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

Dominic Preston

Dominic Preston

News Editor

News Editor

    More From Dominic Preston

    Dominic Preston
    Dominic Preston
    It’s only gin if it gets you drunk.

    So says an EU court in Luxembourg, which ruled there’s no such thing as non-alcoholic gin.

    The bloc is on a roll lately when it comes to cracking down on normal names for new food and drink, after lawmakers last month voted in favor of banning the term “veggie burger.”

    Dominic Preston
    Dominic Preston
    EU investigates Google’s search spam policies.

    The latest investigation into the tech giant is over its reputation abuse policy in Search, designed to combat third-party content hosted on sites purely to take advantage of their search ranking.

    The European Commission worries that policy impacts a “common and legitimate way” for publishers to monetize their content.

    Dominic Preston
    Dominic Preston
    Is this an Xbox?

    I’m not ready to call time on the “everything is an Xbox” strategy just yet, but you have to admit: Valve launching a home console that plays PC games does feel like a potential problem for Microsoft.

    MrCraggle:

    RIP to whatever Xbox was turning into.

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

    Dominic Preston
    Dominic Preston
    Death Stranding on Disney.

    Hideo Kojima’s two games are getting an anime series, Death Stranding Isolations, on Disney Plus in 2027.

    Kojima will produce, with Takayuki Sano of E&H Production directing, and the announcement promises “a traditional, hand-drawn 2D animation style.” It’ll follow two new characters in the Death Stranding world, but that’s all we know.

    Teaser poster for Death Stranding Isolations, showing two characters in front of a purple and white background.
    Isolations is only a working title, so it may change.
    Image: Kojima Productions
    Dominic Preston
    Dominic Preston
    Now everyone can tell Whoop about their blood.

    The wearable company offers paid blood tests to US users through its Advanced Labs feature, which launched in September. But now users worldwide can upload their blood results into the app for free, and see biomarkers alongside their daily data. Whoop-organized tests will roll out internationally “in the coming months.”

    Photo of woman wearing a Whoop band, overlaid with graphic of her “biomarkers.”
    DIY biomarkers.
    Image: Whoop
    Dominic Preston
    Dominic Preston
    Too intelligent for M1.

    Apple just updated its compatibility page for Apple Intelligence, and erroneously swapped every Mac to “M2 and later.” MacRumors spotted the goof, which is only live on the US site, and deduced that it was probably an effort to update the Vision Pro entry to account for the new M5 model.

    Screenshot of Apple Intelligence compatibility showing “M2 or later” for every Mac model.
    Use “Find all and replace” responsibly, y’all.
    Screenshot: Apple
    Dominic Preston
    Dominic Preston
    The patience of Apple fans.

    Everyone’s expecting an imminent release for the new Apple TV and HomePod Mini, so yesterday’s surprise product drop sparked some excitement. But I’m not sure a high fashion phone pouch with Issey Miyake was quite what they had in mind.

    Technostalgic

    Me: Patiently waiting for the new Apple TV and HomePod mini announcement.

    Apple: Here’s a sock.

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

    Dominic Preston
    Dominic Preston
    Google is thinking about letting you remove Pixels’ “At a Glance” widget.

    Android Authority spotted a new home screen toggle in an Android Canary build. Google shrunk the mandatory widget a little earlier this year, but users want the option to remove it entirely. Then again, Google tested this toggle in 2023 too, and never gave it a release.