The first episode of Pokémon: Paldean Winds is a crash course in treasure hunting Arven encountering a Ceititan in Paldean Winds | The Pokémon CompanyThe mainline Pokémon anime is sure to eventually delve into much of the magic and mystery shaping the new region Scarlet and Violet are set in. But the new Pokémon: Paldean Winds web series gets right to the business of showing you just what the young trainers matriculating at N…

US military planning to fund fleets of ‘small, smart, cheap’ drones Image: Celal Gunes / Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesThe Pentagon is considering expanding its fleet of drones and autonomous systems in the next two years, possibly enhancing it with AI. According to The Wall Street Journal, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said the Department of Defense plans to develop AI systems “intended to be smal…

‘Modern cars are a privacy nightmare,’ the worst Mozilla’s seen Tesla was the worst offender out of all 25 car brands reviewed in the report. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeIf you’re wondering which gadgets have the worst user privacy practices, it turns out the answer may be parked outside. According to a report published by the Mozilla Foundation on Wednesday, cars are “the official worst categor…

Polestar is working on its own smartphone to seamlessly sync with its luxury EVs Image: GettyPolestar has found another product to slap its logo on, and it’s not an electric car. The Swedish-based, Chinese-owned EV maker will launch its own smartphone in December, Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath told CNBC at the IAA Mobility auto show in Munich, Germany, this week. The phone will be produced by Xingji Meizu, a smartphone comp…

YouTube’s latest experiment is playing games Illustration: Alex Castro / The VergeYouTube is trying out games as its next experimental offering. The company is adding a new “Playables” section on the site that will include games that can be played on both the desktop website and mobile devices. Playables will only appear for “a limited number of users to start,” and there was no list of ga…

Google rolls out file locking for Workspace customers Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeGoogle is rolling out a new feature to Google Workspace customers: the ability to lock Google Drive files. While a file is locked, no one with any level of access can make edits, comments, or suggestions; essentially, it’s in read-only mode until you unlock it. The company wrote in a blog post announcing t…

Dictionary.com adds a bunch of AI-related words In another sign generative AI has pierced through mass consciousness, Dictionary.com has added generative AI, GPT, and LLM to its list of words. It also expanded the definition of hallucinate in the context of generative AI, where it means to produce false information contrary to the intent of the user and present the information as if it were …

Roku turns to layoffs (again) and removes streaming content to cut costs Photo by Chris Welch / The VergeRoku will be laying off 10 percent of its employees — more than 300 people — in its third round of workforce cuts in under a year. As reported by Variety, Roku revealed the move in an 8-K SEC filing early on Wednesday and says it made the decision in an effort to reduce operating expenses. “The company determined…

AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT review: a nudge into the 1440p era AMD’s latest GPUs will put even more pressure on Nvidia’s RTX 40-series pricing. Continue reading…

You can get three months of Disney Plus for about $6 right now Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeI’m not going to lie: it sucks that Disney Plus is going to increase the price of its ad-free plan next month. But today, Disney softened the blow somewhat. First, the company introduced a new ad-free Disney Plus and Hulu plan for $19.99 per month, which is about $12 cheaper than buying both separately. And…

GoPro’s new Hero 12 Black will let you film continuously for longer Image: GoProGoPro is announcing its next major action camera: the GoPro Hero 12 Black. The new camera has a bunch of notable features, including support for longer runtimes when you’re recording footage continuously for those times when you want to capture as much of your adventure as possible when using GoPro’s Enduro battery. The new runtimes …

Sonos announces Move 2 speaker with stereo sound and 24-hour battery life Image: SonosThe Sonos Move 2 will be released on September 20th for $449, the company announced this morning. I’ve already reported extensively on the new product, which is Sonos’ third portable speaker after the original Move and much smaller Roam. There are several meaningful improvements to the second-generation Move: it will output stereo au…

Waymo is using insurance data about self-driving cars to bolster its safety case Image: GettyWaymo is using insurance data to make the case that its self-driving cars are safer than human drivers. The report, a result of the collaboration first announced last year between the Alphabet-owned company and the insurer Swiss Re, is intended to show how driverless vehicles crash less often and damage less property than human-drive…

Microsoft to detail OneDrive AI plans in ‘future of file management’ event Image: MicrosoftMicrosoft is holding a special OneDrive event on October 3rd where the company plans to offer a “sneak peek at our AI plans” for the cloud storage service. “The future of file management” event will be live streamed on Microsoft Teams and looks like it will include a redesigned OneDrive interface, alongside new AI-powered search …

MSI fixes Windows 11 BSOD ‘unsupported processor’ errors with new BIOS updates Image: MicrosoftMSI has started issuing BIOS updates to fix Windows 11 Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) “unsupported processor” errors that started appearing with its Intel 700 and 600 Series motherboards last month. Microsoft initially investigated reports of errors that appeared after the latest KB5029351 update, and MSI now confirms it has found a…

iMessage and Bing avoid strict DMA rules, for now The investigations should take a maximum of five months. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeApple and Microsoft have managed to temporarily prevent iMessage and Bing from being targeted by the EU’s strict new Digital Markets Act. Instead, the European Commission announced on Wednesday that it’s opened four market investigations into Bing, …

The EU targets Google, WhatsApp, and more with tough new DMA rules A graphic showing the companies and services being designated as gatekeepers. (Click here for higher resolution image.) | Image: European CommissionThe European Commission has officially confirmed which tech companies, and which of their services, count as “gatekeepers” under its strict new Digital Markets Act (DMA). The companies listed all app…

GoPro is back at making 360-degree cameras GoPro founder and CEO Nick Woodman confirmed a new 360-degree GoPro Max camera “is in the works and will be worth the wait” at the GoPro 12 launch event. This update was a long time coming – the original GoPro Max was released all the way back in October 2019. We reached out to GoPro to find out more about the upcoming 360-degree camera, includ…

The new UE Epicboom is a beefy $350 Bluetooth speaker Image: Ultimate EarsWhere do you go next after branding your speakers with names like the Boom, Megaboom, Hyperboom, and Wonderboom? Well, apparently the natural progression has led Ultimate Ears to none other than “Epicboom.” That’s the new speaker that the company just announced today. It’s a chunky device that gives off more of a Sonos Move a…

Here’s Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s public memo on Google at 25 Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Google usually celebrates its birthday on September 27th for no particularly obvious reason, but for its 25th anniversary, the company’s getting out ahead — with CEO Sundar Pichai “kicking off celebrations” with a 2,400-word public memo reflecting on where the company’s been. There’s very little in here that wi…