Amazon’s video game anthology Secret Level is getting a second season Image: AmazonAmazon’s push into video game adaptations shows no signs of letting up. Today the company announced that Secret Level — an anthology of animated shorts all based on different video game properties — has been renewed for a second season on Prime Video. No other details about the new season have been announced yet. Secret Level actual…

AMD may launch its most powerful integrated GPU ever — in a gaming tablet Did VideoCardz obtain an image of the PC, too? | Image: VideoCardzIn August, an Asus thermal engineer goofed by revealing the existence of possibly the most powerful tablet PC ever made — an Asus ROG Flow Z13 powered by an unannounced AMD “Strix Halo” chip, one boasting an incredible 80 watts of power for its GPU alone. Now, VideoCardz is report…

Forbes is cutting ties with freelance writers, citing Google spam policies Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesForbes will stop using freelancers for some types of stories indefinitely — and has blamed the change on a recent update to Google Search policies. In recent days, Forbes has said it will stop hiring freelancers to produce content for its product review section Forbes Vetted, according to a journalis…

Amy Klobuchar isn’t done with antitrust reform Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesNearly three years ago in January of 2022, the Senate seemed poised to reform antitrust law and place a check on Big Tech’s power. The Senate Judiciary Committee had just voted to advance the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), led by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA). The bi…

Walmart starts its own Game Informer-style gaming site Image: Cath Virginia / The VergeThe ever-dwindling field of games media has a new player: Walmart. Restart is new website run by Moonrock — a marketing company specializing in bringing brands to video games — and sponsored by the largest retailer in the United States. A new games site sponsored by Walmart doesn’t seem inherently bad, especially …

Google Home tests access tiers for everyone in your smart home Illustration: The VergeGoogle Home is testing a new feature that will allow friends and family members to help manage smart devices around your home. Two access levels are available: “Admin” which provides full control over account and device permissions, and “Member” for people who require more limited access. Google says that Admin access is f…

The Honda Prelude returns as a sporty hybrid with a new drive mode Image: HondaOut to prove that the sports coupe is far from dead, Honda announced the return of the Prelude with an all-new hybrid-electric powertrain. It’s been over two decades since Honda last released a new Prelude, but the company began laying the groundwork for its return with the release of a concept version last year. Now, a hybrid Prelud…

The FTC is officially banning hidden junk fees from hotel and ticket prices Illustration by Hugo Herrera / The VergeThe Federal Trade Commission has approved a new rule preventing hotels and ticket sellers from hiding extra fees associated with a purchase. Under the rule, businesses must provide “up-front disclosure” of the total price of a hotel stay, vacation rental, or live event tickets before checkout. The rule, wh…

A New Social is a new non-profit that wants to help bridge platforms Image: A New Social, NASAThe open social web still isn’t as open as we all might want, but a non-profit is being formed to try and change that. The non-profit, called A New Social, is being headed up by Ryan Barrett, the founder of Bridgy Fed, and Anuj Ahooja, an engineering leader and writer. “We believe that a healthy ecosystem competes on inn…

Nest Learning Thermostat review: pretty smart The fourth generation of the Nest Thermostat improves on the original in almost every way, and it’s still a stunner. Read the full story at The Verge.

Gemini, GTA, and the search for the next big thing Google announced a bunch of new stuff last week, from Gemini 2.0 and Project Mariner to Android XR and Project Moohan. As ever with Google, it feels like a lot of stuff without necessarily a coherent plan behind it. But if you look closely enough, and start to put some of the pieces together, the combination of those announcements might add up t…

Fediverse creator payment platform sub.club is shutting down Sub.club, which lets fediverse creators offer paid subscriptions and premium content and launched at the end of August, is already shutting down. “With regret, we will be winding down this project over the next few weeks,” the sub.club team announced last week. Creators using the service will be “fully paid,” but sub.club feeds will stop working…

TikTok CEO meets with Trump as the platform tries to avoid a ban Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty ImagesTikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to meet with President-Elect Donald Trump on Monday as the platform faces a ban in the US, according to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. The move makes Chew the latest tech executive — following Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar…

Mark Zuckerberg says Threads has more than 100 million daily active users Illustration: The VergeThreads now has more than 100 million daily active users, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Monday. It’s a notable milestone not just because it’s a big number; it’s also the first time Meta has a daily active user figure publicly. In recent weeks, Meta has been very vocal about Threads’ growth after a lot of people fl…

The Framework Laptop 16 just got a modular gadget that enables quadruple SSDs Framework’s double SSD caddy for its Framework 16 expansion bay. | Image: FrameworkThe most ambitious laptop ever made just got a long-promised modular upgrade. Starting today, you can pay $39 to add two extra M.2 slots to the Framework Laptop 16 — letting you potentially carry around an AI accelerator, an eGPU adapter, or a grand total of four …

Waymo is sending autonomous vehicles to Japan for first international tests Photo by Andrej Sokolow / picture alliance via Getty ImagesWaymo’s autonomous vehicles are going to Tokyo, marking the first time that the Alphabet company is deploying vehicles on public roads in a foreign market. Waymo is billing the excursion as a simple “road trip” for collecting data about the nuances of Japanese driving, including left-ha…

You can now schedule a DM on Instagram Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeInstagram will now let you schedule direct messages, as first reported by TechCrunch. With this feature, you can long-press on the “send” button and then choose a date and time that you’d like to send your message. As noted on Instagram’s support page, you can schedule messages containing only text, meaning…

ChatGPT’s AI search engine is rolling out to everyone Image: The VergeChatGPT’s AI search engine is rolling out to all users starting today. OpenAI announced the news as part of its newest 12 days of ship-mas livestream, while also revealing an “optimized” version of the feature on mobile and the ability to search with advanced voice mode. ChatGPT’s search engine first rolled out to paid subscriber…

YouTube is letting creators opt into allowing third-party AI training Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeYouTube is rolling out a way for creators to let third-party companies use their videos to train AI models. To be clear, the default setting for this is off, meaning that if you don’t want to let third-party companies scrape your videos for AI training, you don’t have to do anything. But if, for some reason…

Serbian authorities are reportedly hacking and installing spyware on activists’ phones Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty ImagesPolice in Serbia are using mobile device hacking tools to break into the phones of activists and journalists and then installing spyware to track them, Amnesty International warns in a report. The organization says the state uses tools built by Israeli company Cellebrite, which are intended to …