Silicon Roundabout
Trump now says he wants to form an ‘AI Force’
The president posted on Truth Social that he wanted to appoint an "AI czar" to lead a new "AI force." He made the announcement amid growing calls from across the political spectrum and even within the industry to pump the brakes on AI developme...
How Windows turned months of inactivity into a 7-hour update hostage situation
Microsoft has a problem not entirely of its own making: The time it takes to bring a system back up to date after a few months of slumber. The company is keen to talk up how efficient it plans to make Windows. Not a day goes by without either a Micr...
A24’s reputation is on the line with the SCP Foundation movie
After the success of Backrooms, it looks like A24 is trying to cash in on yet another internet horror craze with a new installment in the V/H/S horror anthology series set in the SCP Foundation universe. But as soon as it was announced, the bac...
Humans, not rogue AI, are still the biggest cybersecurity risk to energy systems
Before recent high-profile hacks raised the specter of AI possibly "killing all humans," our energy systems were already disturbingly vulnerable to cyberattack - and the risk is growing. "We were always prey. We were just kind of surviving at t...
The hidden monopoly behind your TI graphing calculator
The same calculator has been on most kids' back to school shopping list since the early 2000's and the dominance of Texas Instruments' calculator division goes back even farther. In the next episode of Version History, David Pierce is joined by...
A great new video game movie
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 144, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, new tech season is here, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I flew...
All roads lead to cable
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 subscrib...
Meta’s Muse is creepy, but maybe not for the reasons you think
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...
Agentic security is the billion-dollar challenge for some clever startup to solve
When it comes to AI models, security functions as an afterthought, as evidenced by increased instances of agents hacking organizations and people, and other security mishaps with agents gone rogue. There's also an opportunity here for companies to o...
AI boom could leave an e-waste trail that wraps 6 times around Earth
AI infrastructure could generate enough electronic waste by 2050 to fill a line of shipping containers stretching around Earth six times, according to a report that argues existing estimates drastically understate the problem. Previous estimates hav...
Trump treads further on free speech with new journalist bans
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 ha...
Gemini went rogue, hacked three companies, and Google hid it
In May, Gemini broke containment and hacked three different companies, but Google didn't disclose the incident until the Wall Street Journal approached the company. The hacks happened during a test of the model's cybersecurity capabilities run...
The colorful, unique Hyte X50 PC case is $50 off
The Hyte X50 is a PC case that really stands out from the typical black box design, and it’s $50 off at the company’s site until September 21st, 2026, bringing the price down to $99.99. This attractive case supports motherboards from ITX all th...
Anamanaguchi has ‘too goddamn many’ browser tabs open right now
Band members Luke Silas, Ary Warnaar, Peter Burkman, and James DeVito (left to right). Maybe their next album will be recorded entirely in a windmill? | Image: Joshua Tarn Anamanaguchi, the band consisting of Peter Berkman, James DeVito, Luke...
Does AI need an antitrust exemption so it doesn’t kill everyone????
Today on Decoder, we’ve got the first of a two-part series on the future of business, and I’m talking with Jonathan Kanter, the former antitrust chief for the US Department of Justice in the Biden administration. These days, he’s both a p...
Firefox 156 arrives with a forest of forks in its wake
Mozilla and MZLA have delivered the latest releases in their new fortnightly cycle, but users who dislike the faster pace have alternatives. Firefox 156 is trickling out to users. The release notes only mention two new features: for Mac users, there...
It’s not just LG. Every TV company is spying on you
The TV in your living room knows more about you than you realize. | Photo by John Higgins / The Verge The TV world has been a pot of controversy thanks to a two-hour-and-15-minute video from Gamers Nexus claiming LG TVs are nefariously spying...
The AI regulation smackdown isn’t over
At the start of this week, the who's-who of AI seemed - at least tentatively - on the side of AI regulation. Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had proposed a three-step plan for slowing AI development, including by embedding third-pa...
Anthropic decides to support OpenAI's markdown instructions spec
Anthropic on Friday surprised the developer community by supporting rival OpenAI's mechanism for passing marching orders to AI agents. This makes life easier for folks who use both platforms. "We're adding support for AGENTS.md to Claude Code," said...
Microsoft agentically ports Copilot runtime to Rust for $120K
The software engine underpinning GitHub Copilot and a growing number of Microsoft products is now written entirely in Rust, with AI agents doing most of the porting work. The migration cost about $120,000 in AI token usage plus about three weeks of...