196 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
Skip to main content
The homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo.
The homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo.

Richard Lawler

Richard Lawler

Senior News Editor

Senior News Editor

    More From Richard Lawler

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Green light.

    Today’s news started with massive cuts within Meta, closely following the layoffs at Twitter last week. Twitter is also reportedly planning to launch the new Blue subscription today, so we’ll be watching for that.

    The only earnings results on the schedule for us today are from Canoo and Rivian.

    A few other news stories to start your day:

    Google is going to make everyone use the new Gmail UI soon.

    How to upgrade your power supply (if you own an International Space Station).

    Twitter will sell blue checks, and verify identities on Twitter with a new gray check.

    Zmail.

    Temperatures are rising across the US.

    Elon Musk sold another $4 billion worth of his Tesla shares.

    FTX was not SAFU, after all.

    And Charles Pulliam-Moore reviews Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Twitter’s layoff notices in Africa are missing something.

    Elon Musk’s mass layoffs at Twitter included severance payment for some workers, and Musk himself said in a tweet that “Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.”

    However, CNN reports termination letters sent to staff at Twitter’s only office in Africa didn’t include their names or mention any next steps or severance, only saying they will be paid until December 4th.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Elizabeth Holmes’s bid for a retrial has been denied.

    As reported by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, the Theranos co-founder’s sentencing is now scheduled for November 18th.

    Holmes was found guilty on three counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. Each count carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

    Elizabeth Holmes found guilty of defrauding investors

    Nicole Wetsman and Elizabeth Lopatto
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Web3 is going great.

    Current FTX implosion notwithstanding, how seriously should you take crypto, NFTs, and everything else blockchain? Molly White, who runs Web3 is Going Just Great, gave a 15-minute presentation at Web Summit 2022 on exactly that topic — you should watch it (or read the transcript).
    Here’s a small snippet:

    There will be a web3. The web has been evolving ever since its inception, and there is no doubt in my mind that we are overdue for a fundamental shift. Will it be blockchains and crypto? Venture capitalists and blockchain startup founders really hope that you think so.

    I hope that the rest of us will continue working towards utopian goals like the ones I mentioned earlier—the ones that many people who are working in web3 and on web3 projects share—without necessarily being shackled to a technology that holds little promise for the web.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    That escalated quickly.

    The situation is still developing, and we’ll have more information as things become clearer, but here’s how it stands. Yesterday morning FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried tweeted, “FTX is fine.”

    Today it’s being acquired by Binance to help resolve a liquidity crunch after investors had trouble making withdrawals.

    Tweets from Sam Bankman-Fried and Binance founder CZ
    Tweets from Sam Bankman-Fried and Binance founder CZ
    Image: Twitter
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Digital analog.

    This flexible vinyl record shipped in the October 1973 issue of IEEE Spectrum to demo pulse code modulation (PCM) encoding and other variants of digital compression well before you ever downloaded your first MP3.

    IEEE Spectrum has more information here on how they found the surviving copy and played it back.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Green Light.

    If you live in the US, it’s Election Day — vote (unless you already did, nice job being prepared).

    Vote.org is a nonpartisan source for information on where your local polling place is and information about what’s on the ballot. Also, Lyft is offering half-off rides to the polls today with the discount code LYFT22.

    Otherwise, Elon Musk’s 24/7 Twitter Extravaganza continues, but in non-Elon news:

    T-Mobile is serious about building its own version of FiOS.

    Google and Renault are deepening their partnership to develop a software platform for cars.

    New stickers are almost ready for those RTX 4080s that never came out.

    Netflix has a new interactive trivia game that two people can play on your TV with just the regular remote.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Who is Apple’s Next Top Design Star?

    Over at Bloomberg, Mark Gurman has summed up the state of Apple’s product design department now that the current lead hardware design, Evans Hankey, has said she plans to leave in a few months.

    Her departure comes just three years after Jony Ive’s exit, and it’s unclear who will step into the gap of managing the look and feel for iPhones, Macs, and everything else.

    After Ive’s departure, both groups were placed under the purview of Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer.

    Over the past few years, the team has lost the majority of senior designers who worked under Ive, with many of them going to his new firm, LoveFrom. That has now made it harder to replace Hankey, people with knowledge of the matter said. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this.

    With all credit to Dril, read this by Casey Newton in Platformer about the new Twitter Blue package:

    The existing version only had a little more than 100,000 active subscribers, Platformer has learned.

    Estimates showed that Twitter will lose about $6 in ad revenue per user in the United States by making that change, sources said. Factoring in Apple and Google’s share of the $8 monthly subscription, Twitter would likely lose money on Blue if the ad-light plan is enacted.

    Elon Musk has discussed putting all of Twitter behind a paywall

    Casey Newton
    Richard Lawler
    Richard Lawler
    Happy N7 Day to those who celebrate.

    November 7th is Mass Effect Day, when fans look back at the ambitious, yet troubled space-faring franchise.

    For 2022, Bioware released this vague teaser of its in-development Mass Effect title. Digging into the audio of the teaser, some of our staff think it sounds like fan-favorite Liara T’soni, but you be the judge.

    Most Popular

    Most Popular
    1. Here’s what Microsoft is offering long-serving employees to voluntarily retire
    2. Nintendo announces a new Star Fox for the Switch 2
    3. Google shuts down Project Mariner
    4. Apple agrees to pay iPhone owners $250 million for not delivering AI Siri
    5. Musk’s biggest loyalist became his biggest liability