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The neolab is betting that automating routine computer tasks will soon outpace coding as AI's biggest use case.

Money has evolved into far more than the cash in your wallet or your bank account. And at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, we’re devoting an entire stage to that progression.

Australia was the first country to issue a ban in late 2025, aiming to reduce the pressures and risks that young users may face on social media, including cyberbullying, social media addiction, and exposure to predators.

The contract between the two companies ends in May 2028, Uber told TechCrunch.

The indictment, which was unsealed Friday, alleges the Volkswagen engineers used confidential insider information to buy stock in Rivian.

The acquisition brings Poke’s conversational style and interaction model to Cognition’s coding agent Devin, reflecting a growing belief that how AI assistants interact with users is as important as the models powering them.

A U.S. citizen has asked a court to throw out the government's claim that he gave over a passcode to border authorities that wiped his phone's data, opening up fresh questions about a person's constitutional rights at the U.S. border.

Anduril is said to be raising a new round of funding that may push its valuation up to about $100 billion, per Reuters.

AI tools have democratized the opportunity to build, shortening the timelines of success and enabling more young people to start successful companies without stepping foot inside a Big Tech company.

Opus 5 will be both cheaper and less restrictive than Fable, likely making it preferable in most use cases.

The offline messaging app surged in popularity in India amid protests in New Delhi.

Chinese AI lab Moonshot’s open model Kimi went viral this week for reasons that had less to do with the model itself and more to do with how the U.S. AI industry reacted to it. Meanwhile, an unreleased OpenAI model wandered outside its test environment and ended up connected to a real security breach at Hugging Face — a reminder […]

Sam Altman's side project — which seeks to scan the world's eyeballs and turn them into unique digital identifiers — has raised some fresh cash through a crypto sale.

AI companies, including Nvidia and Mistral, urge policymakers to avoid broad restrictions on open-weight AI models as Washington debates responses to Chinese AI and alleged model distillation.

The automaker joins a long line of companies seeking such refunds. In April, Rivian CFO Claire McDonough said she expected the company stood to reap a refund in the "tens of millions of dollars."

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Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 137, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, happy phone season, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .) This week, I've been reading about Google Zero and armored cars for rich people , watching a lot of That's a Bad Idea videos now that YouTube knows my love for Curry Barker, testing the new 2Do redesign for my tasks, watching this excellent doc about the legendary designer Susan Kare, obsessing over every sound on the Jauffre's Sounds

This “piercing pillow” also works great with earbuds you probably already own. Tech companies love to sell us expensive gadgets to solve all of life's little problems. Sleepbuds sold by the likes of Anker and Ozlo are a good example. These miniature marvels of engineering sit flush in the ear, and allow side-sleepers to doze off listening to podcasts, audiobooks, music, or white noise without annoying their partner. But why pay over $200 for a second pair of highly specialized buds when you can spend a fraction of that for a product that never needs charging, never loses its Bluetooth

Remember when Meta was planning to charge a $20 monthly subscription fee for the smart glasses feature that lets people hear each other more clearly - even though that feature runs locally on your glasses and doesn't require the cloud? Meta has paused those plans, spokesperson Tyler Yee confirms to The Verge . The company is not giving up on the idea of a subscription fee for certain features - that's still moving forward. Yee confirms that "some premium features will be subscription-based over time." But Conversation Focus, the accessibility feature, "will remain available for free through our Early Access

Meta's smart glasses have been a PR headache for the company. Public backlash has been swift, and fierce; people are concerned about the erosion of privacy and expansion of surveillance. Some especially bad actors are using the glasses to film themselves "pranking" random strangers . Women have become unsuspecting social media content for men filming themselves hitting on them without their knowledge. When your product is being referred to as "pervert glasses," you have a problem on your hands. On Thursday, Business Insider reported that Meta was taking the fairly extraordinary step of banning some content filmed with Meta glasses

Qualcomm sent a letter to customers on Friday warning of plans to increase its prices by "a percentage in the double digits," Bloomberg reports. The price hikes will go into effect starting with products shipped after September 1st. Qualcomm claims it has "exhausted its ability to absorb higher costs from suppliers," as ongoing component shortages continue to drive up prices. The company also said it attempted to source components from alternate suppliers prior to announcing the price hikes. As Bloomberg notes, Qualcomm's price increases will likely have a ripple effect, particularly for smartphones. Qualcomm's chips power everything fro … Read

Over the last several years, the Imax format has taken on a few different forms—but only a few dozen theaters are capable of screening it in its full glory.

GoPro’s New Mission 1 cameras bring action cameras to a higher level with a larger sensor and more cinematic footage.

Scientists identified the first known cancer transmissible among freshwater fish in a lake that spans the US and Canada.

Electrolyte powders promise better hydration, energy, and recovery. But unless you’re losing serious fluid, water and food probably have you covered.

Flames burned through the Deep Space Communications Complex near Madrid, but NASA has been unable to assess the damage as a wildfire emergency grips the region.

Big Tobacco studied nicotine analogs like 6-methyl-nicotine for decades but never marketed them. Now, Chinese vape makers are using them to sidestep US regulations.

This climate phenomenon could cause a massive global temperature spike and cause economic losses of $10 trillion by 2032.

On this episode of Uncanny Valley, we dive into accusations that China’s Moonshot AI stole from Anthropic, and how the US Army needs to cut back on AI use.

The AI “startups” worth billions of dollars are raising alarm bells about Chinese AI. The smaller players have a totally different take.

These are the AC units we’ve trusted to cool our homes for months, if not years.

The TK705STi’s highly responsive, low-latency performance makes gameplay ultra-realistic. For movies and TV? It’s a purely average home projector.

Never mind the “heat death of the universe.” Entropy is just a bridge between two levels of reality.

From musical instruments and games to play pieces that encourage balance and dexterity, these toys will engage your child’s mind and body.

“I think it should stand for artificial idiot,” one 9-year-old says. Here’s why kids of all ages are calling AI “disgusting” and “creepy.”

Analysis of satellite images of Myanmar shows dozens of alleged scam compounds have appeared in recent months, despite a purported crackdown on the criminal organizations.

If you’re tired of sponsored and AI-summarized search results, Kagi gives you a curated—and human-centric—way to find what you’re looking for.

After Trump publicly backed pillow salesman turned election denier Mike Lindell for governor of Minnesota, the local GOP pushed back strongly.

EU law gives researchers unprecedented rights to scrutinize social media data. Researchers say TikTok, X, and Meta impede their attempts to look inside.

Outside experts—some with a vested interest in peptides—recommended adding a number of the amino acids to the FDA’s bulks list, including the “Wolverine stack” touted by Joe Rogan and other influencers.

The clip features the David Bowie track “Five Years,” which includes lyrics such as “Earth was really dying (dying).”

MSG’s sprawling surveillance system can monitor guests down to the second. Its owners made an exception for the pop star’s rehearsal dinner.

The European Commission claims that Google boosted its own apps and products to the top of search rankings to the detriment of its competitors.

Deck out your room and make class a cinch with these WIRED-tested favorites.

Cordless, handheld, robot, and traditional—we tested them all to find the vacuum that’s fantastic for fur.

The slim and convenient magnetic wallets you’ll actually want stuck to the back of your phone.

The EPA has proposed a rule change that would let states decide how much input the public has on air pollution permits. It would be a huge boon for data centers increasingly reliant on fossil fuels.

Gas prices are up, and US car dealerships are full of hybrids. Customers are going for it.

Here are the best delivery services and meal kits in 2026, including Martha Stewart’s meal service, a GLP-1–supportive plan, and a budget-friendly option.

MAGA-coded adult content playing off immigration crackdowns, white supremacy, and obeying the “natural order” is finding rabid audiences on X.

The next time you’re locked out of your Google account, you can use your face as part of the account recovery process.

The risks are real. But banning children from the internet could create new problems without solving the ones that really matter.

I cranked Apple’s iOS 27 beta to maximum transparency on my iPhone and enjoyed every warped second.

With “blessings” from the original Jibo founders, iKairos is a wearable or desk-mounted “AI journal” that turns your family moments into AI images and video.

Hear from six pediatricians in measles hot spot Utah, as the US faces infection levels not seen in over three decades and prepares to lose its status as a country that eliminated the dangerous disease.

The cyclospora diarrhea outbreak isn’t an isolated incident. It’s part of a pattern of leafy greens wreaking digestive havoc.

There’s a debate going on in the Trump administration over how to handle increasingly powerful Chinese AI models.

Save on WIRED-tested LED therapy devices from TheraFace, HigherDose, and more.

Elon Musk and the online right convinced themselves that Christopher Nolan’s “woke” epic would go down in flames. Now they’re crashing out.

As access to Anthropic’s and OpenAI’s frontier models becomes more restricted, Chinese labs are pitching their open-source alternatives as stable, accessible, and increasingly capable.

Out of Dyson’s two new affordable stick vacuums, this one is easily my favorite.

Samsung’s folding phone family has a new middle child with a fresh form factor, but which of its eighth-gen foldables is right for you?

People spend hours watching videos on their smartphones. The wider, shorter, and lighter Galaxy Z Fold8 caters to exactly that.

From powerful air movers and whisper-quiet pedestal models to options that double as misters, lamps, and air purifiers, these are the fans that impressed us most.

The fitness trackers I’d recommend to beginners, athletes, and kids.

Federal lawyers say anti-mask laws would endanger immigration agents, citing an ICE face-recognition art project that doesn’t actually work.