Wellness branding often slips into science-washing — and that can be incredibly hard for the average person to spot in the age of influencer marketing. Read more of this week's Optimizer from @vicmsong.bsky.social: buff.ly/fbHcPvl

It's taken me all day to figure out what to say about today's WaPo layoffs, an unnecessary upending of the careers of hundreds of journalists, the paper itself, and the way millions of readers understand our current world aftermath.site/washington-p...

I wrote about the Epstein files (gift link) www.theverge.com/tech/874721/...

One of the reasons I think brand deals are so weird and icky is that like the entire creator economy is propped up by AG1 and no one can say the obvious thing: it’s nonsense! @vicmsong.bsky.social dives in (gift link!) www.theverge.com/column/87469...

Trying a new-ish thing with Optimizer this week where I evaluate how wellness brands communicate their science online. First up: Athletic Greens “Clinically backed” doesn’t mean what you think. tinyurl.com/3693w28j

You know what I took for granted? A slow news day. Remember those?

Screaming because health reporters are vital in this era of gray market peptides, vaccine doubt, and the wellness wild west.

My proposal is that since 2026 is off to a tremendously stupid start, we call this dumpster fire of the last few weeks 2025 and start 2026 over again on the lunar new year, February 17th.

🫩 I dream of a day where gofundmes aren’t necessary. But until then, please help if you can or signal boost. I know it can get exhausting to see media gofundmes pop up every few weeks but, it’s hard and we need good journalists in all fields more than ever.

Unbelievable

At a time when journalism is vital and WaPo’s owner spent how much on the Melania doc rights again.

:cry-laughs in Matt Rife and Dave Chappelle comedy specials:

ICE tear gassed a bunch of children on Saturday. This was a massive escalation of force. They were shooting tear gas at the back of the crowd, it took these unmasked people maybe 3-5 minutes in the cloud of tear gas to escape in without trampling. www.theverge.com/policy/87278...

Leo Laporte and guests @devindra.bsky.social, @grivlin.bsky.social, and @vicmsong.bsky.social break down AI agent social networks, social media on trial, and shifting tech economics. Listen:

We are only about 30% to our goal. If you have the means to help, we would be grateful. It’s hard times in media right now and those affected at Vox were stellar storytellers and editors at a time when journalism is desperately needed. Even a signal boost helps!

this reporting from @vicmsong.bsky.social is maybe my favorite thing I've read in tech this year. yes, I'm biased because I'm a former Supernatural user who's frustrated with how it went down, but god damn this @theverge.com piece is good journalism. www.theverge.com/tech/871250/...

A passionate group of women rediscovered fitness in VR. They’re furious with Mark Zuckerberg for killing their community. Read more from @vicmsong.bsky.social: www.theverge.com/tech/871250/...

Another side thought about this whole thing. Meta is trying to court athletes with its Oakley-branded glasses. It's hard to see that when I just talked to so many marginalized athletes who loved and found community in a Meta product... and they were abandoned because they weren't profitable enough.

This was a great TWIT for trying times

I used this app and other VR apps during covid and after when I had a back injury that barely allowed me to walk. Supernatural was incredibly accessible with a support community. The median age/demo for Supernatural is 50 year old women, a group oft ignored in games. This really is a loss

Here’s a story I’ve been working on for a few weeks. Over 50 Supernatural fans reached out to share how a VR fitness game changed their lives — and they had choice words about how Mark Zuckerberg and Meta killed the one thing that brought them together. (Gift link) tinyurl.com/4yaftn2s

New Podcast Episode: This Week in Tech: In My Head I Have 3 Buckets Moltbook Becomes a Surreal AI Agent Social Network with @leolaporte.me, @grivlin.bsky.social, @devindra.bsky.social, @vicmsong.bsky.social

Reupping this one just because I'm still thinking about the concepts I wrote about in it. (And because I'm pretty proud of this one.)

And we're live and I'm starting to answer questions now!

In addition to an AMA later today, I have this week's Optimizer for you now about cute robots that promise to boost mental wellbeing... by being cute. Come for the kawaii, stay for the thoughts on east vs west robot culture, dementia, and a musical about singing, dying robots. tinyurl.com/mrybapda

It’s time for another subscriber-exclusive AMA, and this time, @vicmsong.bsky.social will be your host. If you have any burning questions about wearable gadgets, AI companions, or the wildest wellness tech, drop a question in the comments of this article; answers will start coming in at 2PM ET.

Hello, your friendly neighborhood senior reviewer is doing a Verge subscriber-only AMA later today at 11AM PT / 2PM ET. Come ask any burning questions you have about wearables / health tech / Optimizer. Or, come hang / tell me what you want to see me cover. www.theverge.com/column/87039...

Preach girl, preach. As always, an incredibly insightful and important read from @miasato.bsky.social

Whenever my international friends ask me about America I just send them this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag1o...

Please help our laid-off Vox Media colleagues, including those from The Verge. Yours truly will be helping maintain transparency on the fund and disbursement!

TikTok informed me that the children are now saying “lowkenuinely” to mean “i really mean it but keep it low key” and “lowkentologicalowstate” to mean absolutely locked in. I lowkenuinely choose to quit consciousness rn.

Winter is going to bed at 6PM

This week on Optimizer: my search into the contents of a dubious vial of "GLP-3" that I obtained off the gray market. Turns out, getting this tested is harder than I thought. This is a gift link but if you want to follow along, please consider subscribing to Optimizer! tinyurl.com/39z3shu3

I’ve learned nothing about hockey from Heated Rivalry but I have learned that these fictional closeted hockey gays afraid of being outed are totally fine doing filthy things to each other in front of giant windows in broad daylight.

There has to be a better way to email than :checks notes: Spend 5,000 years setting up filters and all those clean up inbox apps that just ask you to sort through you email in a different way. Until then, I just archived 100+ unread emails from CES.

Caught up on If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You, The Housemaid, and Die My Love. Think this should be mandatory viewing for men marrying women before marriage and kids.

Devastated to lose @barb.bsky.social and @adashtra.bsky.social. It's a small relief that our collective efforts bargaining a fair contract will give our cherished colleagues a competitive severance package. I'm proud to be part of the Union's diversity committee, which isn't going anywhere.

Breaks my heart to share this, but today is my last day at The Verge and I am looking for work! I'd really like to stay in video games, preferably in some kind of journalistic capacity but I can do PR/Marketing and maybe even a lil Narrative Design. Please get in touch! www.ashparrish.com

We just launched gift links at The Verge… so I gift you this week’s Optimizer (for the next 5 days). It’s about f33t t3ch. www.theverge.com/column/86314...

Watching Seinfeld as a tech writer is suppressing the urge to say “All these scenarios would be solved by the internet and smartphones.”

I've been helping my friend spruce up her cover letters for IT jobs and holy jesus, mother mary, and jumpin' jehoshaphat... these descriptions are word vomit so egregious I'm not sure AI could generate this slop. WTF does "ownership mentality when managing field-driven work" even mean for a coder

If you're a Supernatural user and angry about the recent news.... hit a girl up. My signal is @vicmsong.14 or you can email me at [email protected]

How I have spent every day since returning from CES to recover from catching up on the dumpster fire that is US news.

This week’s Optimizer is about all the bodily fluid tech I encountered on the show floor — and what that tells us about health tech. Chatted with Oura and Dexcom’s CEOs about where the space is headed in 2026 too. www.theverge.com/tech/859132/...

Hello, Clarice. www.theverge.com/tech/857164/...

🥲

Here’s Ep 3 of this week’s Better Offline CES coverage. I’m joined by @rorycj.bsky.social @vicmsong.bsky.social , @iwriteok.bsky.social, @adamconover.net and @chloebadcliffe.bsky.social to talk about many things from Peptides to Wearables. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b... Linktr.ee/betteroffline

My deep dive into the taint bandaid/taint zapper/gooch taser www.theverge.com/tech/855841/...

just checking the list of published stories real quick to see how @vicmsong.bsky.social is doing at ces oooookay

Please stay tuned for my hands on write up as well where I will regale you with six years of covering this device. That’s CES journalism baby.