From AI-powered robots to face-scanning smart locks, the gadgets that will power the homes of the future are here and were on display at CES 2024, the annual consumer tech show in Las Vegas. This is where tech companies show off their latest innovations in cars, TVs, laptops, smart home gear, and more. The Verge went to Vegas to take a closer look at all the new tech poised to bring our homes into the future.After seeing hundreds of gadgets over three days, smart home reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy rounded up the tech that caught her eye. In the video above, she goes through them room by room, showing how this smart home technology can make life more convenient, comfortable, and energy-efficient. Here are a few of the products she... Continue reading…

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge I’m always moving bits of information around on my iPhone — between documents and screens and apps — but I’m not always sure I’m doing it in the best way, especially since Apple has regularly changed the way that copy and paste works through successive versions of iOS.That’s why I wanted to look at all the different options iOS currently gives you for copying and pasting text and images, without the familiar shortcuts you get on a computer keyboard. Those options are outlined below and will take you from basic copy and paste through to some more advanced tricks. A note: I’m writing this guide using an iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 17.2.1, the latest version of the software at the time of writing. Copy and paste text ... Continue reading…

The latest iPhone models exclusively offer a new feature called the Dynamic Island. So, if you're using one of the recent iPhones, you will notice its presence towards the top of your screen. While the Dynamic Island serves some purposes, certain users find it distracting. As a result, they may decide to disable it, along with its intrusive animations. To learn how to do so, read on.

Even though Google Pixel smartphones are in their 8th generation, one of its most value-for-money phones is the Pixel 7a. Launched in May 2023, the Pixel 7a is now selling for slightly lower than its launch price of $499. The Pixel 7a packs in the same flagship SoC that is present on the Pixel 7 series. Additionally, it also fixes some issues that were present in the Pixel 6a. The Pixel 7a brings a 90Hz refresh rate display, 8GB RAM, 64MP primary camera, and wireless charging as compared to the Pixel 6a. The Pixel 7a is easily the best among the affordable Android phones of 2024. If this has convinced you to buy it, then also factor in some additional budget for getting a case for it.

Companies have been cutting costs. | Photo by Natt Garun / The Verge Companies across the tech industry have been laying off staff and reducing hiring after explosive growth during the pandemic. Continue reading…

I'm not sure if the OnePlus Open has sold enough units to make a dent in Samsung's foldable market share since not having carrier subsidies in North America is an obstacle, but it sure has stolen most of the thunder from Samsung on the critical front. I don't have an exact stat, but the OnePlus Open seems to have been hailed as the best foldable phone of 2023 by every tech publication or tech reviewer peer I've come across. And it's well deserved: Not only does the Open have objectively superior displays and camera hardware than rival foldables from Samsung and Google, but it also has arguably the best foldable software.

Mochi Mayhem and the Indigo Disk are lightyears away from perfection, but they offered a satisfying conclusion to the parts of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet that worked best. Continue reading…

The Quest 2 offers lower specs than Meta’s latest headset, true, but it also costs half the price. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge In case you haven’t heard, the Meta Quest 2’s $249 holiday pricing is sticking around for good. That’s a natural progression for the second-gen VR headset, which launched in 2020 and was recently outclassed by the newer Meta Quest 3. What’s more, if you pick up a 128GB Quest 2 at Walmart right now, you’ll receive a $50 Meta Store credit to help you build up your game library, essentially making it a $200 purchase.At launch, the Quest 2 was an excellent little device thanks to its standalone nature. As far as mainstream VR headsets go, it remains one of the easiest and most affordable devices to pick up and play, especially since you don’t have to worry about external depth sensors and wires. You won’t be able to engage in unique... Continue reading…

The AirPods Pro 2 are the best wireless earbuds for most iPhone users, offering a rich set of advanced features in a compact design. Of course, one of the most important parts of trying out your earbuds is ensuring they fit your ears perfectly. If you've just set up a pair on your iPhone, you may have noticed the Ear Tip Fit Test option. This test is currently exclusive to the AirPods Pro, and we advise all users to take it at least once.

Using WowMouse to control a computer mouse. | Image: Doublepoint A company called Doublepoint announced a new app during CES this week called WowMouse that turns Android smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch into a gesture-based mouse for your computer. That means waving your arm around to move the mouse and pinching your fingers to click (similar to the Double Tap feature on the Apple Watch Series 9). The app is available now on the Google Play store.WowMouse works by broadcasting the watch as a Bluetooth Human Interface Devices (HID) mouse, allowing it to work with a variety of operating systems, by just pairing it like you would any other Bluetooth mouse. According to Doublepoint’s site, that includes Windows, Linux, macOS, and iPadOS. It’s confirmed that it works on certain Wear OS watches,... Continue reading…

Image: Samsung This year at CES was the year AI took over. From large language model-powered voice assistants in cars to the Rabbit R1, the technology you heard about everywhere was AI. It was a little too much.It may be the year of AI at CES, but many of these “AI” features have been around for a while — it’s just that companies are only now embracing the branding of artificial intelligence. AI has entered the public consciousness: it’s cool and hip to place it front and center in a product, a sign that companies are ambitious and forward thinking. That’s led the term to be adopted wherever possible, even when it’s not strictly the AI most people know. But as more companies rebrand anything involving algorithms as AI, how are we meant to separate... Continue reading…

It has been a fantastic few months for fans of gaming on the go. There's a whole selection of amazing PC gaming handhelds to pick from, and more are on the way. Now, Ayaneo has announced its Next Lite device, the first Steam Deck competitor to run SteamOS.