Minimalist News

Fervo landed a large new loan with terms that strongly suggest the company's most turbulent days are behind it.

Meta believes these AI systems can detect more violations with greater accuracy, better prevent scams, respond more quickly to real-world events, and reduce over-enforcement.

Google is making Android sideloading easier with a new advanced setting that lets users disable app verification after a multistep security process.

Delivery couriers will be able to earn money by completing activities like filming everyday tasks or recording themselves speaking in another language.

Horizon Worlds was once a cornerstone of Meta's plans to build a social metaverse -- four years later, the company almost shut it down.

The FBI and the Justice Department took down two websites linked to the pro-Iranian hacktivist group Handala, which last week hacked medical tech giant Stryker.

The U.S. cybersecurity agency urged companies to prevent access to systems used for remotely managing their fleets of employee devices after hackers broke into a major U.S. medical tech giant and remotely wiped thousands of phones and computers.

Nominate your startup, or one you know, for TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 before May 27. Chance to win $100,000 equity-free funding and VC access.

Rivian admitted in a regulatory filing that it is delaying its goal of reaching "positive EBITDA" next year because of how much it is spending on developing self-driving technology.

K2's Gravitas is an ambitious project that aims to demonstrate the tech needed to build data centers in space.

Founders can create frameworks for working through conflict and change when the team is just two or three people, and if done correctly, it can scale with the company.

Anori aims to shrink the pre-development process by getting all parties, including the city, on a unified platform from the start so that compliance conflicts are surfaced in weeks instead of months or years.

Cloaked's latest round is a mix of equity and growth funding.

Tubi launched its “Creatorverse Incubator” to help TikTokers create original shows exclusively for the streaming service.

The Los Angeles startup raised $50 million from Eclipse, a16z, Menlo Ventures, and others as it seeks to expand beyond sport boats.

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Google has detailed how users will be able to sideload apps from unverified developers once it implements its more restrictive policy towards downloading software on Android. The company originally planned to require all developers to be "verified" to distribute on Android, but softened its stance in November 2025 to allow carveouts for Android power-users and hobbyist developers. For the average Android users, the ability to sideload apps will now be locked behind a multi-step one-time process. Users will first have to enable developer mode in settings, confirm they're not being coached into disabling security, restart their phone (to cut off any

The Steam Spring Sale is underway and as usual, there's plenty of good stuff to add to your library. The seasonal discounts will run through Thursday, March 26 at 1PM ET. If there's anything you've been waiting to buy, it's worth checking to see if it's on sale now, because huge chunks of the Steam catalog are at least a little bit off.  Recent releases don't usually receive big price cuts during Steam sales, but you can save at least a couple bucks on several 2025 hits this time. The excellent Arc Raiders is $32, Doom: The Dark Ages is about

A little more than a year after ditching third-party fact checkers and rolling back much of its proactive content moderation, the company says it will further "transform" its approach by drastically reducing the number of human moderators in favor of AI-based systems. The company says the change will happen "over the next few years," and will allow the company to catch more issues faster than its current approach.  Meta didn't say how much of its contract workforce might be cut as it makes this transition. The company employs thousands of contractors around the world to review content flagged by its AI

The FBI has confirmed to the Senate it is once again buying data which can be used to track the locations of US citizens. That may have surprised the people who thought the precedent in Carpenter v. United States prohibited it. But while that case examined if it was legal for law enforcement to obtain location data from mobile networks without a warrant, here the FBI and other agencies have found a way to skirt the Fourth Amendment entirely. Over the last few years, they have taken to just buying location data from the same companies which power the enormous

Stranger Things fans will soon have permanent access to the Upside Down, as a full DVD set is now available to preorder. Stranger Things: The Complete Series comes in Blu-Ray and 4K UHD editions. This collection includes all five seasons of the hit show, which totals 25 discs. It'll be available at brick-and-mortar and online retailers beginning on July 28. Prices range from $200 to $260, depending on the media type and edition. > Return to Hawkins this July with STRANGER THINGS: THE COMPLETE SERIES, available in Special and Deluxe Editions on Blu-ray and 4K UHD. > > Pre-order in the US via

Ubisoft is ceasing game development at its studio, Red Storm Entertainment, best known for its work on the Tom Clancy’s series. While the studio is set to remain open, 105 people will be laid off, a Ubisoft source told GamesIndustry.biz. Those who survive the cull will reportedly continue to work on the Snowdrop engine, used in many of Ubisoft’s tentpole games over the last decade, including Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora more recently. Red Storm had been working on an untitled Splinter Cell VR game that was canceled in 2022, as well as the also-canceled The Division Heartland. The studio

Meta is backtracking on its plans to shut down the VR version of its metaverse. The company now plans to support Horizon Worlds in VR for the "foreseeable future," though users shouldn't expect new games, CTO Andrew Bosworth said in an update. "We will keep Horizon Worlds working in VR for existing games, to support the fans who've reached out," Bosworth said in a post on Instagram. "For people who already have games they like that they're using in Horizon Worlds, [they] will be able to download the Horizon Worlds app and use it in VR for the foreseeable future." The reversal

The Switch 2 ports keep on coming. This time it's Kena: Bridge of Spirits, the award-winning 2021 title from Ember Lab. Previously announced for spring 2026, the visually striking title now has an official release date of March 26. Kena: Bridge of Spirits won Best Independent Game and Best Debut Indie Game at The Game Awards 2021. It's already available for PS5 / PS4, PC (Steam and Epic) and Xbox Series X/S and One. You play as Kena, a young spirit guide on a quest to a sacred mountain shrine. Gameplay has a Zelda-like flair. (That could make it a solid next

Rivian and Uber have entered into a major partnership, with the former to provide the latter with 50,000 robotaxis in a deal worth $1.25 billion in funding. This starts with Uber purchasing 10,000 Rivian R2 robotaxis, which will be deployed in San Francisco and Miami by 2028. If all goes well, Uber will scoop up 40,000 more robotaxis by 2030. The company plans to scale the initiative to 25 major cities by 2031. The full $1.25 billion investment is contingent on several autonomous milestones, according to a report by Yahoo Finance. However, Uber has already committed $300 million as an initial

Google and cybersecurity companies Lookout and iVerify have detailed a new hacking technique that potentially puts a significant portion of iPhone users in danger, just by visiting the wrong web page. The hack is called "DarkSword" and it currently targets iOS 18 releases between iOS 18.4 and iOS 18.6.2. For its part, an Apple spokesperson told Engadget that the company had patched the underlying vulnerabilities in iOS versions 15 through 26 last year; the company also issued an emergency update for devices running iOS 15 and 16 that are unable to run newer versions of iOS. The company does note that

Poncle could be about to ruin the planet’s productivity all over again now that Vampire Crawlers has a release date for PC and consoles. The dungeon-crawling roguelike deckbuilder — which is a Vampire Survivors spinoff — is coming to Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and Nintendo Switch on April 21. It’ll cost $10. Alternatively, you’ll be able to check it out via Xbox Game Pass on day one. Vampire Crawlers is on the way to iOS and Android as well. However, you’ll have to wait until sometime later this year to play it on mobile devices. Vampire Crawlers is set in the

Amazon’s next-generation smart assistant has entered its Early Access program in the UK, marking Alexa+’s European debut following rollouts in the US, Canada and Mexico. Starting March 19, invitations to start using the smarter, more conversational Alexa will be sent out to "hundreds of thousands" of willing participants, Amazon said in a press release, adding that Alexa is the most popular voice assistant in the UK. As well as its more natural communication, agentic capabilities, contextual awareness and ability to remember previous conversations across devices, Amazon that users across the pond are getting an "authentically British" AI-powered assistant. It understands slang

Nothing takes a different tack with its phone series. For the second time in a row, its midrange entry-level A-series smartphones debuted ahead of its next flagship device. The company has even warned that we won’t be getting the Nothing Phone 4 until next year. Until then, the Phone 4a Pro is here to make an impact, with a more restrained design, a less obtrusive camera bump and specs that beat out last year’s Nothing Phone 3 — all for $499. In 2026, Nothing is truly aiming to dethrone the Pixel 10a. HARDWARE Mat Smith for Engadget It’s a new look. That’s often

UK’s Ofcom has fined 4chan a total of £520,000 ($690,000) over the website’s failure to comply with the rules of Online Safety Act 2023. The biggest chunk of the amount came from 4chan’s failure to ensure children cannot encounter pornographic content on its website by implementing an effective age check mechanism. For that violation, the website has received a penalty of £450,000 ($598,000) and an order to apply an age check system by April 2. It carries a daily rate penalty of £500 ($664) until the website is compliant or until June 1, whichever comes sooner. Ofcom also found that 4chan

During a Senate hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that his agency has bought information that could be used to track individuals' movement and location. "We do purchase commercially available information that’s consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us," he said.  Law enforcement is required to obtain a warrant in order to get location data from cell service providers following the Carpenter v United States ruling from 2018. But why bother with all that hassle when they can just buy the information from the open

The Information reported that an AI agent within Meta took unauthorized action that led to an employee creating a security breach at the social company last week. According to the publication, an employee used an in-house agentic AI to analyze a query from a second employee on an internal forum. The AI agent posted a response to the second employee with advice even though the first person did not direct it to do so.  The second employee took the agent's recommended action, sparking a domino effect that led to some engineers having access to Meta systems that they shouldn't have permission

The White House has been promising a set of national rules to guide artificial intelligence since late last year, and today Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) fired the first volley. The senator shared a discussion draft for codifying the executive order signed by President Donald Trump in December calling for an AI bill. Her stated goal is a policy that "protects children, creators, conservatives and communities from harm." Blackburn has called for tougher policies for AI safety, and one of the core messages in this discussion draft is that it "places a duty of care on AI developers in the design, development

A recent change in how the US Postal Service handles shipping partners appears to have forced Amazon to make alternative plans. The company reportedly plans to cut the number of packages it ships through USPS by at least two-thirds later this year. It says the decision came after USPS ended negotiations “at the eleventh hour” in favor of a new bidding process. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon plans to reduce the shipments it hands off to USPS. Last year, the company accounted for nearly 15 percent of the Postal Service’s package deliveries. Cutting that by nearly two-thirds

Update, 4:05PM ET: A few hours after this story was published, Google reached out to retract the news. The company provided Engadget with the following statement: "Search Live has not rolled out globally to all users. It remains available in the US and India, with testing currently underway in additional markets. We apologize for the earlier miscommunication." Given that the company says it is testing in more markets, it seems entirely possible that the global Search Live release will happen sooner than later. But, for now, it’s on hold. The original, unedited article follows below: After rolling out Search Live to all US Google

NASA and ESA have released new images from the Hubble Space Telescope of a comet breaking up as it exits the solar system, captured as part of study recently published in the journal Icarus. The images are notable not only because they offer a more detailed view of the inside of a comet, which could offer new information about the early days of the universe, but also because they were taken by accident. Photographing K1, or "Comet C/2025 K1" as it's officially known, wasn't the original intention of the study. "This comet [was] observed because our original comet was not viewable

Perplexity's Comet AI browser is now available as a standalone app for iPhone users. The tool initially debuted last summer on PCs, but cost $200 a month. The new app is free, as is the recently-released Android version. Comet is an AI-powered browser, which has become a hot product category throughout the past year or so. This is basically a web browser combined with a chatbot that can perform some tasks on a user's behalf. Like related tools, people can ask it to summarize a webpage or conduct additional research for more context about a subject. > Comet is now available for

Chalk up a win for creative artists against AI companies. On Wednesday, the UK government abandoned its previous position on copyrighted works. It’s currently working on a data bill that, if unaltered, would have allowed AI companies like Google and OpenAI to train models on copyrighted materials without consent. Artists and other copyright holders would only have been offered a mere opt-out clause. After significant backlash, the UK backed off from that position. "We have listened," Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said on Wednesday. However, the government’s new stance is, well, not a stance at all. It currently "no longer has a

Microsoft is rolling out a number of Xbox Series X|S updates to those on its Xbox Insiders program, and one of them has been requested by the community for years. You’ll soon be able to disable the Quick Resume feature for specific games, meaning they'll boot up fresh each time you launch them. As a reminder, Quick Resume is a feature that Microsoft introduced with its current generation of consoles. It lets you suspend a number of games simultaneously so they’re running in the background even when the console is turned off. When you want to return to a game that

Double Fine is following up on Keeper — one of our favorite games of 2025 — with Kiln, a “multiplayer online pottery party brawler.” The game was showcased during Xbox’s Developer Direct stream in January and now it has a release date. It’s coming to Xbox Series X/S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud, PlayStation 5 and Steam on April 23. Xbox said Kiln will be Handheld Optimized from the jump.  In Kiln, you'll use a virtual pottery wheel to shape a piece of clay into a vessel and then decorate it. The size and shape will determine how much health you

We just got our first trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the next big Marvel film. This is the fourth installment led by Tom Holland and follows the multiversal shenanigans of Spider-Man: No Way Home. I'm about to get into some spoilers, for those still working through the MCU catalog. No Way Home ended with the entire world forgetting about the existence of Peter Parker, so this new movie will deal with the fallout from that. His whole support system is gone, though it looks like he still checks in on besties MJ and Ned from time to time. Peter Parker may

Stop me if you've heard this before: Meta has a new program to lure top creator talent to Facebook and it comes with hefty bonus payments. The company is launching a new initiative aimed at popular creators who already have large followings on TikTok, YouTube or Instagram and offering them bonuses up to $3,000 a month just for posting on Facebook. Meta's goal is to draw more top talent to its Content Monetization program, which pays creators based on views and other engagement metrics across Stories, Reels and posts. The new bonuses will be part of an initiative Meta has dubbed

A coalition of Big Tech companies is working on a more comprehensive solution to combat online scams. As first reported by Axios, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, Adobe, Levi Strauss & Co, Target, Pinterest and Match Group announced the signing of the Industry Accord Against Online Scams and Fraud. The new agreement is meant to put up a united industry-wide front against online fraud and scams, particularly those from sophisticated criminal networks that use multiple platforms. According to the Axios report, the measures will include adding fraud detection tools, introducing new user security features, and requiring more robust verification for

Ever since making the jump to the Nintendo Switch, there's something that's bugged me about practically every modern Pokémon game, a feeling that has only intensified after spending countless hours in Pokopia. For titles based in big, open worlds and filled with adorable polygonal characters and lovely music, why is nearly every pokémon still saddled with a call that sounds like a dial-up internet connection?  As someone who played Pokémon Red and Blue at launch, I'm very aware that the origin of these sounds is tied directly back to those original titles on Game Boy, which was powered by an 8-bit

After letting us drive a prototype around in the snow earlier this month, BMW has fully unveiled its all-new i3 electric vehicle. It's a far cry from the original funky hatch launched way back in 2013, offering more of everything including power, range and space. It also looks like you'd hope a 3-series EV would: a sporty sedan, minus the polarizing grille on the gas-powered M3.  The i3 uses BMW's Neue Klasse platform and indeed borrows inspiration from the company's Vision Neue Klasse concept unveiled in 2023. With motors on the front and rear in the 50 xDrive configuration, along with

The Pentagon is making plans to have AI companies train versions of their models specifically for military use on classified information, according to the MIT Technology Review. If true, it wouldn’t come as a surprise, seeing as the US is aiming to become an “AI-first" warfighting force, based on the statement [PDF] released by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth earlier this year. The department is already using AI models in the military: For instance, the US reportedly used Anthropic’s Claude to help with the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and with its attack on Iran, even after President Trump ordered

There was once a time in which many people couldn't wait to toss their smartphone aside every two years (and sometimes even more frequently) in order to get the latest model as soon as it hit shelves. But that world has faded for the most part now as shoppers demand devices that last for years so they can hold on to them for longer. And when the time finally comes to upgrade, many are being more conscientious about what happens to their old gadgets. You may want to trade in your smartphone or sell it when you're ready to upgrade; either

It’s hard for most people to justify spending $3,299 on a monitor, but creative pros will gladly do so if it makes their jobs easier. Apple’s 27-inch 5K Studio Display XDR is aimed straight at those folks and it costs considerably less than the company’s previous high-end monitor, the 6K Pro Display XDR. Thanks to the Mini LED IPS panel, the Studio Display XDR has higher brightness and color accuracy than nearly any other monitor on the market. It also has tech that boosts contrast to outperform similar displays. With its unique combination of features, the Studio Display XDR isn’t as

MindsEye developer Build a Rocket Boy (BARB) has gone through serious drama recently including layoffs and accusations of sabotage. Now, the company is parting ways with its MindsEye co-publisher IOI Partners (the company behind Hitman publisher IO Interactive) and assuming sole publishing responsibilities going forward. It also means that a planned MindsEye and Hitman collaboration will be cancelled, the companies announced in a press release.  "IOI Partners’ involvement with MindsEye comes to an end, except for any essential transitional functions required to transfer publisher-of-record status to Build A Rocket Boy," the companies stated. "In light of this separation, the Hitman mission

The Department of Defense said giving Anthropic continued access to its warfighting infrastructure would “introduce unacceptable risk” to its supply chains in a court filing submitted in response to the AI company’s lawsuit. If you’ll recall, Anthropic sued the government to challenge the supply chain risk designation it received for refusing to allow its model to be used for mass surveillance and the development of autonomous weapons. In its filing, the department explained that its secretary, Pete Hegseth, had a provision incorporated into AI service contracts, allowing the agency to use their technologies for any lawful purpose. Anthropic refused its terms

Subnautica 2 has weathered the storm and has rescheduled its early access release. IGN reported today that the sequel to the underwater survival game will begin early access on PC and Xbox in May, although a more specific date was not provided.  The news comes a day after a judge ruled that former Unknown Worlds Entertainment CEO Ted Gill should be rehired at the game studio. That decision capped off a dramatic year for the team behind Subnautica, which was acquired by Krafton in 2021. The studio and its new owners entered a legal battle because the purchase of Unknown Worlds

Horizon Worlds, Meta's first pass at a metaverse, will be inaccessible via virtual reality headset after June 15, 2026. The company shared plans to separate Horizon Worlds from Quest VR platform and focus exclusively on the smartphone version of the app in February, and now in a new post on its community forums, Meta detailed when the VR version of Horizon Worlds will be deprecated. By March 31, Meta says individual Horizon Worlds and Events will no longer be listed in the Quest's Store and headset owners will be unable to visit worlds like "Horizon Central, Events Arena, Kaiju and Bobber

Apple has started providing small security updates to iOS, iPadOS and macOS devices. These are dubbed Background Security Improvements that will offer minor system updates between the larger software updates. According to the company, these are meant to "deliver lightweight security releases for components such as the Safari browser, WebKit framework stack, and other system libraries that benefit from smaller, ongoing security patches between software updates." These updates should download in the background, as the name implies, although the device will need to be restarted to complete the process. In practice, we found that applying a Background Security Improvement was faster

What a short, strange journey it's been for FBC: Firebreak; Remedy announced that the final update for the online multiplayer game is available today. But while this Open House update will be the end of new content, the studio said it plans to keep the game available. "FBC: Firebreak will stay online and continue to be playable for years to come," Remedy said. "We have done engineering work to ensure we can sustain the upkeep of the relay servers when the player volume is lower." Remedy has won lots of fans for creating the eerie, surreal world where its hits Control and

Spotify is introducing a way for subscribers to get bit-perfect playback of songs if they listen on Windows. The company's newly announced "Exclusive Mode" gives the music streaming app complete control of audio processing on your PC so you can listen to songs exactly as they were mastered. "Without Exclusive Mode turned on, your computer may alter audio before it reaches your DAC by resampling it, mixing other system sounds in, and changing the volume," Spotify writes. With the mode enabled, all other sounds from your computer are disabled so Spotify can deliver the highest quality and most accurate version of

It's only been two years since Dune: Part Two took over multiplexes, but we already have a trailer for the third installment. The appropriately-named Dune: Part Three is an adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah book from 1969. Just like the book, the latest film takes place a number of years after Dune: Part Two. "If the first movie was contemplation, a boy exploring a new world, and the second one is a war movie, this one is a thriller," according to The Hollywood Reporter. "It is action-packed and tense. More muscular.” Despite the time jump, most primary actors are returning. This

Kalshi has been sued by Arizona's attorney general for operating an illegal gambling business in the state and unlawfully ‌allowing people to place bets on elections. "Kalshi may brand itself as a 'prediction ⁠market,' but what it's actually doing is running an illegal gambling operation and taking bets on Arizona elections, both of which violate Arizona law," the state's Attorney General Kris Mayes said.  The company defines itself as a prediction markets platform, where users make bets on the outcomes of events ranging from sporting matches to political actions. Kalshi has claimed that it operates under the auspices of the Commodity

FIFA is turning to streaming platforms to maximize its return on the 2026 World Cup. Two months after announcing a "Preferred Platform" partnership with TikTok, the organization has now struck a similar deal with YouTube. Broadcasting rights are FIFA’s largest revenue stream for the tournament — and media companies pay top dollar for that access. So, deals like this with streaming platforms help sweeten the package for broadcasters looking to boost their reach. What does that look like for those watching from home? FIFA says its media partners will have the option of streaming "a select number of matches in full" on

Now that Epic Games and Google have made up — or at least found a way to resolve their long-running disputes — everyone with a compatible Android device can get back to the business of playing Fortnite. The game will return to the Play Store globally on March 19, the same day that the next Fortnite season goes live. It previously dropped back onto the Play Store in the US in December. Google pulled Fortnite from the Play Store back in 2020 after Epic tried to bypass the 30 percent cut of all in-app purchases that the storefront too. Apple did

When OpenAI released GPT-5.4 at the start of March, the company said the new model was designed primarily for professional work like programming and data analysis. Now OpenAI is launching GPT-5.4 mini and nano, and while it is once again highlighting the usefulness of these new systems for tasks like coding, one of the new models is available to Free and Go users. What's more, that model, GPT-5.4 mini, even offers performance that approaches GPT-5.4 in a handful of areas. As a Free or Go user, you can access 5.4 mini by selecting "Thinking" from ChatGPT's plus menu. For paid users,

We might not have had a proper Nintendo Direct in 2026 yet, but there have been plenty of Switch and Switch 2-related announcements in the last few weeks, including a release date for the Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, a surprise port of Kena: Bridge of Spirits and the final trailer for the imminent The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. But if you’re a Switch 2 owner who prefers to play your library of games in handheld mode, Nintendo’s latest announcement might be the one that interests you most. The company has released the 22.0.0 system update for its latest console, which brings

The white model is receiving the steepest discount, but the black version is less than $1 more. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Microsoft’s Xbox console strategy needs work, but its Bluetooth-ready controller that shipped alongside the Xbox Series X and Series S is fantastic. We think it’s one of the best Xbox controllers out there, thanks to its comfortable design, multiplatform compatibility (it works great on the Steam Deck and PC, too), and its textured grips and triggers, which prevent your fingers from slipping during intense games. Thankfully, the Xbox Wireless Controller is discounted in a couple of

A Tesla Cybertruck gleaming in the lot of the Tesla showroom in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, on March 29, 2025. | Photo by Simone Lueck / The Verge These past few weeks have been particularly brutal for the EV industry - and anyone who believes that electric vehicles are the future. Thanks to slowing demand and policy whiplashes, automakers are on an EV murder spree, killing a host of promising new models. The EV graveyard grows bigger by the minute. And unfortunately, as is often the case, much of the focus seems to be on affordable models that had the potential to

Prediction markets are working to ingratiate themselves with mainstream news and culture: The Golden Globes broadcast in January was plastered with Polymarket odds, the AP is licensing election data to Kalshi, and a partnership between Polymarket and Substack means more prediction market data in newsletters. Some prediction market exchanges are now attempting to strike deals with individual reporters. Rick Ellis, an independent entertainment journalist who runs AllYourScreens.com and writes a newsletter on Substack about TV and streaming, told The Verge he received an offer this week. The deal involved producing two stories a week based on … Read the full story at The

Google has revealed the "advanced flow" that will be required to install certain Android apps once the company introduces mandatory developer verification later this year. The company had initially announced that it would no longer be possible to install apps from unverified developers, and the process announced today is its concession to critics who accused it of killing off app sideloading and making Android less open. The good news is the new advanced flow is a one-off process that won't need to be repeated every time a user wants to sideload an app; the bad news is that part of that

Meta is reversing its plans to shut down its VR metaverse - sort of. On Monday, the company announced that it would be shutting down the VR version of its 3D social platform Horizon Worlds on June 15th in favor of a new focus on the mobile version of the app. But in a Wednesday AMA on his Instagram, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said the company has decided that existing VR worlds would remain available and that the Horizon Worlds VR app will be available to download "for the foreseeable future." Meta is keeping VR Horizon Worlds experiences around as a way

Inspired by real immigrant stories, H1B.Life captures the uncertainty, trade-offs, and pure luck that shape the lives of people trying to build a future in the US.

OpenAI plans to allow sexting with ChatGPT. A human-AI interaction expert warns of a privacy nightmare.

Moxie Marlinspike says the technology powering his encrypted AI chatbot, Confer, will be integrated into Meta AI. The move could help protect the AI conversations of millions of people.

Lightweight shoes now dominate the trails, so do you still need boots? Here’s how to choose the right footwear for your outdoor adventures.

Ever wanted a complete Dolby Atmos cinema packed into a big wheelie case?

If digital calendars are leaving you lacking, these WIRED-tested paper agendas and notebooks could change your life.

Fueled by the manosphere, men are boosting their testosterone levels through natural and synthetic means, with some competitively swapping test results on a regular basis.

Put bespoke commands on the Android Auto home screen with this little-known feature.

Set between the MacBook Neo and MacBook Pro, the M5 MacBook Air remains the laptop that I recommend for most people.

A glorious swooping downhill glide on one of these electric mountain bikes will make you feel like a kid again.

After a series of suicides allegedly linked to AI chatbots, one lawyer is trying to hold companies like OpenAI accountable.

A new sophisticated shower filter from HigherDose offers red light therapy for your morning shower. But some of the company’s claims about the therapy’s effectiveness seem half-baked.

A massive Western heat wave and a potential El Niño event raise concerns about a long stretch of unpredictable and extreme weather.

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REI’s Member Days sale has deals on our favorite tents, backpacks, rain jackets, and more gear to outfit you for summer.

After OpenAI’s Instant Checkout feature fell short, Walmart is instead embedding its Sparky chatbot directly into ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

Add the Sonos Roam 2 to your existing home setup, or take it to go with Bluetooth.

Federal immigration enforcement agents usually won't talk to the media—but they will talk to independent journalist Karl Loftus.

A powerful iPhone-hacking technique known as DarkSword has been discovered in use by Russian hackers. It can take over devices running iOS 18 that simply visit infected websites.

The final project from famed designer Niels Diffrient, the Diffrient Lounge is made for work and play in high-budget homes.

Ready to move on from the traditional glass slab? Introduce a hinge into your life with these folding smartphones.

Our favorite zero-drop, minimalist footwear will let you feel the ground beneath your feet.

In a world of plasticky water filter pitchers, I tested two of the new generation of stainless-steel filter systems.

The latest Galaxy Buds Pro get as close to the AirPods Pro as I’ve seen, in all the best ways.

You will never need that weird charger from 2012. These tips to tidy up your tech will help you sort out your cable collection, organize your gadgets, and get rid of aging ones.

On March 26, a panel of WIRED experts will dissect the defense tech industry’s impact on modern warfare. Submit your questions now.

Your monitor needs a monitor arm, and I’ve been testing every single one I can get my hands on to see which is best.

No longer a cute urban runabout, BMW's latest electrified 3 Series is packed with tech and can go further than the iX3.

The data engineer started as a casual reader of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Then he became obsessed, and built the most extensive network graph of the sexual predator’s shadowy world.

Keep your phone, laptop, handheld gaming console, and other electronics running with these travel-friendly power banks.

Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard pioneered quantum information theory. Now they’ve been awarded the highest honor in computer science.

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In response to Anthropic’s lawsuit, the government said it lawfully penalized the company for trying to limit how its Claude AI models could be used by the military.

Meta’s flailing virtual reality social experience is being discontinued in June. It's part of Meta’s broader moves to slim down the business that became its namesake.

After the rise (and fall) of reservation scalping, DoorDash and a host of apps are fighting to book you a seat at the country’s most exclusive restaurants.