Illustration by Aaron Fernandez for The Verge Black Friday is here once again — well, at least for a little while longer. Even though the recent deluge of deals in the run-up to the shopping holiday made it feel as though the big day had already arrived, today is the day when you should be able to score the very best deals of the year on wireless earbuds, tablets, OLED TVs, and all things tech. Whether you’re checking off everyone on your list for the upcoming holidays or you’re just shopping for the best prices for yourself, we’re scouring all…
You can get a great device for less than $500 these days if you know how to pick your priorities. | Image: The Verge You can’t have absolutely everything at this price, but you can get a great smartphone. Whether you want an iPhone, a 120Hz screen, or water resistance, you’ve got options. Continue reading…
Image: Netflix It’s been a while since we learned that Netflix was teaming up with Production I.G for a Terminator anime, but today we finally have some more details on the show. The debut teaser for the anime was featured at Netflix’s Geeked Week event, and it shows, well, the title and not much else. For the unaware, animation studio Production I.G has worked on some of the most iconic anime ever, from the original Ghost in the Shell film all the way up to recent releases like the Star Wars Visions anthology. For Terminator — which doesn’t have an…
Image: Microsoft Microsoft’s 365 Copilot AI assistant is now available for certain enterprise customers. Microsoft is quietly launching its Microsoft 365 Copilot system for a $30-per-month premium per user, but enterprise customers will need to commit to at least 300 users and pick up the phone to Microsoft to get on the list to access this new AI-powered assistant that Microsoft promises will change the way Office documents are created and edited. Businesses willing to pay the premium will be able to use Microsoft 365 Copilot to summarize documents, generate emails, create plans from notes, and even improve Excel analysis….
Image: Sony Sony has finally announced a release date for its PlayStation-branded Pulse Explore earbuds and Pulse Elite headset. While the Pulse Explore earbuds will launch on December 6th, 2023, Sony’s wireless headset comes out on February 21st, 2024. Both devices will be available for preorder starting on November 9th in the US, UK, France, Germany, and other European countries. You can preorder the accessories through Sony’s PlayStation direct site and “select” retailers. The Pulse Explore buds are priced at a hefty $199.99, but the Pulse Elite headset costs a slightly cheaper $149.99. To enable the lossless, low-latency audio that…
Illustration: The Verge Typical heart rate monitoring in wearable tech, like smart watches or wireless earbuds, relies at least partially on photoplethysmography (PPG), which uses light pulses to measure blood activity. It works generally well, but it has its limitations. Google scientists wrote in a new research blog spotted by 9to5Google yesterday that they had tried a different approach, called audioplethysmography (APG), that uses ultrasound to measure heart rate. And they did it with off-the-shelf active noise-canceling (ANC) earbuds and a software update. The trick works by bouncing a low-intensity ultrasound signal off the inside of the ear canal and…
Image: Apple I’m trying to remember the last time a company’s big event came for prime time TV the way Apple’s 8pm ET keynote is trying to lock down our attention tomorrow. The only company I can think of that’s done it successfully lately is Victoria’s Secret with its Fashion Show. While I suspect there’s some overlap in audience between that and an Apple Keynote, I also suspect Bella Hadid is a bigger draw than a new iMac. But Apple is still going for it! Promising a keynote that will air on its website, YouTube, and over Apple TV while…
Alexa won’t work with IFTTT anymore soon. | Image: Wes Davis / The Verge The team behind IFTTT (short for “if this, then that”) wrote in a blog post that Amazon is cutting the service off from Alexa beginning October 31st. Once the integration is severed, users won’t be able to ask Alexa to trigger IFTTT applets. Certain automations will stick around in the IFTTT app, but some will be archived on November 1st unless you take action. If your IFTTT applets use a specific phrase or question as the trigger (“Alexa, trigger…” or “Alexa, what’s on my to-do list?”),…
The 2013 Moto X, Nexus 4, and iPhone 13 Mini. I pine for the days this size was normal. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Ever Googled for “Best Small Phones”? I’ll save you the click: the guides you’ll find feature phones that are old, underpowered, or simply not small to begin with. I’ve long been a small phone guy. I loved my 2013 Moto X, with its 4.7-inch screen, and I’ve used a 5.4-inch iPhone Mini for years. But when Apple discontinued the Mini last month, I decided it was time to jump ship. I saved my…
Lilium, an electric aviation company based in Germany, said it wants to be the first to sell electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in the US. But it won’t be cheap. Lilium struck a partnership with a full-service air brokerage and management company, Texas-based EMC Jet, to connect it to the private jet market in the hopes of attracting bigwigs who might be tired of noisy, polluting private jets. And it has secured the first handful of production slots for the aircraft that it will sell to private customers. But like most private jets, Lilium is going after a…
This may not be what you want to see during a video therapy session. | Image: Apple SimplePractice, a company that offers a telehealth platform, is warning patients about Apple’s new video reactions feature that might let people unintentionally add heart emoji or virtual fireworks during a telehealth video call. Awkward. As shown in a Mastodon post by Matt Haughey — who says he had a friend who saw the fireworks on a therapy call after giving a thumbs up in response to a question from his therapist — SimplePractice is notifying patients that Apple devices “may show emojis during…
A few of Amazon’s newest gadgets, like the third-gen Echo Show 5, are under $50. | Image: Amazon Amazon’s fall Prime Day event is underway. For more deals we recommend across all categories, check out our full roundup here. We’ve seen some pretty good deals during Amazon’s fall Prime Day event so far, the bulk of which we expect to end at midnight tonight when Prime Big Deal Days officially wraps. That said, many of the buzzy gadgets don’t come cheap, meaning that, unless you have a few hundred lying around, a lot of these deals might feel out of…
Electric Era’s PowerNode and charger gives businesses | Image: Electric Era A young electric vehicle infrastructure company founded by former SpaceX employees called Electric Era has designed EV charging stations that convenience stores can buy and manage with minimal power upgrades. Now, with a new round of funding led by Chevron Technology Ventures, the startup hopes it can convince prospective buyers to ease in on the electric vehicle future, especially as gas station traffic eventually dwindles down. People who drive gas cars exist in a more than-century-old ecosystem where they post up at a pump for up to 15 minutes…
Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media On Wednesday evening, X CEO Linda Yaccarino appeared onstage at the Code Conference with frustration and protest. “I think many people in this room were not fully prepared for me to still come out on the stage,” she told interviewer Julia Boorstin, senior media and tech correspondent at CNBC. Yaccarino sounded rattled. She’d found out earlier in the day that Kara Swisher, a Code Conference co-founder, had booked a surprise guest to appear an hour before her: Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety. He has been an outspoken critic…