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Apple isn't just looking to take on Meta in the smart glasses market; it's looking to upend eyewear as a whole, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. When the Apple Watch launched, it wasn't simply competing against the Pebbles and the Motorolas of the world. The company also had Swatch, Fossil, and Seiko in its crosshairs. Similarly, Apple's smart glasses will be positioned not just against Meta and Samsung, but against Oakley, Ray-Ban, and Warby Parker in the $200-$500 range. Apple Watch generates an estimated $17 billion annually, but eyewear is a potentially even bigger prize. Where the watch market is worth an estimated $132 billion , a … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/940572/apples-strategy-smart-glasses-smart-watches

Watch the stream below. | Image: NVIDIA NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang is set to take the stage for his GTC Taipei keynote at 8PM PT / 11PM ET. You can watch all the announcements here and embedded below. Rumors have been flying about what to expect from today's presentation, but the big one is the possibility of a partnership with Microsoft and a renewed Windows on ARM push. Microsoft has been teasing a " new era of PC " for its Surface lineup, and expectations are that new ARM processors from NV IDIA, dubbed the N1 and N1X, will be powering these yet-to-be-announced computers. Microsoft actually tapped NVIDIA's Tegra ARM CPUs for the Surface RT way back in 2012. But that machine was l … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/940540/how-to-watch-nvidias-computex-keynote

Squared. Get it? | Image: Mojang The A Minecraft Movie sequel officially has a title: A Minecraft Movie Squared . What's more, we now know that Kirsten Dunst will star as Alex, the game's female character option, and that Matt Berry is set to play an even bigger role in this film. He voiced Nitwit in the first movie, but in this one, he'll be playing a human character. Who exactly he'll be hasn't been revealed yet, but in the clip below, he can be heard dismissing a costume choice because "Steve would not be wearing that," suggesting he might be playing the Herobrine , a creepy pasta evil counterpart to Jack Black's Steve . The director, Jared Hess, and Mojang Chief Creative … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/940523/minecraft-movie-squared-sequel-kirsten-dunst-alex

Even the cover revels in a low-bit digital aesthetic. | Image: Saddle Creek / Feeble Little Horse From the opening moments of bitknot , it's obvious that Feeble Little Horse has found an entirely new gear. Where on Girl with Fish the blown-out textures were more '90s indie rock and shoegaze, on their latest LP, there's a more modern edge to the distortion and the riffs cut cleaner. Similarly, where the digital glitchiness was mostly relegated to window dressing on their sophomore record, on bitknot it's integral to the arrangements and a core part of their emerging, distinct sound. We got a preview of this new direction on the one-off single, and one of my favorite songs of 2025, " This Is Real ." It blended blast beats, Sonic Youth-esque … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/940449/feeble-little-horse-bitknot-music-album-review

This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more news about gadgets and smartphones, follow Dominic Preston . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started In 2023, the European Union agreed on two landmark pieces of legislation mandating how portable tech products with batteries must be designed, aiming to improve longevity, repairability, and recyclability. Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1670 came into force last year and applies specifically to smartphones and tablets, while Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 takes effect next year … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/column/939026/user-replaceable-batteries-eu-european-union-legislation

Despite headwinds from the current administration, automakers continue to release well-equipped EVs with bigger battery packs and increasingly faster charging speeds. For those who want to travel further between plugging in, the future is still bright, just slightly tinted. But there haven't been many sedans starting around or below $50,000, as crossover SUVs have largely taken up this territory. Now, Mercedes-Benz has released its CLA compact sedan which ticks every box above for the 2026 and 2027 model year, and throws in pleasant interior amenities and fun driving character for good measure. What's inside The CLA w … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/transportation/940387/mercedes-cla-350-ev-review-price-specs

The Kane Parsons' film Backrooms is expected to earn up to $90 million in its opening weekend after pulling down $38 million on Friday alone. That's not only above expectations , but absolutely obliterates A24's previous opening weekend record of $25.5 million for Alex Garland's Civil War . It's also a better opening day than The Mandalorian and Grogu , which only pulled down $33.7 million on its way to a total $81.6 million for the weekend. That also means that Backrooms is an incredibly profitable movie, with an estimated $10 million budget. By comparison, the latest Star Wars disappointment cost $165 million and was considered affordable c … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/940421/backrooms-blockbuster-38-million-opening

Cecil Baldwin is a busy man with some dope boots. | Image: Cecil Baldwin Cecil Baldwin's résumé includes appearances on Gravity Falls , narrating the documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Stree t , and performing as part of the New York Neo-Futurists theater company. But he is best known as the host of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale , a long-running fiction show that blends macabre Lovecraftian horror with absurdist comedy. As Cecil Palmer, the voice of Night Vale Community Radio, Baldwin keeps the people of the titular town abreast of all the goings ons with the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home and offers tips on how to best maintain their Bloodstone circles. He also cohosts Random Nu … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/939930/welcome-to-night-vale-host-cecil-baldwin-shares-his-tech-pet-peeves

This week, an AI training startup called Shift said it would clean New Yorkers' homes for free . It has plans to expand into other cities as well, including London, and looking around my flat, I get the appeal. But there's a catch. There's always a catch. In exchange for the cleaning, Shift wants footage of its cleaners at work: scrubbing dishes, wiping counters, dusting tables, mopping floors. It wants everything. Video of all the boring domestic labor we'd happily outsource if we could - and that robotics companies are racing to teach machines to do so they can sell us something to do it for us. That's harder than it sounds. Unlike cha … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/940007/ai-companies-will-pay-for-robot-training-data

High school graduation is a time of change that might be felt more deeply by family members than by the grads themselves. While some grads may immediately embark on a career path, many continue their education and delve deeper into their studies at college. Either way, they'll be taking on more responsibility, meaning it's up to friends and relatives to figure out how to support them. Support comes in many forms, but a gift or two certainly won't hurt. Luckily, we've compiled a host of Verge -approved gift ideas spanning a wide array of interests and price points. They'll think of you when they grab their AirPods 4 to tune out distractions w … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/932602/best-high-school-graduation-gift-ideas

I pondered the other day what's next for Microsoft's Surface PC lineup , and it looks like we're about to find out. Windows and Surface chief Pavan Davuluri has just teased "something new is coming for developers," complete with a mysterious image of what looks like a curved display edge. Davuluri notes that whatever is coming is "not a new OS version," so that rules out the potential for Windows 12 to be announced at Microsoft's Build developer conference next week. Separately, the Windows account on X posted a similar cryptic tweet, promising "a new era of PC" with coordinates pointing to where Computex is hosted in Taipei. Something new … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/news/939960/microsoft-computex-teaser-surface-nvidia-windows-rumors

Nearly 10 years ago I reviewed my favorite Surface device. Microsoft hand-delivered its Surface Studio all-in-one PC to me, and I was hooked from the moment I switched it on. It had a beautiful floating touchscreen that you could push all the way down into a drawing board mode, making it unlike anything I had seen in the PC market. But like many other Surface devices, it no longer exists. Over the past few years, Microsoft has been steadily walking back from the experimental ethos that built the brand. The detachable Surface Book? Gone . The giant Surface Hub touchscreen displays? Gone . The Android-powered Surface Duo? Gone . Even the Surface … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/938807/microsoft-surface-future-devices-notepad

Upgrading to more power laser cutting tools expands the types of materials the M2 can engrave. | Image: xTool xTool has announced a new multi-purpose crafting machine that could potentially be one of the most affordable ways to start an Etsy shop. Its modular design facilitates a CMYK print head that works on multiple materials including paper, wood, and felt. It can later be swapped with laser-based cutting and engraving tools. You can use the M2 to both print and cut stickers, for example, but it's versatile enough to also be used to etch designs onto metal water bottles. The machine's upgradeable functionality justifies its footprint, which is much larger than your typical desktop printer. The xTool M2 Color Craft Laser, which will be priced at … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/938031/xtool-m2-craft-machine-cmyk-inkjet-printing-laser-diode-cutter

The first wave of RGB LED TVs are fighting for their spot in the TV hierarchy. They need to outperform OLED TVs in brightness and color (because they'll never match OLED's contrast), and they need to outperform regular LED TVs in everything (because their price is so much higher). It's now time for Sony to take a swing with the Bravia 7 II, which is out alongside the flagship Bravia 9 II. Both pair RGB LED backlighting with Sony's always top-notch processing. RGB TVs like the Bravia 7 II use red, green, and blue LEDs instead of a field of all-blue or white LEDs for the backlight. This allows for an RGB LED TV to display more, and brighter, … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/937879/sony-bravia-7-ii-review

Ferrari makes some of the fastest cars on the planet, so it's anyone's guess how the Italian automaker ended up being so incredibly late to the EV party. Long after most automakers have drastically scaled back their EV ambitions , canceled battery-powered models , or curtailed factory plans , Ferrari emerges from the shadows with a real weird one: the all-electric Luce . Ferrari unveiled the Luce Monday at the Vela di Calatrava, a massive architectural sporting complex located on the outskirts of Rome. In many ways it's the most anticipated and also the most over-hyped EV to come out since battery-powered models first arrived on the scene. An e … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/transportation/937077/ferrari-luce-ev-apple-car-jony-ive-design

Sennheiser is sticking with the redesign it introduced with the Momentum 4 Wireless. | Image: Sennheiser Nearly four years after the last version of Sennheiser's Momentum headphones debuted with a redesign that traded a retro aesthetic for a more contemporary and comfortable design, the company has announced its Momentum 5 Wireless headphones. They look very similar to their predecessors, the Momentum 4 , with large ear cups and a design that doesn't quite stand out from the competition. But under the hood there are welcome upgrades, including improved ANC and, for the first time, a user-replaceable battery to extend their life. The Momentum 5 Wireless will be available starting on June 30th for $399.99, a $50 price bump over the Momentum 4. Th … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/936127/sennheiser-momentum-5-wireless-headphones-anc-lossless-bluetooth

The Ferrari Luce will start at €550,000 in Italy, but US pricing hasn’t been announced. | Image: Ferrari After months of teasers , Ferrari is offering the first full view of its Luce electric vehicle . The Luce is notable not just for being Ferrari's first EV, but for being designed in collaboration with Jony Ive and Mark Newson at their collective LoveFrom. It's also going to be Ferrari's second four-door car and its first five-seat one. We already knew Ive and Newson were working on the Luce's interiors, which were shown off earlier this year. Now Ferrari says LoveFrom was allowed to "define the design direction of the project from the outset," inside and out. Tim Stevens reporting for Engadget offers a few firsthand impression … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/transportation/937066/ferrari-luce-ev-jony-ive-marc-newson-lovefrom

An exceptionally weird controversy has come back to haunt Cox Media and a pair of marketing firms, which claimed they were secretly listening to users via phones and smart devices - despite little evidence they actually could. On Thursday the Federal Trade Commission announced that Cox, MindSift, and 1010 Digital Works would pay a total of $930,000 to settle allegations that they were in fact lying about spying on people to target ads. As chronicled by Techdirt a couple of years ago, Cox publicly boasted about a system called Voice Data back in 2023, telling potential digital marketing clients they could ensure "every casual conversation be … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/policy/937027/cox-media-marketing-ai-powered-phone-spying-ads-ftc-fine

REI’s annual Anniversary Sale — the retailer’s biggest of the year — is still going strong , letting you save on all kinds of outdoor essentials. If you’ve got a camping trip coming up, now is a good time to stock up on the basics, whether it be a tent , sleeping pad , or stove . If your summer plans involve hiking or heading into the backcountry, there are also savings to be had on everything from Garmin watches to water filters , some of which are also discounted at retailers like Amazon. The sale runs through the end of today, May 25th, and to save you time scrolling, we’ve rounded up the best deals you can still grab below. Additionally, as in previous years, REI members ge t 20 percent off one full-price item or one REI Outlet item with code  ANNIV26 , giving those who pay for a lifetime membership ($30) even more ways to save through the end of Memorial Day. Smartwatches and fitness trackers Garmin Fenix 8 The Garmin Fenix 8 is a pr...

Pope Leo XIV attends the presentation of his first Encyclical Letter "Magnifica humanitas" on May 25, 2026 in Vatican City, Vatican. | Getty Images Pope Leo XIV warned of the risks of AI and unconstrained technological power in his first major papal document released on Monday. Magnifica Humanitas is the pope's manifesto on "safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence," in which he discusses the dangers of AI-powered warfare, the effects of AI on labor, and the need for new legal and ethical frameworks to govern technology. In his papal encyclical - a kind of open letter from the Catholic Church - Pope Leo stressed the economic and social upheaval that rapid AI adoption is creating, with inadequate protections for individuals that threaten human dignity. He com … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/news/936945/pope-leo-letter-encyclical-ai-anthropic-labor-...

If you’re looking for a laptop that’ll still perform well several years from now, Apple’s latest MacBook Air is hard to beat. Now, in particular, is a good time to pick one up, as you can currently buy the 13-inch MacBook Air at Amazon in the run-up to Memorial Day with an M5 chip, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD for $899.99 ($200 off), which is a new low price. The 15-inch model, meanwhile, is also on sale at Amazon for $1,099.99 ($200 off) in select colors, or at Best Buy for $1,149. Apple 13-inch MacBook Air (M5) Where to Buy: $1099 $899.99 at Amazon $1099 $949 at Best Buy Apple MacBook Air 15 (M5) Where to Buy: $1299 $1099.99 at Amazon $1299 $1149 at Best Buy Unless you need a laptop for intensive gaming or demanding workloads like 3D modeling, the M5 Air is the laptop we recommend to most people. Apple’s latest model is faster and better at handling everyday workloads than the new MacBook Neo , whether that means juggling dozens of t...