It doesn't seem that long ago when mobile gaming was summed up by games like Flappy Bird and Candy Crush. As phones got more powerful, so did the games, and now we have full-blown titles that run in the palm of your hand. As such, companies have developed controllers that cradle your phone and let you play your games without needing to tap the screen. One of our fave models is the GameSir G8 Galileo, and if you've been on the lookout for a stellar mobile controller, you can now get it for its cheapest price ever during this year's Black Friday deals.

Apple may have just recently released the M4 Mac Mini, but that doesnt mean you cant find it at a discount. The new, much more compact model of Apples mini desktop computer starts at $599, but you can already score better prices than that. Amazon lists the base M4 Mac Mini at just $559, but a special Black Friday coupon brings it below the $500 mark to $499.99.

Hey, remember the Nova SBC that went up as a crowdfunding campaign? It was a cute board that combined an RP 2040 with a small LED grid you can use for minute projects. If you needed a reason to pick one up for yourself, here's one: someone coded Snake on their board, and you can do the same with their tutorial.

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos via Getty Images The Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on a case involving funding for a major broadband subsidy program, the Universal Service Fund (USF). SCOTUS granted cert in a pair of cases called Federal Communications Commission v. Consumers’ Research, and Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition v. Consumers’ Research, which were consolidated for oral arguments. They center around whether Congress inappropriately delegated lawmaking function to the FCC by letting it set contribution rates for telecommunications companies to pay into the nonprofit Universal Service Administration Company, which manages the USF. It also asks whether the FCC delegated too much authority to a private entity by letting USAC manage the subsidy program.The... Continue reading…

Did you know that disposable vapes come with lithium-ion batteries? Yeah, the same kind of battery that you'll find in your phone. Just like their bigger brothers, disposable vape batteries are totally capable of being recharged and reused in other projects. Unfortunately, because they're bundled into a disposable product, a ton of these batteries hit the landfill before they can even perform a slither of their potential.

Illustration by Lille Allen / The Verge Elon Musk is, in addition to many other things, now the co-lead of the currently nonexistent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory group. Now, before it even gets rolling, he has begun singling out individual government employees he says are emblematic of the government’s bloat and posting about them to his hundreds of millions of followers on X.Earlier this week, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal, the X user “datahazard” shared a screenshot on X highlighting the role of Ashley Thomas, the Director of Climate Diversification at the US International Development Finance Corporation, saying, “I don’t think the US Taxpayer should pay for the employment” of that role. Musk reposted it, adding the comment “so many... Continue reading…

There are lots of great portable SSDs. But if you're looking for one that offers great performance, tons of storage space, and is great for even the toughest conditions then this SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD is going to be right up your alley.

Network-attached storage (NAS) is fantastic for storing files on the network, making services available for an entire household or office, and connecting to various systems while away. Compared to simple storage devices, there's much more that can be done with a NAS and they're quickly becoming more like traditional servers. Most enclosures you can purchase have a few USB ports and you'll have a few when turning an old PC into a NAS, but what should you use them for? Here are a few things that can be connected to your NAS through USB.

Designers, creators, writers, artists, and other creative types often make it difficult to know what to gift them. There are so many specialist tools or fun creative gadgets, how can you even know what to buy for someone? Heres an ideal gift list for creatives, ranging from small gift items to larger more extravagant items that would really make your creative friends year.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge DirecTV has dropped its plans to acquire Dish, the company announced Thursday. The deal would’ve created a TV service megamerger, but it fell through after Dish bondholders rejected the takeover.In September, DirecTV reached an agreement to acquire Dish, Sling TV, and EchoStar’s TV business for just one dollar, while also taking on Dish’s $9.75 billion in debt. However, Dish bondholders — or the investors who lend money to a company (and expect to be paid back) — weren’t happy about the decision, as the transaction would’ve cut the value of their holdings by $1.5 billion.“While we believed a combination of DIRECTV and DISH would have benefitted all stakeholders, we have terminated the transaction because the proposed Exchange Terms... Continue reading…

Microsoft Excel is undoubtedly a powerful spreadsheet software for data analysis and manipulation. That said, even the most seasoned Excel users can run into performance issues when faced with massive datasets. This can lead to lost hours, productivity, and inaccurate analysis. Before you ditch Excel in favor of an alternative, make sure to implement a few strategic techniques to handle such large datasets easily and unlock their true potential in no time.

A number of Windows users reported snappy performance after updating their PCs to Windows 11, version 24H2. However, for lots of other people, the latest major Windows 11 feature update is causing all sorts of issues. So much so that Microsoft temporarily blocked the Windows 11 24H2 update on certain PCs last month. Unfortunately for Windows users, Microsoft has imposed the update block yet again, but this time, it's for different reasons.