News
How the Amazon Echo learned to talk — and listen
A photo of a black speaker, the Amazon Echo, on a gray background. | Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Jeff Bezos badly wanted a voice computer. He had been saying so publicly since the very...
Grammarly’s sloppelganger saga
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the ups and downs of AI, follow Stevie Bonifield. The Stepback arrives in our...
The high price of everything, explained
The war with Iran is choking the Strait of Hormuz, limiting the amount of oil available to the rest of the world. | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images When I was growing up, my dad and I would play a game...
Why Easter never became a big secular holiday like Christmas
Editor’s note, April 6, 2026, 6 am ET: This story was originally published on March 29, 2018, and we’re revisiting it for this Easter. Christians from a variety of traditions will celebrate Easter...
The Spaceballs sequel will be released in April next year
There's finally a release date for the Spaceballs sequel — but before you get too excited, it's a whole year away. As first reported by Deadline, Amazon MGM Studios announced on Friday...
Ursula K. Le Guin’s blog has been turned into a podcast
For those will never tire of the words of Ursula K. Le Guin, a special treat is on the way. The esteemed late author's blog, which she started in 2010 at the age of 81, is being rereleased as a...
An Italian court ruled Netflix has to refund its customers for price hikes dating back to 2017
Instead of raising prices again, Netflix may have to lower its subscription costs in Italy. A court in Rome recently ruled that Netflix owed its Italian users a refund for price hikes between 2017...
A folk musician became a target for AI fakes and a copyright troll
Murphy Campbell is at the center of a brewing storm around AI and a broken copyright system. | Image: Murphy Campbell In January, folk artist Murphy Campbell discovered several songs on her Spotify...
Ireland is testing out a digital wallet that conducts age verification for social media users
Before it's publicly available later this year, the Irish government is trialing its Government Digital Wallet, which includes a way to verify a user's age to access social media platforms. In its...
Apple iOS 26.5 public beta is now available
Apple has released the first public beta for iOS 26.5, just a few days after the beta for developers came out. One of the biggest changes the new operating system brings is the “Suggested Places”...