Posts

Mark Zuckerberg bought an Irish castle

Image
Mark Zuckerberg. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg now owns an actual castle. Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan bought Strancally Castle and its 440-acre estate in Ireland "several weeks ago," according to The Irish Times . While the exact price of the purchase is unclear, the family could have paid "anywhere between €20 million and €30 million" for the 16,000-square-foot castle, which was restored by its previous owners. "Mark and his family are excited to continue caring for this historic home and look forward to spending time in Ireland, where Meta maintains its international headquarters," a spokesperson tells The Irish Times . The publication says "it is und … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/982955/meta-mark-zuckerberg-strancally-castle-ireland

Framework says it’s addressing a BIOS update that bricked some of its older laptops

Image
The 2023 Framework Laptop 13 with AMD Ryzen 7040-series chips. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Some Framework Laptop 13 owners with last-gen AMD chips have reported that a recent BIOS update is bricking their laptops on both Windows and Linux. The BIOS update causing this issue is version 3.20 for Ryzen 7040-series mainboards, released back in July and still available on Framework's site at the time of this writing. Upon running the update, some users reported their laptops getting stuck on the update screen . While some users on Framework's community forums reported that the company was sending them replacement mainboards under the one-year warranty, several with out-of-warranty boards said they were told they'd have to buy new ones. … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/982800/framework-laptop-13-amd-7040-bios-320-bricking-warranty

The Pixel 11 isn’t the best Pixel of 2026, but it’s the smartest buy

Image
The frost color scheme is nice, but it’s no pistachio or hibiscus. | Photo: Cameron Faulkner / The Verge It'd be easy to overlook the Pixel 11. Want the best cameras? The Pixel 11 Pro is your answer. Want the best bargain? The Pixel 10A is still a great deal. But the Pixel 11 might be the sweet spot in Google's lineup this year. With 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, it delivers the same performance as the base Pixel 11 Pro for $899 - $200 less. And while it's $400 more than the Pixel 10A , it has a faster processor, more RAM and storage, Qi2 charging, and a telephoto lens. It's also the cheapest way to experience what's actually new about the Pixel 11 series. With the hardware basically unchanged from the Pixel 10 except for new colors and a … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/982190/google-pixel-11-review

Apple squashes EU beef with new App Store rules

Image
Apple is once again overhauling App Store rules in the European Union, which the company says will resolve its "disagreements with the Commission over business terms and alternative distribution." As part of the changes, every developer that distributes apps will be moved to a single set of business terms, and digital transactions for apps distributed outside of the App Store will be subject to a Core Technology Commission fee of 5 percent. The new terms go into effect on October 1st. They will include a 26 percent commission for App Store apps that use Apple's in-app purchase system, or a 20 percent fee for developers using alternate payme … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/981504/apple-app-store-eu-rules-core-technology-commission

Tesla is finally launching the Cybercab — let’s hope it’s ready

Image
Tesla Cybercabs are lined up on a lot at Tesla Giga Texas in Austin, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. | Image: Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images The Tesla Cybercab , that golden two-seater central to Elon Musk's robo-supremacist ambitions , is finally nearing it's public launch. Whether or not the no-steering wheel and no-pedal vehicle is actually ready for public roads, let alone customers, remains very much in doubt . According to The Information , Tesla is planning a public launch of the Cybercab in Austin, Texas, as soon as this month. The driverless vehicle has been popping up around the country, although often with a steering wheel and pedals , as employees are continuing to gather data. Tesla employees have been testing the fully driverless version on private roads around the com … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/transportation/981398/tesla-cybercab-launch-robotaxi-fsd-...

YouTube is changing how it counts views to give the numbers a boost

Image
YouTube will soon count a view as soon as a video starts to play, lining up with the system used by Instagram, TikTok, and its Shorts videos. The update will go into effect on August 24th, "which means creators will likely see their total view counts increase faster moving forward," the platform says . Instagram and TikTok similarly add a view to a video when it starts to play or replay, while X counts a view when a user watches a video for at least two seconds. YouTube applied Instagram and TikTok's view-counting method to Shorts last year. YouTube says it's going to keep its original view-counting method under an "engaged views" metric in … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/streaming/981105/youtube-video-view-counting-update

Trump’s dumb border wall

Image
A bulldozer plows through land during construction for a section of border wall near Santa Elena Canyon on August 14, 2026 in Big Bend National Park, Texas. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images About 22 miles south of the former mining town of Patagonia, Arizona, down a winding, unpaved mountain road that passes cows grazing on open range, stands a cottonwood tree believed to be at least 200 years old. The "grandmother" tree, as some locals call it, is imperiled and already showing signs of stress, almost as if it knows its fate. The leaves are yellowing prematurely, falling to the ground at the height of summer. On July 27th, a construction crew felled three neighboring trees to build an extension of President Donald Trump's wall along the US-Mexico border. An activist climbed up the last tree standing two days later and ever sin … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/report/980933/trump-border-wall-...