The World Cup puts the US’s nightmarish immigration policies front and center

This video bird feeder is the surprise hit of Prime Day

Scoop from me … the company behind the excellent Level Lock has lost the majority of its staff and its founders amid “restructuring” by parent company Assa Abloy. #smarthome

OpenAI unveils GPT-5.6 amid US AI regulatory drama www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

Smart lock maker Level has been gutted and its founders are out

Xreal’s best USB-C smart glasses are $50 off, but not for long

It’s now the Arduino Uno Q’s turn to get a price hike

It’s been two weeks since Anthropic took its Mythos-class models offline after a Friday evening ultimatum from the Trump administration. Since then, what, if anything, has changed — and what hasn't? (Hint: Mostly nothing has. And that's the strange part.) www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

This week on Optimizer, a reminder that accuracy in health tracking isn't as important as consistency. None of these smart scales ever gives me the same reading and it's impossible to gain/lose 5% muscle in a day. Fixating on individual numbers is a losing game. tinyurl.com/3vjwhhdz

Fitbit’s Charge 6 and kid-friendly Ace LTE are much cheaper for Prime Day

Sometimes, health tracking accuracy is overrated

a slightly updated version www.theverge.com/entertainmen...

Of course Meta thinks gambling is the future

Anthropic’s Mythos mess is only getting worse

Apple’s AirPods Max 2 headphones are still $150 off — for now

Apple doesn’t typically mess with pricing on its current models, but the memory crisis is re-writing the rules of consumer tech pricing. Read more from @allisonjo1.bsky.social:

Prime Day is offering rare discounts on Philips Hue smart lights

With GTA looming, consoles are getting expensive at the worst possible time

Samsung will soon start charging to access its smart home API

Apple’s most powerful Macs might be waiting until 2027 for big processor upgrades

It’s the last day of Prime Day — here are over 130 great deals to choose from

Trump Mobile will take your $499 right now

Android 17’s new foldable gaming mode could make flippy phones more fun

YouTube updates Shorts to make it even more like TikTok

OpenAI will delay GPT-5.6 after Trump administration request

Framework has good news and bad news

Instagram for TV is another sign that the company has lost sight of what actually keeps people logging on to the app (the fact that we've always got our phones with us and our attention spans are in the gutter)

Score a discounted Xbox console before the prices jump

Instagram wants to monopolize your attention

RAMageddon just got extremely real

"I formed friendships that could not have existed otherwise, meeting people from all kinds of backgrounds all over the world. You could be anyone you wanted, but EverQuest felt like a rare place online where what people wanted was just to be themselves." Read more:

Today’s Vergecast: How to train your data. Training data is the raw material of the AI industry. Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and the rest are built on top of oceans of stuff. What is that stuff? Books. Blog posts.... https://www.theverge.com/podcast/957223/todays-vergecast-how-to-train-your-data

While I was writing this blog post spurred in part by Apple's sweeping price hikes, Xbox announced its own significant price hikes that I also wrote about and then included in this article. It's bad out there. www.theverge.com/tech/957151/...

Microsoft is hiking the price of its Xbox consoles by $100 or more. The discless Xbox Series X will start at $749.99, while the disc drive version is $799.99. Overall, 512GB models will be $100 more expensive, while 1TB models will be $150 more expensive www.theverge.com/games/957042...

If you’ve been in the market for a new computer or tablet, this week has been filled with sticker shock. Given how many companies announced price hikes related to component shortages, it seems unlikely things will get cheaper any time soon. Read more from @jaypeters.net: buff.ly/Jup4xIP

You won’t have long to get these iPad deals before Apple’s price hike

Polestar has been muscled out of the US market

Here’s a bunch of Prime Day deals on keyboards, mice, and other peripherals we like

The Apple Watch Series 11 is $120 off for Prime Day, its all time low price

yeesh, it's rough out there www.theverge.com/games/957042...

Microsoft is increasing the prices of Xbox consoles again. Starting August 1st, 512GB models will be $100 more expensive, while 1TB models will be $150 more expensive. This means that the Xbox Series X without a disc drive will start at $749, and the Series X with a disc drive will start at $799.

The Samsung S26 Ultra is already marked down to $920 for Prime Day

The latest in my ongoing quest to fill my life with single-purpose distraction free gadgets.

Here are all of the Apple price hikes

Upgrade your home with Prime Day deals for $40 or less

Oppo’s Bubble selfie screen is crying out for Qi2

BYOK is my new go-to distraction-free writing tool

Hi friends! It's Thursday, I'm listening to pop-punk covers of Disney songs, I'm putting together this week's Installer and want to know what you're into. What are you watching / reading / playing / gluing back together this week? Tell me so I can tell everyone! (And subscribe to Installer!)

How the World Cup became a US streaming success story

Get Macbooks at a Prime Day discount before Apple’s new price hikes kick in