ALSO:Google Pixel 9 an

A screenshot of Apple Maps on the web. | Screenshot: The Verge Apple Maps is finally available on the web. Through a beta that launched Wednesday afternoon, you can now get driving and walking directions, as well as view ratings and reviews from the web version of Apple Maps in a desktop or mobile browser.
Apple Maps is available through the beta.maps.apple.com site. You can do most of what you can in the iOS version of the app, including view guides, order food directly from Maps, explore citie

If your productivity ground to a halt on Friday because of the worldwide epidemic of Windows crashes caused by a glitched-out software update, the company that admitted fault for the problem, Crowdstrike, may have just offered to make it up to you with the modern equivalent of a gift shop teddy bear wearing a little t-shirt that says "I'm beary sorry": a $10 UberEats gift voucher. It's such a small and, well, thoughtless token that it's arguably worse than nothing — especially since a

The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman can now be ordered with plant-based upholstery made from bamboo. | Image: Herman Miller Can you finally feel guilt-free about buying an iconic piece of furniture that starts at $6,395? For the first time in 68 years, Herman Miller is offering its Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman with a plant-based upholstery option that looks and feels like leather but is primarily made from bamboo.
The plant-based fabric, called Banbū, was developed by von Holzhausen a

Meta has introduced a new feature called "Imagine Me," which lets users create AI-generated images based on their photos and prompts. This tool, currently in beta in the US, lets users type prompts like "Imagine me as a superhero" or "Imagine me in a historical setting," and the AI generates a customized image accordingly.SEE ALSO:Over 7,200 former Meta employees' confidentiality agreements found unlawful
With "Imagine Me," US-based users can simply type the command in the chat to start creating

Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images The Senate unanimously passed a bill on Tuesday letting victims of non-consensual intimate images created by AI — or “deepfakes” — sue their creators for damages.
The Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act (DEFIANCE) Act lets victims of sexually explicit deepfakes pursue civil remedies against those that produced or processed the image with the intent to distribute it. Victims who are identifiable in these kinds of d

Elon Musk has brought about a lot of change to the platform formerly known as Twitter. Most notably, he dropped the Twitter name for "X." He completely stripped verification of all of its meaning. And Musk's new content policies at X basically mean nearly anything goes on the platform.Just this past week, there was another change made to X that seemingly went by under the radar.X has dropped the "water pistol" emoji, which was depicted as a colorful and harmless looking child's toy — and r

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge Apple might start using Samsung camera sensors as soon as 2026, marking the end of Sony’s decade-plus run as the sole supplier of the phones’ camera sensors.
The phones are expected to use a Samsung-made “1/2.6-inch 48MP ultra-wide CMOS image sensors” starting “as early as 2026,” according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The rumor doesn’t suggest whether Samsung will replace Sony for any other iPhone camera sens

As spotted by IGN (Note: Mashable and IGN share the same parent company, Ziff Davis), some in the Fortnite community have taken to social media to declare war against the newly added playable Tesla Cybertruck vehicle. Anyone who is caught driving a Cybertruck will, according to these posts, be teamed up against relentlessly, even by people who should theoretically be fighting each other.SEE ALSO:Elon Musk sets new date for Tesla's Robotaxi reveal Tweet may have been deletedWhy is the Tesla Cyber

You won’t find (most) of these on Apple’s official iOS App Store. | Image: Riley Testut / AltStore PAL The first batch of third-party apps are making their way onto AltStore PAL, just over three months after the alternative iOS app marketplace first launched in the EU. Three out of the four apps being released today are exclusive to AltStore PAL and can’t be found on Apple’s official iOS App Store. The apps developed by people other than AltStore PAL co-creator Riley Test

SAVE $200: Prime members can snag the 55-inch Amazon Fire TV Omni Series 4K TV on sale for $349.99 (normally $549.99) as of July 24. That's a 36% savings and $20 better than its Prime Day price.Opens in a new windowCredit: AmazonAmazon 55-inch Fire TV Omni Series 4K TV$349.99 at Amazon with Prime $549.99 Save $200.00Get DealPrime Day 2024 is long over at this point, but all of Amazon's Fire TVs are still sitting at their member-exclusive sale prices... except for one. It's now even cheaper.As of

SAVE $19: As of June 24, the new Apple Pencil Pro is still going for its Prime Day pricing, which is $109.99. That's a 15% discount from the list price of $129.Opens in a new windowCredit: AppleApple Pencil Pro$109.99 at Amazon $129.00 Save $19.01Get DealAmazon Prime Day has been over for a while now, but a few deals from the sale are still lingering on. One notable deal is the Apple Pencil Pro, which is still going at the lower price it went on sale for during Prime Day.As of July 24, you can s

We’re celebrating International Self-Care Day on the final day of Self-Care Month. The World Health Organization defines self-care as "individuals, families and communities’ promoting and maintaining their own health." Self-care looks different for everyone, but we’ve rounded up a handful of deals that’ll help you take care of your physical and mental health that are also within your budget.Best self-care deals todayBest self-care tech dealTheraGun mini$149 at Amazon

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta shut down 63,000 Instagram accounts based in Nigeria that it says were engaged in financial sextortion scams and connected to what Meta calls a “loosely organized” group of cybercriminals known as the “Yahoo Boys.”
Meta has been getting serious about cracking down on sextortion scams and educating users about how to avoid them. Earlier this year, Meta said it would automatically send suspected sextortion account messages to us

SAVE $500: As of July 24, get the Samsung Odyssey G9 monitor for $799.99 at Amazon. That's a 38% discount and the lowest price we've seen. Opens in a new windowCredit: AmazonSamsung Odyssey G9$799.99 at Amazon $1,299.99 Save $500.00Get DealWhen it comes to TVs and monitors, going big is always a good idea if you have the room. Just like a mammoth TV can make your favorite sports and movies come alive, a large monitor can transform the way you work and play. Samsung has you covered with a massive

Image: Apple / RapidSOS First responder networks are lining up to support a major new emergency feature in iOS 18: Live Video support. Now, 911 support platforms, including RapidSOS Unite and Prepared, are integrating with Apple’s Emergency SOS Live Video, which was announced at WWDC in June.
The new feature lets you video chat with 911 dispatchers and emergency responders, aiding them in finding you fast when you need help. Apple’s Emergency SOS could already relay a voice call and

Samsung held a big Galaxy Unpacked event earlier this month to unveil its latest foldable devices (among other things), but apparently there are more to come.Recent leaks and rumors have pointed to the existence of a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim, per Android Police. The latest, courtesy of user Ice Universe on Weibo, suggests that the slimmed down Z Fold 6 could launch as early as October. The only trouble here is that, according to Android Police, a deleted post from the same leaker said the de

UPDATE: Jul. 24, 2024, 12:30 p.m. EDT iRobot announced a new robot vacuum, the Roomba Combo 10 Max Robot + AutoWash Dock, on July 23. We are in the process of testing it hands-on and will update this guide accordingly.It would come as a surprise to more people than you think that "roomba" isn't the universal term for a robot vacuum. It is, in fact, a capital "R" that denotes Roomba as a proper noun rather than a generic trademark, though the Band-Aid level interchangeability really does exempli

Illustration: The Verge Reddit is ramping up its crackdown on web crawlers. Over the past few weeks, Reddit has started blocking search engines from surfacing recent posts and comments unless the search engine pays up, according to a report from 404 Media.
Right now, Google is the only mainstream search engine that shows recent results when you search for posts on Reddit using the “site:reddit.com” trick, 404 Media reports. This leaves out Bing, DuckDuckGo, and other alternatives &md

Amazon deals of the day at a glance:OUR TOP PICKSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (256GB, Unlocked)$965 at Amazon(save $334.99)Get DealBEST APPLE DEALApple Pencil Pro$109.99 at Amazon(save $19.01)Get DealBEST TV DEALAmazon 55-inch Omni Fire TV$349.99 at Amazon(save $200)Get DealBEST HOME DEALGoogle Nest Doorbell$109.99 at Amazon(save $70)Get DealBEST SMARTWATCH DEALSamsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic (43mm, Bluetooth)$278.56 at Amazon(save $121.43)Get Deal
Prime Day who? A week after the final day of Amazon's

GET 50% OFF: As of July 24, get up to 50% off video games during Best Buy's Great Summer Sale.Opens in a new windowCredit: Best Buy Get up to 50% off video gamesDuring Best Buy's Great Summer SaleShop NowIf you’re looking for something to do this Sunday (you know, instead of obsessing over Sunday scaries), Best Buy’s got you covered.SEE ALSO:The 10 best video games of 2024 (so far)
Best Buy's Great Summer Sale has discounts of up to 50% off a wide selection of video games across plat

Canadian soccer coach Bev Priestman will miss the Olympic team’s opening match against New Zealand. | Photo by Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images A member of the Canadian Olympic women’s soccer team was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand’s practice session on Monday. It’s said to be the second “drone incident” at a New Zealand practice over the past week.
As a result, the Canadian Olympic Committee has announced that soccer coach Bev Priestman will not coach

The search engine giant noticed that Google Play users have been "downloading and dashing." In other words, once users get their desired apps, they don't stick around — and Google wants to change that.On Wednesday, Google announced the new Collections experience for Google Play, which is designed to help users see the Android store as more than just a destination for installing new apps.SEE ALSO:Google has changed its mind about 'killing' third-party tracking cookies
What is Collections on

Yellowstone is an active volcano — it's not Disneyland with bison. It's a park teeming with over 500 spewing geysers, in addition to many boiling hot springs. On July 23, one of Yellowstone National Park's thousands of thermal features, near a hot spring called Sapphire Pool, exploded. Visitors fled as a plume of mud and rock shot into the air, covering a boardwalk in debris. Understandably, the park has temporarily closed this area.But crucially, this doesn't mean the greater Yellows

CrowdStrike has released further details Wednesday on the software issue that caused mass outages while taking down 8.5 million Windows machines. The company posted a post incident review (PIR) on its website detailing the problem and outlined steps on how it can improve moving forward. You can read through the entire PIR, but it's not particularly intended for casual readers — it's primarily for the technical folks.SEE ALSO:Microsoft outage updates: Crowdstrike issue still wreaking h

Image: Google Google has updated the suspicious file warnings Chrome displays for why it might have blocked a potentially suspicious or dangerous file download to hopefully give users clearer explanations. For people who turn on the anti-phishing Enhanced Protection feature, opting in to upload suspicious files for scanning in the cloud, it’s also shifted to automatic scans, saying files sent for deep scans are 50 times more likely to be marked as malware.
In response to widespread targete

SAVE $200: Normally $799.99, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 (Intel Core i5-1235U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) is on sale for $599.99 at Best Buy and Amazon as of July 24. That's its lowest price to date.Quick links:Best BuyMicrosoft Surface Laptop Go 3 (Intel Core i5-1235U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD)$599.99 at Best Buy(save $200)Get DealAmazonMicrosoft Surface Laptop Go 3 (Intel Core i5-1235U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD)$599.99 at Amazon(save $200)Get Deal
Featuring a sleek, sturdy build and a stellar keyboard, las

UP TO $600 OFF: As of July 24, get up to $600 off select iPad Pro models at Best Buy. Shop The Great Summer Sale now.Our top picks: Best iPad deal overall12.9-inch Apple iPad Pro (6th gen, M2, WiFi, 256GB)$899 at Best Buy(save $300)Get DealBest runner-up iPad deal11-inch Apple iPad Pro (4th gen, M2, WiFi, 512GB)$799 at Best Buy (save $300)Get DealBest budget iPad deal 10.2-inch Apple iPad (9th gen, WiFi, 64GB)$249.99 at Best Buy (save $80)Get Deal
Prime Day may be over, but the deals aren't! Bes

SAVE $334.99: As of July 24, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is $965 at Amazon. That's a discount of 26% and its lowest price yet. Opens in a new windowCredit: AmazonSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultra$965.00 at Amazon $1,299.99 Save $334.99Get DealReady to upgrade your smartphone? It's about time you put your old one out of its misery. It's served you well with its cracked screen, grimy glass, and scratches, but now's the time to move on. Especially when you can get a fantastic Android device for its lowest

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge The latest PlayStation beta lets you create personalized 3D audio profiles on your PS5 that could help you “better sense the positions of characters and objects in a game world.” If you’re wearing headphones or earbuds with your PS5, you can perform sound tests to optimize the audio to best suit your needs.
As shown in the video provided by Sony, the tests will ask you various questions, like where you hear a particular sound coming

SAVE $70: As of July 24, get the Google Nest Doorbell for just $109.99. That's a 39% discount on its usual price of $179.99, and the lowest price we've seen. Opens in a new windowCredit: AmazonGoogle Nest Doorbell$109.99 at Amazon $179.99 Save $70.00Get DealUnexpected visitors at your doorstep can make for anxiety, but it's even scarier walking over to the door to actually see who's there. That's where a video doorbell can come in handy, and there's a great deal on one at Amazon today. As of Jul