Theverge

The Fenix 8 adds smarter features, but they don’t quite make up for the price hike or lack of LTE.

By Victoria Song, a senior reporter focusing on wearables, health tech, and more with 12 years of experience. Before coming to The Verge, she worked for Gizmodo and PC Magazine.

Photos by Amelia Holowaty Krales

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This pricey bedside clock can sense your movements and wake you up with Nintendo’s beloved characters.

By Chris Welch, a reviewer specializing in personal audio and home theater. Since 2011, he has published nearly 6,000 articles, from breaking news and reviews to useful how-tos.

Look, I’m a sucker for instant gratification. It’s often one of my favorite things about living in New York City. This morning, Nintendo announced its $99 Alarmo clock, and when the company’s store in Rockefeller Center opened a couple hours later, I walked in and picked one up. Did I feel a little iffy about paying $108.91 after tax for a plastic alarm clock? You bet. But fortunately, in my field, this counts as a work expense. (Technically, this product is called Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo — but no one is ever going to refer to it that way. It’s Alarmo.)

Get ready to see even more blue checks in replies.

By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.

X is making a big change to how creators can earn money from the platform. Since last year, X has shared ad revenue with creators based on how many verified users see ads in replies to their posts. But the company announced today that creators are instead going to be paid based on “engagement with your content from Premium users.”

The government laid out how it wants a judge to consider undoing Google’s monopoly power, including breaking up the company.

By Lauren Feiner, a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform.

After winning a fight to get Google’s search business declared an unlawful monopoly, the Department of Justice has released its initial proposal for how it’s thinking about limiting Google’s dominance — including breaking up the company.

The company’s latest flagship earbuds might lack originality, but they nail sound quality, transparency mode, and voice call performance.

By Chris Welch, a reviewer specializing in personal audio and home theater. Since 2011, he has published nearly 6,000 articles, from breaking news and reviews to useful how-tos.

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Two things can be true at once. Yes, Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have the most derivative design yet of any of the company’s earbuds. Apart from gimmicky LED strips, there’s nothing particularly original or eye-catching about their stemmed look. But the $249.99 Buds 3 Pro also happen to be the best-sounding, most polished earbuds that Samsung has produced. Their audio quality ranks with some of my favorite wireless earbuds like Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 4 and the Technics AZ80. And the Buds 3 Pro include genuinely useful voice commands that don’t require saying a wake phrase beforehand. 

‘Yep, it’s really us!’

By Umar Shakir, a news writer fond of the electric vehicle lifestyle and things that plug in via USB-C. He spent over 15 years in IT support before joining The Verge.

Reddit isn’t the first place you’d think to see official statements and news coming from the federal government, but today, The White House is on the site making posts. You’ll often see staffers posting on social media platforms like Instagram and X to announce updates and reach a larger audience, so this feels new. The Biden administration’s “whitehouse” account has new posts in subreddits r/NorthCarolina and r/Georgia to discuss the federal response to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

On The Vergecast: two ways of looking at the ‘what is a photo’ apocalypse and some tips on how to survive it.

By David Pierce, editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.

What is a photo? No, like really. What is a photo? What is a photo? What is a photo? What is a photo? When you tap the shutter button on your phone, and it grabs nearly a dozen frames out of a cache that was capturing data well before you pressed anything, then stitches together the “best” bits of each one before allowing you to edit everything about all of them, is any of that process you taking a photo? And in a world where AI is good enough to make everything look good, does it even matter? When you ask the question enough times, it becomes the size of the universe — and we’ve definitely asked the question enough times to get there.

The as-yet-unannounced M4-equipped laptop is expected to be released in November.

By Wes Davis, a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020.

At least two Russian creators have posted videos in which they unbox what appears to be the next base model 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip. Apple, which hasn’t announced the laptops yet, is rumored to have a launch planned for November.

Rabbit’s large action model is here, sort of — but everyone else is coming fast.

By Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge, host of the Decoder podcast, and co-host of The Vergecast.

Today, I’m talking with Jesse Lyu, the founder and CEO of Rabbit. The startup company makes the adorable r1 AI gadget — a little handheld designed by superstar design firm Teenage Engineering. It’s meant to be how you talk to an AI agent, which then goes off onto the internet and does things for you, from playing music on Spotify and ordering an Uber to even buying things on Amazon.

The rumored redesign of the Mac Mini could be announced later this month alongside new iMacs, iPad Minis, and high-end MacBook Pros.

By Wes Davis, a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020.

Apple is planning to announce in late October that new Macs, including a rumored Mac Mini that’s about the size of an Apple TV, will be available to buy starting on November 1st. That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who also writes in his Power On newsletter today that the iPad Mini is getting an overdue refresh — its first since 2021.