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The sci-fi movie that imagines AI isn’t so dystopian after all

An interview with ‘Sheep in the Box’ director Hirokazu Kore-eda.

Robyn Kanner
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
The higher-end prebuilt Framework Laptop 13 Pro now costs $800 more.

Another byproduct of Framework’s new RAM pricing is that preorders for the Ultra X7 358H version of the Framework Laptop 13 Pro jumped from $2,099 to $2,899. Framework’s announcement didn’t specify this config, but the Wayback Machine shows it.

People who got their 32GB preorders bumped down to 16GB also have to pay more if they want to maintain 32GB from Framework, or source their LPCAMM2 RAM elsewhere.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

<em>Current pricing for prebuilt Framework Laptop 13 Pros.</em>
<em>A glimpse at the prices as of July 15th, via the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260715064339/https://frame.work/products/laptop13pro-intel-ultra-3/configuration/new" target="_blank">Wayback Machine</a>.</em>
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Current pricing for prebuilt Framework Laptop 13 Pros.
The right-wing boomers protesting data centers have a lot in common with the left

The conservative backlash is about jobs, the environment, quality of life — and China.

Gaby Del Valle
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
Yeah, Fuck LG.

Despite being out on parental leave, LG’s willingness to force ads onto its monitors and televisions has Tom Warren in a fighting mood when he should be making coo coo sounds at his new son.

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Artistic intent.

Sure, it’s just a poster, but should Ryan Gosling’s “La La Hand” been kept as it was?

.catalyst_:

I know it doesn’t matter, and he has expressed that he’d like it changed, but in a world where AI can change anything you want in a second, it feels like an actor’s intentional choice at the time of production is important. That hand being wrong takes away from the moment that this piece of art was made in.

Again probably doesn’t matter, I’m sure all parties are consenting. It is okay to make a mistake and have that mistake live and breathe, it makes the art just a little more human, and that is so important.

Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.

Google hit with $1 billion fine for breaking EU antitrust rulesGoogle hit with $1 billion fine for breaking EU antitrust rules
Dominic Preston, Jess Weatherbed and 1 more
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
This solar charging EV costs $9,000.

The extending roof panel on the Solarky SunV provides up to 300W of solar charging for its 10.2kWh LFP battery. And its aluminum chassis and plastic panels make it so lightweight, that it can go about 150km (93 miles) before a recharge — or up to 200km (124 miles) with enough sunshine, according to the company. It’s already on sale in markets including Thailand and Indonesia.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Paramount’s Warner deal gets conditional approval in the EU.

While Paramount’s $110 billion WBD merger is suddenly on hold in the US, in Europe, the European Commission is ready to allow it after Paramount agreed to concessions including giving up its stake in United International Pictures within 13 months of the deal closing.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Bethesda’s union claims laid off employees were told they’d have jobs until September.

The OneBGS union said in a post that Bethesda laid off some of its Canadian employees on July 17th, weeks sooner than employees were warned the layoffs would happen, PC Gamer reports. That same day, Bethesda announced it’s working on Fallout 5.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Valve made it easier to find games on your Steam wishlist.

As GamesRadar+ reports, you can now create custom categories for your wishlist, like “buy when on sale,” which could make organization easier for those of us with giant Steam wishlists (myself included). You can filter your wishlist by category and set custom notifications for specific categories.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

A screenshot of the custom categories editor in a Steam wishlist
Image: Valve
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Google says Gemini now has 950 million monthly users.

It’s a sizeable jump from the 750 million Gemini users Google reported in February. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, shared the stat as part of its Q2 2026 earnings report (pdf), which also revealed a 24 percent increase in revenue to $119.8 billion.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Trump administration announces hundreds of “Genesis Mission” AI science projects.

The push to solve issues, including the soaring energy demands of AI data centers, using AI, revealed “more than $5 billion in Federal commitments” across 278 awards and 342 institutions in its list of awards.

Big tech companies like Microsoft and Google have announced millions in compute and AI credits for the effort, but this WSJ report says the administration could give political appointees more power over grants, while prioritizing fellowships and awards for individuals could hurt large universities reliant on federal research funding.

Cameron Faulkner
Cameron Faulkner
It’s now easier to gift Steam games, even if you don’t have an account.

Valve has made improvements to its gifting processes in Steam, particularly for guest shoppers without an account. You can buy games, not just gift cards or hardware. You can also gift games to an email address, even if it’s not associated with the giftee’s account. Easier cross-region gifting, too. Good stuff.

Note the “Enter email” section that has been added. You don’t need to know the recipient’s Steam account, or have them added as a friend.
Note the “Enter email” section that has been added. You don’t need to know the recipient’s Steam account, or have them added as a friend.
Image: Valve
Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
Mamdani hires Lina Khan to chair economic development in NYC.

The former Federal Trade Commission chair under Biden will help lead the city’s Economic Development Corporation, alongside newly announced president Anthony Shorris, who recently worked as a partner at McKinsey.

Khan was known at the FTC for pursuing antitrust action against Big Tech, which often riled up the business community.

Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Sony’s $4,900 FX5 cinema camera looks stacked and is stacked.

The new Sony FX5 has a huge list of features for cinematographers. To name a few: a full-frame fully-stacked 5K sensor with open gate recording, three base ISO settings, dual gain shooting, and up to 120fps recording. And instead of just a typical add-on handle for XLR connections, you can instead slap on a $698 tiltable OLED viewfinder.

I wish every EVF-less camera had an EVF option.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

<em>The FX5 and it’s optional DVF-EL1 electronic viewfinder.</em>
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The FX5 and it’s optional DVF-EL1 electronic viewfinder.
Image: Sony
Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
Any guesses what’s inside?

It’s the prize pack I just boxed up for the second winner of our Today I’m Toying With giveaway. I’m drawing for the third winner right now, and you can enter to possibly become the fourth winner starting today! BTW, anyone need whistles? Those bags in the background are full of ‘em.

Hint: My hand is strategically blocking something.
Hint: My hand is strategically blocking something.
Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Clayface is going heavy on the body horror.

If there was any doubt that DC Studios’ Clayface feature was going to be a proper body horror, the movie’s latest trailer makes it pretty clear that director James Watkins has cooked up something that’s going to make your skin crawl.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
China’s Moonshot trained its AI model on a restricted Nvidia chip, White House claims.

Michael Kratsios, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director, writes on X that Moonshot accessed Nvidia’s high-end GB300 processors in Thailand, which are subject to strict export controls. Kratsios also accuses Moonshot of distilling Anthropic’s Fable AI model to build Kimi K3, an open-source AI system claimed to rival flagship models from US companies.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Amazon is cutting jobs on its AGI team.

In a statement to The Verge, Amazon spokesperson Jackie Burke says the company is “eliminating some ‌roles ⁠within parts of our AGI [artificial general intelligence] organization” as the company focuses on “initiatives that matter most for customers.” It’s not clear how many workers are impacted.

Here’s what Samsung’s smart glasses actually look like

Plus the first specs, including a battery life better than Meta’s.

Dominic Preston
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Web scraper nets a win against Google.

A federal judge dismissed Google’s lawsuit against the web-scraping service SerpApi after finding that the tech giant’s allegations were “insufficient” to prove a copyright violation.

Google accused SerpApi of using “deceptive means” to scrape its search results, to which SerpApi argued that it’s just doing “what Google does to everyone else.“ The judge is giving Google 21 days to amend its complaint.

Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
Range Rover’s new EV looks nothing like a Range Rover.

In the spirit of other EVs that deviate significantly from established designs, Range Rover revealed the first images of its (camouflaged) electric GT, which looks nothing like the boxy SUVs the UK-based automaker is mostly known for. The saloon-like grand tourer will be “the most technologically sophisticated Range Rover vehicle ever created,” Range Rover boasts.

1/7Image: Range Rover
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked in 15 minutes.

If you missed Samsung’s event today, you can watch all the highlights here, including the redesigned Galaxy Z Fold 8, the new Z Fold 8 Ultra, and an updated Z Flip 8. You can also check out today’s episode of The Vergecast to hear more about everything Samsung announced.

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
That’s the good stuff.

The colorful platformer Poinpy, which comes from the developer behind Downwell, was one of the titles that Netflix cut loose when it moved on from indie games. But now it has been resurrected with a new version for both iOS and Android that’s not only free, but available right now.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
‘Breaker one-nine, where’s your driver?’

Aurora announced that it is deploying its second-generation driverless truck on public roads in Texas. The trucks will be used to haul freight for Aurora’s commercial trucking customers like Hirschbach, Uber Freight, McLane, Detmar, and more. The initial fleet will be “modest,” spokesperson Rachel Chibidakis said, but expects to ramp up to 200 trucks by year end.

1/5Image: Aurora
Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
“The machines are taking both the content and the readers at an industrial scale, too.”

This is a story about how AI destroyed a long-running site of film data. It’s not just that search no longer refers traffic or that the site itself, The Numbers, is getting scraped. It’s also that there’s no way to defend 30-year-old webpages against malicious actors attempting to get the data early so they could win their Polymarket bets.

Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
Now on TikTok: Trump’s cabinet.

Executive agencies including the Department of Labor and Department of Transportation are joining the app once declared a national security threat. Following the close of the deal to bring TikTok US under a US entity, the Justice Department said government employees are free to download it.