Image: Playstack In Casino Royale, James Bond gets a bit of poker advice: You never play your hand. You play the man sitting across from you.Okay, but what if you just played your hand? What if no one was sitting at the other end of the table? Balatro, a new turn-based card game available on most platforms, takes the mechanics of poker and turns them into the basis of a compelling roguelike, the subgenre of games where each playthrough is a single perilous attempt.Balatro is a poker game inasmuch as Scrabble is a word game. Knowing the language and probabilities of poker will help you, but ultimately, this is a logic game. There are no bluffs, no pots, just the pure composition of poker hands satisfyingly paired with a thrilling game loop.This makes B... Continue reading…

Nintendo is also reportedly working on ways to prevent scalpers from snaffling up console stock at launch. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge If you were hoping to get your hands on Nintendo’s highly anticipated Switch 2 console this year then prepare to be disappointed by another rumor pointing to a 2025 release date. According to a new report from Nikkei, Nintendo is anticipated to release its successor to the Nintendo Switch console “as early as March,” in line with the rumored Q1 2025 release date reported by both VGC and Eurogamer earlier this month.Previous reporting had set an anticipated 2024 release date for Nintendo’s next-gen console, already with the aim of having sufficient stock available to avoid the shortages that the PS5 and Xbox Series S / X experienced at launch. But those same stock concerns as well as giving developers enough time to create new game... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge Apple could soon face an investigation over its decision to discontinue iPhone web apps in the European Union, according to a report from the Financial Times. The European Commission has reportedly sent Apple and app developers requests for more information to assist in its evaluation.“We are indeed looking at the compliance packages of all gatekeepers, including Apple,” the European Commission says in a statement to The Verge provided by spokesperson Lea Zuber. “In that context, we’re in particular looking into the issue of progressive web apps, and can confirm sending the requests for information to Apple and to app developers, who can provide useful information for our assessment.” When reached for comment, Apple pointed The Verge... Continue reading…

Image: Fiat Stellantis-owned Fiat revealed five new concepts that it says will serve as inspiration for a future family of vehicles that will come in a variety of powertrains while sharing the same platform. The new lineup, inspired by the Italian automaker’s Panda city cars, will kick off in July 2024 with a new city car, followed by a new vehicle each year for the following three years. In addition, the concepts preview a pickup truck, a fastback sedan, an SUV, and a camper. Fiat is hedging its bets, committing to producing not only electric versions of each vehicle but also hybrid and internal combustion engine versions. The automaker says this is to “ensure maximum relevance to customers wherever they live in the world.”The new lineup,... Continue reading…

Microlino Lite in Geneva. | Image: Micro Swiss company Micro — maker of the happy little Microlino electric bubble car — just unveiled a production version of its Microlino Lite at the Geneva Motor Show. With a 45km/h (28mph) top speed, it goes half as fast as the standard Microlino but can be driven by anyone with a moped license from the age of 14 in some European countries. An entry-model will cost CHF149 per month (about €156 or $169) to lease starting this summer.Although the Microlino Lite is targeting Europe on day one, Micro spokesperson Merlin Ouboter says the Microlino Lite is eligible for registration in the US as a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) and hopes to have the first Microlinos there by the end of 2024.Microcars like the Microlino Lite target urbanites... Continue reading…

Now that the Apple Vision Pro headset is out in the wild and we know exactly how it works, I am more convinced that my $400 XR glasses are enough for my day-to-day usage. Yes, comparing the $400 Xreal Air 2 glasses to Apple's $3,500 computer that hugs your face is like comparing apples to oranges, but I truly believe that the Xreal Air 2 or even other smart glasses like the Viture One XR glasses are way more practical to use and make more sense for most users, especially when it comes to replacing your monitor for day-to-day computing tasks. Here are a few reasons why.

Whenever you buy a new laptop, you want to get the most out of it. Lenovo announced an incredibly exciting lineup of new laptops at CES this year with some of its flagship machines getting upgrades. The new Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i is one of those laptops this year that's getting a huge upgrade. This year's version now has Intel Core Ultra processors and an OLED panel. If you're interested in a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i, then you should get some accessories to maximize its potential. A smart choice would be a docking station, so you can not only charge it but also connect other devices or monitors. Check out our top picks for the best docking stations for the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i (2024) and get more from your new laptop.

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft has announced a new multiyear partnership with Mistral, a French AI startup that’s valued at €2 billion (about $2.1 billion). The Financial Times reports that the partnership will include Microsoft taking a minor stake in the 10-month-old AI company, just a little over a year after Microsoft invested more than $10 billion into its OpenAI partnership.The deal will see Mistral’s open and commercial language models available on Microsoft’s Azure AI platform, the second company to offer a commercial language model on Azure after OpenAI. Much like the OpenAI partnership, Microsoft’s partnership with Mistral will also be focused on the development and deployment of next-generation large language models.Mistral is announcing a new... Continue reading…

The first computery thing I do in the year 2024 is nudge a 3.5-inch floppy disk into a USB floppy drive that I bought from an online merchant working out of Singapore’s onetime hotbed of ’90s computer piracy. I’m briefly startled by the drive’s low mechanical whirring — a warm, ambient background score that instantly transports me back to my childhood. Some of my first painfully preteen journals were hidden poorly on nondescript floppies just like this one. I click on the disk’s sole file, an MP3 titled “Inability to Perform Social Activities Is Considered Inferior,” and Yasuyuki Uesugi’s growling wall of experimental noise rolls through my apartment like a rogue wave at the beach. The track is one minute, 27 seconds long,... Continue reading…

Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat may be the most popular social media platforms, but sometimes, a low-key application without any flashy posts is all you need to hit up old friends and online strangers. With most of its features geared toward real-time communication rather than interactive reels or feeds, Discord is quite different from your average messaging platform.

The Verge The president of Crunchyroll, Rahul Purini, announced that the company is working to compensate customers who will lose their digital libraries in the upcoming Funimation / Crunchyroll merger on April 2nd. “[We] are working really hard directly with each [customer] to ensure that they have an appropriate value for what they got in the digital copy initially,” Purini tells Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel during this week’s Decoder podcast. “As people reach out to us through customer service, we are responding and handling each of those requests as they prefer.” When asked what “appropriate value” meant, Purini said, “So it could be that they get access to a digital copy on any of the existing other services where they might be able to... Continue reading…

Seagate’s speedy storage expansion cards are reminiscent of retro memory cards but also expensive without these periodic sales. | Image: Seagate Update February 26th, 1:30PM ET: The 1TB model of Seagate’s Storage Expansion Card has sold out, but you can still save $110 on the 2TB version.We’ve griped long enough about the ballooning install sizes of the latest AAA games, but complaining won’t slow the trend. Without some miraculous development in data compression technology, the only remedy today is to buy extra storage. Xbox Series X and S gamers have had it the roughest with the exorbitant markups on its proprietary storage cards, but regular discounts are starting to make them a little more affordable. For example, Seagate’s 1TB Storage Expansion Card is down to $125.99 at Amazon ($94 off), which is the lowest price we’ve seen so far. The 2TB card is also on sale for $249.99... Continue reading…