From gaining Copilot support to promising to help users write text with different tones and lengths with "Cowriter", Microsoft's Notepad app in Windows 11 was in the news in the last couple of months for all the good reasons. In addition, Microsoft has another feature planned for Notepad to save you from typos.

Screenshot by Alex Cranz / The Verge An investigation has found that the physicist who claimed to have developed one of the first room-temperature superconductors engaged in “research misconduct,” as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Ranga Dias, a researcher and assistant professor at the University of Rochester, has been under investigation by a committee of outside experts since last August over concerns about the accuracy of his findings.“The University has completed a thorough investigation conducted by a panel of scientists external to the University who have expertise in the field,” University of Rochester spokesperson Sara Miller says in a statement to The Verge. “The committee concluded, in accordance with University policy and federal regulations, that... Continue reading…

There are a lot of ideas and promise packed into this smart ring, but it’s not all the way there yet. Continue reading…

C’mon, how cute is that little ghost in the window? | Image: Sago Mini / The Verge Kids entertainment can be a special kind of hell if you’re not a kid. For every Bluey — a show that’s thoughtful, funny, and thoroughly watchable if you’re over the age of five — there’s a Blippi. If you’re not familiar, he’s a kind of MrBeast for toddlers. But he’s hardly alone: YouTube Kids is littered with low-grade, algorithm-optimized videos of colorful trucks and Cocomelon knock-offs. It’s weird out there.While prepping for our first cross-country flight with our toddler, I stumbled across a true gem: a collection of iPad games that aren’t just tolerable, they’re actually good. They’re made by Sago Mini, and every one of its games is just so goddamn cute. Some of them are structured as “play sets,” which are little interactive,... Continue reading…

There are a number of reasons why the Apple's AirPods Pro 2 are some of the best earbuds you can buy if you're an iPhone owner. Not only do you get a highly compact set of earbuds, but you also get great sound paired with impressive features. The earbuds have been a fan favorite for a long time, but with the addition of USB-C, these are definitely the ones to go for if you have a chance to purchase them.

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images A week after the House of Representatives passed a bill that seeks to force TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company, it passed a second bill that aims to protect Americans’ data from foreign adversaries.The Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, or HR 7520, would prohibit data brokers from selling Americans’ personally identifiable information to foreign adversaries, including countries like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. Data brokers can face penalties from the Federal Trade Commission if they’re found to have sold sensitive information like location or health data to these countries. The bill sailed through the House, with all 414 lawmakers who voted opting to pass it.The bill, led by House Energy... Continue reading…

Are you a proud owner of the Asus ROG Ally gaming handheld but find yourself constantly struggling with battery life? As with any handheld gaming device, battery life can often be a concern, especially during extended gaming sessions or on the go. Fear not, as we've compiled a comprehensive guide to help you squeeze every last drop of juice out of your device.

The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G is a great budget APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) designed to handle 1080p gaming without needing an external GPU. Between its eight computing cores and its integrated Radeon 780M, it has already earned a place on our list of the best CPUs outright. However, there is a key question lingering for gamers eager to assemble their own Ryzen 7 8700G build. Do you put all that money you saved toward an extravagant motherboard, or do you lean into the value build and assemble an ultra-affordable 1080p gaming rig? While we can’t answer that question for you, we can offer some of our best AM5 motherboard picks to pair with the Ryzen 7 8700G.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The cost of TapeACall, the occasionally glitchy app many reporters use to record their interviews, will increase significantly in less than a month. I discovered this thanks to a pop-up notification when I opened the app, which alerted me that my annual subscription would increase from $29.99 to $79.99 per year on April 16th.The price increase appears to be a result of new ownership. In January, IAC sold its Mosaic Group mobile apps — which includes TapeACall, editing app PDF Hero, and spam-blocking app Robokiller — to the Italian technology company Bending Spoons. Per Bloomberg, all of Mosaic’s 330 employees were laid off as part of the deal.Bending Spoons acquired Evernote in 2022 and laid off more than 100 staff members. Under... Continue reading…

Photo by John Moore / Getty Images Customs and Border Protection (CBP) just released updated data on migrant deaths at the US-Mexico border, and the results are staggering. At least 895 people died at the border during the 2022 fiscal year — a 57 percent increase from the previous fiscal year. This grim statistic makes 2022 the deadliest year on record for migrants attempting to come to the US, and it’s possible that the figure is an undercount.For years, CBP has blamed the persistent rise in deaths on three factors: the summer heat, the ruggedness of the desert terrain, and the cruelty of smugglers who leave migrants to die there.Climate change has indeed made summers hotter and drier, which means migrants who spend days or weeks trekking through remote stretches of... Continue reading…

Have you heard about the new Paint NPU app? If you haven't, it's a planned revamp of the traditional Paint app on Windows that emphasizes the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) on AI PCs. NPUs are like CPUs and GPUs, except they're wholly dedicated to AI processes; as such, from the name of the app, you can put two and two together and deduce that Paint NPU will feature generative AI in some way.

Neuralink’s N1 implant. | Image: Neuralink Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company has released a video purporting to show the first human patient using Neuralink’s brain implant to control a mouse cursor and play a game of chess. The patient, identified as 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh, said he was injured in a diving accident eight years ago that paralyzed him below the shoulders. Arbaugh describes using the Neuralink implant as like using the Force from the Star Wars franchise, allowing him to “just stare somewhere on the screen” and move the cursor where he wants.Elon Musk, who founded Neuralink in 2016, retweeted the video of Arbaugh and said it demonstrated “telepathy.” https://t.co/OMIeGGjYtG— Neuralink (@neuralink) March 20, 2024In addition to playing chess,... Continue reading…