New York is suing Kalshi over claims the prediction market is running "an illegal gambling operation." In the lawsuit, New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses Kalshi of violating state laws by accepting wagers without a license from the state's gaming commission, as reported earlier by CNBC.An investigation from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found Kalshi exposes New York residents "to serious personal and financial risk," including people under the legal gambling age of 21, the lawsuit alleges. The state asks the court to block Kalshi - which is headquartered in New York - from operating in the state and to pay restituti …Read the full story at The Verge.

Looking to start your own island paradise full of Miis based on family, friends, and celebrities, but don’t feel like paying full fare? Woot has Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream for Switch on sale for $52.99 (usually $59.95). Sort of like Animal Crossing, but more off-kilter, this unique game sees you building and managing relationships on an island of custom Mii characters. You’ll set up and decorate housing, discover what the inhabitants like and dislike, and watch as they interact with each other and form their own community. This discount is for the region-free international version (so it’ll work in all Switch consoles), and includes improved loading times for Switch 2 owners.Tomodachi Life: Living the DreamWhere to Buy: $59.99 $52.99 at WootThe second game in the series, Living the Dream adds a variety of new tools for you to build your island paradise, which folks have used to recreate simulacrums of celebrities, fictional characters, and real people in their lives. Once they’ve settled in, these characters will mingle in unpredictable ways. They may date, become platonic besties, argue, or possibly get married, frequently leading to situations that are as touching as they are funny.Other deals to considerWoot has one-meter-long woven USB-C cables from Apple on sale in a variety of colors for $14.99 each (originally $19), with extra discounts if you want to buy two or three. The cables are rated for 60W of power, enough for iPad and iPhone devices, and transfer data at USB 2 speeds. You can use the coupon code APPLETEN to save an extra 10 percent once per account.The Marshall Stanmore III speaker is on sale at Amazon for $249.99 (usually $399.99), matching the lowest price we’ve seen. This capable speaker features a variety of connectivity options, including Bluetooth 5.2, 3.5mm aux, and RCA jacks for your record player. The timeless, amp-inspired design will look right at home on a bookshelf or entertainment center, with bass and treble control knobs to tune your listening experience.Life360 Tile Slim trackers are $30 for a pack of two at Amazon, just about half off their usual price and the lowest we’ve seen. Compatible with both iOS and Android devices via the Tile app, these credit card-shaped trackers can easily slide into a bag or wallet so you can easily find them, and have an SOS feature that will let you quickly call a friend or family member for help in an emergency.

All future robot vacuums manufactured outside the USA (i.e., all of them) have been banned by the FCC. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge No other gadget knows as much about your home as a robot vacuum. They map your space, learn your routines, and many now carry a camera and microphone into every room in your house. As AI gives them a better understanding of what they see, the privacy and security risks these autonomous robots pose are only growing.That's why greater scrutiny makes sense, but the ban on foreign-made mobile robots issued by the Federal Communications Commission earlier this week - implemented to address "unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States or the safety and security of United States persons" - doesn't actually judge products by h …Read the full story at The Verge.

Google is seemingly working on an item tracker that might compete with Apple's AirTag. 9to5Google obtained an image of something called a "Google Pixel Tag" that has a small oval shape. The publication also linked to a Slovenian store listing about the Pixel Tag that describes the gadget as an item tracker with a speaker that uses Google's "Find My Device" network (which is now called Find Hub).The Pixel Tag is popping up shortly ahead of Google's planned hardware launch event for August 12th. Google has already shown off teases of the Pixel 11 lineup for the event, and leaks have also appeared for a new foldable, smartwatch, and earbuds. …Read the full story at The Verge.

Google recently updated its policies about the items that contribute to its free cloud storage tier. Previously, Android backup data, which usually contains app data and device data (SMS, call history, phone settings), didn't count towards Google's free storage limit. But now, these items will count toward your total cloud storage space, thereby reducing it slightly. Google estimates that, despite this policy change, your average storage usage for Android backup files will be only about 40MB, which isn't a huge deal compared to other items.

I already see that dang AI sparkle icon everywhere, and now it’s on my flesh forever (hopefully). | Image: Jess Weatherbed / The Verge The refurbished railway station in London I entered last week had none of the usual signs of being a tattoo studio. The walls were devoid of any art, and there were no reclining chairs or massage tables in the room. The only tattoo gun on the premises sat in a display case instead of buzzing in someone's gloved hand. I felt like I was getting inked in a half-assembled biolab with some interesting benefits.I'm not trying to put on a show of bravado when I say my latest tattoo didn't hurt. Getting the small sparkle lineart permanently marked on my skin was a genuinely painless experience. It was over in seconds, and didn't involve any grisly …Read the full story at The Verge.

A text prompt was all it took to generate reality-warping images using Google Earth's satellite, aerial, and 3D imagery with a now-rolled back AI feature, like these images generated by Digital Digging's Henk van Ess that show "refugees near the Mexican border" and a bomb crater near a hospital in Gaza. Google initially responded to Digital Digging's AI-altered images, saying, "We take misinformation seriously - every image created with Nano Banana in Google Earth includes the SynthID digital watermark, so if someone is unsure about an image, they can ask the Gemini app or use Lens in Search to see if the image was AI-generated." In additi …Read the full story at The Verge.

In 2026, the Samsung vs. Apple wars have officially been replaced by a completely new one dominated by the two top names in AI right now: ChatGPT and Claude. While the former is the one that began the AI boom as we know it and was clearly the frontrunner for the longest time, Claude ended up winning over the exact users who swore by ChatGPT. A lot of factors played into that shift, including the messy OpenAI x Anthropic x Department of War saga and the fact that Anthropic was shipping features at a pace nobody else could match.

If you were to look into tech forums for the ideal OS to power your data archival, backup, and file-sharing tasks, you’re bound to find tinkerers split between TrueNAS Community Edition (or Scale, as it used to be called until a few years ago) and Unraid. Having used both distributions in my home lab journey, I can confirm that they pack enough features to justify their huge following.

Cape Fear has always been a thriller about paranoia. And in 2026 there are few things less trustworthy than technology.Apple TV's recent remake of Cape Fear is "inspired" by the 1991 film of the same name (Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg even returned as executive producers on the project), which itself is a remake of a 1962 movie that was an adaptation of the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. The series is essentially a brand-new story within a similar premise, and it makes a number of significant changes to make it both fit the new episodic format and feel right at home in the present day. One of the most salient updates …Read the full story at The Verge.

Several record labels, including the big three - Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Music Group - have proposed rules regarding chart eligibility for AI songs. In short, they wouldn't be. The proposal goes quite a bit further than a labeling proposal put forth by the RIAA, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), SAG-AFTRA, and others. That would create a set of standardized labels for AI-generated and AI-assisted music. The labels' proposal would require songs be clearly labeled, but it would also keep them off international charts unless they met specific criteria, including being "substantially human …Read the full story at The Verge.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is probing nearly 1.2 million Tesla vehicles after receiving complaints about a suspension failure that could cause "a loss of vehicle directional control," as reported earlier by Reuters. The preliminary investigation includes the 2018-2020 Model 3 and 2021-2023 Model Y, according to a filing from the NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation.The NHTSA says it received 156 complaints about the issue, which "involves the detachment of the front lower lateral link." In most cases reviewed by the NHTSA, failure occurred with "no advance warning," but some "cite noises occurring prior t …Read the full story at The Verge.