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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok told employees that its executives are “planning for various scenarios” ahead of the Supreme Court likely upholding a US ban of the app.
In an internal memo obtained by The Verge, employees were told that the company is “continuing to plan the way forward” ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision, which is expected as soon as Wednesday, January 15th.“We know it’s unsettling to not know exactly what happens next

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge TikTok’s executives are “planning for various scenarios” ahead of the Supreme Court likely upholding a US ban of the app.
In an internal memo obtained by The Verge, employees were told that the company is “continuing to plan the way forward” ahead of the court’s imminent decision, which is expected as soon as Wednesday, January 15th.“We know it’s unsettling to not know exactly what happens next,” reads

Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge A major copyright lawsuit against Meta has revealed a trove of internal communications about the company’s plans to develop its open-source AI models, Llama, which include discussions about avoiding “media coverage suggesting we have used a dataset we know to be pirated.”
The messages, which were part of a series of exhibits unsealed by a California court, suggest Meta used copyrighted data when training its AI systems and worked to concea

An important date is approaching: Sunday, Jan. 19, also known as Edgar Allan Poe's birthday.I'm just kidding. That heartbeat in the floorboards? It's TikTok's. The Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. If the court upholds the law, it will go into effect on Jan. 19.SEE ALSO:TikTok ban countdown: See the latest updates as time runs short
The app won't be automatically deleted from your phone, but, as NPR reports, it might not be as grea

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Parallels has added support for x86 emulation in Parallels Desktop 20.2, product manager Mikhail Ushakov wrote in a blog post last week. The “early technology preview” will let you emulate Intel-based hardware on an M1-or-greater Mac, a first for Parallels since Apple’s Arm transition in 2020 — but don’t expect stellar performance.
Parallels says users will be able to:Run existing x86_64 Windows 10, Windows 11*, Windows S

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge A day after Sonos announced a CEO transition, the company is making more moves. Chief product officer Maxime Bouvat-Merlin will also be leaving his position. Some employees have told me that Bouvat-Merlin shares a significant amount of blame for the brand damage that Sonos has endured over the last year after deciding to release an overhauled mobile app well before it was ready for customers. There have been reports that top executives at the company ignored warn

Netflix Though the fourth season of Netflix’s live-action Witcher series still doesn’t have a concrete release date, Netflix has finally announced when we’ll see yet another animated take on Geralt of Rivia.
Originally, Netflix intended for The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep to debut some time late last year, but the steamer revealed today that the movie is now set to premiere on February 11th. Based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s short story “A Little Sacrifice” from Sw

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Hackers in North Korea stole a total of $659 million in crypto across several heists in 2024, according to a joint statement issued today by the US, Japan, and South Korea. The report specified five such incidents, like the $235 million theft from the Indian crypto exchange WazirX that is being newly attributed to the Lazarus Group. That organization is estimated to have stolen billions across previous attacks over the last decade, including $625 million s

In the early 2010s, Australian influencer Belle Gibson built a wellness empire off of a lie. She claimed that she had brain cancer, and that she had cured it through healthy eating, exercise, and natural medicine. Yet Belle had never been diagnosed with brain cancer, nor any of the many other cancers she later claimed to have.SEE ALSO:2025 TV preview: All the TV shows you need to know, and where to stream them
Now, Gibson's story gets the Netflix true crime treatment in Apple Cider Vinegar, a li

A new app has a seemingly odd goal for people — that they use apps less. But the people behind the iOS app Steppin accept the reality that many modern individuals need technology to wean themselves off technology.iOS app Steppin was created by Paul English, the cofounder of the travel site Kayak (purchased by Priceline in 2012 for $1.8 billion). Steppin, which dropped Tuesday on the app store and has the tagline "Escape the Scroll," allows users to block access to sites and apps — wi

Need a gift idea for your boyfriend but can't think of anything? Don't be too hard on yourself. Picking out the perfect gift takes practice. Between Valentine's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, and the gift-giving winter holidays, there are a lot of chances to choose the wrong gift. Ideally, you want to get him something that demonstrates your love (or affection), your appreciation, and the fact that you know exactly what he likes. But striking the perfect balance can be tricky. No matter what you

Image: Pixelfed Pixelfed, a decentralized and ad-free Instagram alternative, now has apps on iOS and Android, as reported by TechCrunch. The iOS app launched today, while the Android app launched on January 10th.
The platform is seeing a surge in popularity following Meta’s announcement last week that it would be drastically changing its content moderation policies; over the weekend, Pixelfed said that it’s seeing “unprecedented levels of traffic” to the pixelfed.social s

Whether it's a romantic gift for Valentine's Day, a Hannukkah or Christmas gift she's been coveting for months, or a birthday or anniversary gift that she instantly dubs "the best present I've ever received," there is one thing that all these great gifts share in common: They came from you. Finding the best gifts for your wife all starts with thinking thoughtfully about the leading lady in your life. What are her hobbies? What gets her excited? What problem has she mentioned recently that could

Love it or tolerate it, Valentine’s Day is the ideal time to right the gift-giving wrongs of the holidays. Were you sure your husband would love that faux-vintage turntable, only to find out later that what he really wanted was a weighted blanket? Did you misinterpret his months of hint-dropping about homebrewing, ponying up for the perfect craft beer kit, when he was actually talking about kombucha? The best Valentine's Day gifts for husbands give you a second chance to get it right. Inst

For nearly eight years, the Nintendo Switch has found a huge foothold in the gaming world, coming dangerously close to having sold 150 million lifetime units at the time of writing. But eight years is a long time for a video game console to be on the market. Naturally, there will be a new one, and we think we'll find out about it soon.Very soon, actually. A recent flurry of "insider" leaks and genuine news reporting point to this week as when we will finally learn about the Nintendo Switch 2. Af

Stephanie Gonzaga / Boom! Studios Diamond Comics Distributors, one of the biggest companies involved in getting graphic novels into physical retailers for purchase, is filing for bankruptcy and scaling its business back as the industry braces itself for a new wave of economic challenges.
In a letter sent to comics retailers and publishers today, Diamond president Chuck Parker announced that the company has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and plans to sell off its Alliance Game Distributors arm t

At CES 2025, we saw the good and the weird, all the newest innovations that the tech industry has to offer in the upcoming year. While many of the devices showcased at CES, aren't actually things you can bring home, there is a hot collection of gadgets you can bring home now.On the home theater front, we were impressed by the LG OLED G-Series of TVs that offer exceptionally bright and crisp displays. CES also brought forth all the innovations in the projector market. With new releases from Valer

TikTok, an app used by a third of U.S. adults, could be banned in a matter of days — despite legal battles, political maneuvers, and an incoming administration that seems particularly friendly. The Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of a law that would ban TikTok for the 170 million people who use the app in the U.S. If the court upholds the law, as other courts have done, the ban will go into effect on Sunday, Jan. 19. When will the TikTok ban go into effect?The TikTok ban

As the Mashable team scampered around CES 2025 in Las Vegas earlier this month, we had one top-of-mind question every time we visited a booth or attended a demo: "That's cool, but when can I buy it?"A lot of times, the answer is never. Many gadgets exhibited at the annual tech industry trade show are just concepts and prototypes that don't make it to market. (That Withings OMNIA smart mirror for at-home health screenings, for instance? Yeah, there's a good chance it'll never see the light of day

The era of ChatGPT doing stuff for you has arrived. On Tuesday, OpenAI announced "tasks," a ChatGPT feature that performs, well, tasks, for users. Tasks, rolling out as a beta feature for ChatGPT Plus, Teams, and Pro users over the next few days, enables users to ask ChatGPT "to do things for you at a future time" said the announcement. "From a weekly news briefing, daily weather updates, or even a reminder when concert tickets go on sale," think of tasks as scheduled ChatGPT prompt. SEE ALSO:Op

Illustration: The Verge OpenAI is launching a new beta feature in ChatGPT called Tasks that lets users schedule future actions and reminders.
The feature, which is rolling out to Plus, Team, and Pro subscribers starting today, is an attempt to make the chatbot into something closer to a traditional digital assistant — think Google Assistant or Siri but with ChatGPT’s more advanced language capabilities.
Tasks works by letting users tell ChatGPT what they need and when they need it do

SAVE UP TO $100: Best Buy has discounts on Sony noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds that'll take up to $100 off the usual price.Sony deals at Best BuyBest overall Sony headphones dealSony WH1000XM5 $299.99(save $100)Get DealBest Sony earbuds dealSony WF-C700N$79.99(save $40)Get Deal
Not a huge fan of hearing the sounds around you? Tune it out thanks to the incredible technology that comes along with a solid pair of noise-cancelling headphones or earbuds. These are pretty much essential if yo

What's better than Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon) playing a gangster? How about Robert De Niro playing two gangsters?SEE ALSO:2025 movie preview: All the films you'll want to know about
That's the case in The Alto Knights, which reunites De Niro with director Barry Levinson. The pair had previously collaborated on films like political satire Wag the Dog and Bernie Madoff biopic The Wizard of Lies.Written by Goodfellas screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, The Alto Knights sees De Niro take

For those moments when you don’t have time to check your camera footage. | Image: Wyze Wyze’s latest AI feature aims to reduce how often you need to manually check security footage by instead just describing what the camera has seen. The new Descriptive Alerts will send notifications that “accurately summarize motion events” with more contextual detail than simply telling users that the camera has detected movement or an object, according to Wyze.
An example alert provide

SAVE $100: As of Jan. 14, get the Sony HT-A3000 Soundbar for $499.99 at Best Buy, down from its usual price of $599.99. That's a discount of 21%. Opens in a new windowCredit: Best BuySony HT-A3000 Soundbar$499.99 at Best Buy $599.99 Save $100.00Get DealIf you're the type of person who loves kicking back at home and checking out a movie, you probably appreciate great sound, too. But if you're relying on your TV's speakers, it's probably high time you upgraded. An easy way to do that is to grab a

Image: Nintendo Though there were only a handful of Super Mario games showcased during Awesome Games Done Quick 2025, his brother Luigi was everywhere — and it’s pretty clear why.In the gaming community, Mario’s taller, greener brother is beloved in his own right, celebrated for his goofiness or memed because his genial nature apparently conceals something a bit darker. However, in light of the actions of Luigi Mangione, the man charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO B

GET $350 OFF: Jan. 14th, get the Asus Zenbook OLED (Intel Core Ultra 5, 8GB RAM, 512GB) for $449.99 and save 43%.Opens in a new windowCredit: AsusAsus Zenbook OLED (Intel Core Ultra 5, 8GB RAM, 512GB)$449.99 at Best Buy $799.99 Save $350.00Get DealIf you're in need of a new laptop, don't disregard Asus. The Asus Zenbook OLED Intel Core Ultra 5 8GB RAM 512GB is a mid-market 14-inch laptop with some high-end features.As of Jan. 14, get an Asus Zenbook OLED (Intel Core Ultra 5, 8GB RAM, 512GB) on s

TikTok could be banned in the United States within the next week. TikTokkers, as you might expect, are responding with a bunch of jokes and some sentimental videos. If you weren't aware, TikTok could be banned in the United States starting Sunday, barring an intervention from the Supreme Court or some other delay. It may not immediately disappear from phones in the short term, but it would likely be removed from app stores and stop receiving updates. In the long term, TikTok's future in the U.S.

Image: Daniel Golson The Biden administration finalized a new rule that would effectively ban all Chinese vehicles from the US under the auspices of blocking the “sale or import” of connected vehicle software from “countries of concern.” The rule could have wide-ranging effects on big automakers, like Ford and GM, as well as smaller manufacturers like Polestar — and even companies that don’t produce cars, like Waymo.The rule covers everything that connects a v

The spooky monster at the center of Blumhouse's upcoming horror movie The Woman in the Yard is exactly what it sounds like: a woman sitting in a yard, draped in an all-black get-up reminiscent of mourning clothes (or Dune's Bene Gesserit). While that may not sound super menacing, The Woman in the Yard's trailer proves otherwise.SEE ALSO:2025 movie preview: All the films you'll want to know about
In the trailer, the woman in the yard terrorizes a mother (Danielle Deadwyler of Station Eleven and T

Samsung is about to announce a range of new phones next week, and you can get a discount on one if you register your interest now.When Galaxy Unpacked airs on Wednesday, Jan. 22, Samsung is widely expected to announce the Galaxy S25 series of flagship smartphones. It's widely expected that there will be at least three models: Galaxy S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra, just like last year. There will most likely also be other devices as well, but this is going to be a phone-centric event, in all likelihood.

Image: Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta will soon lay off more “low-performers” across the company, according to an internal memo from CEO Mark Zuckerberg that was shared by a source at the company.
“I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” Zuckerberg says in the memo, which you can read in full below. “We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we&rsq

The Quest 3S doesn’t look any less alien than the original Quest 3. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
The Meta Quest 3S VR headset is a great alternative to the Meta Quest 3. The base 128GB version of the Quest 3S starts at $299.99 at Amazon, which is $200 less than the Quest 3 yet delivers essentially the same mixed reality experience. And now, you can step up to the 256GB version of the Quest 3S for just $349 ($50 off) from Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy.
Now through the end of April, y

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The FBI hacked about 4,200 computers across the US as part of an operation to find and delete PlugX, a malware used by state-backed hackers in China to steal information from victims, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.
In an unsealed affidavit, the FBI says the China-based hacking group known by the monikers “Mustang Panda” and “Twill Typhoon” used PlugX to infect thousands of Windows computers in the US, Asia, and

SAVE 50%: Get the TCL 65-inch Nxtframe QLED TV at Best Buy for $997.99 and save $1,002.Opens in a new windowCredit: TCLTCL 65-inch Nxtframe QLED TV$997.99 at Best Buy $1,999.99 Save $1,002.00Get DealWe love to see it: The Nxtframe Frame TV, TCL's answer to the enduring fervor around frame TVs, is fully loaded and on sale for a huge discount at Best Buy today.As of Jan. 14, the TCL 65-inch Nxtframe QLED TV is on sale at Best Buy for $997.99, a whole $1,002 less than its list price of $1,999.99. T

Check out the best Amazon deals of the day as of Jan. 14:OUR TOP PICKAmazon Fire HD 8$64.99(save $35)Get DealBEST PHONE DEALGoogle Pixel 8a$399(save $100)Get DealBEST SPEAKER DEALAmazon Echo$64.99(save $35)Get DealBEST EARBUDS DEALSoundcore Space A40$44.99(save $35)Get DealBEST SMARTWATCH DEALGarmin Venu 3S$349.99(save $100)Get Deal
While a random Tuesday in January doesn't seem like it would have many deals to offer, Amazon likes to prove us all wrong. We've been dealt a handful of epic deals o

SAVE $15: A $100 Southwest digital gift card is on sale at Best Buy for just $85. That's a 15% discount.Opens in a new windowCredit: Southwest$100 Southwest digital gift card$85.00 at Best Buy $100.00 Save $15.00Get DealJanuary is perhaps the best month to plan a vacation. The new year gives a fresh perspective on goals for the next few weeks, months, or even years. If you have travel plans on your mind for 2025 but haven't yet booked flights, check out this gift card deal at Best Buy.As of Jan

A CloudHQ data center under construction on Waxpool Road in Ashburn, Virginia, US, on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. | Photo: Getty Images President Biden issued an executive order today aimed at speeding the development of AI data centers in the US.It directs the Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Energy (DOE) to lease federal sites to private companies building gigawatt-scale AI data centers and clean power facilities. It also tells federal agencies to “prioritize” and speed

UP TO 70% OFF: As of Jan. 14, get up to 70% off various Apple Watch bands in multiple hues and lengths at Woot. Opens in a new windowCredit: WootApple Watch BandsUp to 70% Off Assorted StylesGet DealIf you wear your Apple Watch day in and day out, chances are it's become an integral part of your outfit. It's one of the first things you put on when you're starting your day. So why not make it look the part? Whether you're still rocking the band you got with your watch when you first bought it or

Illustration: The Verge WhatsApp is rolling out some new features and design improvements to help you become faster and more creative when messaging. Starting today, WhatsApp users can double-tap to react to messages in chats rather than tapping and holding, with their most-used emojis now being displayed in the scrolling pop-out menu instead of the generic selection that was previously provided.
It’s a similar quality-of-life feature that Discord provides: placing your favorite reactions

Netflix continues to expand on the world of The Witcher with the upcoming anime film The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep.Directed by Kang Hei Chul and produced by The Witcher series showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, Sirens of the Deep sees Geralt of Rivia (voiced by Doug Cockle, Geralt's voice in The Witcher games) in the middle of a centuries-old conflict between humans and merpeople. A series of attacks on a seaside town threatens to escalate this conflict into an all-out war, so it's up to Gera

Image: Netflix Popular YouTube toddler learning show Ms. Rachel is coming to Netflix. It will start with a four-episode season of “curated compilation” videos on January 27th, the company announced today.Netflix says this first batch of “research-backed” educational videos aimed at early child development will cover topics like learning to talk or read. Here’s the list from Netflix’s announcement:Learn to Talk — “What’s in the Box?” Spe