Lead Hacker

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is planning to hold a “hackathon” next week in order to create a “mega API” for accessing Internal Revenue Service data, reports Wired . The outlet says the API would be used to move the data into a cloud platform — potentially a third-party one — to serve as the “read center” of the agency’s systems. DOGE’s hackathon plan includes pulling together “dozens” of IRS engineers in DC to build the API, writes Wired . Among the third-party providers the department has reportedly discussed involving is Palantir, a company known for its vast data collection and government surveillance and analysis work. DOGE is aiming to finish the API work in 30 days, a timeline one IRS employee told Wired is “not technically possible” and would “cripple” the IRS. Wired says the DOGE operatives orchestrating the project are 25-year-old Gavin Kliger and health-tech CEO Sam Corcos. On March 1st, The Washington Post reported that Corcos had pushed t...

After a long stretch of slim pickings, the last couple of years have been huge for Android smartwatches. Now there are more good options than ever. But the market is fragmented. Wear OS 5 is here for Samsung’s Galaxy Watches, Google’s Pixel Watch 3 , and soon, the OnePlus Watch 3 when it ships later this month . However, the larger ecosystem is catching up. Some features, like Google Assistant, are not yet available on certain Wear OS 3 smartwatches, and Wear OS 4 still isn’t widely available. Even so, the Android wearable ecosystem is barreling ahead. Featured in this article How we test smartwatches Smartwatches are meant to help you keep track of your notifications, as well as your health and activity. We do a mix of benchmark testing and experiential, real-life testing. That means snoozing with them, taking them out on GPS activities like runs and hikes, working up a sweat in several workouts, and comparing how they do against long-term control devices for heart rate, s...

If you’re taking your laptop away from the safe environs of your home or office desk and still want to stay online, you’ve got a couple of choices (assuming it doesn’t have cellular connectivity built in): hunt around for a Wi-Fi network you can connect to or run a Wi-Fi hotspot from your phone. Running a hotspot from your phone comes with advantages and disadvantages. It’s more secure than a public Wi-Fi network, as you’re in charge, and you may well get better upload and download speeds, too — though this will, of course, depend on the 4G and 5G coverage in your part of the world. On the downside, you may be limited in terms of your data allowance, and battery life on your phone will take a hit. If you want to take the mobile hotspot route, here’s how to do it. Set up a hotspot on a Pixel With Android devices, as always, the exact steps vary depending on the manufacturer. These are the steps for using a Pixel device with Android 15: Open Settings on Android. Choose Network...

“Hands Off” protesters in Manhattan. People are gathering in cities all over the United States and globally to protest an “illegal, billionaire power grab” by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. They’re being put on by over 150 different organizations , including civil rights groups, labor unions, and LGBTQ+ advocates, and span more than 1,200 locations. Last weekend, “Tesla Takedown” protests targeted Tesla showrooms around the country to show disapproval for Musk, its CEO, who has spearheaded an effort to carry out mass federal workforce layoffs and hollow out government agencies. As Tesla’s sales have plummeted this quarter, Musk has threatened to “go after” the company’s critics, while the FBI has created a task force to investigate individual acts of vandalism and other actions aimed at the company. Rain or shine (mostly rain) — Mia Sato (@miasato.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T18:21:40.575Z The scope of these protests is much broader, targeting both Trump and Musk, w...

Microsoft unveiled its Xbox AI era earlier this year with a new Muse AI model that can generate gameplay. While it looked like Muse was still an early Microsoft Research project, the Xbox maker is now allowing Copilot users to try out Muse through an AI-generated version of Quake II . The tech demo is part of Microsoft’s Copilot for Gaming push, and features an AI-generated replica of Quake II that is playable in a browser. The Quake II level is very basic and includes blurry enemies and interactions, and Microsoft is limiting the amount of time you can even play this tech demo. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Verge (@verge) While Microsoft originally demonstrated its Muse AI model at 10fps and a 300 x 180 resolution, this latest demo runs at a playable frame rate and at a slightly higher resolution of 640 x 360. It’s still a very limited experience though, and more of hint at what might be possible in the future. Microsoft is still positioning Mus...

There’s a famous two-decade-old Paris Review interview with Haruki Murakami in which he, one of the world’s most celebrated novelists, details his daily routine. He wakes up at 4AM, works for five hours, goes for a run, reads, goes to bed, and then repeats it all over again. The rigor and repetition are the point. I am not Haruki Murakami. In addition to my work at The Verge, I write novels — my second one is out today — and while I admire Murakami’s commitment to an immovable schedule, I’ve found that I produce my best work when I’m constantly rethinking routines, processes, and, mostly, how I’m writing. In the modern age, that means what software I’m using. What I am about to describe will be a nightmare to anyone who likes all of their tools to work harmoniously. All of these apps are disconnected and do not interoperate with each other in any way. Many of the things they do are redundant and overlap. I suppose this process is quite the opposite of frictio...

Microsoft is bringing its Copilot Vision feature to Windows and mobile, moving it beyond the web. Copilot Vision was a big part of Microsoft’s Copilot redesign last year, but so far, it has been limited to Edge webpages to help guide you through what you’re seeing. Copilot Vision will now be able to analyze real-time video from a mobile camera, allowing the AI assistant to offer tips for keeping plants healthy or decorating advice for your home. Microsoft is launching Copilot Vision inside the Copilot app for iOS and Android today, and a similar feature is also coming to Windows soon. The Copilot app on Windows is being updated to support Copilot Vision across your entire PC. This lets Microsoft’s AI assistant do things like coach you through using Adobe Photoshop features, or analyzing the photos and webpages you’re looking at. This is different than Microsoft’s Recall feature on Copilot Plus PCs. Recall automatically takes snapshots if you enable the feature, whereas Copilot Vis...

Microsoft is making changes to Copilot that will allow the artificial intelligence assistant to complete online tasks for you. Using “simple chat prompts,” these “Actions” can be performed in the background while you work on other tasks, according to Microsoft , and can do things like book restaurant reservations, event tickets, and purchase items to ship to your friends. Launch partners include Booking.com, Expedia, Kayak, Tripadvisor, Skyscanner, Viater, Vrbo, and Priceline — a host of travel and vacation-focused services that will allow Copilot to help users plan any upcoming trips — alongside Open Table for meals, and 1-800-Flowers.com for buying floral arrangements. Microsoft says that Copilot’s Actions feature will “work with most websites across the web,” and can sort out “the ride home” for you after events, suggesting it will also support taxi or ride-sharing services. Actions is launching alongside other personalization features like a tool that turns online content into ...

In a multi-part interview with Nintendo about newly-announced Switch 2 exclusive The Duskbloods , director Hidetaka Miyazaki tried to dispel worries that developer FromSoftware is shifting focus away from single-player games. The studio known for single-player dark fantasy epics like Elden Ring and the Dark Souls series is now working on two multiplayer games. As a side note, please allow me to address one thing. As previously mentioned, this is an online multiplayer title at its core, but this doesn’t mean that we as a company have decided to shift to a more multiplayer-focused direction with titles going forward. The Nintendo Switch 2 version of  Elden Ring  was also announced, and we still intend to actively develop single player focused games such as this that embrace our more traditional style. The three – part interview also goes into much further detail on The Duskbloods than we saw in the Nintendo Switch 2 direct teaser. The new game certainly looks Blood...

Microsoft Copilot Microsoft is holding a 50th Anniversary Copilot livestream today at 12:30PM ET / 9:30AM PT on April 4th, the same day Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen started the company in 1975 . Dubbed “Introducing your AI companion,” it’s set up for Microsoft to show off some significant updates to its Windows AI assistant. You can watch the livestream right here via the YouTube stream or directly from Microsoft . Microsoft announced the event last month , which features Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, and “leaders of past and present.” Microsoft recently announced deep research and other “agentic” updates to Copilot in Microsoft 365, and a more significant reboot could help it keep up with tools released for competing AI platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini . CEO Satya Nadella r ecently commented on the success of DeepSeek’s AI , saying to employees that “What’s most impressive about DeepSeek is that it’s a great reminder o...

YouTube is adding new features to Shorts that aim to make it easier for creators to edit short-form videos. There are five new tools “coming this spring” according to YouTube’s announcement , including a revamped video editor that provides similar editing features to those already found on competing platforms like TikTok and Reels. The new video editor allows adjustments like cutting and rearranging clips, zooming into footage, and overlaying text and music to be made from an editing timeline view. Creators can preview the edited short on this timeline view, which can be accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the Shorts editor. YouTube says these new capabilities are the “first of more improvements” lined up to help streamline the Shorts editing process. YouTube is making it easier to add music to Shorts, allowing creators to pick a song and have their video clips automatically synchronize to the rhythm instead of manually aligning them to a beat. Effects like video filters and o...

Democrats are calling on Treasury Department and General Services Administration watchdogs to investigate a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee’s access to sensitive data. In a letter to Deputy Inspectors General Loren Sciurba and Robert Erickson, Reps. Lori Trahan (D-MA), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), and Shontel Brown (D-OH) say the probe should address DOGE staffer Marko Elez’s “unauthorized and potentially illegal disclosure” of a spreadsheet containing personal information while Elez was secretly rifling through sensitive government systems. Earlier this year, reports emerged that the 25-year-old Elez was granted read and write access to Treasury Department payment systems. Court filings later revealed the extent of his access and claimed that Elez broke Treasury policy by sending an employee spreadsheet to members of the Trump administration. Elez resigned from his DOGE role in February after reporters found racist posts linked to his social media account; however, ...

Sony has a replacement for its current flagship QD-OLED TV, the extremely well-received A95L. That’s the model that was crowned “King of TV” at last year’s Value Electronics TV Shootout , which Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel served on the judging panel for. The new model is called the Bravia 8 II. Sony claims that it has 125 percent the peak brightness of the A95L and 150 percent of last year’s Bravia 8, which will remain on sale as an OLED-but-not-QD option. It has a similar design to the A95L, and Sony even says it’ll be cheaper — though pricing information won’t be shared until later in spring.  The guiding mission of the Bravia lineup, according to Sony, is to deliver the most authentic cinema experience possible in the living room. Yosuke Nakano, from the company’s product planning department, claims the Bravia 8 II has the “most faithful reproduction of the professional monitor look of any TV in the industry.” To that end, at a recent demonstration session at its Tok...

Members of ZeniMax Workers United , a union of over 300 quality assurance workers in Texas and Maryland, have voted to authorize a strike. The vote, which passed with over 94 percent in favor of authorization, does not mean workers have gone on strike like SAG-AFTRA members have in the ongoing video game voice actors strike . But should contract negotiations break down, the ZeniMax union now has the permission to call a strike. This authorization comes as contract negotiations between union members and parent company Microsoft continue into a second year. The strike authorization is the latest escalation between the union and management. Last year, ZeniMax Workers United participated in a one-day strike claiming that Microsoft did not adequately address employee concerns over its return to office policies and its outsourcing practices. Those concerns have come up again in negotiations alongside better pay and benefits. “Our in-house contractors have been working on minimal wages ...

We live in a golden age of controllers. The gamepads on the market now are of higher quality, more versatile, and more customizable than anything from even one console generation ago. If you play games on an Xbox Series X or Series S (or a Windows PC), you have the unenviable task of choosing between several high-quality controllers from Microsoft as well as a plethora of great options from the likes of 8BitDo, PowerA, Razer, Scuf, Nacon, and Turtle Beach. Some of them have drift-proof Hall effect sticks for improved longevity, yet all of them are good for one reason or another. The days of the cheap “little sibling” controller that looked cool, but barely worked are over. We’ve spent a ton of time playing all kinds of games (first-person shooters, fighters, third-person action-adventure, racing, indie roguelikes, etc.) to test a wide swath of Xbox controllers, and it may not be a surprise that the standard, relatively affordable Xbox Wireless Controller is the best option for most...