The impossible dream of the universal remote
You don't really ever have to explain why a universal remote is a good idea. You have a bunch of stuff that needs controlling; this thing controls them all. Many companies have set out to build a...
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Solid-state batteries still aren’t ready, but gels are
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on e-bikes, power stations, and how to work anywhere, follow Thomas Ricker. The Stepback...
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Amazon security research reportedly led to the White House’s Anthropic Fable ban
According to the Wall Street Journal, the export control directive that led to Anthropic cutting off access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 was triggered in part by cybersecurity research from Amazon and...
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X-Men ’97 has what Master of the Universe is missing
In 2026, Marvel and Mattel are both releasing projects designed to capitalize on people's love for iconic animated heroes from their childhoods. Masters of the Universe has put a live-action...
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Sealed Super Mario Bros. sells for a record $3 million
A copy of Super Mario Bros., still in the box and sealed with its original sticker, just sold at Heritage Auctions for $3 million. That absolutely crushes the previous record of $2 million, also...
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Microsoft hasn’t ruled out spinning off Xbox
Microsoft is preparing to lay off a significant chunk of its Xbox division and is reevaluating the plans for its next-generation Project Helix console. It's apparently also considering...
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Bose’s latest QuietComfort Ultra are $70 off, marking a new low price
If you’re planning on traveling anytime soon, Bose’s second-generation QuietComfort Ultra headphones are a great companion for long flights and train rides. Not only do they offer excellent noise...
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My first 24 hours with Siri AI on the Mac
I turned off Siri on the Mac years ago and never looked back. Similarly, I found Apple Intelligence so fruitless I never engage with it. But the new Siri AI coming to macOS 27 Golden Gate has at...
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Never Post’s Mike Rugnetta on the creative process and the value of reliable power
Mike Rugnetta is a writer, podcast host, producer, audio engineer, educator, musician, sound designer, and father. In short, the man wears a lot of hats. He's the cocreator and host of the...
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My yard is dying, so I made an app for that
When I returned to my computer five minutes after giving Gemini a lengthy prompt, I had two things: a functional app in a preview window, and a message about a bug. "~ Channel is unrecoverably...
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Anthropic cuts off Fable 5 and Mythos 5 access following government order
On Friday evening, the government ordered Anthropic to block access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all foreign nations, both inside and outside the US, due to national security concerns. That order...
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A better way to manage all your screenshots
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 132, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, happy soccer, and also you can read all the old editions at the...
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Apple’s new AI photo editing tools mostly work, for better and worse
The most popular camera in the world just got its first set of serious AI photo editing features, and I don't think any of us are ready. As far as AI photo editing goes, the new features in iOS 27...
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Echo Isle is a pint-sized adventure inspired by classic Zelda
Echo Isle is heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda, and it's not afraid to show it: The retro graphics bear a striking resemblance to Link's Awakening, the main character wears a blue tunic and...
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The future of Hollywood isn’t feeding prompts into vanilla gen AI models
For all the noise that's been made about how generative AI is poised to revolutionize the filmmaking industry, there haven't really been any projects created with the technology that felt like the...
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Valve just imported 13 tons of VR headsets in one day
On June 10th, the German container ship Posen docked in Los Angeles after a two-week voyage from Shanghai. As Valve watcher Brad Lynch notes, it was almost certainly carrying the first mass...
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Nothing CEO says phone prices are going to keep going up
If you're thinking about upgrading your phone, "the best time was yesterday," according to Nothing CEO and co-founder Carl Pei, echoing a message we heard during MWC. As Android Authority reports,...
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The world’s first trillionaire is a killer
Elon Musk's SpaceX IPO will probably make him the richest person to ever walk the planet. And while his mountain of horrible personal conduct could fill multiple books, one fact in particular...
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Siri is good now??
You'd be forgiven for thinking this day would never come. Siri has spent a decade and half somewhere between "sort of useful at a few things" and "utterly disastrous, why did I even try, can it...
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A trillion dollars is a stupid amount of money
Elon Musk is now officially the world's first trillionaire. That is a colossal amount of wealth (and by proxy, power) for one individual to have. Its scale - a thousand times more than a billion -...
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