With graphics cards being the most expensive component of any gaming rig, most PC builders tend to allocate over half of their budget to the GPU. But over a decade ago, it was impossible to imagine that someday wed end up paying more than a grand for a single mid-range GPU. Besides the pricing, things were quite different back in the day, with many enthusiasts rocking SLI and CrossFire configurations in their systems.

Images of UTM SE from its App Store listing. | Screenshots: UTM SE Apple has approved UTM SE, an app for emulating a computer to run classic software and games, weeks after the company rejected it and barred it from being notarized for third-party app stores in the European Union. The app is now available for free for iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS.After Apple rejected the app in June, the developer said it wasn’t going to keep trying because the app was “a subpar experience.” Today, UTM thanked the AltStore team for helping it and credited another developer “whose QEMU TCTI implementation was pivotal for this JIT-less build.” Screenshot: UTM SE UTM SE doesn’t include any virtual machines, but does help you find them. As with other emulators on the App Store, you can’t do much... Continue reading…

Image: HBO In Julio Torres’ series Fantasmas, survival in the future is an intricate, corporate-owned game of feeding your identity to the machine. Continue reading…

If you're in the market for a great smartwatch to pair with an excellent smartphone, particularly an Android phone, you've definitely got options. Some of the top contenders out there are Google's Pixel Watches and Samsung's Galaxy Watches, but which should you opt for?

Image: David Pierce / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 45, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, sorry I love productivity apps so much, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) I’m back from a few days off, feeling rested and sunburned and ready to rumble. Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes! This week, I’ve been reading Made for Love and stories about AI gamers and AI musicians and Ferrari EVs, watching Turning Point, replacing my weather app with Lazy Weather, raging at Ira Glass for listening to podcasts at 2x speed, and spilling all my feelings to the Dot AI bot.I also have for you a new phone, a new smart ring, a new / old podcast reunion, a sci-fi show... Continue reading…

There’s a bit of a theme of payoff in this week’s trailers. Anthony Mackie finally takes the lead on the big screen after 10 years in the MCU; Ridley Scott’s two-decade-plus plan for a Gladiator sequel is coming to fruition; and we finally get to find out what happens next to the macrodata refinement team in Severance. There’s a lot to go through this week, from big-budget tentpole movies to whimsical TV, so let’s get down to it, starting, naturally, with the MCU.Captain America: Brave New WorldIn the trailer for Captain America: Brave New World, Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) wants to make Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) part of the US military once more. He’s clearly put off by the idea, but is forced to jump into the fray after super... Continue reading…

SBC creators make a ton of awesome projects, but some of them really do take the cake. For instance, someone has shown off their interactive display consisting entirely of flip discs that can be tweaked to show whatever the designer wants. And the best bit is, if you fancy one of these in your own home, the creator has detailed how they did it and what they would have done differently if they could do it again.

After the big companies gave us a few weeks to take a break, we were back at it again with more news after Samsung hosted its Galaxy Unpacked 2024 event. It gave us an insight as to how the company is moving forward with its devices, from AI to wearables. However, that doesn't mean that nothing else cool happened, and as usual, we at XDA were picking up on the news as it happened. So, here are the top pieces for the last week.

The Kobo Elipsa 2E lets you actually take notes directly on pages, which is one of the reasons I recommend it over the Kindle Scribe. | Image: Kobo We’re already seeing great deals land on Amazon devices like the Kindle Scribe ahead of Prime Day next week, which makes sense as it’s an Amazon event. It’s possible we’ll see even more Kindle deals arrive soon, but it’s less certain what kind of discounts — if any — we’ll see on e-readers from rivals like Kobo. Thankfully, if you don’t want an Amazon e-reader, Rakuten Kobo has launched a new sale, dropping its top-notch Kobo Elipsa 2E down to an all-time low of $349.99 ($50 off) when you purchase it direct from Rakuten Kobo. You can also pick it up for the same price at Amazon or Target via a third-party seller.I spent a lot of time testing both the Kindle Scribe and the Kobo Elipsa 2E, and ultimately Kobo’s is my favorite... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge Valve is a famously secretive company with an enormous influence on the gaming industry, particularly because it runs the massive PC gaming storefront Steam. But despite that influence, Valve isn’t a large organization on par with EA or Riot Games’ thousands of employees: according to leaked data we’ve seen, as of 2021, Valve employed just 336 staffers.The data was included as part of an otherwise heavily redacted document from Wolfire’s antitrust lawsuit against Valve. As spotted by SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik, some data in the document was viewable despite the black redaction boxes, including Valve’s headcount and gross pay across various parts of the company over 18 years, and even some data about its gross margins that we weren’t... Continue reading…

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 launched recently, and the lifestyle-focused flip foldable is better than ever. Samsung's latest devices enter an evolving foldable phone market, with multiple manufacturers all vying to be the best. As one of the forerunners, Samsung's devices have had time to mature, and the Z Flip 6 is proof that foldable phones are here to stay. It might not have any huge changes from the previous two installments, but it is good enough to be the foldable flip phone to buy if you're in the market for one.

Illustration: The Verge Conspiracy theories about the shooting at a rally for Donald Trump began surfacing on X shortly after the news broke this afternoon, with the platform promoting topics including “#falseflag” and “staged” to users. X owner Elon Musk has staunchly advocated for “free speech” on social media platforms — which can include misinformation like the above.After the shooting, Musk posted that he would “fully endorse” the former president. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Musk donated to a super PAC supporting Trump, giving a “sizable amount” to reelection efforts. Musk has taken on increasingly conservative views in recent years, promoting the “great replacement” conspiracy theory and endorsing support for white pride. His support adds to a... Continue reading…