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Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 3:58 AM EDT

Tech

AI Summary

  • AI continues to be a major disruptor, influencing layoffs, fueling innovation in new AI labs, and even prompting workshops on 'Avoiding AI' amidst growing concerns about Big Tech's influence.
  • The tech industry is grappling with significant legal and regulatory challenges, including lawsuits over executive poaching, debates around AI model usage, and countries considering restrictions on social media for minors.
  • Valuations for prominent tech companies like The Boring Company and Anduril are soaring, indicating continued investor confidence in the sector despite ongoing market fluctuations.
  • Hardware and infrastructure are facing scrutiny, from data center power demands linked to AI to SpaceX's persistent booster failures and advancements in microcontrollers capable of running LLMs.
  • Consumer tech is seeing developments in wearable AI, smart home devices, and advancements in areas like folding phones and action cameras, though some innovations remain niche or raise privacy concerns.

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The Verge

  • Google basically confirms the Pixel 11 is getting a price hike 14 hours ago by Terrence O’Brien
    Business, Google, Google Pixel, News, Tech

    Google's Vice President of Devices and Services, Shakil Barkat, all but confirmed in an interview with 9to5 Google that its next Pixel phone would cost more than the Pixel 10. Considering the ongoing RAM supply issues due to the explosion of AI data centers, the rumored price hike is not a complete surprise. Companies from Apple to Nintendo , Microsoft to Roku , have all raised their prices in response to the soaring cost of memory. Barkat said that Google had "shielded our consumers from supply fluctuations for as long as possible," but that the "economics have fundamentally shifted and

  • Synth historian Oli Freke will spend big on a good bicycle 17 hours ago by Terrence O’Brien
    Books, Entertainment, Interview, Report

    Oli Freke is a musician and journalist whose works have appeared in Sound on Sound , The Quietus , and Mixmag . This has included using math to explore the melodic potential of the Western 12-tone scale and deep dives on effects plug-ins . He's even written a book tracing the evolution of the synthesizer from 1963 through 1995, charting the change from analog to digital and back. His new project is Beat Gems , a coffee-table visual history of drum machines from publisher Bjooks . Like other Bjooks titles, Beat Gems is loaded with gorgeous photos, fascinating historical tidbits,

  • Teenage Engineering’s unique music machines are 30 percent off 17 hours ago by Brad Bourque
    Deals, Gadgets, Verge Shopping

    Teenage Engineering’s OP-XY has a huge number of functions. | Photo by Terrence O’Brien / The Verge With elements from synthesizers, loopers, and effects pedals, Teenage Engineering’s devices lie somewhere between musical instrument and modern art. These grooveboxes, as they’re often called, are capable of helping you produce songs in real time from a single unit, with an eye-catching design language. A wide swath of the brand’s offerings are 30 percent off at Guitar Center when you use code TE30 , at Amazon when you click the on-page coupon for whichever product you’re interested in, and B&H Photo (discount applied

  • Warner Bros. is suing Amazon for poaching employees 18 hours ago by Terrence O’Brien
    Business, Entertainment, News

    Warner Bros. Discovery has filed suit against Amazon, accusing it of illegally poaching employees , including Pia Barlow, former senior VP for originals marketing. In the complaint, Warner says that "Amazon has chosen to ride on the coattails of other well-established Hollywood mainstays," and that it engaged in a "lawless employee shopping spree." Deadline reports that Francesca Orsi, HBO's head of drama series and films, is believed to be one of the other Amazon targets. Barlow is set to begin a new position as Amazon's head of original series marketing on August 3rd. According to Warner's suit, Barlow was under

  • Is this e-reader case a gun? 19 hours ago by Mack DeGeurin
    Tech

    Is an e-reader case as dangerous as a Glock 19? Last month, Louisville, Kentucky-based creator Luke The Maker showed off a bizarre, 3D-printed, pistol-shaped case design for the popular minimalist Xteink X4 e-reader . The X4 lies vertically atop the plastic gun's slide, with a cutout on the side to access its buttons. Though the frame was digitally modeled after a real gun, this "case" can't shoot bullets. Squeezing the trigger does nothing at all. He calls his contraption the " Gundle ." In a post showing off the wacky accessory, Luke (whose last name is Blackford) can be seen


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