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Lisa PS5 controller pre-orders live build-up — all the best info and early links to bookmark for the new limited edition DualSense

Another week, another limited-edition PS5 DualSense controller pre-order arrives from Sony; but this one's a little different. Marking a new collaboration between PlayStation and pop star Lisa, the Lisa Limited Edition PS5 controller is up for pre-order tomorrow, October 2. Lisa PS5 controller pre-orders (Image credit: Sony/PlayStation/Lisa/Future) 1. US pre-order quick links 2. UK pre-order quick…

Google is taking Elon Musk’s space data center idea seriously

Elon Musk has long proselytized about the potential of space-based data centers. But as of today, he’s no longer alone in touting the idea of sending the hardware that powers AI into orbit. Google is launching a test satellite as part of Project Suncatcher, its effort to eventually put data centers in space. The satellite will hitch a ride aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Musk’s SpaceX. Musk’s pronou…

The 10 Most Important Learnings From a16z’s Latest State of Markets: Horizontal B2B Trades at 2.7x Revenue, New Startups Are Growing 500%+, and 55% of Unicorns Have Under 2 Years of Runway

a16z Growth just published its September State of Markets deck. It runs 90 slides, and most of it covers macro: chips, memory, power, defense, robotaxis, and what they call the rotation “from bits to atoms.” All of that matters, but it isn’t where most of us work. The B2B, venture, and startup sections are where the data gets useful for founders. Some of it confirms what you already feel in your p…

Nikon fights backlash to microscope video contest winner after AI claims

Critics claim a competition-winning video was made using AI They cite unusual movements in the cells shown in the footage Contest organizer Nikon says it is investigating Last month, a video depicting airway cells in motion in a child’s body wowed the world and took home first prize in Nikon’s annual Small World in Motion competition. Yet the footage might not have been all that it seemed, with Ni…

Inside our months-long investigation into Kevin O’Leary’s Utah data center debacle

Today I’m talking with Josh Dzieza, a longtime features writer here at The Verge , about Kevin O’Leary’s plans to build a massive data center in Utah . The idea was to build the world’s biggest data center — a 40,000-acre AI campus with nine gigawatts of power, or more than double the average power usage of the entire state of Utah. The project is technically called Stratos, but it’s more prominen…

Photon held a funeral for mobile apps. Now it has $4.5M to help replace them with agents

The startup helps developers build AI agents that work over iMessage, SMS/RCS, email, and other messaging platforms. It's a bet that consumers will increasingly use agents instead of downloading apps.

The IKEA x Xbox gaming furniture collab is actually genius — take a look at the full range

Swedish homeware titan IKEA has joined forces with Xbox to create what might be the perfect gaming collection. The YXSTABY range is quirky and playful, but doesn't forget the practical considerations of gamer furniture. Many of the pieces are on castors so they can be wheeled into place when needed and tucked away when not, and plenty have hidden pockets, slings and compartments to stash your gami…

UK faces the most state-sponsored cyberattacks in Europe as AI narrows the attack timeline from days to minutes

New Microsoft report shows cyber activity is increasing around the globe AI is reducing the timescale of attacks, but its also helping defenders detect intrusions The UK faces the most state-sponsored cyber activity in Europe As AI becomes more widely available and lowers the barrier of entry into cybercrime, hackers are launching a record number of campaigns against consumers and businesses alike…

Nvidia-backed GMI Cloud raises $668m as contracted revenue tops $600m

GMI Cloud, a Mountain View company that rents out Nvidia GPU servers, has raised $668m in new financing, the company said on Wednesday. That is $223m of Series B equity and a $445m credit facility. The Taiwanese bank CTBC led the credit facility. ARCHIV, a new San Francisco firm that invests in AI and robotics, […] This story continues at The Next Web

If an AI agent is attesting your controls, who’s attesting the agent?

I’ve watched engineers lose a week before an audit collecting screenshots no one will ever look at again. I’ve seen incident response plans that exist on paper but have never been tested, and vendor questionnaires completed once and filed away while the risk quietly changed underneath them. Security teams are under more pressure than ever to prove they can be trusted by customers and boards alike.…

How to watch The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked season 2 for free online from anywhere

The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked season 2 airs on BBC One and you can catch up on BBC iPlayer afterwards Use NordVPN to unlock BBC iPlayer from abroad (75% off right now) The companion show airs every Thursday and Friday, starting from October 1 While Claudia Winkleman welcomes a fresh batch of celebrities into her castle for more games of deception, no series of The Traitors would be complete wi…

OpenAI’s 2017 plan to auction AGI to China and Russia, per The Atlantic

In 2017, OpenAI co-founders Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever proposed auctioning the rights to the company’s future AGI to governments, including the US, China and Russia. Kevin Roose reports the plan in an excerpt from his book, published by The Atlantic on Tuesday. Dario Amodei opposed it. It was one of several disputes that led […] This story continues at The Next Web

AOC has a 1,000Hz gaming monitor, but do you need that high a refresh rate?

AOC has revealed the Agon Pro AGP257FT, a 24.5-inch Full HD monitor It has a native 1,000Hz refresh rate Expect this gaming monitor to debut in Q1 2027, but we don't have a price yet AOC has announced a new gaming monitor which runs at a native 1,000Hz refresh rate. TechPowerUp posted the press release for the Agon Pro AGP257FT, which is a 24.5-inch Full HD IPS monitor offering a response time of…

Nubank halts Monzo acquisition talks after sales plunge

Paramount’s megamerger with Warner is set to close soon as judge approves settlement with 12 states

A federal judge has granted Paramount’s settlement agreement with 12 states that sued over the company’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery , allowing the companies to soon close their $81 billion megamerger . In a Wednesday order, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ruled that the proposed consent decree was a “fair, reasonable, and good faith approach to address the competitive harms” al…

What even is a ‘microdrama’?

On Monday, Variety reported that RoseBerry Media is recutting episodes of the Australian soap opera Neighbours "into microdramas." These clips will be available on Epis , a short-form vertical video streaming platform. Though Neighbours ran for 41 seasons from 1985 to 2025, at launch, RoseBerry is only recutting two storylines from the late aughts focused on a character played by the now-internati…

Are Kindles without lockscreen ads worth it? Were divided.

When buying an e-reader from Amazon, you don't have to make many decisions beyond which color to go with. But Amazon gives you one other option: Do you want to pay extra for a Kindle without lockscreen ads? This question is particularly relevant now that Amazon has released all-new Kindles for 2026 , some of which are already available for preorder. If you look closely at the Kindle product page a…

McDonald’s uses AI to set an optimal price at each store, Reuters reports

McDonald’s is using an AI pricing engine to recommend what each of its nearly 14,000 restaurants should charge for every menu item, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The engine covers the US and some markets abroad. One factor the engine weighs is an estimate of how much each store’s customers are willing to pay. Waylon Cunningham […] This story continues at The Next Web

Samsung raised prices on the Galaxy S26 by $100

The base Galaxy S26 with 256GB of storage costs nearly $1,000 after Samsung raised prices in the US by $100 or more, Phone Arena reports. The Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus were already $100 more expensive than their S25 predecessors when they launched earlier this year, which Samsung said RAM price hikes were partly to blame for. With both price hikes combined, the base S26 will now set you back $200 mo…

Cheese recalled nationwide after 8 people hospitalized from E. coli outbreak: Full list of products to avoid

A series of raw milk cheeses have been recalled due to potential E. coli contamination after 13 people were sickened, including eight who required hospitalization. California-based Sierra Nevada Cheese Company said it is recalling all of its Grazier Raw Milk Cheese products following an outbreak investigation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…

'It is possible that threat actors are finding it more accessible or efficient to use LLMs and AI tools': Google warns that AI explosion will lead to more dangerous and advanced security threats

AI is accelerating exploitation of known vulnerabilities more than zero-day discovery Google observed sharp rises in disclosed flaws and real-world exploitation Defenders must prioritize intelligence-led patching as n-day weaponization speeds up Artificial Intelligence (AI) is helping cybercriminals find and exploit software bugs faster, more easily, and with greater consequences, a new report fro…

Your boss might be using AI to write your performance review

If you work in an office you’ll know we’re deep into performance review season. But how would you feel if you found out that your boss had used AI to write your yearly appraisal? I know I’d be pretty annoyed to learn that AI was deciding whether I was worthy of a raise this year. AI use by employees is becoming commonplace, but it's also being adopted by managers. A recent survey by Headway of 1,0…

Why ServiceNow built a startup inside itself to take on AI-native rivals

For two years, ServiceNow’s challengers have built businesses around frustrations with its software. Their pitch centers on two complaints: Implementations take too long, and employees increasingly expect help inside tools they already use rather than through a separate portal. The IT service management startup Serval, which says it intends to replace ServiceNow, rode that argument to a $1 billion…

Amazon's latest Kindle accessories bring physical buttons back to its ereaders

BookTok will probably rejoice. BookTok will probably rejoice.

Neurable launches its newest brain-scanning headphones

Neurable is launching a new pair of EEG-equipped headphones to keep an eye on your brainwaves while you work, rest and play. Neurable is launching a new pair of EEG-equipped headphones to keep an eye on your brainwaves while you work, rest and play.

HP's Omnibook 5 features an OLED screen and costs $699

It also lasts up to 42 hours on a single charge. It also lasts up to 42 hours on a single charge.

Amazon introduces new Kindle Paperwhite, Colorsoft and entry-level models

Amazon's new Kindle e-readers come with flat-surface displays and new colors. Amazon's new Kindle e-readers come with flat-surface displays and new colors.

HP’s answer to the MacBook Neo is thinner, lighter, and comes with OLED

Does this range of colors look a little familiar? | Image: HP HP is announcing a new laptop that's squarely aimed at Apple's MacBook Neo . The 2026 HP OmniBook 5 14 starts at $699.99 with an Intel Core 5 315 "Wildcat Lake" processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. Much of that sounds pretty familiar, being in lockstep with both Apple's Neo and its recent competition from Dell , Asus , and Acer - the…

Amazon’s Carrie is a cyberbullying nightmare

Do we really need a new version of Carrie ? That's the question that plagues any attempt to reimagine the classic horror tale. Stephen King's 1974 novel remains one of his most iconic, and the film version from Brian De Palma and Sissy Spacek two years later remains unsurpassed, despite a handful adaptations that followed in the ensuing decades. Any new iteration of the story bears the burden of p…

Amazon is launching colorful new Kindles — and a case with physical page-turn buttons

The base Kindle (shown here), Kindle Paperwhite, and Colorsoft come in aluminum options, not just plastic. | Photo: Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Kindles don't usually change much with each new version, but Amazon is launching next-generation models today that look and feel a whole lot nicer. The base Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, and Kindle Colorsoft are a millimeter thinner and 30 percent faster at…

Gears of War: E-Day is a great game launching at a terrible time

There are few blockbuster games that are as confident as Gears of War: E-Day . A prequel to one of Xbox's most transformative titles, E-Day knows exactly what it wants to be: a brutal, tense, and self-aware action game, one that is stronger because it doesn't deviate from that premise. Twenty years since the original Gears of War , there's still nothing like its particular brand of up-close cover…

Amazon introduces Kindle Click, a $35 remote for turning pages

The compact Bluetooth remote is designed to let readers turn pages without touching their Kindle.

The new Kindle ditches the bezel in a push toward a smaller, lighter e-reader

The new Kindle lineup features its lightest and thinnest designs yet, with a sleek, front-flush display that eliminates bezels for good.

Audible’s new features let you explore book worlds — and use AI to talk to characters

Audible is rolling out new features that help listeners keep track of characters, explore places and imagery mentioned in books, and even interact with characters using generative AI.

Hearing tech startup Legato launches its AI hearing glasses

The glasses stem from the startup’s goal of making hearing care more accessible by addressing the cost, comfort, and stigma associated with traditional hearing aids.

Carrie review: Does Mike Flanagans modern take on Stephen Kings classic novel work?

How do you remake a story that's as well-known as Carrie ? Stephen King 's first published novel has been a part of the horror canon for over half a century. It already has two film adaptations, a sequel, a miniseries adaptation, and even a Royal Shakespeare Company musical (yes, really). How can you possibly take a tale that's such a big part of popular culture and do something new with it? Well,…

HP built a $699 MacBook Neo alternative with an OLED display and a 42-hour battery — where to buy

TL;DR: HP announced the OmniBook 5 , starting at $699.99 — positioning it as a direct Windows rival to Apple’s $699 MacBook Neo. Arriving in October 2026, the 14-inch AI laptop features a 2.5K OLED touch display, an Intel Core 7 chip, and a wild 42-hour battery life. Opens in a new window Credit: HP HP OmniBook 5 $699.99 at HP Learn More Apple's budget MacBook Neo may finally have a se…

Amazon launches all-new Kindle e-readers, introducing new designs and colors — and we got to try them

The year 2027 will mark the 20th anniversary of the very first Kindle , and Amazon is already celebrating by launching a fully redesigned collection of e-readers. Amazon announced the new 2026 lineup of Kindles today, and some are already available for preorder. The new devices include a basic Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, Kindle Colorsoft, and Kindle Kids version…

Meet the Kindle Click: The Kindle page-turner Ive been dreaming about for years

Amazon is finally launching a Kindle remote. On Tuesday morning, Amazon announced it was refreshing the entire Kindle e-reader lineup , and also introducing the Kindle Click, a new page-turning accessory, for $34.99. Mashable got to try the new page turner at a demo event, and we're excited to test it at home. The head of Kindle's design team said the goal was to bring a more tactile and convenien…

Amazon has moved the power button on all its new Kindles — and I feel vindicated

Amazon has overhauled its entire Kindle ereader line They have new materials and a repositioned power button There are also new accessories, some of which will turn heads Yes, Amazon has an all-new line of 13th-generation Kindle ereaders. Sure, they're marginally lighter and thinner than ever, with scant display upgrades, newly smooth, flush faces, and some with stamped aluminum unibodies that com…