Trump administration is collecting $10 billion on the TikTok deal

In September, Donald Trump claimed that “the United States is getting a tremendous fee” for brokering the TikTok deal. Now sources tell the Wall Street Journal and the New York…

Meta is reportedly laying off up to 20 percent of its staff

According to Reuters, Meta is looking to offset spending on AI and data centers with a massive round of layoffs. Sources familiar with the matter say the company could lay…

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review: show off

“Someone might be watching everything I’m doing on my screen,” I tell myself in public. Even when I’m doing nothing of consequence — just making my little Wordle guesses —…

Prediction markets want the Oscars to be your gateway drug to betting

Though it was weird to see the Golden Globes partner with Polymarket for its most recent awards show, the collaboration wasn’t shocking given the way that people have begun using…

Hulu, Disney Plus, and the Pixel Watch 4 are this week’s best deals

Happy Saturday, all! This week, we found a number of deals that should help you unwind and relax over the next few days (and beyond). If you’re planning to stream…

MacBook Air M5 review: a small update for the ‘just right’ Mac

Not much has changed in the new MacBook Air for 2026: It now has the M5 chip, Wi-Fi 7, and faster storage starting at 512GB instead of 256GB. It’s just…

A Scavengers Reign artist explores contemplative sci-fi in new comics

You may recognize Jonathan Djob Nkondo’s work from animated projects like the surreal sci-fi series Scavengers Reign or the recent Gorillaz short film The Mountain, The Moon Cave and The…

5 great indie games from GDC 2026

I just got back from the GDC Festival of Gaming, a big industry-focused event in San Francisco that was formerly known as the Game Developers Conference. While the show is…

Asus’ new open earbuds are a wonderful companion for handheld gaming

The Cetra Open Wireless aren’t like most other gaming earbuds. They’re large, with an open-style design that rests just outside of your ears, letting game audio mix with sounds in…

Parseword is a fun new puzzle game from the creator of Wordle

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 119, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope your agents are well, and also…