technology

Gift Guide Even if someone is the type to buy all the latest big games, we’re certain we can help you find them a unique and adequately geeky gift this holiday. By Antonio G. Di Benedetto, a writer covering tech deals and The Verge’s Deals newsletter, buying guides, and gift guides. Previously, he spent 15 years in the photography industry. For better or worse, gamers can be a fickle bunch. That’s why, when it comes to shopping for any purveyor of fine video games and pop culture entertainment, it may be tempting to pull the cord and just go with a gift card. But alas, there are all kinds of unique gifts you can get for someone of the geekier persuasion. Admittedly, The Verge staff is almost exclusively comprised of nerds who spend countless hours playing games and tracking the latest goin...

/ Anker’s MagGo lineup with Qi2 can manage 15W wireless charging with iPhone 13 and higher devices, just like MagSafe chargers. By Richard Lawler, a senior editor following news across tech, culture, policy, and entertainment. He joined The Verge in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget. Share this story Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Now that Apple has released a preview of the next iOS update, Anker says its upcoming Qi2-compatible wireless chargers will provide faster 15W charging for iPhone 13, iPhone 14, and iPhone 15 devices. Apple has not responded to a request for comment, but presumably, this support will extend to all Qi2 chargers. The only problem left is that despite companies like Anker, Belkin, and Mophie all announcing Qi2-compatible hardware a few months ago...

/ Over the past day, Google results with a slur in the subdomain started popping up for Reddit. By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium. Share this story If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Image: Reddit A Reddit bug is allowing slurs to get added to Reddit URLs — and those URLs occasionally appear prominently on Google. Content warning: the following story includes mentions of a slur. Here’s what we’ve observed. While Googling something related to a lighthearted debate in The Verge’s Slack, one staffer found that some of the Reddit links that surfaced had a subdomain with unexpected characters and a slur...

Gadgets/ Tech / The company is crowdfunding its first pocketable display. By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget. Share this story We’ve been following Looking Glass for years — it’s one of the few startups dedicated to building 3D displays where digital objects appear to live inside or leap off the screen. In 2020, it introduced a cheaper 7.9-inch desktop model at $349, and today, it’s introducing its most affordable and portable screen yet: the $300 Looking Glass Go. The Looking Glass Go.GIF: Looking Glass With a six-inch screen that the company claims is 10 times thinner than previous Looking Glass displays, it’s the first one small enough to fit in your p...

/ The release candidate beta update, which is typically the last one before the final public update, lists Qi2 support for the older phones among its features. By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium. Share this story The iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro.Image: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Apple just pushed the release candidate of iOS 17.2, and the upcoming update brings support for the Qi2 wireless charging standard to iPhone 13- and iPhone 14-series smartphones, according to the patch notes. Apple says the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro already support Qi2, though there aren’t actually any Qi2 chargers to buy yet (which might change soon). Qi2 adds a MagSafe-like r...

/ This upcoming Smart Search feature in Google Files should save you from having to dig through documents based on their file names. By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. Share this story If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Illustration: The Verge Google’s Files app is testing a handy new upgrade that could make finding documents on your phone a lot easier. As first spotted by Android Police, the app’s listing on the Google Play Store says it’s testing a new Smart Search capability you can use to search for images and PDFs based on what’s in them. With the Smart Search feature turned on, Google says you can s...

/ GPT-4 Turbo is on the way soon, alongside improvements to the DALL-E 3 model and deep search results for Bing. By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012. Share this story Image: Microsoft Microsoft is detailing a number of new features coming to its Copilot service soon, including OpenAI’s latest models. Copilot will get support for GPT-4 Turbo soon, alongside an updated DALL-E 3 model, a new code interpreter feature, and deep search functionality inside Bing. Copilot will soon be able to respond using OpenAI’s latest GPT-4 Turbo model, which essentially means it will “see” more data thanks to a 128K context window. This larger context window will allow Copilo...

/ Could this be the perfect antidote to oversized, overweight EVs that threaten pedestrians and do little for the environment? Maybe. By Andrew J. Hawkins, transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State. Share this story © 2023 Stellantis Stellantis announced the all-new 2024 Fiat 500e, a tiny, affordable electric car that could be the perfect antidote to all those oversized, bloated electric SUVs and trucks that are coming out soon. The tiny EV will be available in North America in early 2024. The Fiat 500e is a great example of the kind of vehicle that makes a lot of sense for cities and maybe even some suburbs. It’s electric, so it won’t spew pollution into the ...

/ PlayStation gamers report being locked out of their accounts and games on PS4 and PS5 without any clear reasoning. By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium. Share this story Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Many PlayStation Network users reported Monday that their accounts were unexpectedly permanently suspended. “This account is permanently suspended from PlayStation Network due to violations of the PlayStation Network Terms of Service and User Agreement,” Sony said in a message to one user. A user on Reddit reported getting a similar message, and a look at PlayStation accounts on Facebook and Instagram shows dozens of people who’ve received similar notices ...

/ After an early leak, Rockstar Games unveiled the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is taking us back to Vice City in 2025. By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku. Share this story Less than a day before Rockstar was set to debut GTA VI’s first trailer, a now-suspended account called @Gta6trailerleak posted the trailer on X (formerly Twitter). Though the trailer itself was marred by huge letters in the center of the screen exhorting folks to buy cryptocurrency, the video, which was backed by Tom Petty’s “Love is a Long Road,” certainly looked legitimate. The trailer revealed that the game will take place in Vice City and that it’s scheduled to be released in 2025. The Verge ...

/ After an early leak, Rockstar Games unveiled the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is taking us back to Vice City in 2025. By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku. Share this story Less than a day before Rockstar was set to debut GTA VI’s first trailer, a now-suspended account called @Gta6trailerleak posted the trailer on X (formerly Twitter). Though the trailer itself was marred by huge letters in the center of the screen exhorting folks to buy cryptocurrency, the video, which was backed by Tom Petty’s “Love is a Long Road,” certainly looked legitimate. The trailer revealed that the game will take place in Vice City and that it’s scheduled to be released in 2025. The Verge ...

/ Stability tried to get the case thrown out. By Emilia David, a reporter who covers AI. Prior to joining The Verge, she covered the intersection between technology, finance, and the economy. Share this story A UK court ruled a lawsuit from Getty Images against Stable Diffusion creator Stability AI can move on to trial, finding merit in Getty’s insistence that its copyrighted material was used to train AI models.  The Business and Property Courts of England and Wales under the High Court of Justice ruled on Friday, determining Getty’s claim that the startup used its copyrighted library of images to train the Stable Diffusion model should be investigated further. Stability argued the case should not be heard in a UK court because it said no one involved in the training or development of Sta...