Normal view

Received today — 19 August 2026 The Verge - All Posts

Amazon seemingly leaked Jason Statham’s entire Mutiny movie

19 August 2026 at 14:32
A screenshot showing Mutiny (2026) available to stream on Prime Video USA.
This screenshot shows the Mutiny (2026) page listing on Prime Video US, and the “resume” bar indicating that it’s watchable. | Image: Amazon / Dominic Preston / The Verge

Jason Statham's upcoming film Mutiny is set to hit theaters on August 21st, but for at least an hour today it was available to stream in full on the US version of Amazon Prime Video. My colleague Dominic Preston was able to verify that all 1 hour and 35 minutes of the movie was available to watch on Amazon's streaming platform, though it now shows as "unavailable." The Mutiny website and marketing materials state that it'll only be available in theaters when it's officially released in two days.

There's nothing to suggest that this was released on Prime Video intentionally, or that it's intended to be some marketing stunt - neither the Punc …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Amazon’s drones will soon deliver to nearly 500 US cities and towns

19 August 2026 at 13:53
An Amazon drone makes a delivery in Papillion, Neb. on Thursday, July 30, 2026.
Prime Air is launching in Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Idaho, and New York soon. | Image: Joseph Ciembroniewicz/Omaha World-Herald via Getty Images

Amazon says its drone delivery service will reach "nearly 500 cities and towns in the United States" by the end of this year, increasing its coverage by six times compared to the current footprint. Prime Air deliveries will soon be launched in the Chicago, Illinois; Syracuse, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; and Boise, Idaho metro areas, according to Amazon's announcement, with "more communities to come later this year."

These will join 11 locations across the US where Amazon already offers drone deliveries, with each Prime Air site serving an area of approximately 175 square miles. The service aims to quickly deliver packages o …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Framework gave its 12-inch laptop some hardware upgrades

19 August 2026 at 12:14
The 2026 version of Framework’s Laptop 12.
Framework launched a second-generation of its colorful 2-in-1 convertible laptop. | Image: Framework

Framework has refreshed its 12-inch convertible laptop, introducing Intel's latest Core Series 3 processors, expanded hardware customizations, and a pre-built Linux option. The cheapest pre-built base configuration for the Framework Laptop 12 now starts at $699 - $100 less than the previous version when it launched last year. Preorders are open now, with the first wave of deliveries expected to ship in October.

That pre-built base configuration is only available in green, and includes an Intel Core 3 304 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. It also comes preloaded with Linux Fedora 44 KDE Plasma, a decision brought on by Framework finding

Read the full story at The Verge.

Oops! My cat is an iPad kid

18 August 2026 at 13:30
Cat’s paw touching an iPad with fish swimming on the screen.

Pets, like children, come with the responsibility to keep them happy, healthy, and mentally stimulated - obligations I readily committed to before getting my cat, Trevor. I work from home, so he's never lonely, and play with him using a mountain of toys at every opportunity outside of my working hours. But younger cats can be incredibly demanding of your attention. I simply don't have the capacity to physically entertain Trevor every time he yowls at me (constantly) or distract him from chewing every cable he can get his paws on (also constantly).

Unlike children, one of the perks of having a blissfully simple animal is that there are far f …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Apple’s camera-equipped AirPods appear in leaked video

18 August 2026 at 11:00
A snapshot taken from a leaked demo video of Apple’s camera-equipped AirPods.
The AirPods in the video look like a chunkier version of Apple’s AirPods Pro 3. | Image: Apple / MacRumors

We may have our first glimpse of Apple's rumored camera-equipped AirPods, thanks to a video that MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 Release Candidate. The short video clip features a man - who is wearing the new AirPods - holding up a book with the cover displayed, so that Visual Intelligence can see the book title.

A Siri voice-over plays over the clip, saying "with Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later." Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has previously reported that the rumored AirPods with cameras are designed to take in "visual information in low resolution" and act as eyes …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Received — 17 August 2026 The Verge - All Posts

Anthropic explains how Claude’s invisible text watermarks will work

17 August 2026 at 12:57
Claude logo on robot’s face.

Anthropic has clarified how it's planning to apply invisible watermarks to Claude-generated text in order to comply with Europe's AI transparency rules. On Friday, Anthropic announced that Claude's text marking system is "a version of the SynthID-Text approach" - an open-source watermarking technology developed by Google DeepMind that creates detectable patterns using wording probabilities.

This watermarking feature, alongside C2PA support for Claude-processed images, is being introduced to meet Anthropic's obligations under the European Union's AI Act, which requires synthetic audio, image, video, and text to include machine-readable marks …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Received — 14 August 2026 The Verge - All Posts

Help build a monument to that ‘sad little bitch’ Elon Musk

14 August 2026 at 10:40
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attends a state banquet for US President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026.
“Build the perfect monument to force a moment of introspection upon the world’s richest, ugliest little bitch.” | Image: Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images

Cards Against Humanity is gearing up to build "something that will annoy Elon Musk," and it's crowdfunding the project with its usual flavor of vulgarity. The company behind the card game announced plans to build "a grand monument" to Musk on the parcel of land it owns near Starbase, Texas, with the aim to "make him wonder, for a brief moment, 'Wait, am I a sad little bitch with no friends?'"

Cards Against Humanity is known for these kinds of stunts, having purchased the land in question back in 2017 specifically to disrupt President Donald Trump's plans to build a US/Mexico border wall. The card game company later sued SpaceX in 2024 for a …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Received — 13 August 2026 The Verge - All Posts

This is Instagram’s new logo

13 August 2026 at 17:00
The updated Instagram wordmark.
It’s certainly… different. | Image: Meta

Instagram has unveiled a new wordmark, moving away from the recognizable cursive typeface it's used over the last decade. The updated wordmark is a strange mix of half-cursive half-print that's somehow less legible than its predecessor. Like, that totally says "Instagzam," right?

"The wordmark at the top of the app hasn't changed in 10 years, so it was time for a refresh," Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced on his account. "Cleaner and more modern, with references to the original and the simplicity and craft that's always made it Instagram."

Mosseri is seemingly aware that this will be a controversial change, because he also posted it t …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Samsung’s $1,900 Z Fold 8 is still vulnerable to pocket lint

13 August 2026 at 16:00
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 in a pile of sand.

iFixit has provisionally given Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 a repairability score of 4 out of 10, which largely hinged on… well, the hinge. In its teardown of the device, iFixit found that because it carries an IP48 ingress rating - meaning it isn't protected against particles under 1 millimeter - dust and sand could make its way into the hinge mechanism, a component that's difficult to repair or replace.

"After working the Fold 8 open and closed, the hinge started making truly awful crunching and grinding noises, and the phone stopped opening normally," iFixit said. "Samsung has previously treated the hinge and inner display as one replacemen …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Microsoft is combining its Copilot apps ahead of a ‘super app’

13 August 2026 at 15:30
The updated Microsoft Copilot icon surrounded by colorful blocks.
You soon won’t have to look at two Copilot apps in your Windows taskbar. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is finally beginning to combine its consumer and commercial Copilot AI assistants into a single "super app" interface, starting with the Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot apps. Both personal and work accounts will be moved to the new unified app, which recycles the "Microsoft Copilot" name but features an updated app icon. The single app also means there won't be two annoying Copilot icons in the system tray or taskbar anymore.

"Starting with a fresh look, the updated app combines the best of Copilot chat and image creation, with the power of Microsoft 365 for your work," Microsoft said in its update announcement. The updates are …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Received — 12 August 2026 The Verge - All Posts

ICE wants to give agents electrified gloves that shock people into compliance

12 August 2026 at 18:58
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is aiming to spend up to $20 million on equipping officers and agents with specialized gloves that deliver painful electric shocks. These plans were outlined in a notice published by the Department of Homeland Security on Monday, with an unspecified quantity of the devices set to be delivered by March 2027.

The electrified handwear outlined in the contract is the CTG 5 GLOVE (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), which manufacturer Compliant Technologies refers to as a CD3 (Conductive Distraction and De-escalation) device. Compliant Technologies describes it as "a great, humane, low-optics, de-esc …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Grok is now an AI ‘teammate’ you can assign work

12 August 2026 at 13:58
Screenshots showing Grok Bot running on desktop and iOS.
You’ll have to be fine with letting Grok sign into your online accounts, however. | Image: SpaceXAI

SpaceXAI has introduced Grok Bot, an always-on AI agent service designed to behave like independent "AI teammates" that can do your work for you. The bots share their own cloud-based computer environment, and can sign into apps, tools, and websites you already use to complete multi-step workplace tasks, only coming back when their assigned work is completed or if something requires approval.

Grok Bot (or Bots, as SpaceXAI inconsistently pluralizes it) is the latest push from Elon Musk's AI company to keep up with business services launched by rival AI providers, including OpenAI's ChatGPT Work, Anthropic's Claude Cowork, and Microsoft's Cop …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Received — 11 August 2026 The Verge - All Posts

Apple could help you prove your iPhone photos aren’t deepfakes

11 August 2026 at 18:19
The Camera Control button on an iPhone 16 Pro being used to change settings.

Apple is seemingly developing an iOS feature that can verify when a photograph was taken using an iPhone camera. 9to5Mac reports that the iOS 27 beta 5 includes code references for an "Apple Reference Image" system that can embed provenance metadata into iPhone photographs at the point of capture - enabling users to prove where the photo originated, and that it isn't AI fakery.

Apple Reference Image isn't currently live, but a privacy disclosure in the iOS beta notes that the feature will be off by default. When (or if) it does roll out, 9to5Mac says it can be enabled via Settings > Camera > Reference Image > Reference Mode, and that only p …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Bumble now lets men make the first move

11 August 2026 at 15:00
An illustration of the Bumble logo.
Bumble backtracks on “women make the first move.” | Image: The Verge

Bumble was famously built around exclusively giving women the power to initiate messages in heterosexual matches when it first launched in 2014 - but now the times they are a-changin' for the dating app. Today, Bumble has announced a "global evolution to its signature conversation experience": anyone can now send the first message, and the deadline to respond before the match expires has been extended from 24 hours to a 72-hour window.

"While women making the first move was a radical idea, being women-first was never about prescribing just one way to connect. It was about designing an experience with women's needs in mind to create better o …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Claude will apply invisible watermarks to AI text and images

11 August 2026 at 14:22
The Claude logo on a computer screen on an orange background.

Anthropic has pledged to start marking Claude-generated text and images with machine-readable data, in an effort to comply with European rules for AI transparency. "Generated text will carry embedded watermarks, and generated files will include digitally signed provenance metadata where supported," Anthropic says on a new Claude support page. The changes are invisible to human eyes, but will make it easier for people and online platforms to detect if content was generated by Claude models.

These updates are a future commitment rather than something that will go into effect immediately. New AI labeling and transparency obligations under the …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Received — 10 August 2026 The Verge - All Posts

Four takeaways from Mark Zuckerberg’s massive AI manifesto

10 August 2026 at 17:19
Graphic collage of Mark Zuckerberg.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a lot to say about the idealized future he now envisions for humanity co-existing with artificial intelligence - his latest essay spans more than 6,500 words on the matter. The lengthy manifesto Zuckerberg published on Monday, titled "The Future is for Everyone," broadly lays out his beliefs about how the technology should be developed, expanded, and regulated, and how Meta is positioning itself to enable those goals.

Some points echo a similar (albeit, much shorter) public letter that Zuckerberg put out last year, heralding the importance of public access to superintelligent AI - a term for artificial general i …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Received — 7 August 2026 The Verge - All Posts

Meta ordered to pay an additional $567 million in public nuisance ruling

7 August 2026 at 11:10
Photo collage of Mark Zuckerberg.

Meta has been ordered to pay $567 million in the second phase of New Mexico's landmark child safety case, bringing total charges to nearly $1 billion for being a "public nuisance." In a ruling published on Thursday, the Santa Fe district court found that Meta's platforms are a "significant contributing cause" of a teen mental health crisis affecting public health and safety throughout New Mexico.

"This case has always been about protecting children, standing up for families, and making sure that one of the world's largest technology companies cannot profit from practices that endanger young people without consequence," New Mexico Attorney G …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Received — 6 August 2026 The Verge - All Posts

You can now ask Google Maps’ AI to order food for you

6 August 2026 at 14:30
An illustration representing new features for Ask Maps in Google Maps.
The Ask Maps updates aim to “make it easier than ever to get more done.” | Image: Google

The AI-powered "Ask Maps" tool in Google Maps can now perform a broader range of personalized and conversational requests, including ordering food, finding hotels, and providing suggestions that factor in your existing plans. These are among several new features announced for Ask Maps today, which aim to "make it easier than ever to get more done" without having to close the Google Maps app, according to Google Maps head, Miriam Daniel.

New agentic capabilities include asking Maps to order you food while considering contextual information like specific dietary needs, location, and places you've saved. For example, Google says you can ask it …

Read the full story at The Verge.

❌