Lead Hacker

It feels like Xbox has been in a permanent state of turmoil for at least two years now, and this week is no different. Microsoft cut 268 jobs across its gaming division this week, shuffled major studios and franchises around, and continued its Xbox "reset." Layoffs have become a way of life for Xbox employees, after Microsoft started cutting thousands in early 2024 and hasn't slowed down. The turmoil was particularly apparent when Microsoft started shutting down game studios , and the painful layoffs have had a lasting impact on morale, according to current and former Xbox employees I've been speaking to this week. At the same time, Xbox h … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/999919/microsoft-xbox-reorganization-activision-notepad

Nintendo won its $4.5 million lawsuit against James Williams, a Reddit moderator accused of distributing pirated Switch games, as reported earlier by Aftermath . In a default judgment issued on Wednesday , a Washington federal judge also ordered Williams to shut down the online stores allegedly housing libraries of pirated Switch games. Nintendo sued Williams, also known as "archbox" online, in 2024 . In its complaint, the gaming giant claimed Williams became a "leading moderator" of the r/SwitchPirates community, where he allegedly solicited "donations" of Nintendo eShop gift cards and copies of Switch games "to be copied and distributed" on … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/games/1000088/nintendo-switch-piracy-reddit-mod-lawsuit

Anthropic says its AI Claude has "autonomously discovered" a new enzyme system similar to machinery behind the powerful gene-editing tool Crispr. It's the first result from Anthropic's newly-launched wet lab and an early test of Claude's usefulness for science as the company prepares to go public. The company says Claude found the enzyme system after searching through a massive database of DNA sequences, adding that its scientists' involvement was limited to the initial prompt and lab work. Over 21 hours, Anthropic said nearly 950 Claude agents worked through 210 million tokens before one spotted an unusual repeating pattern in the datas … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/999470/anthropic-biolab-claude-crispr

The X3 also comes in black. “Lunar eclipse” remains an option for the $179.99 X2. | Image: Logitech The G Pro Superstrike mouse is one of Logitech's most interesting products. Unlike other gaming mice, it has haptic actuators beneath its two main buttons instead of mechanical switches, which decreases latency and allows for a custom click feel (the click can be super subtle, more jolty, or turned off entirely). The tech debuted in the G Pro X2 Superstrike in February, and there's already a sequel. Well, it's more like a 1.5 rather than a true successor. The G Pro X3 Superstrike is out October 6th for $199.99, and comes in a bold pink (as pictured) or black color scheme. The X2 will remain available at $179.99. The notable improvements wit … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/news/998266/logitech-x3-pro-superstrike-specs-price

In a speech Tuesday morning at the UN General Assembly, Donald Trump railed against Iran, "globalists," climate change , and transgender people while also claiming that the US is now "officially" renaming artificial intelligence to "super intelligence." Oddly, this wasn't one of the entries in the poll Trump posted a few days ago when he started on this tangent. Why is he saying this at all? Because, according to Trump, the word artificial makes intelligence fake. Is that what makes it sound fake to you? I can think of a few other reasons. Trump has previously decreed renaming the Gulf of Mexico , Lake Superior , the Kennedy Center, and Denal … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/998816/donald-trump-ai-super-intelligence

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed seven bills designed to prevent AI data centers from passing utility costs onto residents, as reported earlier by the Los Angeles Times . The package of laws requires the California Public Utilities Commission to introduce a new rate classification for data centers, while forcing them to pay for upgrades to local power grids and water systems. Other bills included in the package will require proposed data centers to disclose their estimated water use to local governments, along with information about energy efficiency and drought planning. They must also meet certain energy, water, and fuel consumption … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/998453/california-ai-data-center-bills

Last week, GM announced a new software experience for its upcoming Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks, including a new look for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the popular phone mirroring systems that the automaker made a big deal about removing from its electric vehicles in 2023. Naturally, this led to some confusion about whether GM was "bringing back" CarPlay and Android Auto to its vehicles. Yahoo Finance reported it that way, calling it an "about-face" by the automaker, while Apple Insider 's headline boasted that GM "cave[d]" on its decision to remove the interface from its gas-powered vehicles. Even The Verge 's own commenters were … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/transportation/998259/gm-apple-carplay-android-auto-phone-mirror-google

Paramount has reached a settlement with California and the 11 other states that sued to block its planned $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The settlement removes a major roadblock standing in the way of the massive media merger. According to the proposed consent decree filed with the court, it includes requirements like minimum numbers of annual film releases, rules for the negotiations over cable channels owned by the combined company, what it will do with film lots and other property, and the availability of Pluto TV. Paramount Chairman & CEO David Ellison: We are grateful to Attorney General Bonta and his fellow A … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/998302/paramount-warner-bros-discovery-merger-settlement

Months after seemingly giving up on Destiny 2 , Bungie now says it's planning to restore vaulted content in the game like campaigns, destinations, and raids. The decision reverses the Destiny Content Vault that Bungie created six years ago, controversially removing older content from Destiny 2 that players had paid to access. "We understand that removing these experiences had a lasting impact on player trust and enjoyment of Destiny," admits Bungie. "We cannot change the decision we made, but we can acknowledge its impact and do the work to make it right by restoring these important parts of Destiny 's history." All Destiny 2 players will ge … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/news/998317/bungie-destiny-2-unvaulted-raids-campaigns-destinations

Meta's Muse AI agent has been blocked from shopping Amazon on behalf of its users, GeekWire reports. A popup message started appearing on Sunday for Muse users saying that "continued access by an unauthorized AI agent violates Amazon's Conditions of Use, to which our customers have agreed." According to GeekWire , Meta didn't notify Amazon that Muse would access its store. Amazon also expressed privacy and security concerns over Muse failing to identify itself when it browses, and seemingly capturing customer credentials. "We think it's fairly straightforward that third-party applications that offer to make purchases on behalf of customers … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/998078/amazon-blocks-meta-muse-ai-agent-shopping

In August, I wrote about my love of the music history podcast No Dogs in Space , but mourned the fact that there hadn't been a new episode in over two years. Little did I know that hosts Carolina Hidalgo and Marcus Parks were gearing up to announce the show's return with season four, Punk 2.o. The first episode premiered this week, part one of a series on the New York Dolls , a band near and dear to my heart as a native Staten Islander, home of frontman David Johansen. For the new season, Hidalgo and Parks decided it was time to get back to basics. Part of that was that they felt punk rock was where their passion and expertise were strongest. … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/report/997948/no-dogs-in-space-is-back-punk-2-0-music-history-podcast

The man who may stand to make the most money from the AI boom seems to think he knows better than anyone else, including researchers who have studied and worked on AI for decades. In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning , he claimed there was a "0% chance" of AI being the end of the world . He also said of people sounding the alarm about the dangers of AI that, "Scaring people is unnecessary. It is irresponsible." He also claims that calls from CEOs like Anthropic's Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman to slow down the development of AI are "not grounded in science." He even argued that there was no need for new rules, laws, or guidelines, in … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/997936/nvidia-jensen-huang-ai-fears-overblown

After it was announced that Sony was dropping Hideo Kojima's Physint , and that instead the Metal Gear Solid creator's latest title would be coming to Xbox, there were a flurry of rumors about the falling out. Bloomberg reported that the decision was driven by a number of factors, including missed deadlines, budget and profitability concerns, and its timed exclusivity. In an interview with IGN , Kojima said that, considering the broader state of the industry, which has seen a number of studios close, he was worried about the future of Kojima Productions: I know there's a lot of news in the game industry that many studios are closing down, … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/games/997880/hideo-kojima-productions-physint-xbox-sony-playstation

This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on streaming platforms, FAST channels, and the future of entertainment, follow Charles Pulliam-Moore . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started Before Netflix fully committed to becoming a streaming service and leaving DVDs behind , the company experimented with the idea of giving its subscribers a physical box that could access high-resolution digital copies of movies. Films would have been downloaded to the box in the evening and become available to users the next day. But … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/column/997843/streamers-cable-fast-channels

Meta's Muse is apparently an effective AI assistant , but one that's a little creepy. Part of that is because of its new Mac app , which can access Messages, Calendar, and Notes. But for all its smarts, Muse doesn't actually know how to describe itself. Jason Aten, a contributing editor at Inc Magazine , posted on Threads screenshots of an interaction he had with Muse in which the assistant asks him some questions about a conversation he was having in Messages. The problem is that Aten says he didn't give Muse access to his messages. When asked how it knew about the contents of his messages, Muse replied, "I saw the notification previews, not … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/997833/meta-muse-creepy

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on the tarmac before boarding Air Force One. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) | Getty Images On Friday, the president threatened to ban CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the White House. It could have just been another one of his Truth Social fever dreams, but it turns out it's very real. All three publications were turned away from the White House this morning, NPR reports , marking an escalation in the administration's war on the First Amendment. Politico tried to get to the bottom of it, asking why now ? It reports that "many senior [White House] staff were surprised by the directive" (what's new?), and that it was done "while chief of staff Susie Wiles was out of town." Apparently he's been talked down from this kind of sweeping mov … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/policy/997805/trump-cnn-msnow-politico-ban

You would think that a multimedia conglomerate as large as Disney would have a few chief technology officers by now, but the company has just appointed someone to the position for the very first time. Today, Disney announced that Karandeep Anand is joining the company as its new CTO. Anand will report directly to Disney's recently-appointed CEO Josh D'Amaro , and he will head up the company's infrastructure, product, engineering, and data / AI platforms teams. Anand comes to Disney from chatbot startup Character.AI ,where he served as CEO for just over a year and oversaw the company's push into microdramas . Anand jumping ship to Disney co … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/997555/karandeep-anand-disney-character-ai

It's one of the most fascinating years in a while when it comes to iPhone camera upgrades. The big story of the iPhone 18 Pro is the variable aperture main lens, which lets you open the aperture up wider for better low light shots and make the aperture smaller for better depth of field in group photos. But all I can get anyone to talk about is the software upgrades: it turns out, they're a lot more useful day to day than the aperture on a camera this small. This week on The Vergecast , David Imel and Allison Johnson are here for a deep dive into the iPhone 18 Pro's camera. There's a lot to explore here, from the aperture, to the camera app's … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/podcast/997366/the-real-story-of-the-iphone-18-pros-camera

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is positioning the state to take the lead on AI oversight, including the potential to mandate a "kill switch" for frontier models, with a new executive order issued Friday. Newsom's order directs the state to convene a group of experts that will deliver recommendations within two months on how to strengthen AI safety measures in state law. Newsom wants the group to consider how the state could require AI companies to embed independent verification groups onsite for regular audits, make their transparency reports and risk assessments subject to standards of independent auditors, create a "kill switch" that's … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/policy/997516/california-governor-newsom-ai-kill-switch

As the tech sector sounds alarms about AI's potential to destroy humanity, entertainment labor groups are urging the public to stay focused on what's already happening. The Verge reached out to Disney , Netflix , Amazon , Lionsgate , and other studios who have started using AI, as well film startups focused on bringing generative AI into the mainstream to ask for their reaction to the recent warnings surrounding the technology. None have responded to our request for comment. The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) did, however. The AI tools used in entert … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/997358/what-hollywood-thinks-about-existential-ai-warnings

The revamped projects feature in Claude Code allows users to run multiple agents under the same roof, with a shared memory, goals, and library of files and artifacts. Similar to Grok Bot and other tools that manage groups of AI agents, each project has "threads" running different tasks in parallel, with a "coordinator" directing everything: Under the hood, each thread is a Claude Code cloud session working on its own branch and copy of the repo. The coordinator keeps work organized, but if any threads work on the same code, the overlap is resolved as a merge conflict just like any other PR. Each thread can further split its delegated work … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/997134/anthropic-claude-code-projects

The refurbished Apple TV 4K with its voice remote. | Image: The Verge Most hardware prices have soared in 2026, and that includes a variety of Apple laptops, tablets, and smart devices . Thankfully, you can offset some of the increased costs on an Apple TV 4K by buying one refurbished through the company. The 64GB model is selling for $169, $30 lower than the new retail price. The upgraded model, with 128GB of storage and an Ethernet port, is also discounted to $209 at Apple , a $40 discount from the full price. Apple refurbished products are often close to like-new condition, and are covered by the same one year warranty as new products. Apple TV 4K (third-gen) If you subscribe to Apple Arcade, an Apple TV 4K can effectively double as both a mini gaming console and one of the best streaming devices you can buy. With it, you can connect a Bluetooth controller like the PlayStation 5’s DualSense, thus allowing games that were initially developed for PC /...

When Xbox announced a new feature last month that lets you digitize existing physical game collections , I immediately thought of the Xbox One. Disc-to-digital seems like a clever new feature for Xbox, perfectly timed as a response to Sony killing PlayStation discs. But the reality is that it has been 15 years in the making and is now a big part of Xbox's ongoing game preservation efforts. Ahead of the launch of the Xbox One in 2013, Microsoft made a key decision to uniquely identify discs. Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans tell me the company was exploring the idea of true Xbox digital ownership in 2011, including digital gifting, rec … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/996826/microsoft-xbox-disc-to-digital-history-notepad

According to The Information , Apple is planning to get back into the server game and might just pair up with Nvidia to make it happen. Apple retired its Xserve line in 2011 and has largely left enterprise machines to other manufacturers since. But the growing demand for compute power as the AI industry continues to expand has apparently led the company to believe there is an opening for its powerful but efficient ARM-based M processors. Its Mac Mini and Mac Studio have proven popular with AI developers , which has led to shortages. The server product, whether it's called Xserve or something else, likely won't debut until 2029. Word is that i … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/996321/apple-servers-ai-nvidia

My villain origin story is my Whoop age. How do you age at 0.9 times your age and end up four to five years older than you are? | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge This is Optimizer , a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they're going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here . During last week's Apple Watch announcement, I let out a distinct "Noooo!" in the Steve Jobs Theater. Along with a new readiness metric and a redesigned Health app, Apple had just announced that later this year, it'd be introducing a new longevity feature called Health Age. This is a familiar concept in the wearable and health tech world. The idea is that if you put effort into your health and fitness, your physiological age c … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/column/995939/optimizer-health-...

Google is inviting third-party agents, including Claude and Open Claw, into Google Home. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Google is opening up its smart home to AI agents, letting tools like Claude and Open Claw access and control your connected devices and analyze your home's data using the standardized Model Context Protocol . Google Home MCP is a new integration that lets third-party AI agents control and monitor your smart home and act on your behalf. It "allows any AI agents that support MCP, including Google Antigravity, Claude, Hermes or Open Claw, to securely work with all of the devices and event history in your Google Home ecosystem," Taylor Lehman, group product manager at Google Home & Nest, said in a blog post. According to Lehman, Home MCP integ … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/996310/google-home-mcp-integration-agentic-ai-smart-home-price-release-...

Claude is getting a pair of new tools today: Docs and Slides . They'll let you create documents and presentations through Claude chats, which you can export, edit, and share with other users. As part of the announcement, Anthropic is also simplifying how Claude chats work, merging regular chats and Cowork into "one Claude," with all of its AI productivity tools available from any chat. Artifacts and Claude Design capabilities will be available through the new single interface as well. According to Anthropic, Claude "can now figure out what a task needs, so what Cowork and Design can do is available from any conversation, with the context, sk … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/996234/anthropic-one-claude-cowork-docs-slides

You may not know it, but minivans are making a comeback in the US. Look around, and you'll start to notice an uptick in these breadboxes on wheels. Sales were up 21 percent in 2025 , suggesting that the humble minivan is shaking off its "uncool" stigma and finding new fans among an SUV-weary public. I'm here for it. One of the companies currently carrying the torch for minivans is Kia, which has sold its popular Carnival minivan here since 2021. Kia is also one of the few automakers making all-electric vans. This week, the Korean automaker rolled out its new PV7 at IAA Transportation in Germany . This is the second electric van from Kia's Pla … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/transportation/995608/kia-pv7-electric-van-specs-sale

The Centauri Carbon 2 stores the filament on the outside to fit the bowden tube in the build space. | Image: The Verge If the high price tag of premium 3D printers have kept you from exploring the hobby, this deal is a great entry point. Elegoo has its Centauri Carbon 2 Combo on sale for $369, almost $100 off its usual price of $449. This capable 3D printer can handle four filament rolls at once, with a fully enclosed printing area, auto-leveling bed, and big touchscreen for easy project management. It’s altogether very capable 3D printer for beginners, or just anyone who doesn’t want to spend a lot of time tinkering with settings just to print occasional trinkets and brackets. Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 Combo Where to Buy: $449 $369 at Elegoo The Centauri Carbon 2 is fast and capable right out of the box, though first-time setup is a little involved (I found it tough to get the upper shield and filament hub to fit together, for example). But I rea...

There are a lot of movies that have tried to seamlessly integrate modern tech - text messages, livestreams, etc. - into their storytelling. Some of the most novel attempts have been in the genre space, like the Twitch-style horror flick Deadstream . But the most chaotic to date might just be Vintage Violence , an absurd crime thriller with lots of blood, jokes, and screentime. I was able to catch Vintage Violence , the latest from director Eugene Kotlyarenko, on my fifth day at the Toronto International Film Festival. Kotlyarenko has previously explored our hyper-connected culture in 2020's Spree , a movie in which Stranger Things ' Joe Keery pl … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/995472/tiff-2026-vintage-violence-the-devils-gentle-monster

Welcome back. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Dell's last XPS 13 was meant to be a farewell before the company sunset the entire XPS brand . But it was a bitter ending , and an overpriced one as well. Earlier this year, Dell resurrected the XPS name with the excellent (and very expensive) XPS 14 and 16. And now, it's reinvented the XPS 13 as a much more affordable thin-and-light to take on the MacBook Neo . Call it another comeback. The 2026 XPS 13 has the nicest hardware you'll find in a new $700 laptop outside of Apple's Neo. The core components - the screen, keyboard, trackpad, and speakers - are all great or excellent. It's an exquisite package in a sleek and very thin ultra-portable. … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/994636/dell-xps-13-2026-intel-wildcat-lake-8gb-16gb-review

Netflix has announced three new adaptations of Sega games: a Crazy Taxi film, a Sonic animated series "built for kids who want to feel a little edge," and a live-action movie based on the upcoming Stranger Than Heaven from Yakuza developer RGG Studio. The Crazy Taxi movie will be the first project released, though it doesn't have a debut date yet. Netflix also already has three seasons of a Sonic show called Sonic Prime . Here's Netflix's descriptions of the upcoming adaptations: Crazy Taxi : Since its 1999 arcade debut, Crazy Taxi has put players behind the wheel of a fearless cabbie racing the clock through chaotic city streets - flying … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/streaming/994861/netflix-crazy-taxi-sonic-stranger-than-heaven

Demonstrators hold a banner against Flock security cameras during a protest outside the G20 Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. Photographer: Cornell Watson/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Bloomberg via Getty Images From Florida to Washington state , local governments across the country are canceling their contracts with Flock, the company behind the controversial AI-enabled license plate readers, in response to public outcry. But ending the contracts doesn't necessarily mean the cameras will come down immediately - or that the information they've gathered will be deleted anytime soon. Even as state and local governments decide to rein in their surveillance capabilities, uncertainty remains about what Flock can and will do with data that has already been collected. Each jurisdiction's contract is different, but many of them let Flock retain data long af … Read the full story at The Verge. ...

Yesterday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a lengthy open letter saying it was time to "pace the frontier" and slow down AI development. OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk both agreed, publicly voicing their support on X. Even Alphabet's Demis Hassabis offered tentative support for Amodei's proposal. Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, however, seem to think the AI executives are being overreactive and fear that a pause could lead to China outpacing the US in the AI race. According to the Financial Times , Trump said "Look, we're leading China in AI … and, frankly, I want to keep it that way, because whoever wins AI, wins." Jo … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/994441/trump-mike-johnson-ai-industry-overreacting

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says Apple is developing two game controllers for the iPhone and will likely sell them under the Beats brand. Rumors that Apple might enter the game controller business have circulated for some time. But last week, MacRumors reported finding two references in macOS 26.7's code to two game controllers identified as first-party devices. Despite the code being found in macOS, not iOS, Gurman says the controllers are designed for iPhones. Additionally, he says that it is Beats executives leading the charge on this product. Apple sometimes uses its subsidiary brand to experiment with new product categories and compete at … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/994426/apple-iphone-game-controllers

The Units are a band I discovered in part thanks to No Dogs in Space . During their miniseries on The Screamers (another incredible band worth checking out), they mention synthpunk.org as one of their sources. And there's no better way to get my attention than to combine two of my favorite things - punk rock and synthesizers . The site was down that day (it appears to be back up now), but I was able to access a version from July through the Wayback Machine. What greeted me was a bare-bones site with links for six bands, including The Screamers. But at the top was The Units, a band I'd never heard of and, after tracking down their 1980 record D … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/994415/the-units-digital-stimulation-synthpunk-review

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed that there would be no OpenAI IPO in 2026 during an interview with Fortune . Over the course of 45 minutes, Altman discussed a variety of subjects including the Hugging Face hacking incident, recursive self-improvement, and the possibility of building an AI that was beyond human control. On the latter, he said it was "absolutely" possible, but vowed to take actions to prevent that from happening, even if it meant pausing training, adding that "there are risks we should not be able to incur on behalf of humanity." "We're not rushing into an IPO. I actually think that, given everything happening with safety, th … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/994384/sam-altman-no-openai-ipo-ill-advised

Blizzard originally tried to bring the StarCraft universe to the world of 3D shooters way back in 2002 with StarCraft: Ghost . It sat in development hell for years until Blizzard president Mike Morhaime confirmed that it had been canceled in 2014. Now Blizzard is giving it another go with the simply titled StarCraft . Dan Hay, a VP at Blizzard, took the stage at BlizzCon today to reveal that after more than a decade of lying dormant, StarCraft would be returning in 2030. But, rather than another top-down real-time strategy installment, the new title would be an open-world shooter. He then showed off a cinematic trailer for the title that fo … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/games/994371/starcraft-returns-in-2030-as-an-open-world-shooter

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says the time has come to slow down AI development and will give third-party evaluators like METR access to its models to help ensure its "adherence to safety practices and commitments." In a winding essay , Amodei proposed a three-step plan to "pace the frontier" - jargon that simply means to slow the pace of training and development to give companies time to build safeguards and regulators to evaluate models. Amodei says that giving external evaluators wide-ranging access is just the first step, and one it is taking now unilaterally . Step two would involve the industry coming together as a whole, likely with gove … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/994337/anthropic-ceo-slow-down-ai-development

The White House claims the Donald Trump-owned Truth Social is the "most powerful and popular social media platform in the world." The statement, provided to The New York Times by White House spokesperson Davis Ingle, is at odds with the user counts from some of the biggest social media platforms on the web. Data gathered by Search Engine Land shows YouTube is the most popular platform in the world, with 2.65 billion monthly active users. Facebook comes in second with 2.39 billion active users around the globe, followed by TikTok with 2.21 billion and Instagram with 1.99 billion. Truth Social doesn't make Search Engine Land 's top 10 list, wh … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/policy/994072/white-house-truth-social-popular-powerful

After admitting earlier this year that its AI models had hacked other companies' systems on a handful of occasions, Anthropic released a new report on Wednesday detailing the attacks. It reveals a string of incidents displaying what Anthropic deems its models' single-minded "recklessness" - and will likely fuel already raging concerns about cybersecurity and AI. In Anthropic's report, it detailed four cases this year in which its own AI models hacked an external company or exploited vulnerabilities. In one, an "internal, general-purpose research model" broke into third-party systems, using access tokens and passwords and downloading files. … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/994064/anthropic-spent-this-week-in-hot-water-over-cybersecurity

Frank Shaw in 2025. | Image: Microsoft Frank Shaw is leaving Microsoft after 17 years as chief communications officer. In an internal note to his team, Shaw says he's "decided it is time for me to move on and try new things," after supporting Microsoft's communications for 29 years - nearly 20 years as a Microsoft employee plus time at the Waggener Edstrom agency (now We. Communications) before that. Shaw has been at the heart of Microsoft's communications since 1997, helping the company navigate multiple Windows and Office releases, CEO transitions, the all-important bet on cloud, and huge acquisitions like the $26.2 billion LinkedIn purchase in 2016 and the $69 billion acquisi … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/news/993791/microsoft-frank-shaw-leaving-head-of-comms

A new feature coming to Slack will allow you to build interactive reports, polls, dashboards, presentations, microsites, and other tools directly inside a chat. With Slackforce Surfaces , you can describe to Slackbot what you need, and it will use AI to gather information from relevant conversations and connected apps, like Google Drive or Salesforce, to create it. Once Slackbot creates a Surface, you can share it with colleagues and pin it to channels, allowing other people to view it, interact with it, and leave comments. In one example shared by Slack, a user asks Slackbot for help creating an arcade-themed visualization of AI token usage … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/tech/989853/slackforce-surfaces-launch

It's the hot new thing in tech, and it's where all the jobs are. Students who don't learn to use it fall behind. And to help them catch up in time, its creators are graciously providing the resources and curriculum for learning it, often pro bono. That's the narrative AI companies are pitching schools on right now, but according to New York Times education technology reporter Natasha Singer, it's also how the tech industry has built its influence in classrooms for the past 15 years. In a new book, Coding Kids , Singer details how tech companies took a central role in promoting computers and coding skills in education, promising computer sci … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/policy/993308/computer-science-ai-education-coding-kids

Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K is fast and capable. | Image: The Verge Looking to take full advantage of your 4K television, but your current streaming stick doesn’t have the right features? Through September 13th, you can grab an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K from Woot for just $16.09 when you use the coupon code FIRE30 at checkout. With support for Wi-Fi 6 and 2GB of memory, it’s fast enough for streaming movies or playing games with Xbox Cloud Gaming or Nvidia GeForce Now. While this is the 2023 model, it’s functionally identical (and also has the same specs) to the current Fire TV Stick 4K Plus that costs considerably more. It received a name change in late 2025 to differentiate it from the more basic 4K Select model. Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Where to Buy: $49.99 $16.09 at Woot (with coupon code FIRE30) Like the other 4K Fire TV sticks, the 2023 model supports a huge variety of streaming services and apps, and the Alexa Plus voice assistant feature lets...

A new federal program to test the feasibility of electric, hybrid-electric, and autonomous aircraft kicks off today in Texas - before the rules governing this new technology have even been finalized. Earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration's Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) selected eight state-led projects to serve as some of the first public tests of these new aircraft. The first one kicks off today in Texas, featuring three eVTOL companies: Joby, Beta, and Wisk. For the next week, these companies will conduct test flights demonstrating future routes … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/transportation/993341/evtol-air-taxi-aviation-eipp-texas

Go, go escargots! | Image: Google Google is introducing a new Live Game Feed to keep you updated on NFL games as the regular season kicks off tonight. Look for the red "Live" icon and you'll see a recap of the ongoing game, play-by-play updates, top commentary on social, video highlights, and "AI-powered insights." It's available now on mobile in English, with support for college games and more languages coming later this month. Search on mobile is also getting a new carousel that lets you flip through scores for other games currently in progress. Stats are improving too, now showing which players lead in categories like passing touchdowns and rushing yards, as well as impr … Read the full story at The Verge. source https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/991893/google-search-gets-better-at-live-nfl-football