Anthropic Claude has been having its moment lately. Shortly after being labeled a supply chain risk by the Pentagon, it shot to the top of the Apple App Store for the first time, dethroning OpenAI’s ChatGPT. According to reports, free active users on Claude have increased by over 60% since the beginning of 2026, and the number of people signing up daily has quadrupled.

What inner life? | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images I admit, this is an innovation I did not see coming: Silicon Valley has invented the philosophical zombie from the classic thought experiment "lol how crazy would it be if there were a philosophical zombie."Until recently, the philosophical zombie was a concept closely associated with Australian philosopher David Chalmers, who defines it as "someone or something physically identical to me (or to any other conscious being), but lacking conscious experiences altogether." Chalmers' zombie twin is identical to him functionally and psychologically - except that he feels nothing. This is different from a Hollywood zombie, which has "little capac …Read the full story at The Verge.

BYO power. | Image: Hermès Over a decade after Apple first partnered with Hermès for a special Apple Watch collaboration, the French luxury goods maker has released a new collection of leather-wrapped charging accessories for Apple's mobile devices. The most expensive option is a multi-device wireless charger in a case made from the brand's signature gold-colored calfskin leather that will set you back $5,150. For comparison, a 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,699.At the other end of the collection's pricing spectrum - which is still far from cheap - is the $1,250 Hermès Paddock Solo charger featuring a wireless charging puck wrapped in the same calfskin leather and …Read the full story at The Verge.

For almost two hours last week, Meta employees had unauthorized access to company and user data thanks to an AI agent that gave an employee inaccurate technical advice, as previously reported by The Information. Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton said in a statement to The Verge that "no user data was mishandled" during the incident. A Meta engineer was using an internal AI agent, which Clayton described as "similar in nature to OpenClaw within a secure development environment," to analyze a technical question another employee posted on an internal company forum. But the agent also independently publicly replied to the question after analyzin …Read the full story at The Verge.

Prediction markets are working to ingratiate themselves with mainstream news and culture: The Golden Globes broadcast in January was plastered with Polymarket odds, the AP is licensing election data to Kalshi, and a partnership between Polymarket and Substack means more prediction market data in newsletters.Some prediction market exchanges are now attempting to strike deals with individual reporters. Rick Ellis, an independent entertainment journalist who runs AllYourScreens.com and writes a newsletter on Substack about TV and streaming, told The Verge he received an offer this week.The deal involved producing two stories a week based on …Read the full story at The Verge.

Most people don’t spend much time thinking about motherboard rear I/O when they’re building a PC, and that makes sense. You sort by the socket you need, check to make sure it has the internal expansion you want, make sure the VRMs aren't atrocious, and then move on. Rear I/O gets a quick look at best from most buyers, and honestly, it deserves more than that. Rear I/O determines how much easy expansion is possible, and unlike internal expansion, it's something that you'll likely be interacting with every single day.

If you pay for 2Gbps internet speeds but then in your bedroom you get 40Mbps, you might feel slightly frustrated. As a result, you're ready to drop $600 on your quad-band mesh system, but the real culprit is likely the $0 fix you're ignoring.

The MCON includes an adhesive-backed ring for phones that aren’t MagSafe- or Pixelsnap-ready. | Image: OhSnap The MCON is the closest to a Swiss army knife that a controller can be. No, it doesn’t contain a can opener, but it makes up for it with a surprising array of features. Once you attach your MagSafe- or Pixelsnap-ready phone to the top plate, pressing a button along its top edge satisfyingly pops your phone up to reveal a full suite of controls, including TMR sticks made by GameSir. The MCON launched for $150, but you can get it for $99.99 through its manufacturer, OhSnap — the same amount that backers paid for the “super early bird” discount during the MCON’s 2025 Kickstarter campaign.OhSnap MCON controllerWhere to Buy: $149.99 $99.99 at OhSnapI only recently received an MCON controller for testing, but it didn’t take long to appreciate that its button layout is a bit more ergonomically-friendly than other phone controllers I’ve tried. I’m also a fan of the MCON’s two fold-out palm grips because they make it easier to use the shoulder buttons.You can use the MCON with devices that don’t have magnets, too. OhSnap includes an adhesive-backed ring that you can stick to the back of any iPhone or Android phone. @verge The viral Ohsnap MCON spring-loaded pocket gamepad is nearly here and I’m toying with an early sample! The snap is satisfying, the controls are surprisingly great, and gosh can it pair with lots of Bluetooth devices including the Nintendo Switch 2. But it’s also surprisingly thick (due to a big MagSafe pad) and comes with a $150 price tag! I also had slightly peeling magnets on my samples, but Ohsnap says that’s already fixed for mass production. #todayimtoyingwith #ohsnap #mcon #gaming #gametok ♬ original sound – The Verge

With Crimson Desert releasing today, people worldwide are tucking into this new title to see what the hype is about. In fact, our sister website, The Gamer, has already published a 150-hour review of the game and gave it a very respectable score. But what if you don't have either a copy of the game or a PC beefy enough to run it? Well, Maingear has a solution for you, but you may not want to sit on it for too long, as there will only ever be 30 of them.

The white model is receiving the steepest discount, but the black version is less than $1 more. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Microsoft’s Xbox console strategy needs work, but its Bluetooth-ready controller that shipped alongside the Xbox Series X and Series S is fantastic. We think it’s one of the best Xbox controllers out there, thanks to its comfortable design, multiplatform compatibility (it works great on the Steam Deck and PC, too), and its textured grips and triggers, which prevent your fingers from slipping during intense games.Thankfully, the Xbox Wireless Controller is discounted in a couple of different colors in the lead-up to Amazon’s Big Spring Sale. The black version is currently available for the lowest price we’ve seen this year at Amazon, Walmart, and Target. Originally $64.99, it’s now just $43.49. The white version is $0.49 cents cheaper at Amazon and Walmart. There’s also a discount on a bundle that includes the black-colored model and a USB-C cable to connect it to a device of your choosing, eliminating the need for AA batteries. It costs $2 more, and you can buy it for $44.99 (down from $64.99) at Amazon.Xbox Wireless ControllerThe official Xbox Wireless Controller has a dedicated share button for saving clips and screenshots and sharing them online, Bluetooth support, and a USB-C port for charging up Microsoft’s play-and-charge rechargeable battery.Where to Buy: $64.99 $43.49 at Amazon (black) $64.99 $43.49 at Walmart (black) $64.99 $43 at Amazon (white)The Xbox controller is also a great Nintendo Switch 2 controller — hear me out! Instead of buying a costly Switch 2 Pro controller, you can buy 8BitDo’s $20 USB Adapter 2, plug it into your console’s dock, then easily connect the Xbox controller to it. It works in a pinch, though the adapter only supports one paired controller at a time.

When I was a kid, there was always a wide variety of retro consoles in my house, including the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and even more obscure early systems, like the ColecoVision and Intellivision, due to the fact that I have two significantly older brothers and a dad who's always been into gaming.

A Tesla Cybertruck gleaming in the lot of the Tesla showroom in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, on March 29, 2025. | Photo by Simone Lueck / The Verge These past few weeks have been particularly brutal for the EV industry - and anyone who believes that electric vehicles are the future. Thanks to slowing demand and policy whiplashes, automakers are on an EV murder spree, killing a host of promising new models. The EV graveyard grows bigger by the minute. And unfortunately, as is often the case, much of the focus seems to be on affordable models that had the potential to attract new customers. Meanwhile, ugly EVs that cost too much and do nothing to move the needle on EV adoption continue to darken our highways. First, the cheap ones whose bodies have not yet gone cold. The Volvo EX30, a …Read the full story at The Verge.