Google’s first pair of noise-canceling earbuds are currently down to $139.99 in blue, white, and four other attractive shades. | Image: Google Happy Saturday, folks! Ever since they arrived on the scene in mid-2022, we’ve considered Google’s noise-canceling Pixel Buds Pro to be the wireless earbuds for Pixel phone owners — partly because of their great feature set and partly because they addressed the connectivity issues that plagued earlier models. The best part, however, is they’re often on sale for far less than the MSRP. Right now, for instance, you can pick them up at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy for around $139 ($60 off), which matches their second-best price to date.In terms of features, Google’s latest Pixel Buds are designed to compete with the best from Apple, Sony, and others. Their noise cancellation can’t quite match the latest AirPods Pro or what Bose has... Continue reading…

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that AI companies were running into a wall when it comes to gathering high-quality training data. Today, The New York Times detailed some of the ways companies have dealt with this. Unsurprisingly, it involves doing things that fall into the hazy gray area of AI copyright law.The story opens on OpenAI which, desperate for training data, reportedly developed its Whisper audio transcription model to get over the hump, transcribing over a million hours of YouTube videos to train GPT-4, its most advanced large language model. That’s according to The New York Times, which reports that the company knew this was legally questionable but believed it to be fair use. OpenAI president Greg... Continue reading…

Illustration: The Verge Google is working on a feature that is so simple and so useful that I’m shocked it hasn’t been part of our lives for a decade: a way to look up a phone number that just called you, right from your recent calls screen. X user AssembleDebug tipped off PiunikaWeb to a new “Lookup” button in the beta version of the Google Phone app that, when tapped, brings up a Google Search with the number already entered for you. Although the Google Phone app is the default for Pixel phones, other Android owners can download it. The new Lookup button lives with other options, like “Block” and “History,” that you see when you tap on a recent call in the Phone app. In an age where so much spam comes from spoofed phone numbers made to look like local calls,... Continue reading…

It’s time, friends. | Photo by Alix Diaconis / The Verge Yesterday afternoon, I was playing Mario vs. Donkey Kong on my Vision Pro (using the visionOS testflight version of app developer Riley Testut’s GBA4iOS) with an official Nintendo NES controller for the Switch. All the while, I was thinking about what a shame it was that Apple doesn’t allow emulators on its App Store. I hadn’t yet seen the news of Apple’s surprise decision to allow emulators on its digital storefront worldwide. While we still don’t know exactly how emulators will work on the iPhone, Apple’s play here would put its App Store in a better place to compete with alternative app stores in the EU. Assuming that means you can actually play games from the consoles they emulate, it could be a huge deal for retro gaming fans. As... Continue reading…

The latest Apple Watches are highly capable wearables that serve a wide range of purposes. One of the lesser-known features they offer is the ability to set a silent alarm that gently vibrates on your wrist. This is ideal for those who dislike alarm sounds or don't want to disturb those around them. Whether you have an Apple Watch Ultra 2 running watchOS 10 or a slightly older model, the steps you need to follow are the same.

Windows comes with a powerful search function to find your files and folders in no time. However, there are times when you want to keep your confidential media files and documents away from prying eyes. Thankfully, there are several effective ways to hide those treasured bytes on your Windows laptop.

C’mon, how cute is this? | Image: Things Inc. The similarities between Rooms — a simple, charming game for iOS and the web where you design rooms — and Minecraft are easy to spot. Both share a blocky visual style and a design-your-own-retreat objective. But describing Rooms as a scaled-down Minecraft for people over the age of 12 doesn’t give it enough credit. It’s good, old-fashioned building in the vein of Lego, The Sims, and Animal Crossing. Rooms builds on the time-honored tradition with a dose of coziness and creativity that’s limited only by your patience for arranging three-dimensional pixels. Rooms is free, at least for now; creator Jason Toff says there are no “concrete monetization plans.” The premise is as simple as it sounds: you start with an empty room and fill it up... Continue reading…

More people than ever are working remotely. With this comes the need to remain productive while remaining flexible in your work environment. Portable monitors like the Jsaux FlipGo Portable Dual Monitor are a great way to increase productivity without going overboard and carrying a complete office setup in your bag. They are also great when you need to relax and want to chill out for a few minutes. A good portable monitor can be a game changer for both your professional and personal life.

The internet is one of humanity’s greatest inventions. We can send messages and retrieve information to and from the corners of the world in a matter of seconds, and browsers make the process a breeze. Just type in a website’s URL (or type a term into a search engine), and you’re off. You have plenty of browsers to choose from, each with its own features and advantages, but so far Google Chrome is the reigning champion.

Processors have matured to a point where you don't need to spend a fortune to get the best CPU for gaming. High core counts are common, and both AMD and Intel are making respectable IPC improvements with every generation.

Once you've sifted through the best laptops, then the best Surfaces, and finally landed on a Surface Pro 10 for Business, you'll still need a good charger to keep your Surface's battery topped up wherever you go. Luckily, we've found all the best chargers out there for the Surface Pro 10 for Business.

If you're planning to build an enthusiast gaming PC, you've probably made up your mind to shell out $2,000-$2500 at the very least. Even though this might seem like a steep figure, it still doesn't convey the true cost of putting together a high-end gaming PC setup. This is because you aren't going to get anywhere with just the PC — you need a ton of other stuff to extract the most out of your investment. And I'm not just talking about the monitor and peripherals.