One of the big parts of parenting is teaching our kids how to behave in various situations, and that also includes the digital realm. Whether they're using a laptop for schoolwork, a Chromebook for in-class assignments, or using their first smartphone, it's important that our kids know how to stay safe online. Part of this is using inbuilt parental controls to limit exposure to the more salacious parts of the internet, but it's also about talking to our kids about ground rules, how to spot scams and other issues, and most importantly, that they can always come to us if they feel unsafe wherever they are.

The first part of Wicked, starring Ariana Grande (left) and Cynthia Erivo (right) will arrive in theaters on November 22nd. | Image: Universal Pictures Barbie producer Mattel has issued an apology after customers spotted its Wicked edition dolls listed an adult website on the packaging. The toy merchandise mistakenly directed customers to the homepage of the Wicked Pictures pornographic movie studio, instead of the correct WickedMovie.com URL.“We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this,” Mattel said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is not appropriate for children.”Mattel said that the dolls, which have been released to coincide with Universal’s film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical, are “primarily sold in the US” and that the error was a “misprint.” It’s unclear... Continue reading…

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Once upon a time, Twitter — now X — was the place to get your memes, world news, and pop culture. However, even at the time, being an active Twitter user also required sifting through a daily deluge of toxic characters, bots, and deepfakes. Then the Elon Musk circus came to town and began steadily altering the formerly popular social network, to the point that many of its adherents began bailing by moving to one or more of the new social networks, such as Threads, Bluesky, or Mastodon. Now that the 2024 US presidential election is over, Musk looks like he’s going to be at least one of the powers behind the throne. Add to that recent changes that have made X less safe to use, and it’s no surprise that there is now a new wave of X users l... Continue reading…

Raspberry Pi owners come in all different shapes and sizes. Some will use them to create cool and interesting projects, and some will race to beat the world record for overclocking it to its absolute limit. The latter camp has been trading blows with one another to push this tiny board as fast as it can, but one person has shown that, perhaps, the arms race can now come to an end as they've hit a technical brick wall. And all it took was liquid hydrogen cooling.

Welcome to The Drive, a weekly column looking at some wacky, interesting, cool, and pivotal things within the tech space! Curated by PC Hardware Lead Editor Richard Edmonds through almost two decades covering the sector. Think something should be covered? Hit me up at [email protected]!

Donkey Kong Country gets a Nintendo Direct showcase on Monday. | Image: Nintendo Nintendo says it’s finally going to show off the long-awaited Donkey Kong Country area of Super Nintendo World in a Nintendo Direct stream on Monday at 5PM ET. It’s an encouraging sign for the theme park expansion devoted to Mario’s first nemesis, the opening of which was delayed earlier this year. Nintendo first confirmed that it was building the area, which will feature a mine cart rollercoaster ride, back in 2021. Nintendo and Universal Studios showed the region off — or a digital render of it, anyway — earlier this year, and confirmed that when the Orlando, Florida version of Super Nintendo World opens on May 22nd, 2025, it will have all of the same attractions as its Osaka counterpart.As for Nintendo Switch 2 news, well, don’t get... Continue reading…

Though it’s going to be a while before X-Men ‘97 returns to Disney Plus, the third and final season of What If…? is about to bring one of Marvel’s mutants to the MCU in the flashiest way possible.Ahead of What If…?’s season 3 premiere on December 22nd, Disney Plus has dropped a trailer spotlighting some of the new alternate universe stories featuring slightly different versions of previously-introduced MCU characters. The season will see Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) reimagined as a cowboy, Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) in a cosmic flapper guise, and the Avengers become a super sentai team with interconnecting mechs. That all feels like the exact kind of madness that has already made the show a fun, whiz-bang watch, but what’s really surprising... Continue reading…

Microsoft has steadily improved the default apps ever since the introduction of Windows 11. Even with a sleek new look and feel, some of its core applications still leave a lot to be desired. From frustrating quirks and outdated interfaces to average web apps, several key programs are ripe for a refresh.

With much of what we do taking place online, its no surprise that our personal information, including phone numbers, is constantly at risk of exposure. With robocalls, spam, phishing scams, and even targeted harassment on the rise, a publicly listed phone number can quickly become a major headache. Fraudsters and telemarketers often use People Search Sites or data brokers to obtain phone numbers, adding to the frustration.

Photo by Howard Schnapp/Newsday RM via Getty Images Amazon’s next ideas for growing its grocery business could blur the lines between Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh by enmeshing the two businesses’ fulfillment networks in a new set of experiments, according to The Wall Street Journal. Amazon has reportedly started shipping Whole Foods products from 26 Amazon Fresh fulfillment centers and plans to build a microfulfillment center at a Pennsylvania Whole Foods Market and stocking it with Amazon Fresh household goods and groceries. Another part of the plan includes an experimental “Amazon Grocery” inside a Chicago Whole Foods that offers brands and groceries that the upscale store wouldn’t normally carry, according to WSJ. The goal of the tests is to give Amazon customers a way to buy... Continue reading…

When youre attempting to build your dream NAS, there are plenty of permutations and combinations you can try out for the hardware. The same can be said for software, as theres a staggering number of operating systems that can turn your newly purchased NAS components into a powerful storage server.

The smartphone-sized Boox Palma is highly portable and lets you read in a variety of apps. | Image: Boox Amazon announced a slew of new Kindles recently, but if you’re not already locked into Amazon’s ecosystem they may not be the best options. If you’re looking for an e-reader that offers more flexibility, our readers can currently buy the Boox Palma at a new all-time low of $234.99 ($45 off) from Wellbots with a free flip-cover case (valued at $16) when you apply the code VERGEBFBOOX45. Unlike many other e-readers, the Boox Palma runs on Android 11 and comes with the Google Play Store built-in, so you can read in a wide range of apps. That’s really convenient, as all you need to do is, say, download Amazon’s Kindle app, and you’ll be able to access your entirely digital library without needing to go through the long, complicated... Continue reading…