I hated Animal Well until I beat the game Image: Big Mode / Shared MemoryAbout midway through Animal Well, I felt I had been lied to. I read all the glowing reviews of the game and heard the breathless praise heaped upon it on social media. But my expectations did not match my reality… until I beat the game. Now, I’m well on my way to 100 percent completion for a game I was seriously …

ICQ is shutting down after almost 28 years Your ICQ number is finally shuffling off to the great beyond. Russian company VK, which has been the service’s steward since 2010, published a message Friday that simply reads, “ICQ will stop working from June 26th,” and implores users to switch to its other chat solutions. ICQ was among the crop of early instant messenger services, like AOL Ins…

ICQ is shutting down after almost 28 years Your ICQ number is finally shuffling off to the great beyond. Russian company VK, which has been the service’s steward since 2010, published a message Friday that simply reads, “ICQ will stop working from June 26th,” and implores users to switch to its other chat solutions. ICQ was among the crop of early instant messenger services, like AOL Ins…

The Verge’s 2024 Father’s Day gift guide Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesWe’ve curated a collection of great gifts that should appease any dad, from tabletop games and tools to some of our favorite tech. Continue reading…

The Verge’s 2024 Father’s Day gift guide Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesWe’ve curated a collection of great gifts that should appease any dad, from tabletop games and tools to some of our favorite tech. Continue reading…

The best Memorial Day sales happening now You can get Garmin’s Epix Pro for $799.99 right now, along with tablets, earbuds, and plenty of other items. | Photo by Victoria Song / The VergeThe summer solstice may be when summer officially kicks off, but for many of us, it starts as soon as temperatures begin to rise and the smell of barbecue begins wafting through the air. Memorial Day al…

Anker’s 8-in-1 charging station is matching its lowest price to date Anker’s versatile charging orb functions as both a power strip and a StandBy-ready phone stand. | Image: Nathan Edwards / The VergeA cluttered desk can easily hijack your focus, which is why Anker’s Qi2-certified MagGo Magnetic Charging Station (8-in-1) can prove helpful. It’s small, but it can quickly clear up space by replacing a good chunk of…

Is your PC having trouble? Your smart TV might be to blame Maybe your home should be dumb! | Illustration by Adrián Astorgano for The VergeIt turns out your TV can actually mess up your computer — at least if you’re using a Hisense TV and Windows. Kevin Snow, a video game narrative designer, wrote on Cohost that they’d been having trouble with their PC. The “Display Settings” menu didn’t open. The “Tas…

Meta wants to be the Microsoft of headsets Mark Zuckerberg onstage at Meta Connect 2023. | Getty ImagesMeta has started licensing the operating system for its Quest headset to other hardware makers, starting with Lenovo and Asus. It’s also making a limited-run, gaming-focused Quest with Xbox. On the theme of opening up, Meta is also pushing for more ways to discover alternative app stor…

Europe’s warming up at nearly twice the global average, says new report Image: Hugo Herrera / The VergeEurope is warming up at twice the global average, leading to deadly heatwaves and severe flooding, according to the European State of the Climate (ESOTC) report for the year 2023, released Monday. According to the report, temperatures in Europe are rising 2.3 degrees Celsius (or 4.1 degrees Fahrenheit) above prei…

Microsoft hires former Meta exec to bolster AI supercomputing team Illustration: The VergeFormer Meta executive Jason Taylor is joining Microsoft’s AI supercomputing team. In a LinkedIn post on Monday, Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott says Taylor will take on the role of corporate vice president and deputy CTO to help “build the next set of systems that will push the frontier of AI forward.” Taylor worked at Meta from…

Billie Eilish will be the bad guy in Fortnite Image: Epic GamesFinally, you can bury a friend as Billie Eilish. Fortnite has revealed its next major musical collaboration, and it will see Eilish become a playable character starting on April 23rd. You should see her in a Victory Crown. There aren’t many details just yet, but the singer will be the featured artist for the next season of Fortn…

An Xbox VR headset is on the way, but it’s a ‘limited edition’ Meta Quest How Meta envisions an Xbox-branded VR headset. | Image: MetaMicrosoft is teaming up with Meta to create a limited edition Meta Quest VR headset that’s “inspired by Xbox.” While both Microsoft and Meta aren’t sharing full details on this VR headset, it sounds like it’s simply going to be a skinned Meta Quest 3 (or future unannounced version) that…

Tales of the Shire will let you live out your cozy hobbit fantasies Image: Weta Workshop / Private DivisionOne of the most famous pieces of literature in the world starts with, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit,” and now, technology has advanced to the point where we can be that hobbit with our own holes in the ground. Private Division and Weta Workshop have released the first official trailer for Ta…

Apple might be the streaming home of soccer’s next big tournament Photo by Ulrik Pedersen / DeFodi Images via Getty ImagesIt looks like Apple’s foray into streaming soccer could be getting even more ambitious. According to a report from The New York Times, Apple is close to a deal with FIFA — the sport’s global governing body — for worldwide rights for an expanded version of the Club World Cup that will take p…

Tip line that guards against child sexual abuse images may struggle against AI Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty ImagesA new report from Stanford’s Internet Observatory said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline needs to improve its technology if it wants to meet the influx of AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The report said CyberTipline, the first…

Newsletter platform Ghost adopts ActivityPub to ‘bring back the open web’ Image: Cath Virginia | The VergeOpen platforms keep gaining support out there — newsletter platform Ghost just published what amounts to a manifesto in support of the ActivityPub protocol with plans to ship ActivityPub integration “in 2024.” That’s a big shot of support for the fediverse — the network of open and interoperable social services th…

Tesla slashes Full Self-Driving price after Elon Musk said it would only get more expensive The price of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving package is trending downward. | Image: Owen Grove / The VergeThe price for Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software package was supposed to get more expensive over time — but instead, it’s getting cheaper. Tesla has discounted the $12,000 feature — that has been marketed as eventually enabling fully autonom…

The best smartwatches for Android Photo illustration by William Joel / The VergeWear OS is much better than it used to be, so there’s never been a better time to consider a smartwatch. Continue reading…

Deadpool and Wolverine whip out the big guns in latest trailer Deadpool & Wolverine has seemed fairly lighthearted in most of the teasers Marvel has dropped so far, but the movie’s latest trailer has a promising edge to it. Rather than focusing on Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), Deadpool & Wolverine’s new trailer is actually more about a Wolverine variant (Hugh Jackman) who somehow failed his universe’s team o…