Pretty much everything you liked and disliked about the Whoop 4.0 is true of the Whoop 5.0 and MG.
The tragedy of a niche product is if it sees any success, two things will happen. First, rivals big and small will copy its ideas. Then, to combat that existential threat and appease investors, there'll be an appeal to the larger mass market. A handful of niche products survive the transition to the mainstream. Most don't. (See: Nest, Mirror, VSCO, Vine, Birchbox, etc.) It's a tale as old as products, and where we currently find Whoop.
Whoop is a fitness tracker, but it differs in a few key ways. It doesn't have a screen, focuses heavily on sleep and recovery from physical strain, and notoriously relies on a subscription model. A few years …
Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers 2 will make the jump to the Xbox Series X and S consoles on August 26th, costing $39.99. This is the first PlayStation-published title to launch on Xbox. The title will ship with cross play between all platforms.
The cooperative PvE third-person shooter was an unexpected hit when it first launched simultaneously on PlayStation 5 and PC in early 2023. It soared in popularity on Steam, where it earned an “overwhelmingly positive” rating, which flipped to “overwhelmingly negative” when Sony introduced (then swiftly reversed) a decision to require a PSN login for PC players. Xbox’s press release makes no mention of a PSN login, so it likely won’t be required here.
Helldivers 2 is a gem of a game that’s high on hijinx. What initially seems like a serious sci-fi title often gives way to funny, emergent moments, thanks in part to its Strategem system, which requires you to input complex button combos while facing down swarms of enemies. There are a variety of missions you can take on against aliens, robots, and a newer Illuminate species. And, since it’s a live-service title, the lore and the stakes are always evolving (and the developers often troll players). It’s a fun world to be immersed in, even if you’re just grinding the free battle pass for weapon upgrades.
My former Polygon colleague Cass Marshall wrote some incredible Helldivers 2 coverage, which have the power to convince just about anyone that they were missing out on a good time. I mean, just look at these headlines below.
Lego’s latest homage to retro gaming is a tiny arcade machine that opens to reveal a miniature gaming room. | Image: Lego
At 468-pieces it’s no where near as elaborate as Lego’s buildable Pac-Man machine, but this 6-inch tall Arcade Machine set will only set you back $39.99 when it launches on August 1st, 2025.
At this scale Lego wasn’t able to make this arcade machine playable like Pac-Man is, but it still managed to include some fun details. On the outside the machine features a generic Space game with tiny controls, matching cabinet artwork, a marquee, and a coin slot that actually accepts coins.
Opening the arcade machine reveals a miniature gaming room inside with a minifigure, several tiny consoles, a TV, and lots of decor highlighting other Lego sets, including the Galaxy Explorer sitting on a shelf. You’ll also find an even smaller arcade machine inside featuring an online puzzle game called Junkbot that was originally available to play on Lego’s website back in 2001.
Apple finally showed us a good use case for its AI at WWDC 2025. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
Apple's AI capabilities have been less than impressive to date, but there's one new feature coming with iOS 26 that's actually really handy: adding stuff to your calendar with a screenshot.
I've been testing this feature out for the past few weeks in the developer beta, and I'm pleased to report that it works, easily making it my favorite Apple Intelligence feature so far. That's admittedly a low bar to clear - and it's not quite as capable as Android's version - but it's a nice change of pace to use an AI feature that feels like it's actually saving me time.
Maybe adding things to your calendar doesn't sound all that exciting, but I am a …
This image is a display concept that Samsung showed off in March, but the leaked trifold design is pretty similar.
Samsung may have inadvertently given us a first look at its upcoming “multifold” device in the latest One UI 8 build update. Some animations spotted by Android Authority show what the trifold Samsung flagship might look like, including the dual-hinge folding mechanism, display layout, camera setup, and NFC location.
The device is speculated to be called the “Galaxy G Fold,” though Android Authority notes that it’s labeled as the “Multifold 7” in the One UI 8 animation files. Samsung first teased the new foldable at its Unpacked event in January, alongside a basic illustration of what appears to be a triple-screen phone that aligns with the design in the leaked animations.
The leaked design shows a three-panel device with a large triple-camera setup on the rear, located on the right-hand panel when fully unfolded. Animations indicate that the NFC chip will be housed in this panel. The central panel appears to be the cover display, with a front-facing camera that can be used when the device is folded shut. When fully unfolded the front-facing camera is on the right side — the same panel that houses the rear triple-camera on its reverse.
One animation notably reveals how the device will likely fold, showing two differently-sized hinges, with the left-hand display folding inwards, suggesting the right-hand display is designed to sandwich over the top. Another animation warns users not to fold the right-hand panel first, as the camera module will prevent the display from folding flat, and the left-hand display will be unable to fully fold without potentially damaging the device.
That’s different from the Z-shaped folding mechanism used by the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design, which launched last September as the first commercially available trifold phone. The Mate XT folds in such a way that it’s possible to use one, two, or all three display panels at once, making it more versatile than Samsung’s apparent design, though it leaves part of the panel exposed at all times, so it’s more vulnerable too.
This may not be the final design for Samsung’s upcoming foldable, however, and there’s very little information available about the product, so take these leaks with a pinch of salt. We may get some official details next week if Samsung unveils the device at its next Unpacked event on July 9th, when it’s also expected to reveal the latest generation of its Z Fold and Z Flip devices.
In a 92-minute interview with Tucker Carlson on Monday, RFK Jr. drilled down on his vision for the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Artificial intelligence - arguably, a uselessly vague umbrella term - came up multiple times. (As did conspiracy theories and disinformation on vaccines and autism, the medical establishment, and covid-19 deaths.)
As the head of HHS, Kennedy said his federal department is undergoing an "AI revolution." He implored viewers to "stop trusting the experts," as highlighted by Gizmodo, and, presumably, put their trust into AI instead of decades of scientific consensus.
It's that time again: for a third yearrunning, the summer is looking pretty great for streaming some science fiction. There's just something about cool fictional futures that's a good fit for hot summer days spent indoors, and it seems the various streaming services agree. It's been a pretty good year so far for the genre, with the return of Severance, Andor, and Black Mirror. And that momentum looks like it will continue through the next few months; we've already seen strong debuts for Murderbot and Ironheart, while other shows like Alien: Earth and The Institute are on their way, as well.
Both custom and pre-made Gems will now be available to use via the side panel in Workspace apps.
Google is giving Workspace users a way to access “Gems” — customizable versions of its Gemini AI assistant that specialize in specific tasks — without opening the Gemini app. Gems are now available directly in the side panel of Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Drive, and Gmail, allowing users to access custom chatbots they’ve created or a selection of pre-made offerings without switching between apps.
“Gems can help you further leverage the power of Gemini in a way that’s customized to your needs more efficiently by minimizing repetitive prompting,” Google said in its announcement.
Gemini users can curate versions of the chatbot to be an “expert” in particular tasks they regularly require, such as brand-tailored copywriting or revising for exams. Users can also upload their own files into Gems to provide them with task-specific context and resources. Otherwise, Google provides pre-made Gems for things like text editing, writing code, creating sales pitch ideas, and more.
According to Google, some examples of how Workspace users can utilize Gems include:
• Leverage a copywriting Gem to create posts and content tailored to your target audience, pre-loaded into the Gem.
• Create a Gem that helps with sales interactions that is grounded on information for a specific company, prospect, or industry.
• Leverage an “assistant gem” tailored to your job role to help provide more relevant summaries for you and content for internal communications.
• Leverage a Gem designed to help pressure test content from a certain persona (e.x C-Suite or CEO) to help you create the most compelling message.
Gems were previously only available in the Gemini app. Custom Gems can’t be created directly in Workspace apps, but users can do so by either heading to gemini.google.com/gems/create or tapping the “Create a new Gem” option in the Workspace side panel. Workspace capabilities like @-mentioning and accessing files/folders are supported by both custom and pre-made Gems.
The Gems update is available to all Google Workspace users who can access Gemini in Workspace app side panels. It started rolling out on July 2nd, but Google says it may potentially take “longer than 15 days” to appear.
Racist videos that appear to be created with Google’s AI video generation tool Veo 3 have raked in millions of views across TikTok, according to findings from the nonprofit media watchdog Media Matters. The AI-generated videos uncovered by the organization are filled with racist tropes, many of which target Black people.
Media Matters determined that the videos — one of which received 14.2 million views — were generated with Google Veo 3 because of the “Veo” watermark in the corner of the clips. Some users also listed hashtags, captions, or usernames pertaining to Veo 3 or AI, according to Media Matters. Each clip found by the organization lasted just eight seconds, or was “composed of multiple clips each lasting no more than 8 seconds,” which tracks with Veo 3’s eight-second limit.
Veo 3, launched by Google in May, allows users to generate AI video clips and audio with just a text prompt. On its website, Google says it will “block harmful requests and results.” TikTok’s rules similarly state that “hate speech and hateful behavior has no place on TikTok,” and that the platform “will not recommend content that contains negative stereotypes about a person or group with a protected attribute.”
“We proactively enforce robust rules against hateful speech and behavior and have removed the accounts we identified in the report, many of which were already banned prior to the report publishing,” TikTok spokesperson Ariane de Selliers said in a statement to The Verge.
The Verge found some of the videos highlighted by Media Matters were also on YouTube but with fewer views, while Wired also discovered similar, racist AI-generated videos on Instagram. Other videos found by Media Matters contain antisemitic content and racist depictions of immigrants and Asian people.
Google didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
Microsoft’s layoff of roughly 9,000 employees is continuing to have downstream effects at the company’s subsidiaries. Aftermath reports that as many as 100 developers at Blizzard have been impacted, and as a result the studio is winding down development on its mobile tower defense game Warcraft Rumble.
In an announcement, Blizzard wrote that while the game will not be abandoned entirely, the company will cease development on any new content. “Moving forward, we’ll continue supporting Rumble with updates focused on regular, systemic in-game events and bug fixes, but no new content. ”
Blizzard continued, saying Rumble, “struggled to find its footing relative to our ambition for its long-term success.” And while its developers worked to respond to player feedback that, “ultimately wasn’t enough to put the game on a path to sustainability.”
Warcraft Rumble was the first mobile focused game in the Warcraft Universe. It launched in 2023 after nine years in development and was originally one of two mobile games Blizzard was working on, the other being Blizzard’s take on Pokémon Go. That game was never officially announced by Blizzard and cancelled sometime in 2022. Warcraft Rumble joins a handful of other Blizzard games in development stasis along with Starcraft II and Heroes of the Storm.
Earlier today, Xbox also announced that it was cancelling the Rare-developed Everwild, as well as the Perfect Dark remake, while shuttering The Initiative, the studio making it.
A mandatory update for Google’s mid-range Pixel 6A phones is coming next week that is meant to reduce the risk of the battery overheating on some devices. According to a support page post, Google is issuing the mandatory Android 16 update starting July 8 to all Pixel 6A devices. However, only users with “Impacted Devices” will see any effect on their battery.
Announced earlier this month, the update will reduce the battery capacity on affected phones after they reach 400 charging cycles, Google’s Alex Moriconi told The Verge. The move comes after at least two people reported their Pixel 6As catching fire.
Google says affected users will get a notification when the phone has completed 375 cycles, giving them a heads-up that the new battery management features will be activated soon. Once these management tools are in effect, the battery won’t last as long between charges.
According to Google, users may see other changes, “like reduced charging performance or short-term changes to how the battery-level indicator on your phone shows your battery capacity as your phone learns its revised battery capacity.” It’s not clear why some Pixel 6A phones are affected and others aren’t, but if yours is, Google is offering free battery replacement — you can check here to see if you’re eligible.
The company has already dealt with a similar issue on the Pixel 4A, offering owners a free battery replacement or a $100 credit towards a new phone. It currently has an extended repair program for battery swelling issues on the Pixel 7A.
On July 2nd, Microsoft announced sweeping layoffs affecting as many as 9,000 employees, and they had a big impact on the company’s Xbox studios. Microsoft canceled Perfect Dark from The Initiative and closed the studio. Rare’s Everwild, announced in 2019, was canceled, too. And Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios will lose more than 70 employees.
“We must make choices now for continued success in future years and a key part of that strategy is the discipline to prioritize the strongest opportunities,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a memo to employees. “We will protect what is thriving and concentrate effort on areas with the greatest potential, while delivering on the expectations the company has for our business. This focused approach means we can deliver exceptional games and experiences for players for generations to come.”
A rumor was circulating that Spencer was planning to retire after Microsoft launched its next generation of Xbox, but the company tells The Verge that Spencer isn’t retiring as the chief of Xbox “anytime soon.”
There's always a reason why universal USB-C ports don't "just work" like you'd expect. In the early days, it was incompetence or naiveté. Later, manufacturers often cheaped out. But in the case of Nintendo's Switch 2, it appears to be intentional.
With the Nintendo Switch 2, it should be easy to plug your new, more expensive console into video glasses or TVs when you're traveling away from home. USB-C makes it so. But Nintendo has intentionally broken the Switch 2's compatibility with those devices, using a new encryption scheme and some form of dedicated encryption chip, two accessory manufacturers tell The Verge.
Microsoft says that Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming CEO and the head of Xbox, isn’t retiring “anytime soon.” The company has responded to rumors of Spencer’s retirement, which have spread online today following Microsoft’s major layoffs.
“Phil is not retiring anytime soon,” says Kari Perez, head of Xbox communications, in a statement to The Verge. The denial comes after Call of Duty leaker GhostOfHope claimed “Phil Spencer will be retiring from his role as CEO of Microsoft Gaming after the launch of the next generation Xbox” and that Xbox president Sarah Bond would be taking over as CEO of Microsoft Gaming.
While Microsoft’s comment doesn’t address the rumor fully, it makes it clear Spencer isn’t retiring imminently. Separately, Microsoft communications chief, Frank Shaw, took to X to claim that at least part of the rumor was made up.
Spencer originally assumed leadership of the Xbox division in 2014, a promotion from his role as the boss of Microsoft Studios. As the boss of Xbox, he’s overseen many big initiatives, including the launch of the Xbox Series X / S, a huge push into Xbox Game Pass, acquisitions of major companies like Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax Media, bringing more Xbox games to platforms like PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.
While Spencer isn’t retiring anytime soon, Microsoft is continuing its big cuts today that have affected Xbox studios and employees. Perfect Dark and Everwildhave been cancelled, while Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios will be letting go of more than 70 staffers. Zenimax Online Studios also reportedly canceled a new MMORPG codenamed Blackbird that had been in the works since 2018.
Banks are facing renewed pressure to protect their customers from scams on Zelle, the payment network owned by JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, and other big banks. In letters to the banks, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) asked them how often their customers report Zelle scams that originate from social media.
Last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase over claims they “rushed” Zelle’s launch in 2017 and failed to protect customers from “widespread fraud,” which resulted in more than $870 million lost to scams. In an attempt to protect its customers, Chase began blocking Zelle payments over social media, where scams often show up, last February. The CFPB dropped its Zelle lawsuit in March after President Donald Trump’s administration began dismantling the agency.
“Banks, including JPMorgan Chase, have historically failed to protect consumers from Zelle fraud and scams,” the letters state. “According to the CFPB’s lawsuit, for example, since Zelle was created, the banks that run the payment service have not meaningfully improved their ability to detect and prevent fraud or increased their reimbursements to customers defrauded on Zelle to match the increase in fraud rates.”
Without the support of the CFPB, the three lawmakers are now taking matters into their own hands. They asked the banks that own Zelle, which they claim is “associated with significant scams and fraud,” if they have noticed any broader trends of fraud on the payment platform, such as whether they come from social media or another source. The lawmakers are also pressing the banks for their policies on reimbursing customers who fall victim to scams on Zelle and other peer-to-peer payment networks. The banks have until July 14th to respond.
“Zelle is leading the fight against scams and fraud and has industry-leading reimbursement policies that go above and beyond the law,” Zelle spokesperson Eric Blankenbaker said in a statement to The Verge. “The misguided attacks by the previous leadership of the CFPB would have emboldened criminals, cost consumers more in fees, stifled small businesses and made it harder for thousands of community banks and credit unions to compete.”
A court in France has sentenced three former Ubisoft executives for sexual and psychological harassment. Serge Hascoet, Tommy Francois, and Guillaume Patrux each received fines and suspended prison sentences for actions that were discovered as a part of a yearslong investigation into sexual harassment and bullying at the game publisher.
According to The Guardian, Hascoet, Ubisoft’s former chief creative officer, allegedly commented that a female employee’s mood could be improved if someone were to have sex with her in order to “show how to calm her.” Francois, Ubisoft’s former editorial vice president, was additionally convicted of attempted sexual assault as well as sexual harassment related to an alleged incident where he tried to forcefully kiss a female employee at a party while colleagues held her down. Patrux, a former game director, was alleged to have thrown furniture in open-plan office space, throwing other objects at employees, and drawing swastikas on a colleague’s notebook.
In the aftermath, several Ubisoft executives, including Hascoet, resigned, while others, including Francois, were fired. In 2023, five former employees, including Hascoet and Francois, were arrested by French police following an investigation into the company.
According to French newspaper Le Monde, Francois blamed company culture at Ubisoft for his behavior, saying he was a part of a culture that was “everywhere, in every department” and that he didn’t think it was “abnormal.”
With less than a week until Prime Day kicks off, we’re already seeing some exciting early deals pop up. And now we can add two more great discounts to the list: the refurbished ad-supported Kindle Paperwhite is down to $106.99 ($37 off) at Amazon, while the refurbished Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is $126.99 ($53 off) at Amazon. Both discounts bring the like-new e-readers to all-time lows — just in time to read Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary before the movie adaptation hits theaters next year.
The Kindle Paperwhite is one of our favorite e-readers, especially for those who are already in the Kindle ecosystem. It offers a large 7-inch display, sharp 300ppi resolution, and an adjustable warm white front light, making it more comfortable to read in different environments. It’s also waterproof, so you can read while lounging by the pool, which I plan to do a lot of this summer. Meanwhile, the battery is rated to last for up to 12 weeks on a single charge, though your mileage may vary depending on your reading habits.
If you don’t want ads on your e-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition offers an ad-free experience — plus a few other goodies that the standard Kindle Paperwhite doesn’t. For starters, the Signature Edition has double the storage, so you can download even more books, PDFs, and audiobooks, which you can listen to with Bluetooth headphones or speakers. It also features an auto-adjusting front light, so you don’t have to constantly adjust the brightness throughout the day. Finally, the Signature Edition supports wireless charging, a feature you don’t often see in this space.
Both models are faster than the last-gen iterations thanks to a dual-core processor, so turning pages, highlighting text, and looking up words is more responsive. Amazon says its refurbished products are thoroughly inspected, cleaned, and tested to ensure they’re fully functional, and you get the same one-year limited warranty as new products. If you need a break from games, movies, and podcasts, we have plenty of great book recommendations to check out.
The subtitles for one of Crunchyroll's newest anime series make it pretty clear that the company is going all in on ChatGPT.
This week as viewers logged on to Crunchyroll to check out Studio Gokumi's Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show, many were surprised to see that the series' subtitles were filled with typos, grammatical errors, and explicit references to ChatGPT. The subtitles seemed very much like text that had been generated with AI and slapped onto Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show without first being reviewed and edited for accuracy.
Errors in subtitles aren't unheard of, but sentences like "Is gameorver. if you fall, you …
Neil Druckmann, co-creator of The Last of Us video game and co-showrunner on the HBO adaptation, will be stepping away from the television series moving forward. In a statement, Druckmann — who is also studio head at The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog — said the decision was made to focus on the studio’s upcoming games.
“With work completed on season 2 and before any meaningful work starts on season 3, now is the time to transition my complete focus to Naughty Dog and its future projects, including writing and directing our exciting next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, along with my responsibilities as studio head and head of creative,” Druckmann wrote.
Druckmann co-led the HBO series for its first two seasons alongside Craig Mazin, best-known as the creator of another HBO series, Chernobyl. Druckmann’s work on the show is likely one of the main reasons it has hewed so closely to the source material. Before that, he was heavily involved in most of Naughty Dog’s major releases, including not only The Last of Us and its sequel, but also serving as creative director on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.
Microsoft is canceling its Perfect Dark and Everwild games as part of sweeping cuts to its Xbox division. Matt Booty, Xbox president of game content and studios, revealed that Microsoft will be closing The Initiative, the studio behind Perfect Dark, in an internal memo to Xbox employees today.
Following Phil’s note, I want to share more about the changes to the Studios business units.
We have made the decision to stop development of Perfect Dark and Everwild as well as wind down several unannounced projects across our portfolio. As part of this, we are closing one of our studios, The Initiative. These decisions, along with other changes across our teams, reflect a broader effort to adjust priorities and focus resources to set up our teams for greater success within a changing industry landscape. We did not make these choices lightly, as each project and team represent years of effort, imagination, and commitment.
Our overall portfolio strategy is unchanged: build games that excite our players, continue to grow our biggest franchises, and create new stories, worlds, and characters. We have more than 40 projects in active development, continued momentum on titles shipping this fall, and a strong slate headed into 2026.
For those directly affected, we are working closely with HR and studio leadership to provide support, including severance, career transition assistance, and where possible, opportunities to explore roles on other teams.
To everyone across our studios: thank you. Your creativity and resilience continue to define who we are. I believe in the strength of our teams and the direction we’re taking on the path ahead.
