Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Over the last 25 years, Netflix shipped more than 5 billion DVDs to millions of subscribers. The disc-by-mail service, which is shutting down this Friday, owed its success to lots of behind-the-scenes innovation. Continue reading…

The laptop versus desktop debate is an age-old topic, and it continues to get more heated as advancements in technology bring the two setups closer in terms of performance and capability. These days, you can purchase high-quality gaming laptops that are portable despite their powerful specs, making them more enticing than bulky desktop PCs for newcomers and computing veterans.

Screenshot: iFixit via YouTube While Apple may have made the iPhone 15 Pro Max easier to repair physically, a teardown from iFixit reveals it still comes with the same parts pairing constraints as its predecessors.Like the iPhone 14, iFixit found that the iPhone 15 lineup has a redesigned midframe that you can access by removing the device’s screen or back glass. However, iFixit notes that the internals on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max live behind the screen, rather than the back glass, as is the case with the base iPhone 15 and 15 Plus as well as the iPhone 14 lineup.This inverted setup could make “critical repairs like battery swaps slightly riskier than on the 14,” iFixit says, as you’re “removing the expensive, fragile display rather than an inert sheet of... Continue reading…

For a long time, I never really got the appeal of mechanical keyboards. Truthfully, they just seemed like louder keyboards to me and felt similar otherwise. That started changing last year when I bought the Razer Ornata V2, but now that I've had the chance to try the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL (2023), using anything else feels like a step backward.

Display technology is always improving, and mini-LED monitors are slowly catching on as an alternative to OLED. The best monitors with mini-LED technology have accurate color reproduction across gamuts, outstanding brightness and contrast thanks to local dimming zones and HDR support, high refresh rates, and a modern design. These screens, in most cases, don't come cheap, but they can transform the way you work and play.

Image: Meta Meta’s Horizon Worlds 3D social platform is starting to roll out on the web and mobile, and it generally works a lot better outside of VR than I expected — though I wish there were more to do.Until recently, Horizon Worlds has only been available on Meta’s Quest VR headsets. In VR, the app lets you explore a wide range of virtual experiences, including games, social spots, and giant 2D screens of concerts from huge music stars. It doesn’t have anywhere close to the breadth of worlds on metaverse platforms like Roblox or Fortnite, and many Horizon Worlds experiences only have double- or single-digit numbers of players at any given time. But you can see the nascent beginnings of some kind of social network for 3D spaces.The thing is,... Continue reading…

Samsung is renowned for flagship phones like the Galaxy S23, but they also offer appealing mid-range options like the Galaxy A54. The A54 stands out with its Super AMOLED Display, 50 MP Camera, and a substantial 5000mAh battery. This makes it one of the best phones for users who don't necessarily require top-tier features.

These are the headphones you want to get if you're looking for great sound, impressive ANC, and a comfortable fit. The Bose QuietComfort 700 are one of the best noise-canceling wireless headphones on the market right now, and while they typically cost quite a bit coming in at $379, right now, they can be had for much less thanks to a massive discount that drops them down by $95 — coming in at $284.

You’ll soon need to pay $6 a month to regain Guard features through the new Emergency Assist service (pictured). | Image: Amazon Amazon has announced that it’s shutting down Alexa Guard — a DIY security feature for Echo devices that listens for intruders or household alarms when you’re away from home. The free version of Alexa Guard that listens for household disturbances was included as a standard feature on Amazon Echo devices.In a recent email to customers, Amazon said that some of Guard’s features like smoke and CO alarm detection will instead be moved to its new Emergency Assist service, which is available for $5.99 per month or $59 per year. Guard features like Home and Away modes (to arm and disarm your Ring Alarm) and Away Lighting (which switches on your lights to make it look like you’re at home) will still be available for free as part of the standard... Continue reading…

Image: Getty Images Getty Images is partnering with Nvidia to launch Generative AI by Getty Images, a new tool that lets people create images using Getty’s library of licensed photos. Generative AI by Getty Images (yes, it’s an unwieldy name) is trained only on the vast Getty Images library, including premium content, giving users full copyright indemnification. This means anyone using the tool and publishing the image it created commercially will be legally protected, promises Getty. Getty worked with Nvidia to use its Edify model, available on Nvidia’s generative AI model library Picasso.Getty CEO Craig Peters will be at this year’s Code conference on September 26th and 27th. You can apply here to attend Code in person or go here for virtual tickets.I... Continue reading…

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Today, we have ChatGPT, Bard, Alexa, Siri, and a thousand others. Nearly a half-century ago, there was GUS. GUS, which stood for the Genial Understander System, came out of a project at Xerox PARC in the 1970s that hoped to find ways to teach computers to understand human language.Enterprising engineers, researchers, linguists, and even users have been longing for a way to talk to their computers pretty much since computers first became a thing. You shouldn’t have to communicate with your device by writing code, they figured, or by clicking in the right boxes in the right order. You should simply be able to talk to your computer like you’d talk to a person. Virtual assistants are a staple of science fiction, a decades-long startup... Continue reading…

The recent launch of Apple's Watch Series 9 has dropped the price of the Watch Series 8. While you might be tempted to get the latest and greatest here, with notable improvements like a new SiP, a brighter display, On-Device Siri, and a new Double Tap gesture for added control, these new features might not be necessary for your uses if you're buying a smartwatch for the first time, or are looking to upgrade from an older model.