5 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
Skip to main content

Archives

More News

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Pioneer’s retro stereo brings modern features to vintage cars.

The company’s new Heritage Collection is targeted at classic car collectors wanting modern stereo features like Bluetooth and support for HD Radio and SiriusXM while also preserving the vintage look of their vehicles. The $499 SXT-C10PS head unit and matching $299 TS-X40SXT speakers are both available for preorder now.

1/4Image: Pioneer
The Gospel according to Peter (Thiel)

We have Peter Thiel’s secret lectures about the Antichrist.

David Gibson
Robert Hart
Robert Hart
Meta’s Muse AI hits 10 million US downloads.

The AI assistant, which launched in September, is only the 12th app to have reached this milestone within 40 days, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Part of its success is likely down to what Sensor Tower describes as a sizable “advertising push by Meta.”

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Ikea’s Xbox collection is now available online.

The new nine-piece collection created as part of a collaboration with Microsoft debuted at Ikea’s physical stores at the beginning of the month. But if you don’t have easy local access to meatballs and flatpack furniture, the Yxstaby collection, which includes accessories and furniture that draw inspiration from Xbox controllers, is now available through Ikea’s online store, too.

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

A living room full of furniture and accessories from Ikea and Microsoft’s Yxstaby collection.
Ikea and Microsoft’s Yxstaby collection ranges in price from $18 for a D-pad shaped cushion to $180 for a gaming-focused rolling side table.
Image: Ikea
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Perplexity Computer can now run fully offline on Mac — but you’ll need a lot of RAM.

This update allows you to perform tasks across your apps and files without transmitting data to the cloud, but Perplexity recommends 36GB of RAM or more. It uses Apple Silicon to run Qwen 3.6 or PPLX Pro (a post-trained version of Qwen) directly on your Mac, while allowing you to transfer certain tasks to the cloud for access to updated information and browser use.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
The rent-splitting app Flex is dividing up other bills now.

The app, which says it helps renters by splitting up their payments (while tacking on an extra fee for dividing them), is now turning utility, insurance, car payments, and internet bills into buy now, pay later payments, with all of the associated issues and a $5.99 monthly fee for splitting payments on top of other processing charges.

Update: Added additional information about Flex and associated fees.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Google is clamping down on scammy financial ads in the US and Canada.

Starting in 2027, Google will require advertisers to prove that they’ve been approved by regulators before running certain kinds of financial ads. The company has already introduced this requirement in the UK and EU as part of efforts to prevent brand impersonation and financial scams.

Mia Sato
Mia Sato
Polymarket allowed bettors to wager on the ‘Cornell 7’ case.

A market asking, “Any of the Cornell 7 charged with a felony sex crime?” racked up more than $450,000 in trading volume before it was removed by Polymarket, Front Office Sports reports. The prediction market defended the market, saying in part that it brought “objective, data-driven insight into how a matter like this is moving through the legal system.”

Doxxing Jane Doe

Gaby Del Valle
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Wyze’s new 2K outdoor solar camera is just $70.

It lacks the panning and tilting capabilities of Wyze’s $79.98 Solar Cam Pan 2K, but for $10 less the new $69.98 Wyze Solar Cam pairs a 2K color night vision camera with a 1.77W solar panel that keeps a 5,200mAh battery charged with just an hour of sunlight a day. The included solar panel can be detached and installed up to 10 feet away for better sun exposure, while an optional microSD card can store months of motion-activated video recordings.

<em>An included wall mount supports both the 2K camera and the solar panel on top.</em>
<em>The solar panel is connected with a 10-foot cable, so it can be installed away from the camera in a spot with optimal sun exposure.</em>
1/2
An included wall mount supports both the 2K camera and the solar panel on top.
Image: Wyze
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Apple is committing up to $100 million to a US titanium producer.

The Pennsylvania-based Perryman will supply titanium for its products, including the new iPhone Duo, according to an announcement on Tuesday. Apple is also building upon its partnership with Delaware’s Qnity Electronics, which will help produce films for the iPhone 18 Pro’s variable aperture camera system.

Tom Warren
Tom Warren
Google Cloud is recovering from a European outage.

Google says “a power event” created an outage for some of its cloud servers this morning. The power problem has now been resolved, and services should be coming back online. That’s good news for Revolut and other services that were impacted by the Google Cloud problems.

Incident details

[Google Cloud]

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
How Tesla made a car drive upside down.

The incredible flying Tesla Roadster may only have been for show, but it was still a pretty good show. Wired has a great breakdown of how the tricks worked, explaining the physics of static friction and vertical acceleration behind the Roadster’s many stunts.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Yelp’s AI can call a restaurant to check wait times for you and text you the answer.

Yelp’s new “Check for Me” feature is starting to roll out on iOS as part of Yelp’s fall product release. The launch also includes updates to Yelp AI’s assistant, including more personalized recommendations and the ability for it to book reservations on OpenTable.

Screenshots of Yelp’s “Check for Me” AI feature.
Click the image if you want a closer look.
Image: Yelp
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Nvidia can’t fulfill China’s $35 billion chip demands.

ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have reportedly collectively ordered more than 3 million of Nvidia’s RTX Pro 5500 GPUs, among the most powerful still compliant with US export controls. Those orders far exceed planned production, however, and Reuters reports that Nvidia has warned customers they might only get 5 to 10 percent of what they requested.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Get ready for way more Waymo.

Waymo is reportedly looking to use that $5 billion loan it acquired this month to quintuple its current fleet of 4,000 robotaxis: bringing it to 8,000 by the end of this year, and 20,000 by December 2027. The goal is to expand to more US and international locations, having recently announced it’ll launch in Toronto, Canada by 2028.

Tom Warren
Tom Warren
Revolut is down.

Popular European banking app Revolut is experiencing a major outage this morning. Revolut users are unable to make card payments, access funds, or sign into its mobile app. “We are currently experiencing a service disruption affecting multiple services,” says an unnamed Revolut spokesperson to BBC News, adding that “all our customers’ money and data are safe.” Revolut’s issues started just before 9AM UK (4AM ET), after a Google Cloud power problem affected multiple services.

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Googlebooks don’t have Find Hub because laptops aren’t phones.

The Android laptops shipped with the tracking app, but it was quickly removed. Now Google has told Android Authority why, blaming laptop sleep settings. It sounds like a better optimized version might come in the future. Mind fixing any other apps while you’re at it?

Because the majority of laptop tracking occurs when the device is closed and asleep, we determined that a standard mobile app installation does not yet deliver the optimized, form-fitting experience we demand for Googlebook users.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Star Wars is (sort of) coming to the Super Bowl.

Star Wars Funday Football will be a real-time, animated telecast of Super Bowl LXI that will animate the players as Star Wars characters, just before the original cut returns to theaters on February 19th.

Anthony Daniels will voice C-3PO, and it’ll stream live on the Disney Channel and Disney Plus. Will it be weird? Judge for yourself with this Simpsons version in 2024, or other versions for the Australian Open, NBA, and NHL.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Netflix’s Ted Sarandos reportedly wants more focus on TV shows and movies.

The co-CEO has “complained internally for months that Americans were spending less time watching Netflix and that the service was short on new hit shows,” according to a big story from The Wall Street Journal.

Also in the report: apparently just 3.5 percent of subscribers play its games every month, which is below the company’s 2026 goals.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Apple acquired Samplab, which made AI-powered music production tools.

A European Commission page noting tech acquisitions has a listing under Apple dated June 17th for a company called Samplab GmbH, as reported by AppleInsider. An archived “About” page for Samplab notes that “AI will revolutionize the music industry.”

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
The HomePod Mini 2’s Sound Glow feature is reportedly coming to more of Apple’s smart speakers.

According to 9to5Mac, the latest HomePod 27.2 beta adds Sound Glow support on the second-gen HomePod and first-gen HomePod Mini. Apple announced the feature with the HomePod Mini 2 last week, and says it can sync the HomePod’s LEDs colors to match album art or Apple’s ambient soundscapes.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Florida says its DMV was hacked by ‘an international cybercriminal organization.’

As Ars Technica reports, Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles says the hackers accessed its systems using a local law enforcement employee’s “compromised credentials.” The FLHSMV has started notifying victims about the breach, which could have exposed “driver licenses data, motor-vehicle information, document images, and other personal information.”

Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
Friends don’t let friends talk to Eiliko.

Days later, Energize Lab still hasn’t even acknowledged that its “AI charm bot” is literally profiling you, storing everything you tell it in the cloud, and that a single hacker can read all those conversations, hijack the bot’s personality, and make it lie to you.

Fun fact: when Sammy hacked my bot, he accidentally hacked others too…

David Pierce
David Pierce
Today’s Vergecast: Why your favorite creator is building an app.

Creator life involves using a lot of software. Bad software. Stephen Robles is one of the creators who decided to build something better, for himself and for his community. He tells David how he thinks about his responsibility as a developer, how he makes apps, and how AI is changing the way he builds things for his audience.

I tried a $99 plug that promises to track your car and send help when needed — without selling your data

The Miles Plug adds crash detection, roadside help, location tracking, and a warning-light decoder to your car for as low as $11 a month.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
This indie vampire game is keeping its playtest private because of AI clones.

Digital Sun thanked Steam players for signing up for a first playtest of an upcoming game called ReVamp, but said that:

As stated on our socials, we’ve been concerned by recent news of games being reverse-engineered, cloned and published before the original is even out. With launch still months away, sharing a build with tens of thousands of players felt like too big a risk for ReVamp.

The studio adds that “We’d also love to see platforms keep strengthening protections for original work, so studios of every size can keep sharing their games early.”

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