This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest phones, smartwatches, apps, and other gizmos that swear they’re…
Kategorie: Technology
Technology
Communities are rising up against data centers — and winning
If there’s one thing Republicans and Democrats came together on in 2025 — at least at the local level — it was to stop big, energy-hungry data center projects. For…
Phones were fashionable again in 2025
A year or two ago, when a phone showed up at my door for review, I could pretty much count on it being black, gray, or maybe (as a treat)…
There’s finally a little bit of sunshine in Pluribus
Things might finally be looking up. In the penultimate episode of Pluribus’ first season, Carol (Rhea Seehorn) actually seems to be happy. That’s a pretty big deal for someone the…
A Starlink satellite seems to have exploded
SpaceX says it has lost control of a Starlink satellite that’s now falling back to Earth after suffering an anomaly. The sudden loss of communications, drop in altitude, “venting of…
Google’s Gemini app can check videos to see if they were made with Google AI
Google expanded Gemini’s AI verification feature to videos made or edited with the company’s own AI models. Users can now ask Gemini to determine if an uploaded video is AI-generated…
LG forced a Copilot web app onto its TVs but will let you delete it
LG says it will let users delete the Microsoft Copilot shortcut it installed on newer TVs after several reports highlighted the unremovable icon. In a statement to The Verge, LG…
TikTok ban: all the news on the app’s shutdown and return in the US
After briefly going dark in the US to comply with the divest-or-ban law targeting ByteDance that went into effect on January 19th, TikTok quickly came back online. It eventually reappeared…
OpenAI and Anthropic will start predicting when users are underage
OpenAI and Anthropic are rolling out new ways to detect underage users. As OpenAI has updated its guidelines on how ChatGPT should interact with users between the ages of 13…
Oh snap, I have a new favorite phone grip
In 2022, we called a simple magnetic ring from Anker the best MagSafe phone grip, but things have evolved dramatically since then! You can buy two or even three magnetic…