Tech
Trusting your phone to Abxylute’s mobile controller requires a big leap of faith
As a retro gaming fan, I was thrilled when Apple opened its App Store to emulators in 2024, but I've yet to find a controller that makes me want to fully embrace retro gaming on my phone. Clamp-on controllers like the Backbone Pro are a bit too bulky, and I don't want to prop my […]
Why won’t anyone stop ICE from masking?
Americans do not like masked secret police. There is really no other way to put it. The reasons why are manifold: accountability, trust in law enforcement, and just plain overall vibes. More concretely, not being able to tell who's a cop and who's not is dangerous. An assassin masquerading as law enforcement killed Minnesota legislator […]
Sony’s LinkBuds Clip earbuds don’t do enough to stand out
The Sony LinkBuds Clip are the company's first clip earbuds. They follow the innovative donut-hole LinkBuds and LinkBuds Open and, like their predecessors, allow you to listen to music or podcasts, make phone calls, or be active outdoors while still maintaining awareness of your surroundings. The clip design has become more popular over the past […]
On the ground in Minneapolis after the killing of Alex Pretti
Steven Garcia, as told to Gaby Del Valle: I was in the middle of a frozen lake when I got the notification from the Minnesota Star Tribune that there had been a shooting. I was at a pond hockey event, and someone who was supposed to play later that evening said he probably wouldn't be […]
Microsoft handed the government encryption keys for customer data
The FBI went to Microsoft last year with a warrant, asking them to hand over keys to unlock encrypted data stored on three laptops as part of an investigation into potential fraud involving the COVID unemployment assistance program in Guam - and Microsoft complied. Typically, companies resist handing over encryption keys to authorities. Most famously, […]
MicroSD Express cards and Anker’s travel adapter rule the deal roost this week
Welcome to the weekend, friends! We’re still in a bit of a deals lull before the Presidents Day and V-Day sales begin, the bulk of which we anticipate kicking off the first week of February. However, for now, we’re still seeing some solid discounts on a few newer gadgets and some old, Verge-approved favorites. Anker’s […]
Gmail’s spam filter and automatic sorting are broken
Some Gmail users have noticed that promotional emails that normally go to their own siloed tab have started flooding their inbox. Reports have been hitting the Google forums and Reddit that messages are bypassing the Updates and Promotional filters and going straight to Gmail inboxes. Some are also reporting seeing a banner at the top […]
ICE has killed another person in Minneapolis
Federal agents in Minneapolis repeatedly punched a man, forced him to the ground, and then shot him multiple times. The man was later pronounced dead. This is just the latest incident of deadly violence involving ICE, which has grown increasingly frequent, especially on the streets of Minneapolis. It's been less than three weeks since an […]
Gaming’s most fun sales data is full of old and obscure games
Every month, Circana video game analyst Mat Piscatella posts fascinating data about video game sales on Bluesky, highlighting trends like November's historically bad month for game hardware and Battlefield 6's big launch in October. But he doesn't just share data about what is selling the most; as of late, he's also posted delightful lists of […]
The Loch Capsule dishwasher is small, fast, and efficient — it even sanitizes gadgets
A dishwasher is a luxury item some people can't live without. It's one of the first major kitchen devices I bought just as soon as I could afford one. And now that the kids are grown, it's the appliance I thought I'd miss most in my nomadic vanlife pursuits. Loch sent me its $459.99 / […]
Chromebooks train schoolkids to be loyal customers, internal Google document suggests
Internal documents revealed as part of a child safety lawsuit hint at Google's plan to "onboard kids" into its ecosystem by investing in schools. In this November 2020 presentation, Google writes that getting kids into its ecosystem "leads to brand trust and loyalty over their lifetime," as reported earlier by NBC News. The heavily-redacted documents, […]
Leak: Nvidia is about to challenge ‘Intel Inside’ with as many as eight Arm laptops
Intel and AMD have split the Windows laptop market for years, but the x86 players may be getting outnumbered. It's not just Apple MacBooks and MediaTek-based Chromebooks using Arm chips anymore. There are finally competent Qualcomm Snapdragon laptops running Windows, and - as soon as this spring - Nvidia will finally power Windows consumer laptops […]
