The violent occupation of Minneapolis started with a vlog. I've wanted to find a framework to describe Nick Shirley & others like him: "Influencer" is too quaint. "Journalist" is obviously wrong. I landed on "slopagandist." Gift link (open in a web browser) www.theverge.com/news/869824/...

me, emotionally writing an essay on the use of force by federal agents: ok but what if i packaged this in the most insane way possible www.theverge.com/policy/86857...

wait I've seen this one variety.com/2026/film/ne...

I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com

I have a new appreciation for beautiful gadgets but I will never buy something that costs as much as a car and doesn't weigh as much as a car

I wrote about California's attempt to stop ICE from masking, and what the legal uncertainty of the ban says about the health of our democracy (e.g., bad things) www.theverge.com/policy/86720...

I talked to one of the r/MassiveCock posters who decided to bring anti-ICE conversations to the subreddit. "... Nothing in life should feel ‘normal’ when these sorts of things are happening in our country. Even porn and sex," he said. Gift link (obviously): tinyurl.com/mr3nua5k

A keyboard for your phone on a magnetic power bank that you can easily attach/detach, an extensively customizable Xbox controller, and some robots that didn't fall over.

Comments on this story devolving into whether The Verge is allowed to write about politics….

1) "oh no our ai is so powerful" 2) I can't imagine reposting weird fake garbage instead of literally anything from my actual life

no better epitaph for this year, too, than “as crass and consequential as a Pokémon deportation meme”

CES should be a week later

In this week’s Optimizer, I buy an experimental “GLP-3” drug off the gray market after five minutes on TikTok. The Wellness Wild West is unregulated and people are turning themselves into guinea pigs with unapproved weight loss drugs. www.theverge.com/column/84640...

'Resurrection' really came together for me with that 30-minute shot, which Bi Gan really makes you wait for ... @knguyen.bsky.social talked to the director about the oner.

You guys made @charlespulliam.bsky.social mad about AI again

The gang turns @charlieharding.bsky.social's country song sample into AI Limp Bizkit with Suno (00:50:30) www.theverge.com/podcast/8434...

By the way, my story is free to read for everyone today, no subscription required, as part of a new feature The Verge introduced :-)

"You study how that liquid comes out of the hose normally. But then sometimes you have to manipulate the opening on the hose to make the liquid look like it’s actually coming out of someone’s mouth." Read our interview with the special effects foreman who unexpectedly went viral:

And next week we do it all over again

Last Sunday on The Stepback, @steviebonifield.bsky.social opened up a whole world of GeoCities revivalists for me. The kids are anti-social media, anti-AI, anti-algorithms, and pro-coding.

Big @tinanguyen.bsky.social scoop - the Trump MAGA / tech coalition continues to fracture as the hard right pushes back against David Sacks and his attempt to preempt state AI laws. Caught in the middle: Vance. www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...

I will be at CES... and I want to know what gadgets I absolutely must see *and touch* and quite possibly *film* for @theverge.com and my Today I'm Toying With video series! Does your gadget seem like a fit? Don't pitch me text: DM me photos or a video clip! www.theverge.com/gadgets/7128...

I don't know if this parade of misplaced confidence makes me want to Finally Write That Book or never write again

'Cause you know Vee'd test a million bots If she could just show you They suck

Our legal process depends upon litigants citing valid legal authority to support the claims they advance. At present, LLMs are degrading this information ecosystem in ways that mirror the damage being done in schools. Join me won't you for a short thread illustrating the breadth of the problem?

Suno is taking over Nashville's writing rooms. “You tell it the genre and it totally does the whole thing, it’s insane.” The tech is ubiquitous, “from entry-level songwriters to the top dogs” use it. Check out the story for audio samples. From @charlieharding.bsky.social:

the AI journalism revolution continues to go great, thanks for asking

“No one I’ve spoken to about AGI has flat out said, ‘that’s impossible, you’re a heretic, get away from me.’” John-Clark Levin and a group dubbed "AI Avengers" not only believe in AGI doomsday scenarios, they really want Pope Leo to say something about it. From @theroberthart.bsky.social:

Great story and also the recipe sites vs robots thing has been happening for years, except in the age of SEO it was humans trying to get robots’ attention, sometimes at the expense of accuracy. Another example is the “don’t smash a burger to hold in the juices” myth www.theverge.com/c/23998379/g...

Possibly the coolest internship ngl

"LLMs are simply tools that emulate the communicative function of language, not the separate and distinct cognitive process of thinking and reasoning, no matter how many data centers we build."

"As you grow up, you're more involved in society. I think it's a thing."

Leave it to Sean Duffy to make a critical safety milestone — the introduction of a female crash test dummy — grossly transphobic and weird

Another Leica post, another @superantonio64.bsky.social attempt to convince me that sauntering around with the equivalent of a used Prius around my neck is somehow "ok" and "cool" even www.theverge.com/news/824295/...

the verge's reviews program has always been the heart of the site and one reason we jealously protect it and refuse to do brand deals is so we can just say the products are bad www.theverge.com/report/82215...

New from me: The same tactics marketers use to get you to find their toothbrushes or photography business on Google were also used by Jeffrey Epstein & co. to try to launder his reputation online. SEO to try to cover up the most infamous pedophile ring. www.theverge.com/report/82231...

I'm in the verse today talking about reverse engineering the kinect 15 years ago, alongside @theowatson.bsky.social, @memoakten.bsky.social , and @adafruit.com! Thanks for covering this @geoffreybunting.bsky.social! Lots of fun memories.

There is no "vibe shift" when this keep happening

I just don't believe there are 1,000,000 people in the world who want a "robot"

Happy birthday to the Microsoft Kinect, a device I dearly hope to never write about again. For @theverge.com, I recounted the history of its hacking and the echoes of an older, now unreachable, internet that resound in its story. Also, AI, because… 2025.

Trumpoware

"Captured and Bound By My CEO" anyone? Hollywood is investing in stupid microdramas -- short and cheaply made scene clips, sold separately. Binging will cost you way more than a feature, but you get points, so you can binge a little more, if you're into that kind of thing. @jank0.bsky.social:

New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...

Grokipedia misgenders Chelsea Manning, cites a "race science" journal, and redirects DOGE searches to the Shiba Inu meme

Bill Gates 😘 AI

$3500 to look like this

another thing I don’t understand about people who want LLMs to “write” for them—how can you then feel smug about a thing you wrote? Coming up with a good idea better than your nemeses?? That’s the best part!

When your Chotiner interview is going great

Every single Wikipedia "alternative" I've ever come across works like this. IIRC even the NSA's internal Intellipedia cribs extensively from Wikipedia. The amount of work it would take it actually replace Wikipedia is just too massive (unless you wanted dubious machine-generated entries)

doppelgänger slop is here