Richard lawler – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Richard Lawler

Richard Lawler

Senior News Editor

Senior News Editor

Richard Lawler joined The Verge as Senior News Editor in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget. He’s been a tech blogger since before the word was invented, and will never log off.

More From Richard Lawler

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Wait, Tupac was in a Summer Game Fest Live trailer? In 2026?

Yes, and he wasn’t the only deceased figure to make an appearance in the “Tupac & Cast Reveal Trailer,” at last night’s event. It also featured the likeness of Bunta Sugawara, a legendary Japanese actor who died in 2014.

Stranger Than Heaven, from Yakuza developer RGG Studio, highlighted Snoop Dogg as a cast member in a trailer last month, and there’s plenty of time for more reveals before its scheduled release in 2027.

Screenshot from the Stranger Than Heaven trailer showing Tupac Shakur rendered ingame
1/5Image: Sega
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Audi reveals its hybrid Nuvolari supercar as a replacement for the R8.

Now that Audi has an F1 team, it apparently feels ready to put the supercar label on something for the first time. A press release says it will release 499 Nuvolaris starting in the first half of 2027.

They will combine an 800 hp V8 turbocharged engine in the middle with three electric motors that can produce up to 110 kW each, capable of pushing it to an estimated 350 km/h, or 217 mph, and 0 to 100 km/h in 2.6 seconds.

Audi Nuvolari European Pre-Production Prototype pictured from the front overlooking the top of a sleek gray supercar
Audi Nuvolari
1/11Image: Audi
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Microsoft’s AI agent OS: Project Solara.

Microsoft just introduced a couple of concept gadgets at Build 2026 that are powered by a new platform, Project Solara, which is made to run AI agents on devices taking the form of everything from smart speakers to security badges or earbuds.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
With 5 million weekly users, OpenAI says Codex isn’t just for programmers.

As Microsoft shows off its AI tools at Build, close frienemy OpenAI is once again promoting Codex as something for all kinds of information and knowledge-based work that goes beyond ChatGPT’s features. It’s launching new plugins, and says that business and enterprise customers have access to a new preview capable of building “interactive, hosted websites and apps” that it can keep updated with new data.

An OpenAI Codex created document for an imaginary Blossom Widgets Enterprise Summit event
Image: OpenAI
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Martin Scorsese’s reported AI “embrace” doesn’t live up to the hype.

Fresh off interviewing the chatbot-powered stunt that is Tilly Norwood, the NYT tells us of Martin Scorsese’s advisor and partner arrangement with Black Forest Labs (whose Flux tech has powered xAI’s image generation) in what it calls “a clear sign of Hollywood’s softening stance on artificial intelligence.”

Right now, however, that softening extends only to a test of storyboard creation:

I recently tested this out on a scene and the ability to visualize and immediately share the storyboard was creatively freeing. During the pre-production process, time costs money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or craft.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Nvidia’s new DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction feature works on all GeForce RTX GPUs.

Along with a new ARM CPU for Windows laptops, Nvidia’s Computex news includes another feature it’s adding to the DLSS 4.5 suite ahead of that other DLSS AI graphics update. Called Ray Reconstruction, it uses a second generation transformer AI model to “generate higher-quality pixels in the noisy parts of a ray traced frame where rays were not sampled.”

They say it will deliver cleaner particle effects plus better lighting accuracy, available on RTX 20 and newer GPUs starting in August.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket just blew up during testing in Florida.

Recently grounded after issues with its third mission, the New Glenn rocket intended to launch the NG-4 mission has suffered an “anomaly,” exploding at Cape Canaveral during a hotfire test just after 9PM ET.
Blue Origin said, “All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.”

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Waymo’s cars reach Virginia, with human drivers behind the wheel.

Virginia doesn’t allow autonomous vehicles yet, but Wired reports the company told state officials in a meeting this week its vehicles are in the state, mapping Arlington and Alexandria with their sensors. Updated laws governing self-driving vehicles are still under discussion, but it’s preparing to bring its vehicles one step closer to Washington, D.C., despite public skepticism and some recent issues.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
CBS pulls back on Only in Monroe takedown notices.

Variety reports on why early uploads of Stephen Colbert’s post-The Late Show endeavor were pulled, citing copyright complaints from Paramount/CBS. A statement from the company says it was because it financed and produced the episode with Colbert, which was eventually published on his YouTube channel, but it has now “decided to waive further enforcement of this standard industry practice until additional review.”

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Garden Grove toxic chemical tank incident and evacuation updates.

The latest update on an overheating tank filled with an estimated 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate is that firefighters were still trying to determine if some pressure had been released, after discovering a crack that could lessen the risk of a BLEVE, or Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion.

ABC 7 reports that more than 50,000 people in Orange County have had to leave their homes since the leak was discovered at the GKN Aerospace facility on Thursday.

Update (11:48AM ET): The Orange County Fire Authority says that it now believes the threat of a BLEVE is “off the table,” with pressure and temperature in the tank dropping.