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Simply the latest news, updated on the hour.

Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 2:48 AM EDT

Tech

AI Summary

  • Google is significantly expanding its AI integration across products, renaming NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook and enabling AI Mode to interact with third-party apps like Canva and YouTube Music.
  • Roblox is democratizing game creation by launching an AI-powered feature on its mobile app, allowing users to generate games directly from their phones.
  • The tech industry continues to grapple with AI's ethical and safety implications, with X cracking down on content theft and OpenAI facing questions about its product diversification.
  • Autonomous vehicle technology faced scrutiny with a NTSB confirmation of Tesla's FSD override in a fatal crash and San Francisco pushing for stricter regulations after a Waymo incident.
  • SpaceX experienced a launch abort for its Starship V3, highlighting ongoing challenges in its ambitious space exploration endeavors.

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The Verge

  • Fortnite is getting a bunch of AI-powered ‘personas’ 10 hours ago by Jay Peters
    Entertainment, Fortnite, Gaming, News

    Get ready for more AI characters in Fortnite . Developer Epic Games is going to let Fortnite creators publish experiences featuring characters with AI-powered voices starting on July 30th, and ahead of that launch, it's created 36 characters with "consistent voices and personas" that creators can use as NPCs. The characters include Fortnite staples like Agent Jonesy, Peely ( the banana ), Fishstick (a walking fish), and Cuddle Team Leader (who wears a pink bear mascot head). Epic tested the waters of AI characters with last year's Darth Vader NPC that was powered by James Earl Jones' voice - a

  • Samsung’s 55-inch Frame art TV is $200 cheaper than usual 11 hours ago by Brad Bourque
    Deals, Gadgets, Verge Shopping

    Samsung’s art TV looks right at home alongside real paintings. | Image: Samsung Samsung’s Frame is different from your average 4K TV. Its biggest selling point involves what it does when you aren’t actively using it. It can display art, turning your living room into a gallery. The Frame has bezels that make it look like — you guessed it — framed art, and its matte finish can replicate paintings more naturally than your typical glossy-coated TV. Amazon currently has the 55-inch Samsung Frame on sale for $697.99, about $200 lower than its typical price. The deal is on the

  • Netflix says around 300 titles used generative AI 11 hours ago by Emma Roth
    Business, Entertainment, Netflix, News, Streaming

    A scene from The American Experiment, one of the Netflix titles to use generative AI | Image: Netflix Netflix says roughly 300 titles on its platform used generative AI, most of which occurred in post-production. The streaming service revealed the news in its second-quarter earnings report released on Thursday, saying it's "increasingly leveraging these tools to deliver higher quality output more quickly and at a lower cost." It also provided some examples of titles that used AI, including The American Experiment , Glory , and Brasil 70: A Saga do Tri . These shows used the technology to "create highly

  • Why are people buying so many CDs? 12 hours ago by Jay Peters
    Entertainment, Music, News

    CD sales are apparently going up , reportedly thanks to fans realizing they're an affordable way to support their favorite artists. According to a new report from research firm Luminate, 16.3 million CDs were sold in the first half of 2026 in the US, a 16 percent increase year-over-year. The growth in CD sales was driven by "collection building, price accessibility, massive albums such as BTS' ARIRANG and a strong K-pop release schedule," Luminate says. Even if you remove K-pop sales from the data, CD sales still went up in the US, increasing 6.7 percent. And it appears that some

  • Kalshi says it caught Trump’s teleprompter operator insider trading 13 hours ago by Mia Sato
    Business, News, Policy, Politics, Tech

    Kalshi users betting on what President Donald Trump would say during his speeches were reportedly up against tough competition: the president's teleprompter operator. ABC News reports that federal investigators believe Gabriel Perez - Trump's teleprompter operator since 2016 - used inside information to make bets on Kalshi, a major prediction market platform that allows users to bet on just about everything. One category that Kalshi offers is "mentions" markets, in which users try to predict what an individual will say during high-profile events. Perez is accused of betting on what Trump would say during more than a dozen events, including


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