Two years after launching, social network Bluesky is revising its Community Guidelines and other policies, and asking for feedback from its users on some of the changes. The startup, a competitor to X, Threads, and open networks like Mastodon, says its new policies are meant to offer improved clarity and more detail around its user safety procedures and the appeals process. Many of the changes … [Read more...]

Airbnb won’t charge you at the time of booking if you choose its ‘reserve now, pay later’ option.Aug 14, 2025, 6:33 PM UTCEmma Roth is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.Airbnb has introduced a new “reserve now, pay later” option that lets users in the US book a reservation without paying … [Read more...]

Russian hackers briefly hijacked a dam in Norway in early April and spilled millions of gallons of water before the attack was stopped, Norway’s spy chief revealed Thursday. The hackers opened a floodgate at the Bremanger dam in western Norway to release the equivalent of about three Olympic-sized swimming pools of water during the four hours they had control of the dam’s computer … [Read more...]

Advanced theoretical research points out that tiny black holes born from violent cosmic collisions could provide a significant glance towards the quantum nature of space and time. This is also known as “black hole morsels,” these compact objects may release bursts of high-energy radiation — a phenomenon predicted by Stephen Hawking in the 1970s, that makes them significantly identifiable with … [Read more...]

China continues to go toe to toe with to SpaceX's Starlink by expanding its Guowang internet constellation. First launched in December 2024, Guowang (meaning “national network”) is run by state-owned China SatNet and will include roughly 13,000 satellites. On Aug. 13, a Long March 5B rocket successfully lifted off with the eighth batch of satellites from Wenchang Space Launch Center on the island … [Read more...]

I’d stepped into the home lab rabbit hole right as I started uni, which, in hindsight, was a terrible decision for my wallet. However, tinkering with different home servers offered several benefits for my CS major. Thanks to an army of disposable VMs, I never had to worry about dependency hell or cluttered files on my daily driver, while K8s and Proxmox were great for my DevOps projects. Source: … [Read more...]

The European Space Agency's Mars Express has been mapping Mars for over 20 years. In July 2025 it sent back a high-resolution image of the Acheron Fossae region – a rugged area cut by deep chasms and valleys. It's layout of ridges and sunken valleys has long intrigued researchers. The new photo examines the western edge of this region, giving a closer look at the fascinating topography found here. … [Read more...]

Cohere on Thursday announced that it had raised an oversubscribed $500 million round, bringing its valuation to $6.8 billion. This is up from the $5.5 billion valuation it landed a little over a year ago when it raised its previous round, also $500 million. Toronto-headquartered Cohere was one of the first breakout LLM model makers, founded in 2019 by co-founder Aidan Gomez, one of the authors of … [Read more...]

The letter comes after Grok Imagine spat out topless deepfakes of Taylor Swift.Aug 14, 2025, 5:37 PM UTCHayden Field is The Verge’s senior AI reporter. An AI beat reporter for more than five years, her work has also appeared in CNBC, MIT Technology Review, Wired UK, and other outlets.A new letter to the Federal Trade Commission, and US attorneys general for all 50 states and the District of … [Read more...]

Researchers examined how DNNs learn features or memorise the features in contrast to the memristor over time when training DNNs. Spring-and-friction machines: Scientists have also created mechanical devices called spring-and-friction machines to see how springs and friction conspire together. Your data is dashed down by a dimensionality layer, and it informs on a magnitude of surface friction (how … [Read more...]

Google has achieved a significant milestone in mobile security with the announcement that Android’s protected KVM (pKVM) hypervisor has officially received SESIP Level 5 certification, marking it as the first software security system designed for large-scale consumer electronics deployment to reach this prestigious assurance level. This groundbreaking achievement positions Android at the … [Read more...]

Let’s face it: the PC gaming market may not be growing at the breakneck pace it once did, but it still commands extraordinary influence. Gaming hardware is often the proving ground for technologies that spill over into mainstream consumer and commercial PCs — high-end graphics, advanced cooling systems, immersive audio, and personalization features that redefine user expectations. HP knows this, … [Read more...]

A meteor burned through the Georgia sky in the middle of the day on June 26, 2025. The fireball was also so bright that both satellites and dozens of eyewitnesses in southeastern states caught it as well. A piece from the falling wreckage actually did make it through the blazing trip again to smash by way of a roof in McDonough, and dent a wood floor 14 feet down. Subsequent analysis by scientists … [Read more...]

We have some great news for fans of rhythm games. Ratatan hits Steam early access on September 19. This is a spiritual successor to one of the most renowned rhythm games of all time, Patapon. The designer behind the original game, Hiroyuki Kotani, is involved.The mechanics here are similar to Patapon and its sequels, but look to be more elaborate. The game tasks players with rhythmically … [Read more...]

The company is changing its rules after a report revealed some ways its AI chatbot could talk to children.Aug 14, 2025, 5:10 PM UTCJay Peters is a news editor covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.In an internal document, Meta included policies that allowed its AI chatbots to flirt and speak with children using romantic language, … [Read more...]

ESR is offering refunds for its HaloLock wireless power banks sold through Amazon, Home Depot, and its online store.Aug 14, 2025, 5:01 PM UTCAndrew Liszewski is a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid.ESR has issued a recall for 33,000 HaloLock wireless power banks, in 6,000mAh and 10,000mAh … [Read more...]

Prior to IFA in early September, HP is looking to get ahead of its rivals with a substantial update to its PC gaming portfolio headlined by the new Omen Max 45L desktop alongside a full slate of peripherals.While the Omen Max 45L (pricing still TBA) features a similar design to the existing Omen 35L, HP's latest flagship desktop should bring even more beastly performance without sacrificing on … [Read more...]

Jim Lovell, a former NASA astronaut who commanded the harrowing Apollo 13 mission that became an enduring story of courage, ingenuity and survival after he helped pilot the stricken lunar spacecraft safely back to Earth in 1970, passed away at age 97. NASA Lovell in an undated photo from 1968 -- NASA astronaut James A. Lovell passed away on Thursday (Augist 7) at the age of 94, the space agency … [Read more...]

This past spring, Anthropic introduced learning mode, a feature that changed Claude's interaction style. When enabled, the chatbot would, following a question, try to guide the user to their own solution, instead of providing them with an answer outright. Since its introduction in April, learning mode has only been available to Claude for Education users. Now, like OpenAI did with Study Mode, … [Read more...]

HP has updated a number of its existing Omen machines for the newest generation of PC hardware, including the Omen 35L desktop and the Omen 16 gaming laptop, along with the Omen Max 45L, an upgrade to the previous Omen 45L with HP's new branding. But the newest entry in the Omen lineup for this year is the Omen 35L Stealth. Similar to the existing Omen 35L, this is a 35-liter desktop gaming PC … [Read more...]