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

Richard Lawler

Richard Lawler

Senior News Editor

Senior News Editor

    More From Richard Lawler

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    “...getting caught in a lie by a judge is very bad.”

    That’s what experienced litigator Mitchell Epner wrote about this incident during the cross-examination of Sam Bankman-Fried. Elizabeth Lopatto’s summary of SBF’s final day of testimony captures it as part of being “vivisected” on the stand.

    It was not until Judge Lewis Kaplan intervened to ask if Bankman-Fried had ever been told by Yedidia about that money, in words or in substance, that Bankman-Fried admitted he’d been told.

    Trying to worm his way past tough questions by answering a slightly different question doesn’t seem to work as well for SBF in court as it did with investors and interviewers.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    The defense rests.

    Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers are done calling witnesses in the big FTX fraud case over the cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse last year. The lawyers are likely preparing to make their closing arguments, and Elizabeth Lopatto will have more reports from the courtroom later today, following last night’s story on all the things SBF conveniently doesn’t remember.

    Sam Bankman-Fried doesn’t recall

    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Everything you need to know about Apple’s new M3 MacBook Pro and iMac.

    Dan Seifert runs down the news from Monday night’s Scary Fast primetime product event, covering what’s new about these updates to the MacBook Pro and iMac lineup and who should be the most interested in an upgrade. (Anyone who needs that Space Black exterior or someone who is replacing an Apple machine with an Intel processor or the first-gen M1 chip.)

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Scary fast(er).

    Apple’s prime-time product event went by pretty quickly on Monday night, but if you just want the highlights, here’s a 10-minute version with everything you need to know about the new M3 chips, as well as its updated MacBook Pros and iMacs.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Welcome to the future of sports broadcasting.

    On Monday night, NHL and NBA fans in Detroit, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Dallas, and other places covered by Bally Sports (which operates regional sports networks spun off in the big Fox / Disney deal), who subscribe just to watch their local teams got mostly error messages instead of games.

    In a statement to the Detroit Free Press, Bally Sports SVP/GM Greg Hammaren blamed the outage on Okta and problems with its Auth0 platform.

    Of course, it’s not Okta that still blacked out local access to the games via other platforms despite the outage.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    The most expensive MacBook Pro you can buy.

    Now that Apple’s Scary Fast event is over, if you actually load a 16-inch MBP up with 128GB of RAM, an 8TB SSD, and the most powerful M3 processor Apple offers, it will cost $7,199.00.

    screenshot of Apple store page showing the most expensive MacBook Pro configuration possible. It costs $7,199.00.
    Image: Apple.com
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Volkswagen’s first electric station wagon is this ID.7 Tourer.

    An electric station wagon is a far cry from last week’s flood of sleek Japanese two-door EVs. Still, this shooting brake version of the Volkswagen ID.7 is actually planned for release next year in Europe.

    According to VW, the extra capacity only increases the wagon’s drag coefficient to 0.24, compared to 0.23 for the sedan version that is coming to the US.

    Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer station wagon shown parked next to a lake, with camouflage on the exterior in fall/late summer theme.
    Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer station wagon driving, shown from the side, with camouflage on the exterior in fall/late summer theme.
    1/2
    The still-camouflaged ID.7 with hatchback.
    Image: Volkswagen AG
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Eerily quick.

    An evening event from Apple is an unusual setup, but we’ll be right back here at 8PM ET to find out what the “Scary Fast” event has in store. Until then, The Vergecast crew runs down some of what we’re expecting to see tonight.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    “I did not want FTX to be known as the Kansas City Royals of crypto exchanges.”

    Said Sam Bankman-Fried, as reported by Inner City Press and the New York Times, on the stand testifying as he faces fraud charges over the collapse of his failed crypto exchange FTX.

    He was explaining the advantage of marketing his exchange by buying stadium naming rights instead of Facebook or Google ads, and why he picked the Miami Heat’s arena over several others... and allegedly paid for the deal with FTX customer funds.

    Update from J. Edward Moreno

    [The New York Times]

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Cross-progression is finally coming to Apex Legends.

    Apex Legends has thrived since its surprise launch four years ago, and while it has thrived since then, the fact that players couldn’t migrate acquired content and stats across platforms has become ridiculous as competitors like Fortnite, Warzone, and even Overwatch merged accounts across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch.

    But now, Apex will finally join them in a “phased launch” along with rolling out a new season, Ignite, a new legend with a tragic Titanfall-related backstory, and a smaller Storm Point map on October 31st.