What a dark day for press freedom in the United States

*Adam Jensen voice*: "Pritchard..."

New: 404 Media is suing ICE. We have filed a lawsuit demanding ICE release its $2 million contract with Paragon, a company that makes powerful spyware to break into phones and read encrypted messages. This is expensive for a small outlet but this info is important www.404media.co/were-suing-i...

There's an online radio station in Japan called Nonstop Casiopea. It rules (via the awesome Radio Garden app)

The following is a statement from the WGA on ABC’s decision to pull ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

Mainstream pundits have instantly sanitized and ignored Charlie Kirk's core political project and its impacts. He has been remembered by the mainstream press as someone they merely disagreed with, a debate me-guy whose words and actions had zero consequences: www.404media.co/charlie-kirk...

I got my hands on an pre-production sample of a new anti-glare Switch 2 screen protector, and ironically, it revealed that there's a dead cockroach in my ceiling light www.theverge.com/games/770667...

Since I got laid off in May I've been working with a number of other former Polygon writers to start a new website. I'm proud to announce that we've just launched Rogue.site, a worker-owned and operated games journalism site funded by readers like you.

tonight’s Alien: Earth episode is an Alien movie in miniature, so I wrote a bit about the franchise’s fundamental mean streak and how that makes it resonate, even when it stumbles slate.com/culture/2025...

my picks for what to watch this weekend! pvguide.ghost.io/movies-to-wa...

every new story like this convinces me more that the cat is entirely, irrecoverably out of the bag with these systems. no amount of guardrails or consulting with experts will ever fix this. they built a product designed to make people reliant on it emotionally/mentally, and that's the original sin

Ate too much ice cream...

What’s craaaazy to me is that a Minnesota state rep was ASSASSINATED and nothing even remotely close to this happened there

Our Eater GoFundMe is up! We all know this has been a difficult year for Vox, but the folks at Eater have been extremely dedicated in their support for each of their colleagues, past and present. Let's support them now!!! #unionstrong #voxunion #1u gofund.me/04932462

Today's Polygon Exit Interview is with commerce editor extraordinaire @cameronfaulkner.bsky.social, who ran Polygon's commerce program with passion and enthusiasm and was a joy to work with pvguide.substack.com/p/polygon-ex...

my picks for what to watch at home this weekend: pvguide.substack.com/p/weekend-wa...

For the evening crowd: I’m launching a new oral histories site called designroom.bsky.social. Won’t be much there for another month or so, but follow now to get in early!

~some personal news~ the vox media layoff monster finally got me, today is my last day at eater. i'm bummed, but a bit relieved that the ax finally swung it's been hell living in the real-life pit & the pendulum, but i've done a lot of stuff i'm proud of, especially the @voxmediaunion.bsky.social

Quote with a title screen that's iconic to you

I'm late to finding Grumpy, a band whose music elicits the opposite reaction in me when I listen to it www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FiM...

Start your morning with two minutes of the testimony of Samuel Garcia, an average American who drove 3 hours to speak truth to power to the Texas legislature. Let’s decide that we are all Samuel Garcia. Get in their faces and make them listen. Mr. Garcia is a great American.

Beyond the 60 Minutes payoff & Colbert cancelation, an unprecedented capitulation: as part of merger agreement, new parent company agrees to install an official to "monitor bias" at CBS’s news division. CBS news will essentially be state controlled media. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/b...

A 3/3 green shell trio that looks expert but was random luck

Good morning! The premium tier of my newsletter, PV Guide, is now live. Support independent media, help me move off Substack (my first subscriber goal!), and get some quality reviews, interviews and recs in return. Subscriber goals/milestones within: pvguide.substack.com/p/pv-guides-...

It's Thursday, and for the first time, I'm putting together this week's Installer newsletter for The Verge! I want to know what you're into right now. What are you reading / watching / playing / going down a deep rabbit hole about? Tell me so I can include it! (And subscribe to Installer!)

the alleged hacker says they've hit 3 universities. they have an ax to grind about the supposed favored status of racial minorities in American society. they also now have essentially acquired lists of people categorized by race www.theverge.com/analysis/703...

my nightmare would be to discover the dossier written for Hitman when he's sent on a mission to kill me. Not because I fear death at the hands of Agent 47 but I know Diana Burnwood would make me sound like the dumbest piece of shit imaginable. she would read me for filth

hey, you ever re-read the Declaration of Independence? some fascinating stuff in there www.theverge.com/policy/69730...

This is incredible @hitpoints.bsky.social

New: Nintendo has intentionally broken the Switch 2’s compatibility with third-party docks, glasses and other video output devices by locking down its USB-C video output, according to accessory manufacturers and supported by my own testing. (I sniffed the USB-PD!) www.theverge.com/report/69591...

I played Donkey Kong Bananza for two hours, and it seems wonderful. All I could think about while playing was Red Faction: Guerilla

If you read only one article today, read this one

I'm not usually in the "skip cutscenes" camp, but doing that helped me enjoy Death Stranding more than I would have. Excited to not know what the hell's going on in On The Beach and be just fine with that

JENA, La. (AP) — Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil has been released from an immigration jail after 104 days in custody.

@welch.bsky.social is this not the photo from your review?

Thank you all SO MUCH for your support. Our incredible Bargaining Committee worked into the night for us and reached a Tentative Agreement at around 5am! 🙏💪🥳🎉 As of now there will be NO STRIKE! Please continue enjoying all our work, knowing you all helped us get here! #unionstrong #voxunion #1u

Despicable. Trump’s goons are roughing up and handcuffing @padilla.senate.gov as he tries to ask a simple question. This is what dictatorship looks like. Watch:

I helped to put gamechat to the test by coughing into my mic

i like making fun little tweaks to things using the "Inspect" tool in Chrome. just little jokes for me to giggle at

The 8BitDo USB adapter 2 doesn't seem to work with the Switch 2. It syncs up, but inputs don't register at all.

8 days left in our contract and we’re still hard at work bargaining to get a fair contract from Vox Media and make sure our union members are taken care of!

Hello world! We are Autonomy News, a new worker-owned reproductive justice news outlet cofounded by @garnethenderson.com and @susanrinkunas.com. Our reporting will never be paywalled, and you can support our work with a subscription to keep it free for everyone.

Bungie on Kepler’s obvious Metroid Inspiration and avoiding the Riis-Reborn problem in Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate We sat down with Destiny 2's game director and assistant game director to talk about the game's new expansion, The Edge of Fate

I thought this line was particularly telling, and not just for New Yorkers: “I never used to be as far left as a Bernie [Sanders], but those are the only people who are looking out for us,” said Anita Hennessey, a 61-year-old child care worker.

STARTING IN MINUTES!! ✨ JOIN US, the laid off former Polygon crew, at www.twitch.tv/cashley as we make one last fundraising push on the laid off Polygon workers fund: www.gofundme.com/f/support-po... thank you all!!!!!

the guides work that these two were doing at Polygon was on another level. Support their work!

hey all, i just got laid off from my job. i have 10+ years exp in social media and gaming- worked for polygon, gamespot, rooster teeth, inverse. besides media, i’ve spent the last year working w/ devs to help market their games. if anyone has any leads, i’d appreciate you sending them my way.

New from 404 Media: the CIA secretly ran a Star Wars fan website. Was part of the network of sites the CIA used to communicate with sources. Iran discovered the network, imprisoned people. Later dozens died in China after exposed www.404media.co/the-cia-secr...

For years, I hoped NPR, NYTimes, or the ghost of Gimlet would make a video game podcast. A weekly, hour-long audio magazine with essays, interviews, tight editing, and a cheeky sense of humor. Nobody made the show I wanted to hear. So, I made it myself. Here's the first episode of Post Games.